Actually 4.5 stars for a compact
347793
As a long time user of Canon cameras, presently the 50D DSLR and the G10 compact, I bought the S100 as a camera I'd carry in my shirt or trousers pocket, taking it everywhere.

Image quality is little short of amazing for such a small unit. I think that even at base ISO, the S100's detail rendition is as good as that of my G10 (which is almost as good as the excellent 50D DSLR). In that regard, it's wonderful, capable of taking images which very few could tell were taken by a small sensor camera.

Performance at higher ISOs is also surprisingly good, far surpassing that of the G10. Up to ISO 400, image noise is no problem unless one wants to make a moderately large print, 12X18 inches or more. Even then (at 400) a modest touch of noise reduction preserves all the detail while eliminating visible noise. At ISO 1000 or 1250, very good images are obtainable, when noise reduction is applied. At 1600 and above, color rendition drops off and noise becomes a problem for anything more than small web displays.

There have been a few mild criticisms of the ergonomics of the S100, but I think those criticisms are probably the result of people trying to use it for an hour or so and finding the interface slightly different. After using the camera for a day or two, one almost never needs to access the menus. Aperture, shutter speed, ISO, white balance, and exposure comensation can be set so they're "right out in the open" for the photographer who needs to change something quickly during a shoot. Even with my XL size hands, using the camera is easy and comfortable.

For me, the S100 is not really a "shirt pocket compact", and it's only a "trousers pocket compact" if the trousers are pretty large, with roomy pockets. But it is small, and it rides comfortably in a small Sony camera case, looped onto my belt.

The S100's limitations probably would not be noticed by a casual family photographer. Focus is not as rapid as it is with a DSLR. Shutter lag is noticeable, even with pre-focus. Dynamic range isn't as broad as that of a large sensor camera. These are limitations common to almost all small sensor cameras.

Finally, there's no "hot shoe" which could accomodate an external flash unit, and the camera's small built-in flash is of very limited use. The workaround is to use an external flash as a slave unit, but that does complicate things a little.

There is no perfect camera,but for a small, very portable camera, it's almost impossible to beat the S100.
2790824
I wanted to try out a DSP radio for MW, SW, and FM broadcasts without risking much, and, for $50, this thing's amazing.

It's very small -- smaller than my hand and fits in any pocket.  It's sensitive enough to hear *almost* anything my venerable Sony IC-2010 can hear.  There's even a clip-on telescoping antenna extension, which I find clunky.  I suspect it would overload here in Minnesota with a long-wire antenna (don't have one up yet), but this is a *portable*.  I'm willing to take this places I wouldn't take the Sony.  $50 isn't "disposable," but if I lost it I wouldn't be heartbroken.

Tuning is intuitive enough.  I can't expect a direct frequency keypad in a radio of this class.  The ETM feature, where it scans the bands for strong stations and stores them, is actually quite convenient.  In ETM mode the tuning dial moves between stored stations, or you can just manually have it move 1KHz at a time.  My only gripe with manual tuning is that it's difficult to get it rapidly into fast tuning mode (5KHz per step) -- there seems to be some "feel" trick that I'm not good at.  I'd like it more if there was a button for this.  I've barely used the user memory mode yet so I can't comment.  Though not documented in the sparse manual, this radio *does* cover LW starting at 150Khz.  Hit "MW," wait for it to come up, and hit "MW" again.  There's not much LW to listen to in the States, so I don't know how well it performs.

Selectivity is excellent, as I'd expect in a DSP radio.  Default is 3KHz, and the "BW" switch rotates through 2Khz, 1KHz, and up to 6Khz.  The skirts are easily steep enough for an AM/SW broadcast environment (9-10Khz spacing).

It does NOT do sideband or CW -- no BFO.  Again, this would be a bit much to ask for it to be implemented well in a $50 portable.

Audio quality is adequate through the speaker -- poor bass but that's what I want for intelligibility in an AM station.  FM stereo sounds great with headphones.

