Mike's Quarter - the internet blog » Away from the PC

Top 7 best computer chairs – for home and office use

Mike — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 15:23:24 +0000

Top 7 best computer chairs

I’m sure most of you reading this article right now spend lots of hours sitting in a chair, in front of the computer. Either at home or at the office. Since i work in the online business, i have a similar problem, as i spend from 8 to 12 hours in such a chair every work day. And i started having back problems, although i’m just 24 years old. I don’t even want to thing how I’ll feel in ten years time. And I’m sure I’m only one of the many with similar symptoms.

So, since these days I’ve spent some time online trying to find a replacement for my home computer chair, I’ll share with you my list of findings in a top 7 with the best computer chairs on the market. Chairs that you can use both at home, while working or gaming, and in the everyday office.

I tried to pick only the more or less ergonomic and adjustable chairs that can ensure a good healthy position while working on the computer, but also i looked for quality, design and aspect. Thus, the prices are not very low, but most still affordable considering that such a chair can easily last for 3-4 years in normal conditions (and some come with 10-12 years warranty).

Number 7 – the standard leather chair ( $55 – discounted price )

This one is the standard leather chair you’ll find in most offices and is similar to the one I’m sitting on right now. They’re not bad. Actually, they’re quite comfortable and pretty OK built, although the materials quality is only medium. They have a high back with passive lumbar support and can be adjusted by height. But you can only adjust that much.

The standard adjustable leather chair

These chair are OK for a standard person, not too tall and not to heavy. I for one am kind of tall though and this chair won’t give me any kind of head rest support, thus my neck always strays in an uncomfortable position.

Still, i recommend this standard leather chair for those not willing to spend much money (it’s very cheap here, only $55, although the original retail price is around $200) and for those planning to replace their standard chair with an adjustable one. But still, this chair ain’t enough for me.

Number 6 – Ergonomic kneeling chair with high back ( $130 – discounted price )

Kneeling chair

I’m not really a fan kneeling chairs as i consider the position they provide at least strange. It’s not uncomfortable, but… not that comfortable either. At least in my case. But i still included an ergonomic kneeling chair in this list, just in case I couldn’t find anything better.

This ergonomic kneeling chair comes with wheels and is made of stainless steel and black fabric. Has a high back, height and angle adjustable and also a height adjustable seat . It is ergonomic (ANSI/BIFMA standards compliant) and provides a correct position if adjusted properly, but as i said, it’s weird and i don’t see myself spending 10 hours a day kneeling in front of my desk

Price and overall quality are good though, so if you’re into such types of chairs, you should give this one a try.

Number 5 – Pyramat Wireless Gaming Chair ( $179 – price cut )

Pyramat gaming chair

This chair is a little more out of the ordinary, as it focuses on providing a good gaming experience. It’s an office chair with a 2.1 integrated sound system (2 full range speakers+subwoofer). It has a wireless transmitter that connects to the PC and sends the sound to the chair and is fully compatible with PCs, iPods and other Mp3 players, all the known gaming consoles and TVs or DVD players. There’s also a wireless controller on the left armrest so you can adjust the audio experience very easily.

The Pyramat requires to be connected to the power line but also has a rechargeable battery that can provide up to 5 hours of juice.

So, everything sounds good, even the price of $179 ain’t that high. Sound quality and power is OK and the chair is pretty comfortable. But i can’t say it’s an ergonomic chair as it provides no adjustments for its parts (except seat hight). And also, i for one am not such a big fan of such combos and don’t even see their purpose: I’d better have a good chair and a good sound system than something that combines the two. But if you want a computer chair that could enhance your gaming experience, this Pyramat Wireless Gaming Chair is surely worth taking a look at.

Number 4 – the adjustable ergonomic chair ( $111 – 55% price cut )

The adjustable ergonomic chair

As we reach the middle of our list we find the computer chair with the best price/performances rapport. Because what we have here is a fully adjustable ergonomic chair that allows you to change the height of the seat and the back. It has a system with 3 paddles that would also allow you to adjust the tilt and the angle of the back seat, plus a tilt tension control mechanism . Even the Polyurethane Padded arm rests are adjustable too.

So, this chair will allow you to configure it almost as much as you want to. Especially if you consider that the price tag of just around $120 won’t put it in the higher league of sophisticated ergonomic chairs you’ll see in this list below. And that’s because this chair doesn’t use fancy materials, it has a steel frame and a black and white upholstery .

So, there’s no leather on this one and no fancy looks. So it might not fit all the modernist offices, but with a price that good and so many adjustable parts, I’d love to have one of those in my office. Still, not sure if I’d pick it for back home though, as there are better options (but with a higher price tag).

