2009-04-20
Question of the day
Customer: "Does this need Java?" (In reference to a WebEx session)
Adam: "I'm not certain. Is it giving you an error?"
Customer: "Yeah, it says that it requires Java. I'll download it real quick."
That is when I hit the mute button.
Adam: "I'm not certain. Is it giving you an error?"
Customer: "Yeah, it says that it requires Java. I'll download it real quick."
That is when I hit the mute button.
Illegal downloads
The Pirate Bay lost it's court battle Friday, and while I don't have much to say about this case in particular, I do take serious issue with copyright holders attacking technology.
Sites like The Pirate Bay, obviously, are kind of asking for it. The problem that I have is when technology is attacked as a byproduct of cleaning up piracy. Napster, Kazaa, and Bittorrent are good examples. None of these technologies host(ed) copyrighted material. All of these technologies have the ability to be used in a perfectly legal manner.
The Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) allows users to keep one "backup" of copyrighted material. This means if I own a Rush CD (I legally own every Rush album and DVD), it would be legal for me to download any Rush album. If I have a friend who legally owns that same album, it would be legal for me to transfer a copy to that friend. I am not certain how legal it is or is not for me to provide that content to any random person on the network (I have never shared any Rush album publicly). I presume it is illegal. The DMCA may cover that, but I have not read the entire document, it's long.
If we start requiring web sites to monitor every byte of data, we face a bit of hypocrisy. We don't attempt to monitor much of what is transferred over our highways. The transfer of information over a network is very similar to the transfer of goods over a roadway. If we sue every site that doesn't scrutinize the data it let's users transfer, then couldn't we sue the government for not scrutinizing every car or truck that could be carrying drugs, illegal weapons, or known criminals over their roadways?
Sites like The Pirate Bay, obviously, are kind of asking for it. The problem that I have is when technology is attacked as a byproduct of cleaning up piracy. Napster, Kazaa, and Bittorrent are good examples. None of these technologies host(ed) copyrighted material. All of these technologies have the ability to be used in a perfectly legal manner.
The Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) allows users to keep one "backup" of copyrighted material. This means if I own a Rush CD (I legally own every Rush album and DVD), it would be legal for me to download any Rush album. If I have a friend who legally owns that same album, it would be legal for me to transfer a copy to that friend. I am not certain how legal it is or is not for me to provide that content to any random person on the network (I have never shared any Rush album publicly). I presume it is illegal. The DMCA may cover that, but I have not read the entire document, it's long.
If we start requiring web sites to monitor every byte of data, we face a bit of hypocrisy. We don't attempt to monitor much of what is transferred over our highways. The transfer of information over a network is very similar to the transfer of goods over a roadway. If we sue every site that doesn't scrutinize the data it let's users transfer, then couldn't we sue the government for not scrutinizing every car or truck that could be carrying drugs, illegal weapons, or known criminals over their roadways?
2009-04-18
Somalia has a flourishing pirate industry
OWND!
Three out of four pirates are taken out by snipers shooting from the deck of a nearby destroyer. This was reportedly done on choppy waters, which isn't that big of a deal for a destroyer class warship, but can be substantial movement for a 28' lifeboat.
If you think further about what happened, they couldn't have picked off the pirates one by one because they would have used the hostage as a human shield and moved into the visual obscurity of the lifeboat interior. So that means 3 Navy SEALS fired in unison and all hit their target.
Now think of it from the 4th pirate's perspective. You are on the lifeboat, it's getting dark, and are hit by a splash of what your mind perceives as warm sea water. About a half second later the report of the three sniper rifles reaches your ear and you realize that "sea water" was too warm. It was the blood of your former comrades, now lifelessly falling off the boat and into the choppy ocean. You turn and stare at the massive destroyer that instantly changed your fate from one of control, to possible instant termination at their discretion. Survival instincts kick in and force you to drop your weapon and raise your arms in surrender. You feel so very French.