I've only had it for a couple of weeks, so I can't comment on durability.  One reviewer noted that the tuning and volume encoders seemed to wear out after just a couple of months.  If that happens, I'll amend my rating, but for now I'm delighted.

DECEMBER 2013 UPDATE -- Three things that aren't great:
1) The whip antenna may be a bit weak.  I managed to pull mine in two, separating it at the base just below the pivot.  I'll take the blame for that.  Though it snaps back in, it's been weakened and now regularly pulls out.  It looks easy enough to replace if you can find one the right size -- I've ordered one from an eBayer in Thailand.

2) Now that I have a long wire antenna up, it really does overload badly.  I'm in a high signal environment here in St. Paul, Minnesota, so this is not surprising.  It's mostly a problem with KSTP-AM at 1500 kHz.  The radio is meant to be a portable, however, and best used with the whip.

3) Lastly, the only "real" annoyance with this thing that's not my own fault:  the volume control is not smooth analog; it's an encoder that steps up and down.  One step goes from too soft to too loud when using ear buds or cheap earphones.  To get around this I have to use earphones with an independent volume control, but they're big and clumsy.

BUT I'm nitpicking.  Given what this radio does for $50, I'm still giving it 5 stars.  It's an entertainment device, not a serious communications receiver, and it does entertain.
3716349
This is a very compact, high quality, slim card wallet. As others have mentioned, cards initially fit very tightly. Obviously the more you stuff in the pockets, the tighter everything fits. I imagine the slots will loosen with time.

I currently keep my license/thin insurance card, and ATM card on one side, two credit cards on the other side and an additional credit card, 1 business card and 2 bills in the middle section. Pretty much everything I need in a compact format.

Fully loaded, the middle section is a bit thick, and the fit is tight all around, but still fits comfortably in front or back pocket and still much more compact than a regular wallet. The stitching shows no sign of giving way in any spots.
4450577
Small, portable, good quality, would buy again without hesitation
141225
This is really a good little Camcorder. I just wanted to mention a few things that you might want to consider.

Pros:

Very compact for travel.
SDHC solid state memory
Good video quality for price. (I haven't used any others in this category however)
Sound pick up is good.
Battery is pretty good. Mine usually blinks up something like 169-189min on full charge from what I can remember.
Quite stable! Canon image stabilizer works pretty well on this little guy.

Cons:

Controls: I really hate the tiny power button, it's caused me to become frustrated when trying to quick turn on and record. The toggle is okay, but not the best. Menu setup could be better. (These are not life and death though, they all work without fail, just could be better).

Screen is a little hard to see in bright sunlight, which is tough when you have no view finder. (again not that must of a deal breaker)

HATE that you have to plug in the POWER CABLE to transfer content over usb. If you have a SD card slot then this doesn't matter to much, but it gets really annoying other wise, and the "compact" power adapter, isn't really very compact. (two piece cord with a power block)

I would like that when I close the screen there would be an option to have the camera power down (at least when not recording). Sometimes you close the screen thinking it will turn off and forget to push the tiny power button.

Low light is very grainy. (I was expecting this for the price)

still shots are worthless. As long as you have your camera phone you're probably guaranteed to get better photos. (of course I didn't buy it for that).

Overall good little cam. Just be wise and check out the newest stuff out there. Use CNET and amazon compare other cameras and read reviews!
3856102
Overall, this is a pretty good compact bluetooth keyboard. Im impressed with the key feel  it has a slight click to it, avoiding the mush feel that small keyboards often have. The throw is short, but enough so that you know by feel if the key press has been registered. No complaints about the key action at all.

The layout is, for the most part, also well done. Its the usual QWERTY layout with a number of keys serving dual function (such as the top row which can be used for numbers/special characters or F-functions, with the latter enabled by pressing the Function key). Im not all that enthused about the split space bar and the fact that there are no dedicated page up/page down keys (its dual function with the cursor control keys) but thats an unavoidable issue in a compact keyboard.

