OfficeSupplyGeek

Giveaway – 4 Palomino Blackwing Pearl Pencis for Two Readers

OfficeSupplyGeek — Fri, 17 May 2013 07:00:10 +0000

Palomino Blackwing Pearl Bunch

Keeping this one easy, leave a comment, and you are entered. We will be picking two winners, and each winner gets 4 of the new Palomino Blackwing Pearl pencils.

Some quick rules:

1. US entrants only

2. One comment per person

3. Entries must be left by 10PM eastern on Wed. May 22nd

4. Winners will be announced on Thursday, May 23rd

Good luck!

Tags:

Del.icio.us

Facebook

TweetThis

Digg

StumbleUpon

Palomino Blackwing Pearl Woodcase Pencil

OfficeSupplyGeek — Wed, 15 May 2013 07:00:13 +0000

Palomino Blackwing Pearl Box

A few days ago, our friends over at Pencils.com offered us the opportunity to review some of the new Palomino Blackwing Pearl Pencils. Like any dedicated office supply enthusiast, we jumped on the chance to get our hands on some to test them out, and even managed to knock out some pretty impressive artwork with them that you will have to read through to the end of this review to see.

Palomino Blackwing Pearl Sharpened

The Palomino Blackwing Pearl Pencil has a fantastic looking pearl finish that my photos unfortunately don’t do justice, but take my word for it, it looks great! In addition to the pearl white finish, the horse logo and “Palomino Blackwing Pearl” text stamped on the wood casing is crisp and clean with no splintering or distortion which you sometimes see on inferior pencils with woodcases. clicking on the photo above will give you a much better look at that.

Palomino Blackwing Pearl Sharpened

Sharpening the Palomino Blackwing Pearl in itself is a pretty nice experience. Even using a fairly low end pencil sharpener, the sharpeners blade cut through the pencils woodcase very cleanly, evenly, and smoothly. In the past with inferior pencils, I noticed that the sharpener felt like it was catching jagged edges of wood and not cutting through the case smoothly. The second thing I noticed was the rather distinctive smell of the cedar wood, that unfortunately went away quite quickly. I’m sure that this is just because of the small amount of surface area of the exposed wood, its not like this is the same size as something like a cedar shoe tree that releases the smell because of the size of the exposed wood surface area.

Palomino Blackwing Pearl Body

Here is another close up look at the pearl white finish and contrasting black branding, as well as the ferrule that holds the replaceable eraser. If you have not used or had one of the Palomino Blackwing pencils, they have a very good sized replaceable eraser that can gradually be slid out from the ferrule as you use more and more of it.

Palomino Blackwing Pearl Eraser Ferrule and Components

Here you can see all of the components of the Palomino Blackwing Pearl and the eraser. The gold colored portion that you still see attached to the pencil is called the ferrule, and to the immediate right you can see the long, thin black eraser with the slide to the right of it. The eraser slips into that metal clip at any adjusted height, and both then slide into the ferrule which tightens the metal slide around the eraser so it stays put while in use. Its a very effective and efficient system, that is also able to be accessorized with replacement Palomino Blackwing erasers that come in black, blue, green, orange, pink, and white. I have yet to see or use some of the more unique color erasers in person, but I love the idea that you have the option to make your Blackwing a bit more customized and personal to your own individual style.

Palomino Blackwing Pearl Bunch

So with all of the aesthetics covered now, you might wonder how this fantastic looking Palomino Blackwing Pearl actually writes since that is kind of its main purpose besides just looking so good. Oh, but one more thing, the photo above is actually for the giveaway that we will be doing of these shortly, so don’t forget to check back so you can enter to win a few of these awesome pencils for yourself.

Palomino Blackwing Pearl Writing Sample with Artwork

For someone that really doesn’t enjoy writing with a pencil, the Palomino Blackwing Pearl still provides a pretty excellent writing experience. The lead itself glides across the paper (a Doane Paper notepad in this case) so much more smoothly than your ordinary, generic woodcase pencil. In a typical low quality woodcase pencil, you can often find the writing experience to be scratchy and inconsistent whereas with the Blackwing Pearl, its nothing but a buttery smooth feeling. The Blackwing Pearl also feels to me like it wears a bit more evenly than most pencils which if you are focused, can help you to keep a sharper point while strategically rotating while you write with it.

Even my clunky hands were able to achieve a good variety of shading as I varied the amount of pressure applied as I wrote as you can see from the shaded areas in the writing sample above. On each of those shaded areas I also tested the eraser to see how well it removed the gradually darker blocks of shading. In each case I believe the eraser did an admirable job, although as one might expect, the very heavy shading was harder to completely remove.

