Hackjob

"Help me, or I'll steal your Greenies." Just a short plug for something I feel very strongly about - consumer protection. We live in a increasingly consumer hostile age where it feels like us consumers have less and less control over the products we buy and the services we use. Apart from the rare content creator that isn't shilling for VPNs or pube trimmers, where do you turn to when you just want straightforward information about whether or not a company - no matter how niche - is going to screw you by opting into their terms of service?

I had no real intentions on getting another buckling spring keyboard following the sublime Model F Labs Classic F104, but this was just too good of deal to pass up, and I figured it'd be fun to compare the two side by side. What I have here is an actual IBM Model F 'AT'; widely considered to be the best of the original Model F designs. Does it hold up today?

Up next is another once highly regarded Logitech trackball that has also been absent from their lineup for a little over a decade at this point: the Cordless Optical Trackman. Despite it's chops, and some promising features, you probably shouldn't buy one. Here's why.

Prior to the last crypto rush screwing up the GPU market for people who actually want to, well... y'know; process graphics instead of participating in energy devouring pyramid schemes, I was spent some time upgrading and flipping old Mac Pro towers. Since used GPU prices had mostly returned to normal, I decided to get back into it, but this time with a few new additions - and a lot more pain.

It would be a disservice - me doing a trackball extravaganza, and not trying what's widely regarded as the greatest one ever made: the Microsoft Trackball Explorer. But despite this thing's glowing reputation, it's still a two-decade old peripheral. Is it still deserving of all the praise, or did time finally catch up? Let's find out.

Up next in my little trackball deep dive is an offering from Logitech that's held in very high esteem by the community thanks to it's radical shape, but it also has been absent from the market for roughly two decades at this point. What the hell happened to it? And is it even any good? Let's take a look.

Just on a whim, I decided to hook myself up with some computer trackballs so I could see if this long overshadowed alternative to desktop rodents was ever worthwhile. I'll be doing a few reviews of these in the coming days, and first up we have the hilariously christened Elecom Huge. It certainly lives up to it's name - for better or worse.