The key markings are clear and easily read. Theres an on/off slider switch, and indicators for caps lock, low battery and connection. When folded, the keyboard is held shut with a magnet, which is a big plus  no risk of having the keyboard flop open when you are carrying it, and no need to deal with any type of latch or lock.

The build quality is decent for the price, with the frame having, for the most part, a solid feel. The exception is the center hinge, which could use a more robust design to avoid the keyboard being folded backwards. There are holder plates that snap out of the frame (tip: pop them out with a flat screwdriver unless you want to run the risk of losing a fingernail. They are hard to pop out!) that help strengthen the structure, but Id prefer a more robust center hinge design.

It has an internal battery, which for me is a better design than using removable batteries. It comes with a cable for charging along with a carry pouch. The pouch is rather large compared with the size of the keyboard, but workable.

The hinge design knocks this down to 4.5 stars, but Ill round up to 5 since I find the keyboard feel to be just perfect for me. Well worth considering if you need a compact keyboard to take along on the road.
[Sample provided for review]
340720
I've been an Ultra-pod II user for over 10 years, always carry one in my bag. Recently, I bought this smaller version Ultrapod which would be too weak to support SLR with a lens on. I carry this small Ultrapod in bag to use with my pocket camera (Sigma DP1 and Canon G), and take the old Ultrapod II only with my DSLR(Canon 5D), saved more bag space.

some issues that could be improved:
1) I have to find my own bag/case for each of those portable tripods, it would be much batter if a matching soft nylon case came with it.
2) when shooting vertical, this small one is not as good as the Ultrapod II, because the shorter neck of the small tripod, and not as sturdy/staple as the bigger one, of course

I like both, but this smaller modle is better to carry with compact cameras and bigger one can support DSLR with some light/normal lens weight
1914106
It's truly amazing how small external hard drives have gotten. At this point, it's hard to imagine there's any way they'd be able to reduce the size further without shrinking the actual hard drive inside.

This compact and sleep package holds a 1Tb laptop drive and features a USB 3.0 interface. The drive is small enough to EASILY store in your pocket. Not that anyone would typically do that, but that helps give you a sense of the size (actual dimension are about 4.25"x 3.25" x 1/2").

In addition to the compact size, another nice feature of this drive is that is entirely bus powered. That means you connect the included USB cable to a standard USB port on your PC and you're done. No power brick. And it doesn't use two USB ports (the way some externals do). Note that the included USB cable is fairly short--about 1.5 feet. That's enough to sit next to your laptop or PC, but only just. You could replace the included USB cable with your own, of course.

This drive comes pre-formatted for a Mac, and if you have a Mac, just connect it and away you go.

If you are using a PC, you'll need to reformat the drive. I use a PC, so I needed to do this. It's relative easy to do if you're comfortable with following directions. (Google "reformat hard drive from Mac to PC" ).

So then the question is: How well does this drive perform? Very nicely, in fact. Using the industry standard CrystalDiskMark to measure performace on a dedicated USB 3.0 connection, I got read and write speeds for large files of about 114 MB/s, which is very good, especially for a small factor laptop type (2.5") hard drive. (See screenshot attached).

On a USB 2.0 interface, I got read and write speeds of around 25-36 MB/s, so about 25% of the speeds across a USB 3.0 interface (to be expected). These is quite acceptable performance is demonstrates that for USB 2, the interface itself is the limiting factor (as you would expect/hope).