Personally I don’t find myself reaching for standard woodcase pencils that often, but from now on, when I do it will most certainly be one of these Palomino Blackwing Pearl pencils so that I know I’ll thoroughly enjoy the experience. Oh, and also note in the writing sample above how just the use of this pencil has obviously turned me in to a virtual Picasso…don’t be jealous, I guarantee you will get at least as good results with your artwork if you use this pencil too. :) Thanks again to our friends at Pencils.com for sending this box over for us to review, and keep an eye out for a future giveaway of these!

Tags: pencil

Del.icio.us

Facebook

TweetThis

Digg

StumbleUpon

Monthly Giveaway Updates – PLEASE READ

OfficeSupplyGeek — Mon, 13 May 2013 07:00:52 +0000

As of today, our winner of last months JetPens.com $25 gift card has not claimed their prize. A few changes are going to come out of this since there seems to be an ongoing trend here. First though, I’ll give the April 30th winner until May 15th at 11:59 PM Eastern to contact us in order to claim his prize. If that doesn’t happen, the prize will be doubled to a $50 gift card for the next winner to be announced for the JetPens prize, so PLEASE be sure to check your emails from us…but even more importantly:

There are always reasons why people don’t open emails and I do not fault anyone for that, there are plenty I don’t open myself. So in order to encourage opening of emails, I’m going to try my best to improve the quality of content for the one news story I share twice a month.

Now for the part that impacts those of you subscribed. When the next email goes out on the morning of May 16th, I will be using that as a benchmark for deleting inactive email subscribers. What this means is that if you have not opened an email or clicked a link in the emails since January 1st of this year, I’ll be deleting you from the email list and by default this will remove you from the two monthly giveaways we do, the $25 JetPens gift card, and the big Goldspot.com giveaway where you pick a fountain pen, ink, and notebook. This is a purge process that we will probably do once every few months to make sure we maintain a list of active subscribers. The reason for deleting users is two fold:

1. It just isn’t fair to users that are signed up and actively checking the emails to see if they were a winner. When someone wins and they aren’t even checking, we are missing out on the opportunity to give the prize to someone that is really interested in winning and putting it to good use.

2. Quite frankly, it costs us money to have a big email list, so when there are literally 100s of folks we are emailing that don’t ever open the emails, it is costing us an extra $25 or so per month. By not spending this money on email list management services, we can put it to better use by doing more giveaways and reviews.

If you ever have any feedback or suggestions regarding the emails, feel free to click on that reply button and let us here it…good, bad, or otherwise feedback is always a good thing as far as we are concerned.

I hope that all doesn’t sound rude, pushy, or irrational. The goal here is to improve the situation for our active supporters when it comes to winning prizes, and to always keep things open and transparent to everyone that supports the site.

If you are reading this thinking to yourself, what email list and contest are you even talking about, head over to our Email Subscription and Giveaway page to read more about it and subscribe.

Tags:

Del.icio.us

Facebook

TweetThis

Digg

StumbleUpon

Pen Touch Screen Stylus and Bic Cristal Look-a-like

OfficeSupplyGeek — Fri, 10 May 2013 07:00:20 +0000

Pen Touch Screen Stylus and a Bic Cristal Side by Side

This is one of those reviews that is kind of simple, but the product itself is very unique. This is a Bic Cristal Look-a-like Stylus for your Android tablet or iPad.

Pen Touch Screen Stylus and a Bic Cristal Look-a-like Capped on a Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1″ Tablet

In the two above pictures you can get a sense of how big the stylus is as compared to an actual Bic Cristal and on top of a Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1″ Android Tablet. It measures about 4″ long and the cap can obviously be posted or put on the end to cover the tip. The body itself and the cap are both a rubbery and slightly soft material, that is conductive so it can act as a stylus instead of your finger.

Pen Touch Screen Stylus and a Bic Cristal Look-a-like Side by Side on an Android Tablet

The stylus is very easy and comfortable to hold onto, with its stubby profile and gummy feeling body. As for how it performs as a stylus, I found now flaws with the ease of selecting items and flipping through pages on the tablet. There were seemingly no dead areas or feeling of not being connected to the tablet with this stylus and as I said before its definitely easy to hold onto and manipulate. If you are looking for a very unique and properly functioning stylus, the Bic Cristal Look-a-like Stylus is certainly a fun option.