Three out of four pirates are taken out by snipers shooting from the deck of a nearby destroyer. This was reportedly done on choppy waters, which isn't that big of a deal for a destroyer class warship, but can be substantial movement for a 28' lifeboat.
If you think further about what happened, they couldn't have picked off the pirates one by one because they would have used the hostage as a human shield and moved into the visual obscurity of the lifeboat interior. So that means 3 Navy SEALS fired in unison and all hit their target.
Now think of it from the 4th pirate's perspective. You are on the lifeboat, it's getting dark, and are hit by a splash of what your mind perceives as warm sea water. About a half second later the report of the three sniper rifles reaches your ear and you realize that "sea water" was too warm. It was the blood of your former comrades, now lifelessly falling off the boat and into the choppy ocean. You turn and stare at the massive destroyer that instantly changed your fate from one of control, to possible instant termination at their discretion. Survival instincts kick in and force you to drop your weapon and raise your arms in surrender. You feel so very French.
2009-04-12
Indians crack me up
At work, we have a lot of systems in Bangalore India. A few things that are common for all Indians are that they can talk crazy-fast, their accent is often difficult to understand, and the phone network there must be very unreliable, because if you don't make some noise every five second, they ask "hello?" to see if you are there. After about five times in a minute, it gets annoying. So after the 6th time, instead of answering with "yes" or "I'm still here", I answer with "annyong".
A side note, if someone says "annyong" at work on the third shift, there will be 2-5 replies of "annyong". I've trained them well.
A side note, if someone says "annyong" at work on the third shift, there will be 2-5 replies of "annyong". I've trained them well.
2009-03-24
More power!
I just put in a second PSU, slaved to my Antec NeoPower 550. My case (a CoolerMaster Stacker 810) has provisioning for a second PSU, and even provided the adapter to trigger the second PSU when the first is turned on.
I'm using one PCI-E plug from each PSU to power my GTX 260. I've been having PC lockups that are similar to what I experienced when I got my first high powered video card but didn't have the power to drive it. I will test this tonight and tomorrow to see if the issue recurs.
I'm using one PCI-E plug from each PSU to power my GTX 260. I've been having PC lockups that are similar to what I experienced when I got my first high powered video card but didn't have the power to drive it. I will test this tonight and tomorrow to see if the issue recurs.
2009-03-21
Backup
Everyone that reads this (like, 3 of you) have data on your hard drive (pictures, music, etc) that would be difficult if not impossible to replace if that hard drive died. I work for a company that makes the most reliable backup devices in the world, so I've decided that I'd impart some of that knowledge.
Backups for a home user can be broken down into two solutions, remote storage and local storage.
Remote storage is when you backup to a device somewhere other than your home. Usually you will pay a company to store your data for you on their servers and you will backup by uploading your files to them over the internet. This is what I would recommend for most people for a few reasons. First, they are going to have hardware that you will never be able to afford, which means they will NEVER lose your data. Second, since they are off-site, your backups are safe from any tragedy that may happen at your house (theft, fire, etc). And most of these services maintain multiple mirrored sites, so not even a hurricane or earthquake could jeopardize your data. Third, you can usually access your backups from anywhere in the world. Fourth, they will sometimes do independent virus scans, adding one more level of protection.
But a remote solution means you can only backup as fast as your connection to that service allows. Even with broadband your upload speed is often a fraction of your download speed. So if you have 10 GB of pictures to upload, that may take several days to properly backup. And a remote solution will usually have a monthly fee. This means you will lose access to your data if you stop paying, and in that sense, you never "own" your backups.
I've only done a bit of research regarding online backups, but I have been very impressed with Mozy (http://mozy.com/). They give you 2 GB of backup for free, and if you need more than that, it's $5 a month for unlimited storage.
Local storage is when you have a storage device at home that you backup to. The greatest advantage of this method is that the backups are very fast. You also get the advantage of ownership, so you don't lose access to your data if you miss a payment.
