@stefanie: I’ll test it with linux this weekend and I’ll let you know. :)

ok thanks. they seem to be more expensive in europe, more than 60 euros in the local computer shop and 52 euros on amazon.fr . i think i’ll wait to buy one until i’m sure they work on linux.

@Hector: Yeah, same here – I feel naked without some time keeping device. Although on an average work day I can function without a wristwatch or a phone since I’m sitting at a computer and can check time just by glancing at a taskbar.

When I was back in college, and before I got my first laptop leaving the house without the phone was major issue because

a) no one could reach me
b) I could reach no one
c) I would never know what time it was

@stefanie: about $50, and I have not tested it on Linux. I usually don’t use my laptop for these presentations since each classroom has a windows box already set up to work with the projector / smartboard and ready to go.

How much did you pay for it, and does it work on linux?

I’ve been using this presenter for about six months now, and works great. My previous “clicker” was a wireless mouse, so it was quite an inprovement for me :-)

The laziness to replace wrist-watch batteries… i felt like you were talking of me!! Now I use the phone as a clock too, but before I had one I developed almost superpowers to get to see the time on someone else’s wirst-watch just standing by. Because in addition to my laziness I have a compulsion to check the time every few minutes when I am on my way to somewhere… :-)

[quote post=”2875″]I took it down to my mailboxes one day and tried shining it at the apartment complex that is 1/4 to 1/2 mile away and could see a very clear and distinct point. In fact, the little bit of dust in the air made the beam partly visible along the way, and it looked incredibly fake to see something that straight for that long of a distance.[/quote]

This reminds me of that story with the laser pointer and the plane. It’s probably an urban legend but the story goes that two kinds bought one of these ultra bright laser pointers online and decided to play laser tag with a passing plane.

Amazingly enough they managed to angle the thing just so it hit the pilot cabin and seriously freaked out the crew. They immediately called in as a terrorist threat. Long story short, the plane had to make an emergency landing somewhere and the kids were snagged by the police and all kinds of brouhaha ensued.

Oh, re laser pointers – I think CVS used to sell a really cheap pen/pointer combo for like $2 or something. I have a pile of these at home – half of them stopped working after a while so I kept buying them whenever I was in the store.

My brother at one time mounted one of these damn things on top of his nerf gun and managed to calibrate it so that it would actually point at where the nerf dart would hit at medium to close range.

But it was a pain, cause whoever was on the receiving end of that gun would get face full of laser each time. The usual reaction to this is “Dude, not in the eyes” as you avert/shield your eyes. As soon as you do that though you get nerf raped so we banned it’s use as it would give you an unfair advantage. :P

[quote post=”2875″]Yes, it does look a little bit like an electric shaver/hair trimmer from afar.[/quote]

LOL! Exactly what I was thinking when I saw this in my RSS reader. It showed up to the picture, but I had to scroll to see your text. I actually went into the bathroom to check what brand my shaver was because I was going to make that comment, but you beat me to it in your own post, haha.

Your ordeal with going from the cheapo clicker to the nice one reminds me of my progression of laser pointers. I bought a super cheap ($2? maybe less) one basically just to give my cats something to chase. Who cares if it breaks? It was cheap and didn’t need to perform any essential functions. After a while the button became loose and wouldn’t push down the metal piece that would connect the circuit well. Sometimes I could get a little weak light but not usually. My normal habit when buying things is to do a lot of research first and buy something that meets my needs, regardless of the price (I think we’re of a like mind there), but this was for the cats, and they didn’t do any research, so whatever…. Anyway, I ended up looking for a better one in the $10-20 range and Amazon had a nice looking one for $15ish, if I remember right. It retailed at over $100!? “Why not?” I thought and ordered it. It’s awesome but OHMYGODITISSOBRIGHTITHINKIAMBLIND!! Okay, maybe it’s not that bad, but it’s pretty close. It’s very bright. I took it down to my mailboxes one day and tried shining it at the apartment complex that is 1/4 to 1/2 mile away and could see a very clear and distinct point. In fact, the little bit of dust in the air made the beam partly visible along the way, and it looked incredibly fake to see something that straight for that long of a distance. It’s amazing what paying a little more will do for the quality.

That timer feature is awesome. That’s one of the hardest parts when teaching, lecturing, presenting, etc., so I would love that feature. Of course, I also enjoy the image of someone screaming in surprise when it vibrated, hehehe.

That storable receiver is great too. It’s like the Logitech mouse I have for my (now dead) laptop in which the little receiver just clicks onto the bottom of the mouse.