Number 3 - Ergo Star Saturn ergonomic chair ( $289.95 )

Ergo Star Saturn

With this one we enter the higher league of chairs that meet almost all the requirements: style, comfort and ergonomics , all with a proper price tag.

So, on the last step of the podium we have this Ergo Star Saturn chair . Like the one above, this one is fully adjustable and offers also adjustable lumbar support and adjustable head rest.

The quality of the materials used is way better though, the frame and base seat being made of aluminum and breathable mash fabric. And this last one is a great plus over the chairs made of leather or standard fabric, because it allows the skin to breath and you won’t sweat that much when using the chair in hotter conditions.

Of course all these come with a higher price tag, but one affordable enough for everyone: $289 . There’s no price cut for this version and you should hurry up, cause they sell so fast as the stock is now quite low on Amazon (only a couple of pieces left for now). So, if you want a good ergonomic chair for still a decent price, this Ergo Star Saturn is the one for you.

Number 2 – the Steelcase Leap Chair ( $849 – discounted price – 10 years warranty )

This chair is something everyone one of us would want to have at the office or back home. The “Leap chairs” are well known in the US as they received the Best Overall ERGONOMIC CHAIR distinction from Wall Street Journal . And this says something.

The entire chair is built to follow the curvature of your spine a provide natural and comfortable support. Of course everything is adjustable, but this chair can emulate itself on your body, the back and the seat changing form to adapt to your spine. Studies made by American scientists show that offices using such chairs saw an increase in productivity of up to %18 percents. And that’s something also.And ir oder to fit the design of every office, you can order these chairs in up to 12 different colors.

The producers of the Leap Chairs have such confidence in these products that they offer you 10 years full warranty for them. Also, there’s a 30 days money back guarantee refund policy. So, you can order and test the chair, and if you won’t like it, you can return it in 30 days and you’ll get a full refund, no questions asked.

The Steelcase Leap Chair

Of course, all these advantages bring the retail price for the leap Chair to about 1100 bucks. On this site you have the chance to buy them online via Amazon for just $849 . Of course, that’s still a high price tag, very high actually. But you can think of such chairs as an investment in your health: a 10 yeas investment actually.

And the winner – the Herman Miller Aeron Chair ( $879 – 300 buck price cut – 12 years warranty )

Herman Miller Aeron

I’m sure you’ve all heard of Herman Miller, the famous exclusive furniture producer. Its products are renowned all over the world for their quality, design , features and durability, and that’s why my best choice computer chair would be the Herman Miller Aeron Chair.

This one is the best ergonomic chair you can buy at the moment, everything being built to provide comfort and relieve pain you would get in ordinary chairs if sitting for hours in them. Of course everything is adjustable on this chair, and the producer makes it in 3 different size options so it can fit the needs of each and every customer.

Unlike the SteelCase Leap chair above, this one uses a mesh fabric for its back and seat. Thus, skins breathes easier and it’s better during the summer season. Also, the technology behind this mesh fabric allows it to distribute presure widely over a larger area, thus being less stressing on some particular parts of your body (like the lower back). So, all these make the Aeron “the most comfortable office chair” in the world, according to a recent survey in the US.

We don’t even have to mention how good are the materials used for this chair and the overall finishes standard. Because they are impeccable. Also, the Aeron uses environmental friendly materials, and we’re glad they care about our future.

Herman Miller Aeron chiar- perhaps the best computer chair money can buy

Of course, the best ergonomic computer chair in the world must come with an appropriate price tag: retail prices are around 1200 bucks in stores, but you can get it online from here, via Amazon, for $879 . That’s still a lot of money, but we also have to mention that Herman Miller offer a 12 years full warranty for this product. So if they trust it enough to do that, this chair must really be something.

Final Words on these top with computer chairs

All these being said, i still haven’t decided what to buy yet. But i think i will go for one the Aeron (if they’ll deliver it to my country of course). It’s expensive i know, but it provides anything i need. And I’d rather pay more for a good durable product (remember it has 12 years warranty this one) than buy a cheaper chair each 2-3 years that won’t be neither as good or as comfortable.

What do you folks think? Si the Herman Miller Aeron worth it’s money? Or would you choose a different computer chair (not necessary from the ones above) ?

What’s up

Mike — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 18:55:42 +0000

Well, it’s been more than a month since my last post. That’s unfortunate, but I’ve been really really busy lately with lots of stuff and i had to neglect this blog. I’ll tell you guys (and gals) a little bit about why this happened.

