Friday was a surprisingly “lucky” day for me.

Apart from being able to get a lot of work done with a very interesting project at work, I also was able to get my first check for this voiceover sideline thingie I’ve been doing for about a year now. (maybe less, but who keeps track, right?)

These were the “immediate results” of that day – but the story behind them is the more enjoyable part of it all.

Sideline

You may be wondering why I only got paid now – when I’ve been doing it for quite a while. Well, apparently that’s how that particular industry works – or at least that’s how it was explained to me.

The first thing friends who recommended I try it out told me that I shouldn’t do it simply to make money. Or at least don’t get into it thinking that it’ll be a source of income. There’s a “processing period” of half a year at the very least before any “payment” to the talent is released. So at best, it’s really best to just treat it as “bonus income.” The scenario they used was: don’t expect to be paid immediately, but expect to be surprised that one of these days you suddenly have a check ready and you can use the money to have a nice dinner somewhere.

Now this appealed to me because it was perfect for my setup. I’m earning decently with my current job, so while I would welcome extra income – it’s not like I’m desperate for it. That, and there’s no conflict of interest with the nature of my current job (design/programming). Since I work at home, I could just slip out and record and be back in an hour or two tops – and it would be easy to just put in extra hours to make up for the “extended break” I took during my shift.

Going back to the topic at hand; I didn’t have any expectations from this sideline. All I knew was I’d get paid someday and I didn’t even bother worrying about how much I’d get from it (because it wasn’t important). I was having fun just doing it – because it was a welcome break from the monotony of my daily routine. In fact, the check was already ready mid-October, I just never got to getting it till that day.

I was pleasantly surprised ¹ Actually, “pleasantly” is an understatement when I finally swung by to get it. I was expecting something along the lines of a couple of thousand bucks. ² In fairness, I was expecting the check(s) to cover a single “project”, but it turns out they consolidate batches of them My eyes widened when I took a look at the value – it was definitely more than a “nice dinner” – I could literally buy a new laptop or bike with it.

They weren’t kidding when they said it could be a lucrative business – because honestly, I’m not that good of a VO artist in the sense that my voice isn’t necessarily “unique” enough to be sought after often. Some talents there are mainstays because they’ve got the market cornered when it comes to the type of voice the client needs – I bet they’re earning more than I do with my regular job. But that’s beside the point, I’m just happy I get to have fun – while actually getting paid good money while I’m at it.

Alas, I’m using it to pay credit card balances and bills, but this really came in at a perfect time. We’re headed for Singapore this January and I prefer having my credit card at full capacity when taking trips out of the country – this just made it a whole lot easier 🙂

Upgrades: Logitech Peripherals

Now before all this voiceover shit, I was already set on upgrading my aging wireless Keyboard and Mouse. While friends know me for having the latest in tech – but seriously, this old keyboard and mouse I was using; I’ve been using for the last 4-5 years.

I didn’t choose to upgrade because I wanted to get new stuff – I was pretty much content with what I already had. Instead, I had to upgrade because the tech was too old to be of any practical use at this point in time.

Changing of the Guard: Wireless Peripherals

The old keyboard and mouse was literally still RF-based ³ Radio Frequency. Which in and of itself, has a lot of limitations (range, etc.) If you’ve got a lot of gadgets that are all running in one place, the interference requires the receiver to be close to the peripherals to work properly – in my case, always at the table.

That, and they’ve already stopped selling mice that are compatible with the receiver. I’ve gone through 3 mice (of the same model) after wearing the previous ones down – so the need to have a compatible mouse is important to me. The keyboard has always been in good working condition, though.

So I pretty much needed an upgrade. Logitech’s unified receiver technology is exactly the solution to my compatibility problem. It basically future-proofs my purchases. I could now change/upgrade to any wireless peripheral of theirs down the road, ⁴ Most likely when I’ve worn the KB or Mouse beyond use and be sure they’ll all work with the receiver I’ve already got. ⁵ And likewise, the older, “unified” peripherals will work with the new receiver.

Battery Woes

I’ve also been burning through batteries like it’s nobody’s business. Do you know that I actually have a case full of AA batteries for my old wireless mouse? I’m holding it right now – and by my count – I still have 20 AAs left (which is roughly about 10 more “cycles” for the old mouse).

The keyboard needs AAAs – so that’s another hassle to keep in mind. Thankfully, the KB lasts much longer than the mouse.

The obvious solution is to get rechargeable batteries – but remembering to charge and replace can be a chore. So the best solution was to have a mouse/keyboard that could charge itself – as well as the option to be able to plug it in to charge while in-use.

Thankfully, Logitech already had such mice/keyboards for a while now – so all I needed to do was check what was the best mouse/kb combination for my needs.

Keyboards

For the keyboard side of things, there was even a better offering than the be-able-to-charge-while-using type of keyboards. They had a solar-powered one! The K750. Case closed, end of story – this was the keyboard I wanted – and be rid of battery problems for-evah!