But the disadvantages of this are many. First, a virus that gets past your antivirus software will probably get your backup too. Second, a local tragedy like theft, fire, or power issues may leave you with no recourse for data recovery. Third, these are not as robust as professional systems.
Examples of local storage range from an extra hard drive in your PC to externally connected backup devices. The external devices may connect via USB, eSATA, or network. Some of these solutions can also act like centralized storage for all of your computers.
Backups for a home user can be broken down into two solutions, remote storage and local storage.
Remote storage is when you backup to a device somewhere other than your home. Usually you will pay a company to store your data for you on their servers and you will backup by uploading your files to them over the internet. This is what I would recommend for most people for a few reasons. First, they are going to have hardware that you will never be able to afford, which means they will NEVER lose your data. Second, since they are off-site, your backups are safe from any tragedy that may happen at your house (theft, fire, etc). And most of these services maintain multiple mirrored sites, so not even a hurricane or earthquake could jeopardize your data. Third, you can usually access your backups from anywhere in the world. Fourth, they will sometimes do independent virus scans, adding one more level of protection.
But a remote solution means you can only backup as fast as your connection to that service allows. Even with broadband your upload speed is often a fraction of your download speed. So if you have 10 GB of pictures to upload, that may take several days to properly backup. And a remote solution will usually have a monthly fee. This means you will lose access to your data if you stop paying, and in that sense, you never "own" your backups.
I've only done a bit of research regarding online backups, but I have been very impressed with Mozy (http://mozy.com/). They give you 2 GB of backup for free, and if you need more than that, it's $5 a month for unlimited storage.
Local storage is when you have a storage device at home that you backup to. The greatest advantage of this method is that the backups are very fast. You also get the advantage of ownership, so you don't lose access to your data if you miss a payment.
But the disadvantages of this are many. First, a virus that gets past your antivirus software will probably get your backup too. Second, a local tragedy like theft, fire, or power issues may leave you with no recourse for data recovery. Third, these are not as robust as professional systems.
Examples of local storage range from an extra hard drive in your PC to externally connected backup devices. The external devices may connect via USB, eSATA, or network. Some of these solutions can also act like centralized storage for all of your computers.
2009-03-05
2009-03-01
Chain-link love signs
I cross an overpass to and from work several times a week, and many times there will be words spelled out using disposable plastic or styrofoam cups pressed into the chain-link fence. It's usually "so-and-so (heart) someone-else". One of these days I'm going to start changing the heart symbols to greater-than symbols.
Before you think I'm a heartless bastard (actually, I am), know this. These dorks rarely come back and clean up the mess. After a few days, 1/3 of the cups have fallen out and litter the sidewalk. I'm not a tree-hugger, but I really don't like my city getting all trashed-up by lazy lovesick saps. What a great way to show your devotion to someone, put up a large public sign that eventually litters our nice town.
Before you think I'm a heartless bastard (actually, I am), know this. These dorks rarely come back and clean up the mess. After a few days, 1/3 of the cups have fallen out and litter the sidewalk. I'm not a tree-hugger, but I really don't like my city getting all trashed-up by lazy lovesick saps. What a great way to show your devotion to someone, put up a large public sign that eventually litters our nice town.
2009-02-09
Lisa Hannigan is my muse
Well not really, but Lisa released Sea Sew in the US last week. So anyone that didn't want to order it from the UK can now pick it up in a local shop. I encourage people with ears to buy this album.
2009-02-08
We don't like Kate Hudson anymore?
Yahoo news just posted a list of stars we are no longer in love with. Kate Hudson is on that list, which I find stupid because I watched "Almost Famous" again last night, and only a robot could not love every member of that cast. I particularly like Patrick Fugit and Frances McDormand. And humans will never produce a movie with a better soundtrack.
Speaking of Almost Famous, if you don't own the "Bootleg Cut", you suck as a human. It has at least 3 extended or cut scenes that made the movie substantially better for me.