First of all, i had to prepare my diploma paper. I finally graduated University and I’m now an Engineer in the field of Computers and Automatics (sounds fancy, i know ). That’s me with a robe and cap in the picture.
Then, I put together a couple of new blogs from various domains, and i plan to push them in the last period of time with quality content and a good marketing strategy. I’m not going to disclose all these new blogs, but one of them is this one about netbooks.
Also, I sold one of my sites for a good amount of money, so now i have some spare money for investments in future projects .
I want to focus more on some older projects like this one about gadgets and the one treating Black Friday Sales in 2009. They are now quite old and have great potential if dealt the right way .
Also, i have a couple of projects on .ro . I plan launching pretty soon, but i can’t disclose anything about those at the moment .

And yes, i still have an 8 hour job (as an SEO Specialist ) + leisure time + offline activities. So, as you see, things are still pretty tight around here. But, I’m young and eager to work, so everything should get better and better in the near future.

Cheers till my next post

Focusing a domain on a misspelled high traffic keyword

Mike — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 15:07:37 +0000

For the last past days I’ve been doing some research for a couple of new domains and kept stucking with the same question: "Is it OK to focus a new domain on a misspelled keyword that has the potential to bring high traffic from search engines?" . That means, would it be OK to buy a domain that has such a misspelled keyword in its name and built a site around it?

After debating this for a while (with myself ), i put together a list of pros and cons, list that you can find bellow:

The pros

could give you an increased chance to rank for that particular term if you have it in your domain name, as we know this is a ranking factor .
if you focus the entire home page and link building around that term, you could end up with very nice ranking positions for it
has a smaller competition than the right spelled form, thus better chances of ranking .
You might get traffic on the site faster, as you have less competition

The cons

while having the term in the domain name might help you, that’s not such an important criteria in SE’s algorithm, especially if you plan on ranking in Google (will help more for Yahoo and Msn) .
while having less competition, the search volume is also a lot smaller than the one of the correct spelled keyword .
Search Engines will automatically offer spelling suggestions for those who search the misspelled form of the term. Thus, some of the searchers will use these suggestions and will not click the results .
will affect your site’s branding ability (people are less willing to remember misspelled domain name) .
will have less SE potential traffic than a site focused on the correct form of the term .
in the future, search engines might even cut out from the results misspelled results, you may never know .

So, if you plan to use a misspelled keyword and build a site around it, don’t. Even if this might seem like a smart choice on the short term, you’ll end up regretting it after an year or so. Try choosing domains that are both brand-able and have some search traffic potential and work hard so these domains will get where they deserve to be.

Am i right or am i right?

Photo source: here

LinkedIn Answers – is this the true power of this service?

Mike — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 14:25:11 +0000

I’ve been using LinledIn for quite a while now, almost from the beginning. I completed my profile, education, work experience, added a photo, added some contact, etc etc . I even joined some groups to find discussion i might be interested in and people with similar interests.

But, then i got bored of it. For the last months, i only joined from time to time to see if someone new wanted to add me as a contact. And that was it.

But someone reminded me something i already knew: the Answers part of LinkedIn is what gives this service its true power. Here’s where you can help people, you can get in contact with them and maybe establish some relationships that will help your business. And yes, i already knew that, but i think i was too lazy to see if this works.

If you manage to give good answers to other people’s questions, questions that have something to do with your expertise, and answers so good that will be chosen "Best Answer" by the asker, then you’re "on fire". The more "Best Answers" you’ll have in your domain, the more others will see you as a authority in this domain, will want to get in contact with you and even work with you. Like i said, i knew the theory for quite some time, but i sucked at practice

So, I’ve decided I’ll give it a try. For the next couple of weeks I’ll try to be as active as possible on LinkedIn Answers, try to give people my best advices and maybe help solve their problems. And then i’ll see what’s going to happen. In the worst case, I’ll end up with a couple of new content in my Expertise box on LinkedIn.

Do you have any previous experience with LinkedIn Answers? If yes, please share.

Acer AspireRevo – powerfull minicomputer with Nvidia Ion inside

Mike — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 15:43:29 +0000

Acer just announced it’s going to launch a mini-computer on the newly announced Nvidia ION platform, called Acer AspireRevo. It will be in fact the first nettop based on this architecture.

While being compact (7.1 x 7.1 x 1.2-inch), this gadget will be also powerfull: it’s going to pack up an Intel ATOM 230 or 330 CPU, both at 1.6 GHz, but the first being single core, while the second one having two cores. A 1080p capable graphic card will join these CPUs, along with up to 4GB of RAM . This way, the tiny AspireRevo will not be just a mini-computer for browsing and Office applications, but also a machinery capable of playing games like Call of Duty 4, according to SlashGear. A special gaming controller (similar to the Wiimote from Nintedo Wii) will also be created to support the gaming experience. As for storage solution, there will be available both HDD or SSD drives.

