QUESTIONS
ANSWERS By: Austin Smith
Velcro makes useful products. Well, variations on the same useful products. And it being so popular that its name has become the word for hook-and-loop attachment systems is a testament to this. And I’m glad that they have many different products to meet many differing needs. When I was looking to secure something to my backpack shoulder strap I found the Velcro One-Wrap Ties and thought “That’s what I need”.
Now I know that a cut-up regular strip of Velcro could do the same thing, but with the simple attachment system built right, in these strips are very handy in a variety of situations with no customization needed. They are the non-industrial Velcro variety, so they aren’t the absolute best at holding together, but they do a pretty good job. The attachment system is essentially a wider end with a slot that you feed a smaller end through. This is the same principle that a lot of cable ties use, but these are reusable, and more comfortable to use than those are.
They come mainly in multi-colored packs, which I’m not a fan of but can deal with, and for most people that will aid in the organization of the cords they’re storing organizing with them. But I have a bit of a different use. I use mine to secure a pouch holding a canister of pepper spray to my backpack, and one looped through a belt-loop and onto itself to hold a flashlight to a waist-pack camera bag. Both of these tasks are much more difficult than the pen- and cable-corralling the packaging suggests the use is. And the strips have held up quite well. They are more secure than my previous Velcro cut-to-size straps, and only loosen after fiddling around with them for quite some time. I have yet to have one fall off, and have only had to adjust them once in several months of use.
So there’s one more use to add to an already useful and “fairly” inexpensive product. For their intended purpose they work well, and can even take on a few more difficult tasks along the way.
QUESTIONS
ANSWERS By: Austin Smith
This review has been a long time coming. I first picked up the Flex by FiloFax pocket book a year ago from a surplus store as they were being discontinued in America (though I can find them on Amazon again now). I’ve never really been the organizer type and I didn’t know what I would use the item for, but it was cheap, and black goes with anything so I picked it up. How could I resist another notebook?
So I have settled on a use for it, and it goes with me (almost) every day as my wallet (second wallet: my first one isn’t large enough to carry much cash and business cards as it’s attached to my phone). So this will be a review of the product as a wallet, and not the myriad of other things it could be used for.
The book comes with two notebooks that I’ll cover first. One is a small, journal-type book, and the other is a tear-able (not a pun) pad. Both are good quality paper that’s fairly smooth, and can stand up to some fountain pens even, but they’re a bit stiff. They fit snugly into the slots on the cover and never seem too intrusive or fattening. Replacement books and other styles can be bought individually, and they are still good even if not protected in the cover.
The cover has a leatherette feel to it (I don’t know the material) but it’s pretty strong and the spine is designed to be flexible so it doesn’t look bad or get destroyed by being opened and closed a lot. On the outside there’s nothing but stitching and a subdued logo, which I like. On the inside there are two panels, each has an inside-facing, and outside-facing pocket that are about business card size and can hold the notebook covers. One panel then has three card slots for business/credit cards or the pad, and the other side has only one slot for either the pad or any other item that FiloFax made to be put in there (I suppose cards would work there too, but there is only one slot). Finally, it comes with a thin piece of cardboard with a pen loop attached that can be inserted into the back pockets, allowing for one to easily take their pen with them.
I personally have: business cards, cash, a small pen (Monteverde Poquito stylus), and all of the included items stored inside. The cover has held up well, with no signs of wear yet, and while I rarely use the books because I have so many other ones (and I’m not a fan of jot-pads) they do come in handy and can take inks that many cheaper papers can’t. I’ve had no problems with the spine or the pockets, and the stitching is still all there. I wish it was a little more customizable, but I wish that about everything.
The Flex is a quality product, as a wallet, organizer, or notebook. It is very customizable and very hardy. If one’s needs change, the Flex can change with them, and it seems to be built well enough to last through those changes. I really like it, and wish it was more widely available here (it might be now: I need to check up on it). It is on the bulky side, so it’s not for the minimalist, and more customizable options would be nice. But unless I see something great I’m not on the hunt for another wallet.
Now, if the some of my past Articles/Blog Posts are any indication, it seems to have become increasingly clear to me that: a) no one in the tech industry has any idea what they’re doing anymore, and b) tech companies are innately a dumb kind of evil. And no matter how many times Google says “don’t be evil” at me it is still obvious that it’s a vampire that feeds on people’s souls through data collection.
But, as I’ve talked about before, for as much data as Google collects, as wide a range as its audience is, and as powerful as its (self-driving cars, and painting computer) technology becomes, it is still really bad at doing things. I’ve talked before about how bad their various interfaces are, and it’s pretty accepted that most hacking is most easily done through ones Gmail account. But even the one thing that they are supposedly doing really well, making tons of money with targeted ads, doesn’t really work for me. As a matter of fact I would say that the Google ad system, as I’ve interacted with it, is broken to the point of being unable to convince me to but a product.
I do recognize that part of that is due to my more sporadic and oddball nature. I do recognize that the things I like are on the fringe of society, and that perhaps people who in general like more popular stuff would be more susceptible to Google’s methods. But I have never once had a “targeted” ad be for something that I was looking for, or rather, something that predicted the item I was trying to buy. I have had some ads that give me photos of items I had looked at several hours ago from the same site in the ad, which, if anything, made me want to purchase it less. I’ve also gotten many more ads from sites I’ve already signed up to, as opposed to ones I hadn’t heard of but were interested in.
Because I’m in Texas, and sometimes near the border, I’ve gotten ads for a salon in Spanish. Not only can I not understand what is being said, I really have no use for a salon at all. I’ve gotten information about services I don’t use, in languages I don’t speak, from my city, and a whole number of random things that are “popular” that I care about not at all.
In short, I’d never consider advertising with Google, because they have done such a poor job of advertising to me. I consider the targeted ads of today a failure, but I don’t really want them to get better. I’m fine figuring out what I like on my own, because “don’t be evil” is relative.