Speaking of Almost Famous, if you don't own the "Bootleg Cut", you suck as a human. It has at least 3 extended or cut scenes that made the movie substantially better for me.
2009-01-30
2009-01-26
RAWR! The bear dings 80.
So my Druid hit lvl 80 about 2 weeks ago. I meant to post then but I'm lazy.
Also, my Paladin hit lvl 78 last night. Should be 80 this weekend.
Also, my Paladin hit lvl 78 last night. Should be 80 this weekend.
2009-01-18
Hamas sucks at math
In the last 3 weeks, 1,200 Palestinians and at least 13 Israelis have died. A 100 to 1 failure ratio and they still had the bright idea to launch a few rockets after the latest cease fire.
2009-01-16
iTunes is bloatware
I have what most people would call a badass computer. I've got one of the most powerful processors, 4 Gig of system RAM, 2.5 terabytes of SATA2 storage, and nearly the best video card that money can buy.
So why is it that iTunes runs like I'm cruising with a 386SX? Vertical scrolling is a joke, and the stupid app takes almost a minute from double-click to load.
If it wasn't such a great store and I didn't care about legally purchasing content that I enjoy, I'd never use it.
So why is it that iTunes runs like I'm cruising with a 386SX? Vertical scrolling is a joke, and the stupid app takes almost a minute from double-click to load.
If it wasn't such a great store and I didn't care about legally purchasing content that I enjoy, I'd never use it.
2009-01-08
My crush of the day
Just watched the 13th episode of Heroes season 3, and realized how cute Brea Grant is. She sells the pixie cut better than 95% of the women that try. This is clearly proven in one of her IMDB pictures.
2009-01-02
No stupid questions?
Here's a common lie: There are no stupid questions.
I recently received an e-mail from my boss asking for an update on a few things I have been working on. Particularly, he wanted an update about tasks that have taken more than 5 days. I didn't know if he wanted to know why they were taking more than 5 days, or if he wanted an update about how they were progressing. The difference is subtle, but I wasn't certain of what he wanted in the update.
So I asked. I guess that I was the only person to ask (the same e-mail was sent to most of us). Even though he was vague with his request, and even though I could see two possible and different yet correct answers to his request, I was the only person who asked. So to my boss it appears that I'm not the sharpest tool in the shed, because he was not able to anticipate that there could be 2 different yet correct answers to the question.
BTW, he wanted an update on each case that was taking more than 5 days. And this is probably going to be a new task for us to do each day. Just one more example of adding more straws to the camel's back. And then when we complain about our workload, they will point to metrics that show we have had fewer calls than 6 months ago, so we have no room to complain. Yeah, but 6 months ago we didn't have 10 extra daily tasks to do.
I recently received an e-mail from my boss asking for an update on a few things I have been working on. Particularly, he wanted an update about tasks that have taken more than 5 days. I didn't know if he wanted to know why they were taking more than 5 days, or if he wanted an update about how they were progressing. The difference is subtle, but I wasn't certain of what he wanted in the update.
So I asked. I guess that I was the only person to ask (the same e-mail was sent to most of us). Even though he was vague with his request, and even though I could see two possible and different yet correct answers to his request, I was the only person who asked. So to my boss it appears that I'm not the sharpest tool in the shed, because he was not able to anticipate that there could be 2 different yet correct answers to the question.
BTW, he wanted an update on each case that was taking more than 5 days. And this is probably going to be a new task for us to do each day. Just one more example of adding more straws to the camel's back. And then when we complain about our workload, they will point to metrics that show we have had fewer calls than 6 months ago, so we have no room to complain. Yeah, but 6 months ago we didn't have 10 extra daily tasks to do.
2009-01-01
Details about my 2008 CD
Overall, keep in mind that I don't include songs with the intention of conveying any messages. In fact, I will usually exclude songs because I don't want anyone thinking that a theme was intended. So if you find a hidden message or something offensive, it is probably a coincidence.