Mice & Darkfield Technology

It was great timing too, I was in the market for new mice – because Logitech’s Darkfield mice were starting to hit the local shelves.

Now, I use a glass table, and normal laser mice do not play well with glass – in fact, they don’t play with glass at all.

I had to get creative with the table to get a useable surface for mouse tracking. As cool as my solution was, it’ll never beat the elegance of a pure glass surface – not to mention that I could only use the mouse on that area I stuck the opaque surface with.

Darkfield is Logitech’s answer to laser tracking on glass. That’s pretty much self-explanatory – and since they did have a viable solution, I made it a non-negotiable feature for my list of mouse choices.

Now this “requirement” worked in my favor – since they only have (as of this posting) exactly two models that have Darkfield tech: the M950 Performance Mouse, and the M905 Anywhere Mouse

More Luck

A friend pointed me to the distributor of Logitech Asia – who in turn pointed me a preferred distributor in the Philippines.

I was after the M950 (mouse) because it had the right size and ergonomics for everyday use (plus it was the only one that was rechargeable and could be charged while in use.

The other Darkfield mouse, the M905, took in two AA batteries like my old one.

Unfortunately the local supplier only had the M905 in stock… and they didn’t have the K750. So I just settled for the M905. My consolation was that since it was newer, it probably had improved power management at the very least compared to my old mouse – that coupled with the Darkfield tech still made it a very good investment.

So after getting the [voiceover] check – I went straight to GreenHills ready to buy my new toys. I figured since I suddenly had an unexpected amount of extra cash on hand, I could just go around the other stores taking my chances and hoping they carried the stocks the supplier didn’t – even if I had to buy them at higher prices.

Turns out I did find both M950 and K750 in one of the VMall shops – and they were more expensive by just 200 bucks. I snatched them up right away, and since I was feeling generous because of the check I just received, I went ahead in getting an M905 as a spare – so that when the day comes the 950’s busted, I would still have a working Darkfield mouse on hand while looking for a replacement.

But wait, there’s more! The day I bought these peripherals was the day that a shop-wide Logitech Promo had just begun. If you buy certain models, you get freebies – and the two models I got were eligible for the freebies! If you would check the very first picture above, you’ll see two headsets on the far right – those were free 🙂

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So that’s my Friday story. What was supposed to be a typical routine day with the exception of a planned upgrade turned out to be a day of extra money, luck, AND TOYS!

Now If you want to know what I think about the new stuff I got, then read on.

Impressions / Review

K750

There’s nothing much to say about this – even if I think it’s one of the best things I’ve ever bought. It’s pretty straightforward. So I’ll just get into the PROs and CONs.

PROS

1. Solar power – No batteries needed. Period.
2. Unifying receiver – One recover for multiple devices with the same unifying technology – which is pretty much every future wireless product they’ll be making in the foreseeable future.
3. 2.4GHz connectivity – This is a proper wireless frequency. Having much better transmit/recieve performance, I can now bring both keyboard and mouse around the room and have them still work properly – even if the [tiny] receiver is connected on the back of my computer – which is on the floor.

CONS

The only con is that it feels like a laptop keyboard – Normally, we’d want the keys to have substance so we can type more comfortably.

But again, it’s not much of a big deal. In fact, I imagine it could be a positive thing – since everyone’s going mobile these days, perhaps getting used to a uniform “feeling” (whether on a desktop or laptop) might be better down the road – only time will tell.

M950 Performance Mouse

PROs

1. Rechargeable
2. Rechargeable WHILE being used
3. Darkfield technology – works on glass… and therefore would probably work on pretty much any surface.
4. Fast Scroll – this is a feature I really appreciate. The middle scroll wheel can be “unlocked” to a frictionless ⁶ Of course not entirely frictionless, but the idea is that it just keeps on turning “free-wheel” mode that can allow you to scroll through really long pages easily. This has proved to be most useful when browsing my music library – or going back and forth in email conversations.
5. Case for plug/cable/etc.

Cons

1. The left/right clickers are too “soft” for my taste – it makes it seem that they can wear down easily. Of course I might be overly pessimistic, but it just feels that way. Just like with keyboard buttons, I like my mouse-clicks to have tactile substance.

M905 Anywhere Mouse

PROs

1. Darkfield technology
2. Fast Scroll
3. Better left/right click tactile response – you can feel a solid “click.” Much more pleasant to click on
4. Built-in storage space for unifying receiver – this is obviously because the mouse was designed to be used in travel.
5. ON/OFF switch doubles as sensor cover – when it’s off, the sensor is covered: very well designed.
6. Comes with travel pouch

CONs

1. Not rechargeable
2. Smaller – if this had the ergonomics to fit a normal-sized hand for everyday use. I may have been willing to overlook the lack of “recharge-ability” and consider this over the M950 as my primary pointer.

Conclusion

So there you have it; [what I’d like to think is] an inspiring story, and some gadget porn (and useful mini-reviews of them)

Whatever the case may be, I’m a pretty happy camper – with an even happier-looking workspace 🙂