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My Moo MiniCards have arrived in the mail!  I was itching to open the box but I was thoughtful enough to grab my camera to share the experience with the rest of you ;)

So read on for pics and a detailed review with my thoughts on these MiniCards from Moo.com

As I detailed in my last post I ordered a set of 100 Moo MiniCards along with a black Moo MiniCards holder to keep my MiniCards always handy.

The order came in one small envelope package. The order was declared through customs in Canada, as it was shipped from Europe, and there were no duties or extra taxes paid on the order.

Inside the package, Moo included a pre-addressed label which you can stick back on the package to send the order back if there was a problem with it and you aren't completely satisfied. Thumbs up to Moo for including this and making it easy if there are problems.

A receipt type thing inside the cards package. The box is a plastic thing and not cardboard which was what I thought it would be. It acts as a nice card holder on the desk.

The 4 photos I got printed onto the cards. The text on the back is really crisp. The photos are really clear. Quality is really good considering I had really high expectations. The cards look flawless in my eyes. They feel solid, sturdy and they are cleanly cut on the edges.

Here's a picture of the sexy MiniCard keychain holder... convenient way to carry the MiniCards wherever you go. The material feels really cheap though and this will become a scratch magnet soon enough because of the soft glossy finish on it.

Moo put a little suprise in the MiniCards holder. A colourful bunch of Moo MiniCards with discount codes on it for 20% off your first order of MiniCards! I will be giving these codes away soon.

My MiniCards inside the holder. Fits about 15-20 cards.

Well I was browsing the web late at night a few days ago and I came across the link to a site called Moo and they specialize in printing many things.  Apparently the quality of their printing is respectable as well.  I really thought this was a unique and interesting opportunity to grab myself some business cards from them!

Moo MiniCards

Moo offers this special/unique business card style, called MiniCards.  As the name suggests, these are not your regular business cards, the dimension of the MiniCards is 28mm x 70mm.  Designing the card is fairly straight forward and effortless.  You can upload photos and this acts as the front side of your business card.  Then the online interface guides you and allows you to add simple text to the back of the card.  Then your cards are ready for print and order!

The unique dimension and simplicity of the cards really drove me to order a set of these.  So I put in an order for 100 MiniCards as well as a black Moo’s MiniCard holder which is an extra accessory allowing you to conveniently have a set of your MiniCards in your pocket at all times.

The order came out to $24.98 + $7.98 for regular shipping.  Not bad in my opinion for a pack of these.  Now I’m anxiously awaiting to see how the quality of these cards are.  If they turn out well, Moo will definantely be getting more of my business and referrals.

Stay tuned for the review of my Moo MiniCards when they come in.

I recently wanted to add an icon at the top of this blog to allow people to join my community on MyBlogLog.

MyBlogLog is a social network for the blogger community that is based in part on interactions facilitated by a popular web widget that many members install on their blog.

When I first started off this blog I found MyBlogLog to be a valuable site as it gave me instant connection with my readers.  So I thought it be fitting to continue using the service.  The problem was I couldn’t find a good copy of the logo to fit into my design, so I decided to create it myself.  The logo is very simple as MyBlogLog’s logo is essentially styled text. (continue reading…)

Yup, trying this gig again. Let’s see how it turns out. Hopefully better than the last two times now that I have a bit more time.

I’m hoping to focus more on my passions of technology and web rather than money like before which obviously failed.

I recently attended a conference and one of the speakers mentioned the success of his site derived from his mantra of “heart, mind, wallet”. The idea being, he built the site based on the passion of his heart and of his mind; rather than the wallet. With that being said, I’ve always needed a place to lay down my technical ramblings as I deal with technology everyday.

I hope this can continue to be a standing ground for my passion of the technology and web. Stay tuned :)

There’s a logo contest going on for a local student initiated club at the University of Toronto(Scarborough Campus) called “Scarborough Campus Files“.

Scarborough Campus Files (SCF) is a newly-created organization whose goal is to create an online/digital yearbook of student life, clubs, events, graduates, and faculty at the University of Toronto Scarborough. This yearbook will be launched on a website and sold as CDs afterwards.

You can find out more about SCF over at http://scfonline.ca.

I’m actually the Vice President of Information Technology for SCF and the IT Team played a big role in getting the site all setup (details of which I will share at another time). SCF decided to hold a logo contest and here are the quick facts.

Prize: $50 gift card at Scarborough Town Centre, recognition in the yearbook and credits
Requirements: Logo must include ‘SCF’ or ‘Scarborough Campus Files’. Logo has to be vector format.
Deadline: March 21st, 2008
Send in entries to scf@utsc.utoronto.ca

Good luck and be sure to tell your friends who may be interested to get designing!

Just thought I’d share with you how my workstation at home looks like. I know a lot of computer geeks (and non computer geeks) like seeing the setup of people’s desktop and where they work. So here are pictures of my workstation taken with my camera phone!

Laptop - Toshiba Satellite A200-AH5
Intel Core Duo 2.00GHz
1024MB Ram Original (upgraded to 2048MB)
120GB Hard Drive Space
15.4″ Glossy Widescreen
Windows Vista Home Premium

LCD Monitor - Dell 2005FPW
20″ Matte Widescreen LCD
1680×1050 Native Resolution
16.7 Million Colours Support (one of the few LCD panels that can truly support the full 16.7)
IPS Type LCD Panel (almost perfect viewing angles with no colour distortion, support for 16.7 with no dithering)

The laptop I got for around $650 with a $150 gift card I received as a gift from one of my high school teachers. It’s great for it’s use. I bring it to school as a portable and bring it home as a desktop. It’s a very fast machine after upgrading the ram to 2GB. The computer really wasn’t sufficient with only 1GB running Vista. The build quality is more or less solid and it does it’s job nice. The only real gripe I have with it is the awkward bilingual keyboard(which I’ve gotten used to by now) and the glossy outer casing. The glossy coating on the outside is a fingerprint magnet and always gets dirty.

The monitor I purchased used for only $200! One of my best hardware investments I have to say as having the second monitor has proved invaluable. This has got to be one of the best LCD monitors to hit the market. Unfortunately they are no longer being produced. It’s a 20″ LCD built with an LG IPS panel. There are 3 main types of panels used in LCD manufacturing: TN, MVA, IPS. TN are the most widely used as they are the cheapest to manufacture. The problem with TN panels is that they support only 16.2 million colours and it simulates the rest of the colours through dithering. Also TN panels have horrible viewing angles which distort the image when you don’t look at the screen directly. IPS is basically the opposite of the TN panel and are the best panels you can get in LCD monitors. The Dell 2005FPW has been compared to the Apple Cinema displays which retail for almost $800.

When I went to look for a new LCD for a dual monitor setup I knew I wanted this one so it took months of researching and searching before I was able to find a seller who was willing to give his up. Now that I have it, it was well worth the effort. The monitor is amazing. In that last picture you see that the 2005FPW can tilt 90 degrees and have a very high vertical resolution which is great for browsing websites without scrolling. The monitor also has height, tilt, and rotate adjustment capabilities so it’s very ergonomic and you can adjust it to just about anyway you need to have it.

Do you have pictures of your computer setup? Feel free to share them with me! As a fellow computer geek, I love seeing other setups as well.