01. Ashes Divide - Keep Telling Myself It's Alright - 02 - Denial Waits
You are all lucky (or unlucky) that my 2008 CD wasn't just this entire album.
02. Ashes Divide - Keep Telling Myself It's Alright - 04 - Forever Can Be
I love the line "We all want... you to see... the you we see". If more people would see themselves the way their family and friends saw them, this world would be a better place.
03. Ashes Divide - Keep Telling Myself It's Alright - 06 - Enemies
Do not listen to this song while driving, it makes you speed. This song kicks more ass than any 3 songs ever written. Well not really, because songs like "Pet", "Judith", "Man In The Box" etc, are all about as powerful.
04. Rilo Kiley - Under The Blacklight - 06 - Dreamworld
I love Rilo Kiley because they have interesting lyrics and Jenny Lewis has a nice voice. But this is hands down my favorite song of theirs, ever, and it's one of the few new songs that is sung by Blake.
05. Rilo Kiley - Take Offs & Landings - 03 - Wires And Waves
Just a catchy tune. I almost didn't include it because of the "planes they smash up in the sky" line seeming forboding with Marianne's job.
06. Rilo Kiley - More Adventurous - 09 - Love And War (11-11-46)
I just like this song. Jenny does a good job and this is a good example of how she could sing just about anything.
07. Rilo Kiley - More Adventurous - 02 - Does He Love You?
This song isn't the best of topics, but it ends with so much emotion in Jenny's voice, and that's one of the things that will sell me on a song. If the singer sounds like they believe in what they are singing, I find that to be more engrossing than clever lyrics or beautiful playing. However, this song has clever lyrics and is well written too. I was going to include "The Slow Fade Of Love" because it's such a beautiful song too, but both this song and that together would be too depressing for one mix disk.
08. Cream - The Very Best Of Cream - 20 - Badge
I've had Cream's greatest hits album for years and had never really given this song the listen that it needed. About mid December I was listening to the album again, and was just blown away by Badge. It was written by George Harrison and Eric Clapton for the last album, and is a perfect example of how genius those guys are.
09. Lisa Hannigan - Sea Sew - 06 - Keep It All
Since many of you may only know Lisa through her affiliation with Damian Rice (her album was only recently available in the US), I thought that including one of the examples of how fun and alluring her solo work is would be a good idea. In Keep It All her voice is both sweet and sultry. This is singing, something that modern Top-40 sluts could never reproduce. And Lisa will probably not make 1/100th of what those ho-bags make.
10. Lisa Hannigan - Sea Sew - 08 - Pistachio
This is an example of Lisa singing light and fun. You should have seen her in concert, she could segue naturally from simple and slow to fast and powerful.
11. Spoon - Gimme Fiction - 07 - I Summon You
I've loved this song ever since KaRyn tried to put it on a mix disk for me (she put 'The Infinite Pet' on by mistake).
12. Paramore - Twilight - 02 - Decode
I bought the Twilight soundtrack for this song alone. It was worth it, even if this had been the only decent song...
13. The Black Ghosts - Twilight - 03 - Full Moon
...but the soundtrack had other songs of value. About 2/3 of them are great, and none of them sucked.
14. The Weakerthans - Purchased - 01 - Virtue the Cat Explains Her Departure
This song is from the perspective of a pet cat. It's a sad song describing how a pet misses it's owner after a bad breakup brought the owner into a depression.
15. The Weakerthans - Purchased - 02 - Pamphleteer
Another slow song. I love the part where he describes how he doesn't know what to do with his hands when they talk, and she doesn't know where to look, so she looks at his hands. It paints a picture of two shy people clumsily meeting up.
16. The Weakerthans - Purchased - 03 - Plea from a Cat Named Virtue
Virtue has had enough of the emo and is now demanding that it's owner cheer up.
17. Bury Your Dead - Beauty And The Breakdown - House Of Brick
I am a firm believer that EVERY genre has quality music in it. It is my opinion that if you hate a certain genre, it's because you haven't put in enough effort to find the right songs. However, some genres take a LOT more work to find the good songs. That is why I don't own much country music. This song is a perfect example of hardcore metal that is well played. The lyrics are a bit stereotyped, but the guitar is done very well.