The Acer AspireRevo comes with HDMI and VGA exits, lots of USBs , LAN and Wi-Fi (802-11b/g). Also, it has a special shape that allows it to be attached on the back of screens and TVs that are VESA compliant . This way, the nettop will be almost invisible, hiding behind the screen.

Acer AspireRevo – one of the best nettops on the market

We’re not sure when will this gadget be available on the market and how much will it cost. Initial estimations from Nvidia for devices based on the ION platform stated they should cost around 300$, but i doubt we’ll be able to get an Acer AspireRevo that cheap. Don’t you think so?

Iphone Nano and a Netbook: Apple’s next success stories?

Mike — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 09:00:46 +0000

Almost every product Apple launches is a success story. Although it does not reach market domination worldwide, it really owns in the US and brings Apple lots of lots of funds in their pockets. That was the case for the iPhone, iMac, Apple Mini, iPod Touch, etc. All good products (not extraordinary though), based on looks and simplicity. But all overpriced and with a coupe of important lacks in features.

This year, rumours say Apple will launch the iPhone Nano and a small laptop that would enter the netbooks market. Let’s see what we already know about these two.

First of all, the iPhone Nano will be a smaller version of the iPhone, as the name suggests. How small though? It is said it will only be as big as the current iPhone’s screen, as you can see in the picture bellow. That means it would have a weird height/width proportion. Is it just me, or does it look too wide? I will prefer something slimmer. Perhaps a little bit taller, but way less wider. Not sure about the price, but you can always get refurbished ipods for better prices .

On the other hand, it is said that this Apple iPhone Nano will have all the important functions of it’s bigger brother. So, miniaturization with keeping al the functions will be translated in an increased price? That’s the question that really bothers me, but i do hope Apple will revise their policy rates, especially in this times of crisis.

And speaking of prices, Apple will also enter the netbooks segment. Good choice of course, considering how fast is this industry growing, but kind of ironic: Apple, a producer with high prices, entering the so called low price laptop market. Although, I’m almost sure this new Apple netbook won’t be cheap at all. Cause, according to the rumours, it will be more like a Tablet-pc netbook: a mini laptop with a touch screen. And that could be something.

Of course, all these are just speculations now. The iPhone Nano part is, i believe, at least 90% true. Just look where does www.iphonenano.com lead . As for the netbook, we’ll just wait and see. There are two big Mac-World and June and September if I’m not mistaken, so stay tuned for more news

How far is this future from us?

Mike — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 15:32:58 +0000

If you showed someone from the early 90′s an iPhone or the interactive Microsoft Surface panel, they would have surely said "WOW!". Cause that’s what we’re saying when showed the new Microsoft clip that offers a small glimpse at the future.

The clip is bellow, just have a look.

All the things here remind me a little bit of Stargate Atlantis: the technology is so futuristic. But in 10-20 years time we will surelly have such devices and use them in our daily activities. Don’t you think so?

Kindle Reader 2 – a smarter eBook reader from Amazon

Mike — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 16:43:17 +0000

Amazon's Kindle reader 2

Amazon came up with a success story when they launched their first eBook reader, the Kindle. It was sold in many many copies all over the world and also helped selling more books than before.

It was a great gadget, although i personally liked the Sony Reader more back in 2007 as you might have read in the post about the Kindle reader vs the Sony Reader .

In the mean time, things evolved in the ebook readers world. And Amazon launched the new version of their device, the Kindle Reader 2. A new and improved one that tries to solve most of the complaints owners of the first Kindle had and one that should comfort most ebook readers users in the near future.

In the next lines we’ll explain why we believe the things said above.

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If you just want to buy the Kindle 2, click this link. Or else, read the review below.

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First of all, the new Kindle 2 is slimmer and better looking. Actually, as you can see in the picture it will be slimmer than a pencil. So carrying it around won’t be at all a problem. It’s also lighter, weighting just 10.2 ounces. The body also is better built, with buttons and command placed more ergonomically.

Kindle Reader 2 has a 6″ screen with 600 x 800 px resolution and can display up to 16 shades of gray (only 4 shades for the first Kindle). It can now be easily used in direct sun light too. Storage capacity was increased to 2 GB , enough to hold around 1,500 books. Page turning is 20% faster and also, battery life seems to be up to 25% better (Amazon indicates an autonomy of between 4 days with Wi-fi on and 2 weeks under several circumstances). Lots of tiny improvements that do make a difference though.

