Luke Judge

Ever since Steve Jobs famously derided the stylus’ place in our post-PC world, the market for iPad- and iPhone-compatible writing implements has been fiercely competitive. I personally own several, and rarely is one released to the retail market that I don’t get my hands on and put through its paces.

When Arctic sent me their Architect stylus, I thought it’d make for an easy, quick review. after all, it boasts a traditional-looking, dome-tipped rubber nib (perhaps “nub” is more apt), and there didn’t seem much difference between it and the generic Best buy fare we’ve all come across over the last few years.

Outwardly, of course, the Architect stylus is far more handsome than most of its competitors, and its milled aluminum shaft matches exactly the iPad’s backside in texture and tone. together, the two make an elegant pair.

As its most distinguishing feature, the Architect sports a distinctive screw-on cap to protect its capacitive tip. When the stylus is in use, the cap screws conveniently onto the other end, providing a rounded, comfortable contact point that fits perfectly in the hand. its stylish, vertical opening — looking like the black-lacquered eye of some giant needle — is designed to take a large keyring or small lanyard, so you can accessorize your accessory to add your own personal flair.

But, with styli, looks are hardly as important as performance, and it’s in this regard that the Architect impressed me most.

Usually, styli of this sort end up being mushy, erratic, and functionally imprecise. Not so with the Architect. Instead, I found the experience pleasant and efficient. what stood out most, though, was the Architect’s pressure-sensitive scribing surface. Now, I don’t mean pressure-sensitive in the standard digital sense à la Wacom, I mean pressure-sensitive in the sense that you’ve actually got to put some firmness behind your strokes for any input to register. It’s almost like the nib’s outer surface has to be pushed down into some mystery layer to take effect, and the resulting feel is quite satisfying. even cooler, once you initiate that contact, you can ease up on the force and continue writing lines and drawing doodles without interruption. I don’t know how they did it, but Arctic dialed in this thing’s responsiveness like crazy. Tested against other styli of its type, the Architect took noticeably more operator intent to register. for artists and writers, that’s a very good thing. no more accidental input!

Arctic’s Architect has replaced most of my other styli (with one ever-present and undefeated exception), and it’s more forgiving and fun to use than nearly anything else in the $25 price range. It’s not some goofy gimmick or metaphorical chore — It’s just a well-designed, straightforward stylus that does everything you ask of it.

The Architect comes with a custom carry pouch, and you can purchase yours directly from Arctic for $24.95. Free shipping is available.

Now if only this thing came trimmed in white…

Follow Retweet

arrows Flights & Shafts cap screws, nib, nub, paces, steve jobs, texture

There is a big, scary, orange Raptor in front of my house. It’s there because when I pulled into my driveway, our ferocious German Shepherd, a former police dog, went nuts. Crazy. Howling and barking and snarling.

And that’s before I told Pax the price. With options, that Raptor, a special edition F-150 from Ford’s in-house skunk works, the Special Vehicle Team (SVT), stickers for $56,649.

Sure, there are some extras on board – $1,300 moon roof, $1,300 graphics package, $2,300 Sony navigation system, $350 box extender, $500 rearview camera and $500 orange accents – but even the base Raptor starts at $48,299.

So in an effort to calm the hound, I parked the Raptor out of sight, behind the big trees in front. But there is really no hiding this beast. With big tires, a wide stance, killer colours and a snarly, 320-horsepower V-8 under the hood, this pickup takes your breath away and leaves an otherwise intimidating animal panting and in fear of his life.

Actually, it’s also taken away the breath of at least 5,300 buyers and counting. Ford Motor says is has that many orders – so far – for the F-150 SVT Raptor off-road pickup. Ford types say orders have “exceeded our expectations.”

And the bottom line padding is welcome at Ford, no question. How pleased is Ford to have found an audience for such a hardcore, rock-crawling ride? Well, a Raptor costs $23,700 more than the base F-150 ($24,599). With the Raptor, Ford is enjoying a quick and small-scale return to Detroit’s golden age of high-profit trucks from a decade ago.