And that's my 2008 CD. If you need a copy, let me know. I can make a digital version available or burn you a disk if you prefer.
01. Ashes Divide - Keep Telling Myself It's Alright - 02 - Denial Waits
You are all lucky (or unlucky) that my 2008 CD wasn't just this entire album.
02. Ashes Divide - Keep Telling Myself It's Alright - 04 - Forever Can Be
I love the line "We all want... you to see... the you we see". If more people would see themselves the way their family and friends saw them, this world would be a better place.
03. Ashes Divide - Keep Telling Myself It's Alright - 06 - Enemies
Do not listen to this song while driving, it makes you speed. This song kicks more ass than any 3 songs ever written. Well not really, because songs like "Pet", "Judith", "Man In The Box" etc, are all about as powerful.
04. Rilo Kiley - Under The Blacklight - 06 - Dreamworld
I love Rilo Kiley because they have interesting lyrics and Jenny Lewis has a nice voice. But this is hands down my favorite song of theirs, ever, and it's one of the few new songs that is sung by Blake.
05. Rilo Kiley - Take Offs & Landings - 03 - Wires And Waves
Just a catchy tune. I almost didn't include it because of the "planes they smash up in the sky" line seeming forboding with Marianne's job.
06. Rilo Kiley - More Adventurous - 09 - Love And War (11-11-46)
I just like this song. Jenny does a good job and this is a good example of how she could sing just about anything.
07. Rilo Kiley - More Adventurous - 02 - Does He Love You?
This song isn't the best of topics, but it ends with so much emotion in Jenny's voice, and that's one of the things that will sell me on a song. If the singer sounds like they believe in what they are singing, I find that to be more engrossing than clever lyrics or beautiful playing. However, this song has clever lyrics and is well written too. I was going to include "The Slow Fade Of Love" because it's such a beautiful song too, but both this song and that together would be too depressing for one mix disk.
08. Cream - The Very Best Of Cream - 20 - Badge
I've had Cream's greatest hits album for years and had never really given this song the listen that it needed. About mid December I was listening to the album again, and was just blown away by Badge. It was written by George Harrison and Eric Clapton for the last album, and is a perfect example of how genius those guys are.
09. Lisa Hannigan - Sea Sew - 06 - Keep It All
Since many of you may only know Lisa through her affiliation with Damian Rice (her album was only recently available in the US), I thought that including one of the examples of how fun and alluring her solo work is would be a good idea. In Keep It All her voice is both sweet and sultry. This is singing, something that modern Top-40 sluts could never reproduce. And Lisa will probably not make 1/100th of what those ho-bags make.
10. Lisa Hannigan - Sea Sew - 08 - Pistachio
This is an example of Lisa singing light and fun. You should have seen her in concert, she could segue naturally from simple and slow to fast and powerful.
11. Spoon - Gimme Fiction - 07 - I Summon You
I've loved this song ever since KaRyn tried to put it on a mix disk for me (she put 'The Infinite Pet' on by mistake).
12. Paramore - Twilight - 02 - Decode
I bought the Twilight soundtrack for this song alone. It was worth it, even if this had been the only decent song...
13. The Black Ghosts - Twilight - 03 - Full Moon
...but the soundtrack had other songs of value. About 2/3 of them are great, and none of them sucked.
14. The Weakerthans - Purchased - 01 - Virtue the Cat Explains Her Departure
This song is from the perspective of a pet cat. It's a sad song describing how a pet misses it's owner after a bad breakup brought the owner into a depression.
15. The Weakerthans - Purchased - 02 - Pamphleteer
Another slow song. I love the part where he describes how he doesn't know what to do with his hands when they talk, and she doesn't know where to look, so she looks at his hands. It paints a picture of two shy people clumsily meeting up.
