I recently bought a Feiyu Tech MG gimbal camera stabilizer, and I nearly returned it as I endured the tortuous balancing process--a process that could have gone smoother had the cryptic manual been better.  Even after watching a couple YouTube videos, I still couldn't get it to work properly.  The motors made an nasty grinding noise shortly after turning it on.  I thought it was broken.

Long story short, it wasn't.  The camera must be near-perfectly balanced so as not to strain the motors, and there are 4 locations to adjust.  These 4 locations are indeed covered in the manual; however, with its non-native English translation and tiny graphics, that manual haunted my restless slumber over a 3-day bout.  The YouTube videos helped a bit, but they didn't cover all 4 locations--a tragic flaw.  So here are the 4 places you must adjust the balance.

Read more: How to Balance the Feiyu Tech MG Gimbal Camera Stabilizer

I preordered Starr Labs' iTar in December 2011.  Three years later this device still didn't exist, and the fact the iTar was no longer even mentioned on the company's website had me worried.  I decided to give up on the preorder and seek a refund.  Unfortunately, Paypal's statute of limitations is 45 days, so I was way beyond that deadline.  Was my money gone?  Evaporated into a mythical device cloud?  I had certainly hoped not...

Read more: Starr Labs - How to Get a Refund of an iTar Preorder

Despite its plethora of hills, oceans of smartphone zombie pedestrians, seas of taxis, and rivers of bulky buses, Tokyo is a fairly convenient city to cycle in because it's both compact and brimming with transportation options.  Hacking through some pithy calculations, I determined that I could likely cycle to work daily, thus building a daily calorie-burning workout into my lifestyle routine.  I'm a huge fan of such natural exercise because I don't have to think about it nor remember to schedule it.  Next was to find the ultimate two-wheeled solution for my daily commute conundrum.  Perhaps this is Japan's influence on me, or perhaps this is my own obsessive personality connecting with Japan's, but this is what I love--researching the ultimate solution to a life project.

Read more: The Hunt for the Ultimate Folding Bicycle

After watching an NHK report on MOOCs, I compiled a list of providers and sites:

Coursera
https://www.coursera.org/

EdX
https://www.edx.org/

Khan Academy
https://www.khanacademy.org/

Udacity
https://www.udacity.com/

Eliademy
https://eliademy.com/
a platform for building MOOC websites

During a trip to the UK, I compiled a list of vocabulary that sounds "British" to American me.

Read more: British English

It's been several months since posting my dramatic story about Official iPhone Unlock's scam, and I'd like to share some interesting developments and observations that have since come to light.

Read more: Scam Alert - officialiphoneunlock.co.uk - Part 2