Ford, it seems quite clear, has learned its lessons about relying on trucks for profits and survival. A broadening lineup of fuel-efficient passenger cars such as the upcoming Ford Fiesta subcompact are proof of that. So is Ford’s reliance on its turbocharging/direct-injection EcoBoost system to squeeze V-8 power from V-6 engines with the commensurate fuel economy.

But there is a small, die-hard pool of buyers who get weak at the knees and short of breath when they see trucks like the Raptor. At our house, well, the dog just thinks some strange, big animal is posing a threat.

Ford officials say this Raptor is proving so popular, the auto maker wound up building more 5.4-litre V-8 models (320 hp) than originally anticipated – and the order banks are now open and filling up for the all-new 6.2-litre V-8 version (411 hp).

About half the orders are for black trucks, followed by orange, white and blue. Who would want this truck in white or blue remains a mystery to thinking people. Orange or black only, please.

Whatever colour, it seems unlikely that most buyer will actually bang around in the desert or slosh through mud bogs in such a pricey ride. Those that do, however, should not be disappointed. Ford’s engineers point to the worst kind of back-country rocking and say, “Bring it on.”

In fact, the idea behind this rig is simple: high-speed off-road racer. Ford’s PR types are quick to point out that a pre-production version placed third in its class in the legendary Baja 1000 race. So Ford’s claim that the Raptor can bang along unpaved stretches at 190 km/h looks credible, if not exactly inviting.

And on pavement it’s livable – as much as a pickup shod with BF Goodrich All-Terrain TA/KO 315/70-17 knobby tires, and boasting 340 mm (13.4 inches) of usable rear suspension travel (as well as 284 mm or 11.2 inches in front) can be.

What you cannot see is even more important to the off-roading and has just as much impact in the city: a chassis with a heavy-duty suspension, new half-shaft joints and Fox Racing Shox – what the Baja cognoscenti know as “internal bypass” shocks. They get stiffer as the shocks travel, preventing the truck from bottoming out with a thunk when you launch it over a small cliff.

Ford Canada has about 550 of these Raptors for sale, but you’ll need to frequent one of the dealers certified to handle SVT vehicles. They’ll all tell you the same thing: if you want this truck in Canada, you’ll pay the all-in price that includes a standard Luxury Package of dual-zone automatic climate control, 10-way heated leather seats with memory, auto-dimming exterior mirror, power-adjustable pedals and six-CD stereo.

So the luxury goods are non-negotiable, along with all sorts of other basics. That is, the Raptor starts as an F-150 Super Cab with the short box, which means it’s a short-wheelbase pickup.

The look, meanwhile, includes a grille stamped with a huge Ford logo, big, slightly rounded fenders and a body that is 178 mm wider than a standard F-series. How wide is that? Wide enough to require moulded LED clearance lights in the four corners. Three more decorate the grille. You also get tow hooks front and rear, cast aluminum running boards, Raptor-specific bumpers and skid plate, hood vents and SVT-badged side vents. It’s the whole package, believe me and believe Pax.

Inside, Ford has loaded up with SVT gauges, special instrument panel trim, available two-tone leather seats and a Raptor-specific steering wheel.

If you’re serious, you can punch buttons for sport and off-road modes. Play with them to optimize the traction control, turn off the electronic stability control, and dial back the antilock brakes to stop more effectively on gravel or sand.

Like other F-150s, the package includes an integrated trailer brake controller. For those buyers who might want to add a winch or a light rack, Ford has pre-wired the truck into four console-mounted auxiliary switches. Also standard is hill descent control, which allows one to crawl down a grade sans brakes; an electronic locking differential, or E-locker; and a tow rating of 2,721 kg. If you do tow, though that hardly seems the point here, Ford includes something called trailer sway control (to keep your trailer from swinging wildly) and tow/haul mode, which adjusst gearing to your needs and the grade of the roadway.