16. The Weakerthans - Purchased - 03 - Plea from a Cat Named Virtue
Virtue has had enough of the emo and is now demanding that it's owner cheer up.
17. Bury Your Dead - Beauty And The Breakdown - House Of Brick
I am a firm believer that EVERY genre has quality music in it. It is my opinion that if you hate a certain genre, it's because you haven't put in enough effort to find the right songs. However, some genres take a LOT more work to find the good songs. That is why I don't own much country music. This song is a perfect example of hardcore metal that is well played. The lyrics are a bit stereotyped, but the guitar is done very well.
And that's my 2008 CD. If you need a copy, let me know. I can make a digital version available or burn you a disk if you prefer.
Shure SE110 headphones... suck
I bought a pair of these ear-canal headphones and here is my 2 month review. These are in-ear or canal-phones, and cost about $99 retail. For that price they are targeting people that want something better than the stock PMP headphones that came with their iPod or Zune. However I think that both Zune owners have already upgraded. These aren't real audiophile headphones (no canal-phones are IMO) for the reasons I will list below. Most of my complaints are actually problems with the in-ear style that many manufacturers use, and not actual complaints about anything that is unique to these headphones.
The sound quality is very good. Bass representation is very good and is one of the strengths of all in-ear designs. Mids and highs are clear and full, but I've heard sound that seems like high-frequency compression artifacts or saturated drivers. The times I've noticed it required volumes that could have saturated the output of my iPod, and therefore would be unfair to blame the headphones. More testing is required on my part, so I will use the headphones that I use for Ventrilo on my gaming PC, and also plug the 110's into the output of my Audigy X-Fi.
These are amazing at blocking outside noise, which is how they are marketed. This comes at the cost of hearing EVERYTHING that goes on inside your body. Closing your mouth will yield the teeth clicking sound. This could result in you never closing your mouth fully. Coughing will scare the living crap out of you the first time. Breathing (yes, breathing) will be slightly disruptive during quiet segments of your music. Don't bother eating while listening to these headphones. And walking forces you to turn the volume up higher than you otherwise might play your music. You will hear the sound of your feet impacting the floor transfer through your bones to your ears. Normally this sound escapes out the ear and is not noticeable. If you want to know what this sounds like, stick your fingers in your ears and walk around on a hard floor.
The cords "microphones" a lot more than other headphone designs. Microphoning is when headphone cords make contact with something (like sliding over your shirt) and results in unwanted noise at the earpiece. My coat has a zipper, and when the cord moves over that zipper, it is about as disruptive as anything could possibly be.
I keep my ears pretty clean. I go through Q-tips faster than most guys, partly because I can't stand water or wax in my ears. So my ears get swabbed after every shower. At the end of work, there is a light glaze of wax on the sleeves that fit the earbuds in order to block outside noise. This makes an almost sickening sound as you remove the headphones. It's somewhat easy to clean them, but do you keep a tissue with you everywhere you go? Nope, so you are cleaning the headphones on your jeans. If you are adverse to ear wax, you should probably not buy headphones that come with a tool designed to clean wax out of the device. I now keep a small box of Q-tips at my desk at work because of these headphones.
I would rate the comfort at 75-95%. I never got to the point that I didn't know they were in my ears. They come with three sets of foam sleeves (three different sizes) and three sets made of rubber. Like foam earplugs you may have used, you compress the foam before inserting them in your ear. Then you wait for the foam to expand. This means it takes about 10 seconds per ear to put these headphones in when using those sleeves. The foam sleeves are a bit more comfortable for me, but a lot less convenient when putting in and taking out the headphones a lot. The foam sleeves also block more sound, which results in even more internal noise. But the rubber sleeves clean off better. Still, there's no way I'd share these with anyone without swapping sleeves.