Tags:

Del.icio.us

Facebook

TweetThis

Digg

StumbleUpon

Guest Blogger Selected for Writable and Washable Apron, Table Cloth or Duvet Cover

OfficeSupplyGeek — Thu, 09 May 2013 07:00:32 +0000

Write on / Wash off table cloth

We were supposed to announce the selection of our guest blogger for the writable and washable notebook paper themed apron, duvet cover or table cloth, but unfortunately life and work sometimes don’t realize that they need to take a break so I can manage the blog. So here we are a week later, but we have picked a guest blogger.

Patrick K had a pretty compelling story, plus I’m a sucker for a nice watch, or sometimes with my budget just content to read about watches on a nice watch blog. It also helps to know that Patrick K is a fellow blogger/reviewer. Anyway, we will get the table cloth into Patrick’s hands quickly so he (and his 3.5 year old) can get to work on the review, which hopefully doesn’t run afoul of any child labor laws.

Tags:

Del.icio.us

Facebook

TweetThis

Digg

StumbleUpon

Making a Pen – by Alexandre Chappel

OfficeSupplyGeek — Wed, 08 May 2013 07:00:07 +0000

This is a fascinating video to watch, its quite mesmerizing to watch this pen get made with all of tiny slivers of metal being shaved off and eventually shaped into a pen. I found this via Gizmodo / via MAKE.

Tags:

Del.icio.us

Facebook

TweetThis

Digg

StumbleUpon

SanDisk Orbit Mini Flash Drive with Security Solution

OfficeSupplyGeek — Mon, 06 May 2013 07:00:00 +0000

SanDisk Orbit in Package

The SanDisk Orbit is a new flash drive from SanDisk that not only fits on your key chain very nicely, but it also comes with a built in storage solution called the SanDisk Vault to secure the files that you put on here.

SanDisk Orbit Open

As you can see, the SanDisk Orbit gets its name from the circular motion of the metal cover that slides, or orbits around the plastic part of the flash drive. It moves smoothly around the device and there are small bumps at each 90 degrees around the circle that allow the metal portion to lock into place.

SanDisk Orbit on Key Chain

The SanDisk Orbit flash drive has s tiny hole on the top of the metal slider that is perfect for slipping onto a key chain. In comparison to a standard key, the SanDisk Orbit is about twice as thick, and half as long, so its a pretty unnoticeable addition to your key chain. Now you might be thinking that keeping files stored on your key chain is a bad idea if you happen to misplace it, but SanDisk has a great solution built right into the Orbit.

SanDisk Vault Getting Started

The SanDisk Vault is pretty simple to use, you simply name your vault, set up a password and hint, and you are on your way to storing your files securely on your mini portable flash drive.

SanDisk Vault Drag and Drop

Once you have your vault set up, you can just drag and drop files into the window as seen above. Don’t pay attention to that 2GB of online storage, that is not required to use the SanDisk Vault software. Now anytime you want to access the files on your flash drive that you have stored in your newly created vault folder, you simply type in your password and access you files. Of course if you don’t want to have the files password protected, you can always store them in a non-protected folder. The SanDisk Orbit is is definitely a cool little storage solution that helps keep your files protected, so definitely consider this as an option if you are looking for some easily transportable and secure file storage.

Tags:

Del.icio.us

Facebook

TweetThis

Digg

StumbleUpon

Moleskine Portfolios – Pocket Sized and Extra Small

OfficeSupplyGeek — Fri, 03 May 2013 07:00:04 +0000

Moleskine Portfolios Pocket Sized and XS

Today we are looking at the Moleskine Pocket Portfolio in Magenta and the Moleskine Extra Small Portfolio in Oxide Green. These are basically hard cover accordion-type folders with elastic closures that have the same look and feel as a standard Moleskine journal.

Moleskine Portfolio Pocket Sized Open

The larger Moleskine Pocket Size Portfolio measures about 3.5″ x 5.5″ and is about .75″ thick. Inside the magenta hard cover there are 6 pockets in the accordion folder that can hold items up to the size of a standard index card. The top edge of each divider has a notch cut out so that you can easily flip through the divides, and the top outside edges have a color coordinated ribbon to reinforce the folded portions of the portfolio. I like this one the best because I often find myself jotting to-do items down on index cards, so this is a great place to store them either by category or by day to help me be more productive and not forget things.

If you click on the photo, you can also see that Moleskine is making a push to have the labels for their product be multi-purpose. There are 5 little cards that you can cut out that have spaces for you to fill out your name and general contact info, like mini business cards. Not a bad idea I guess, but I wonder how many people will actually use these.