Another great thing is that now, the Kindle 2 can use almost every type of text, audio and image document: TXT, DOC, PDF, PNG, JPG, MP3, HTML are just a few of the formats supported. Also, Amazon introduced a nice feature: Text-to-Speech, that can read out loud your books for you.

Reading got popular with the Kindle 2

As for connectivity, Amazon Kindle 2 comes with Wi-Fi receiver. It also has the Amazon Whispernet technology that provides U.S wireless coverage via Sprint’s 3G high-speed data network, with no extra charge.

There are other smaller features too and if you want to find out more about them just click the big link on the bottom of this article.

I said nothing about the cons of this gadget. And that’s because i couldn’t really find any. All the things that I didn’t likes on the old Kindle are now gone or improved… All in one, the new Kindle 2 is better. The price tag hasn’t been increased though, as the new Kindle 2 Reader costs the same as its predecessor: $359 (now only $189).

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For more details about Kindle 2, reviews from owners, prices and the option to buy it, click this link.

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——– Important update ——–

If you want to see what are the alternatives for the Kindle Reader 2 , you will also want to check out this post with a review of the best ebook readers on the market, at the moment.

——–

Twitter applications you must use

Mike — Fri, 06 Feb 2009 09:26:47 +0000

The online interface on twitter.com is pretty OK, but the existing third party applications transformed Twitter in the success story it is today. Mainly, because they make your twitting experience better and easier. In this article, I’m going to tell you a couple of words about what Twitter applications, tools an ad-dons I use on a daily bases and why.

TwitterFox – the best online application for Twitter

TwitterFox is a very useful Firefox extension (so if you use a different browser… though luck, you should migrate to FF ). You will get you updates on a popup screen like in the picture bellow. It can be set to get the updates every couple of minutes. Also, you can send your twitts from this interface. The cool thing is that you can put the links you want in the message and TwitterFox will automatically transform them in a Tinyurl.

However, there are a couple of things not so cool. First, it only works on FF and also, you can’t follow discussions. Meaning you can’t see if a twitt came in reply to another and what was that another. I find this kind of lame, as i like to follow conversation threads on Twitter

But still, this is the application I use daily for twitting.

TweetDeck - the best desktop interface

Tweetdeck is a Twitter desktop interface. It’s build on Adobe Air so it looks great and it works on Windows, Mac OS, Linux, etc.

It has a couple of cool features, like search and the ability to group your friends in clubs. You can display multiple columns with the things you want, like latest messages, your replies, messages from groups, direct messages received and sent, etc.

It’s pretty functional but I still prefer TwitterFox cause it’s simpler. Once you get lots of followers and engage in lots of conversations everyday, TweetDeck might become the better cause it is more customizable, but for now, I’ll stay with the browser solution.

An alternative to TweetDeck is Twirl.

Twitpic – share photos asap

Twipic is a web application that allows you to share photos from your phone on Twitter in the shortest possible time. All you need is an internet connection on your device.

Other cool Twitter applications are these:

TweetStats – fins stats about your tweeting habits
Whatsmytweetworth – how much is your tweet worth

Of course, there are other applications i don’t yet use (I’m a Twitter addict for just a month now), so please feel free to share them with me via a comment

Next post will be about the purpose of using Twitter.

Quote: “I think we should strengthen the strong”

Mike — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 13:54:51 +0000

I came across a great article today, on wsp . It shows the potential problems the now overgrowing IT industry might have in US in just a decade or so.

As you know, some of the biggest IT companies of the world come from US (Apple, HP, Dell, IBM, Microsoft, etc). The current crisis have quite a small impact on this industry, while others lay in ruins. But there are people capable of seeing the dirt behind the fancy fence (and house).

Let’s take the current situation of the big US car manufacturers. Once the biggest companies in this domain, Ford or GM are now licking their wounds. Other companies came from far behind and beat them. Why? Because the Americans kept building their huge ugly gas eating cars and invested almost nothing in research and new technology. And now… they are find behind…

The same thing might happen with the IT industry: US companies might loose ground quickly in their fight with Japanese, Chinese or Indian companies. Why? Cause these countries invest a lot in education and research. It is known that most of the people working in the US in IT research come from abroad. What will happen then when these people won’t want to come to the US anymore? When all the Chinese, eastern Europeans, Indians, etc will rather stay back home… What will happen to the US IT companies then? And those days are not as far as you might think…

That’s a pretty good question, ay? For a more strong point of view and better description of the situation, read the entire article in the WSP. It is well worth it.

Mike's Quarter - the internet blog » Away from the PC

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