It should be noted that both sound and comfort will vary a lot depending on how well you fit them. This includes selecting the proper sleeve and making sure the 110's are put in your ear properly. It's not rocket science, but it can be done wrong. And you may find that the sleeves that are the most comfortable are not the ones that sound the best. Also, the rubber sleeves can form a seal before they are fully in place, leading to the feeling of a pressure change in your ear canal after you finish pushing them further in place.
Overall, these are very good headphones if you don't move or breathe, and don't mind ear-wax. My opinion is that supra-aural headphones are the best choice for most applications. Since most supra-aural headphones are large, they may not be the best choice for a portable application. But I will never buy another pair of canal-phones. My Bang and Olufsen (http://www.bang-olufsen.com/) A8's were superior in every way but comfort and price.
The sound quality is very good. Bass representation is very good and is one of the strengths of all in-ear designs. Mids and highs are clear and full, but I've heard sound that seems like high-frequency compression artifacts or saturated drivers. The times I've noticed it required volumes that could have saturated the output of my iPod, and therefore would be unfair to blame the headphones. More testing is required on my part, so I will use the headphones that I use for Ventrilo on my gaming PC, and also plug the 110's into the output of my Audigy X-Fi.
These are amazing at blocking outside noise, which is how they are marketed. This comes at the cost of hearing EVERYTHING that goes on inside your body. Closing your mouth will yield the teeth clicking sound. This could result in you never closing your mouth fully. Coughing will scare the living crap out of you the first time. Breathing (yes, breathing) will be slightly disruptive during quiet segments of your music. Don't bother eating while listening to these headphones. And walking forces you to turn the volume up higher than you otherwise might play your music. You will hear the sound of your feet impacting the floor transfer through your bones to your ears. Normally this sound escapes out the ear and is not noticeable. If you want to know what this sounds like, stick your fingers in your ears and walk around on a hard floor.
The cords "microphones" a lot more than other headphone designs. Microphoning is when headphone cords make contact with something (like sliding over your shirt) and results in unwanted noise at the earpiece. My coat has a zipper, and when the cord moves over that zipper, it is about as disruptive as anything could possibly be.
I keep my ears pretty clean. I go through Q-tips faster than most guys, partly because I can't stand water or wax in my ears. So my ears get swabbed after every shower. At the end of work, there is a light glaze of wax on the sleeves that fit the earbuds in order to block outside noise. This makes an almost sickening sound as you remove the headphones. It's somewhat easy to clean them, but do you keep a tissue with you everywhere you go? Nope, so you are cleaning the headphones on your jeans. If you are adverse to ear wax, you should probably not buy headphones that come with a tool designed to clean wax out of the device. I now keep a small box of Q-tips at my desk at work because of these headphones.
I would rate the comfort at 75-95%. I never got to the point that I didn't know they were in my ears. They come with three sets of foam sleeves (three different sizes) and three sets made of rubber. Like foam earplugs you may have used, you compress the foam before inserting them in your ear. Then you wait for the foam to expand. This means it takes about 10 seconds per ear to put these headphones in when using those sleeves. The foam sleeves are a bit more comfortable for me, but a lot less convenient when putting in and taking out the headphones a lot. The foam sleeves also block more sound, which results in even more internal noise. But the rubber sleeves clean off better. Still, there's no way I'd share these with anyone without swapping sleeves.
It should be noted that both sound and comfort will vary a lot depending on how well you fit them. This includes selecting the proper sleeve and making sure the 110's are put in your ear properly. It's not rocket science, but it can be done wrong. And you may find that the sleeves that are the most comfortable are not the ones that sound the best. Also, the rubber sleeves can form a seal before they are fully in place, leading to the feeling of a pressure change in your ear canal after you finish pushing them further in place.
Overall, these are very good headphones if you don't move or breathe, and don't mind ear-wax. My opinion is that supra-aural headphones are the best choice for most applications. Since most supra-aural headphones are large, they may not be the best choice for a portable application. But I will never buy another pair of canal-phones. My Bang and Olufsen (http://www.bang-olufsen.com/) A8's were superior in every way but comfort and price.
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