On the whole, given price, form factor, the nice ergonomics (fully powered by a single USB connection) and performance, this is assuredly a nice external to drop into  your backpack/briefcase for on-the-go backups, or for a nice, quiet and uncluttered solution to adding some external drive space to a home PC.
949331
Very compact, reasonably good sweeper for it's size
3824402
I love how compact this is. It holds a small multitool, a tube, an inflater, a CO2 cartridge and two tire levers. They pack in tight enough that there is no clanking when packed correctly. I also like that there is no velcro to secure the bag to the saddle rails. The clips allow for a tighter, more secure attachment, again reducing the capability to make noise. I like my bike quiet!
1015495
It's very compact and nicely packaged.  Despite its size it still inflated a 235/55x19 tire at about 2 psig/minute.  The hose and cord storage are adequate to repackage them.  I've had trouble restoring them in most other units.  The auto-pressure feature works nicely, but had to breakin in the beginning.  By the 3rd tire everything was fine and the auto-pressure was accurate and precise according to both my digital gage and the car's internal tire pressure display.  It cost more than the rest, but I felt it was worth it in light of how easy it is to use.
1488948
Not the fastest, but compact and easy to use.
2007097
This is one really compact tripod, and worked very well with all my point & shoot cameras, even the midsize super zooms. The trigger ball lock was plenty good for the above mentioned, but forget it on heavy SLRs and Mirrorless cameras with any kind of long lens. The clamp on the ball won't sqeeze tight enough to hold. It folds down to back pack size,and is tall enough to not break your back looking through a optical or the LCD. It is a light weight unit, so in any kind of windy situation, long exposures and suffer from shake:  Larry
2911446
I basically had two requirements when choosing a new shredder.
1  It had to cut up the papers into small pieces and
2  It had to be compact.
This hits the mark on both.
I have not tried the CD or CC slot but, the paper shredder leaves pieces very very small.  I have only put in about two or three pages at a time so I don't know about the upper limit of its capabilities.  Some will complain about the capacity of the basket but it slides out without having to remove the cutter head which is nice for a compact machine.
I am not sure how long it will last but the features and price are great.
4767311
Compact and versital.  Be careful unpacking it, or it might spring open and hit you....
405338
I needed a camera quick, I was on one coast, and my wife was on another. I was house hunting so that we could relocate and the camera I had died. Not wanting to make a hasty decision I did some research and narrowed it down to this camera based on the reviews I saw.

It is a small compact camera, it does have an automatic mode, and if you want to tweak it has a manual mode. I've taken a lot of pictures with this from close up to far away, stationary to moving, pets, etc and it seems to take good hi-res pictures.

The only negative I have with this camera is that the lens that retracts is rather fragile. I think I kept it in my pocket a few times (I did purchase a case) and I think I may have damaged the lens even though I was careful with it.

Overall I like the camera.
4356158
I got this tripod about a month ago and just got back with it from a trip to California. I think this tripod lived up to my expectation for a lightweight and compact tripod. A bit about the backgrounds of my gears, I have a 5D Mark II, 24-105mm f4, 16-35mm f2.8, 70-200mm f2.8 IS, all Canon's L series lenses. If you've used one you know how solid (or heavy) they can get. I used my older 486RC2 ball head with this tripod. I think in my own experience, they are all supported fine with this tripod.

I also own Manfrotto's 190XB aluminum tripod for quite a while. It is very solid but often a bit too heavy for carrying it extensively. It's also too long to put it in a carry on luggage for a flight. So I decided to get a more compact and lightweight replacement. This isn't the cheapest carbon fiber tripod I found, but I've had good experience with Manfrotto so I decided to give it a try. Weighting 2 lbs it is exactly half of my 190XB, and the folded length is also much shorter. It fits in my tiny carry on suit case (without a head) perfectly, which is very convenient for traveling. I also attached it on my backpack (Lowepro Flipside 400) and it didn't add too much weight and balance, so I'm definitely happier.

Compare to my 190XB, it does not feel quite as strong, particularly the 4th section of the legs. I would not recommend using this in a windy condition for it might wobble. But when you're looking for a compact/lightweight tripod, this is the compromise you have to make, especially for this price. It's also a bit on the short side, even for me (I'm 5'6''). But for my purpose, I will keep both of them and use them under different situation.

Overall, I would recommend this for people who want a compact/lightweight and yet still quite sturdy tripod.