If this list of trucker gear is baffling, if you are struggling to keep your eyes from rolling back into your head with either boredom or confusion, then you are not a Raptor buyer and surely never will be. But there is a hard-core group who live to own this truck. My bet is they’ll love what Ford has done here.

2010 FORD F-150 SVT RAPTOR 4X4 SUPERCAB

Type: Full specialty pickup

Price: $49,799

Engine: 5.4-litre V-8

Horsepower/torque: 329 hp/390 lb-ft

Transmission: Six-speed automatic

Drive: Rear-drive and part-time four-wheel-drive

Fuel economy (litres/100 km): 15.7 city/11.3 highway; regular gas

Alternatives: Dodge Ram 2500 Power Wagon, Hummer H3T, Jeep Wrangler Rubicon, Nissan Titan PRO-4X

Our ratings guideGlobe rating for the 2010 Ford F-150

• Ride

  In the sand or the muck, the Raptor is hugely capable and designed to be comfortable for 1,000 miles at a crack. But when the roads are paved, there is no suffering here.

• Looks

  Ford has put together a pickup that looks the part of a serious Baja racer. It’s big and bold and scary-looking.

• Interior

  The seats are brilliant and the controls are comprehensive. The cabin design is a mix of industrial seriousness and enthusiast styling. Love the location, on the console, of the pre-wired auxiliary switches.

• Safety

  If size matters in creating a safe ride, this is one of the safest rides you can get. It’s huge.

• Green

  Come on, this is not about fuel economy and a minimalist approach to putting a footprint on the planet.

• Overall

  (out of 10 / Not an average)

Ratings Guide

The numerical ratings are assigned by The Globe and Mail’s car reviewers on a scale out of ten. Each car is assigned a separate rating in five key categories – plus an overall satisfaction rating that is calculated separately, and is not an average of the five category ratings.

Vehicles that do not yet carry ratings on this site will be assigned them when the latest model is reviewed.

arrows Flights & Shafts ford motor, orange accents, passenger cars, short of breath

In the hunting world, elk hunting by bow and arrow is a real gauge of test and expertise. Knowing your prey is the secret. Elk are one of the biggest game animals and are also very cunning. This alone becomes a real challenge for a hunter even an experienced one too. Plus if you hunt with a bow and arrow the need for outstanding expertise is doubled.

A hunter with a bow and arrow must understand their prey and the weapon too. This will enable them to work out the time taken to draw and release the bow.

To hunt elk with a bow and arrow requires a bow designed to kill a big animal. This is really a special piece of equipment. So generally, one starts with a bow of a smaller model and then graduates slowly once it is decided to take up this sport on regular basis. It is very essential to learn in detail about each feature and the capability of one’s weapon including arrows. The arrows must be of a particular length and capacity to penetrate the tough skin and cartilage of the animal for an instant kill. You need to prepare a lot to effectively shoot the arrow to kill the animal with a huge weight.

When hunting elk with bow and arrow, the hunter must pay full attention to every small detail. They do shooting practice in either coveralls or heavy coats and spend time learning about the food and water source for elk in the location. They also get to know their prey according to period of day and temperature and spend a lot of time reading local reports on wildlife. In case hunter is utilizing tree stands for hunting, he can make use of two or three tree stands for gaining the right view of the location. All this will be done long before actual hunt starts.

Guided trips are available particularly designed for archery elk hunting. These organizers are able to offer services that are customized to bow hunting experience. Irrespective of the fact that the hunter is a seasoned one or a novice, expert guides can assist a hunter in putting their expertise and competence with bow to the eventual test. Those who take part in elk hunting with bow and arrow will definitely enjoy hunting, especially when it ends in winning a trophy. Even if they lose, they are satisfied with the learning experience. A good hunter is aware that learning is power which will give success in future in this field.

arrows Flights & Shafts full attention, organizers