Moleskine Portfolio XS Open

The Molesking Extra Small Portfolio in Oxide Green measures 4.25″ x 2.5″ and is about 1/2″ thick. The inside of this version has 2 divided folders inside that are the perfect size for holding a few business cards, credit cards, or receipts. This size also has the reverse of the label formatted so that there are three little contact cards you can cut out to use. I think this one might be good to store all of those credit cards and rewards cards that you really don’t need to have in your wallet every time you go out.

The Moleskine Portfolio Pocket Sized and Extra Small with Index Cards and Business Cards

Both the Moleskine Pocket Portfolio in Magenta and the Moleskine Extra Small Portfolio in Oxide Green come in various other colors, so these are just representative samples. Overall these seem to be solidly constructed and great little organizational tools.

Tags:

Del.icio.us

Facebook

TweetThis

Digg

StumbleUpon

Looking for a Guest Blogger for a Specific Product – Apply Within

OfficeSupplyGeek — Wed, 01 May 2013 07:00:59 +0000

A few days ago we posted the write up about all of the cool writable and erasable items that look like notebook paper including the Duvet Cover, Table Cloth, and Kitchen Apron. It dawned on me that I really have no personal use for any of the items, so I thought I would open it up to all of our great readers here to see who would be best suited to review one of these items. We will send you the item free of charge in exchange for a guest review, so see below for the details.

If you missed it, here are the three items up for consideration for a guest review:

Duvet Cover

Table Cloth

Write on / Wash off table cloth

Kitchen Apron

Write on / Wash off Kitchen Apron

So here are the qualifications if you think you are up for a guest review:

-Must have the ability to take some decent quality photographs of the product new and after being used

-Must be a US resident

-Prior writing samples would be helpful to see, but not required

-Ability to write review within 30 days of receiving product

If you meet the above criteria, leave a comment below, tell us which product you would want to review, and make sure to include your email address in the comment FORM, NOT in the body of the comment itself. If you leave it in the comment body itself you will be disqualified. If you prefer email, feel free to use the About/Contact tab above to tell us why we should pick you.

We will pick only one person to get the free product and do the review, so give us your best pitch in the comments section below. Comments will be left open for one week, and the person we select will be announced Thursday, May 2nd.

Tags:

Del.icio.us

Facebook

TweetThis

Digg

StumbleUpon

Desk Essentials for an Office Supply Geek

OfficeSupplyGeek — Mon, 29 Apr 2013 07:00:24 +0000

My Every Day Desk Set Up

One of the more popular questions I get is “What is your favorite [insert office supply product here]?” The other day while at my desk in the office I thought it would be good to take a quick picture of the stuff that I had on my desk at the moment, because as I looked around I noticed that those things had become mostly permanent which by default makes them my favorites.

Here is a quick rundown of everything you see numbered in that picture, plus a few things that aren’t pictured or numbered, but are technically “in the picture” but not visible. Oh, and some of them are not “office supplies” but are definitely things that I consider essential desk supplies…so make sure to read to the end to see some of the more unique or surprising items.

1. Archipelago Botanicals Boticario de Havana Body Lotion – Although its labeled as “body lotion” its my favorite hand lotion. The scent is great, not too overpowering, and definitely not flowery and girly…not that there is anything wrong with flowery and girly, its just not my thing.

2. EO Products Hand Sanitizer – Finding a natural hand sanitizer was important to me because I just don’t trust chemicals like triclosan. The EO Hand Sanitizer is a bit on the strong side with its smell due to the essential oils, so if you are sensitive to strong smells, you might want to avoid this. It does however dry pretty quickly and doesn’t leave any film or greasy feeling.

3. Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1″ Tablet – I definitely need to do more reviews of the apps and S-Note handwriting recognition software on here, but I’ve used it a lot for work along with the OneNote app and its been very helpful in keeping organized and on top of things.

4. Contigo 16 ounce AutoSeal Insulated Tumbler - This stainless steel tumbler is not only leak proof so you can toss it in a bag with no worries of it spilling, but it is also able to keep hot liquids hot for up to 4 hours, and cold stuff cool for up to 12 hours. There is probably some explanation based in physics as to why the hot stuff “only” stays hot for 4 hours, but I have no idea…I just know that it works and it works very well. I actually just bought a new 20 ounce Contigo AutoSeal tumbler, which is about to replace this one just for the upped capacity that it provides. Here is the original review that we did of the 16 ounce version.

5. PaperPro Prodigy Stapler – This is by far the most amazing stapler I’ve ever used. It effortlessly plunges staples into 25 sheets of paper with the pressure from just one finger. I don’t staple often, but when I do I use a PaperPro Prodigy.

6. TWSBI Diamond 540 Ink Well – This is a great looking and very efficient ink well when it comes to filling not only the TWSBI line of fountain pens, but also other brands. The original TWSBI Diamond 540 Ink Well review for your reading pleasure.

7. Ball of Whacks - This has been great for keeping myself occupied during conference calls, or as a much needed mental break from some taxing projects and tasks at work. Its essentially a 30 piece rhombic triacontahedron and each piece has magnets on all sides, allowing you to rearrange them into tons of different designs and shaped.

8. Samsung Galaxy SIII Dock - Here is the only item on my desk that I actually don’t like. I used to have this at my bedside for my phone/alarm clock, but the phone does not sit in it firmly so its been relegated to desk duty where its a little easier to not have to worry about it possibly getting knocked off. There is a much better and more stable 3rd party dock here, which is the one I use at home now.

9. Post-it Brand 4″x6″ Note Pad - This is my “go to” note pad when it comes to jotting down quick things that I need to remember to do or notes from phone calls. Simple and basic, but thats what makes it such an essential.

10. LunchBots 16 oz. Stainless Steel and Watertight Container – This is a great little container for keeping a snack on hand at your desk. Typically I fill mine with granola of some sort, or like now I’ve got a very tasty fruit and seed mix. Having a healthy snack on hand like this definitely helps me avoid trips to the vending machine and unhealthy snacks.

11. Logitech Trackman Mouse - I’ve been using one of these at home and in the office for longer than I can remember. I prefer this over a traditional mouse for multiple reasons. No mouse pad is required, its more precise in its tracking, and you don’t need the same amount of space as you do for a traditional mouse. Unfortunately I’m seeing now that this version is no longer available, and they only seem to have a wireless version.

12. & 16. Levenger Jr. and Letter Size Bomber Jacket Notebooks - These have been part of my daily arsenal for years now, and have been a huge help in keeping me organized, plus I think they looks amazing and the quality is fantastic. Here is the review.

13. Levenger Cubi Agenda Stand - An obvious accessory to go with the daily planner that sits on it. See the review here. Unfortunately it looks like Levenger doesn’t sell this anymore.

14. eBags Neoprene Pods - These are great for accessories like wires, adapters, and I even use them for pills/vitamins sometimes too. No end to the uses for these.

15. Some Pens:

-Sharpie Pen Medium Point Red – Great for marking up spreadsheets and other documents, and a great all round pen with a nice strong and consistent porous plastic point that wont wear down over time. Here is the Sharpie Pen Medium Point Review.

-Uniball Kuru Toga Roulette – The Kuru Toga line is the only reason I ever started using pencils again after literally a decade or more of avoiding them at all costs. The technology that spins the lead keeping it consistently sharp and writing with a fine line changed my view of pencil writing. This black all metal version is elegant and stealthy looking with a great feel.

-Sharpie Pen Stainless Steel – It doesn’t get as much love as the Stainless Steel Sharpie Permanent Marker, but its still a great pen and i looks great to boot. The only think I don’t like is how the cap posts.

-Sailor Professional Gear Imperial - I look forward to every chance I get to write with this pen because the nib is SO smooth and so fine, its prety much the best fountain pen I’ve written with. It doesn’t hurt that its also ALL black, even the nib. If you want some pictures and the review, here is my review of the Sailor Professional Gear Imperial.

Not Pictured:

Tide To Go Instant Stain Remover – Don’t lie, you know you spill food on yourself and ruin clothes just like everyone else. Well its pretty easy to put an end to that, this thing has saved at least 3 shirts of mine, one from an unfortunate spill of a few blackberries (the actual fruit) which can be a tough stain.

Say Yes to Cucumbers Facial Towels – Yup, thats right, not ashamed to admit it, I keep these at my desk. Sometimes you just need to clean your face, and lets face it most office bathrooms dont leave you feeling super clean after you wash your hands or maybe its just me? Either way these are a great way to freshen up and they have a light cucumber scent.

Anyway, that ended up being a lot longer than I expected, so if you made it to the end, congratulations. These are some awesome and helpful items to have around, so grab some of these for your desk and you will definitely have an easier and more enjoyable time at the office.

Tags:

Del.icio.us

Facebook

TweetThis

Digg

StumbleUpon