I usually steer clear of the consumerist bacchanalia that is Prime Day, but this year the gods of necessity demanded tribute. My quest led me to the holy grail of modern travel: a reliable charger. The Anker 100W GAN charger, a beast of efficiency in a deceptively small package, had long taunted me from the digital aisles. Its power-to-size ratio is the stuff of legend, but the price always loomed like a menacing cloud over my aspirations. Then Prime Day reared its head, offering a seductive 40% discount. The die was cast. I plunged in, credit card blazing.

Maybe it will tempt you as well… Details.

I found myself in a wild-eyed frenzy, gripped by the unrelenting need to possess the sleek and seductive Distil Wally wallet. But the cruel reality hit like a whiskey-soaked sledgehammer: this damned piece of minimalist marvel had no place for keys. What in the name of Hunter S. Christ was I supposed to do about the keys? How the hell would I carry them?

Simple. I wouldn’t.

The answer was clear, shining like a neon sign in a midnight desert: no more keys. I ripped out the old locks on my lab and home, replacing them with the seductive promise of smart locks. I knew the Schlage Encode Plus reigned supreme in this high-tech kingdom, but I wasn’t about to sink five hundred bucks into this mad experiment.

So, with the conviction of a lunatic on a mission, I delved deeper and settled on the Aqara U100, the scrappy runner-up in the cutthroat world of smart locks. At $189, it was a steal compared to the Schlage, boasting all the bells and whistles, plus a nifty fingerprint reader for that instant access.

Two weeks in, and not a single failure to report. The HomeKit integration purrs like a well-fed tiger, and the auto-lock feature is a godsend. I’m happier than a gambler on a winning streak.

To hell with those keys. Who needs them, anyway?

Details here.

Whole home energy backup with an expanding ecosystem of modules… This system is pretty dope. I especially like the fact that the modules are only 5.9″ deep and are wall mountable.

Details here.

I don’t often recommend apps… but this one has changed my life. Things is essentially a todo app available and synced on all of your devices. It can be as simple or as complex as you want it to be. If you are a busy person, give this thing two weeks. It will change your life too…

Details.

I’ve had this thing a little over a week now… and can say, fairly confidently, that this thing is every bit as reliable as the Prusa, fast as hell, and really… well, the first plug and play 3D printer.

Details.

Got some questions after my feature on the iPad mini yesterday about how my Pitaka MagEZ setup was doing over time. I think I’ve used the setup for close to a year now and here are my findings:

1. All concerns about the durability of the case itself can be dismissed. I have had no problems with the case on my 12.9″ iPad Pro or my iPad mini. Both have been dropped and neither suffered any damage at all. Also, I’ve had the devices in and out of their cases regularly and this process doesn’t seem to affect the integrity of the cases at all.
2. The “wireless” PitaFlow charger and MagEZ Stand are absolute game changers. Because each have a stand, they are always charged and always ready to go… As an added perk, the USB-C ports on each device are in perfect condition… and these ports are often considered the Achilles heal of these products.

So, all in all, I can’t recommend these products enough. And keep in mind, this isn’t sponsored. I paid for my cases and stands… and I couldn’t be happier.

Details here.

The mini has been out for years and is due an update, but I’ve never paid it much attention. Recently, I found myself in a bind and needed a cheep iOS device to test a project. I found an iPad mini 6 on ebay for $300 and pulled the trigger.

I’ve now been living with the device for several months and it’s become my favorite Apple device of all time. I don’t use it for productivity at all. In fact, I don’t even take it to the office. Instead, it sits in my living room at home and is dedicated entirely to consuming content.

I think the main driver behind its utility is its size. The best way to visualize it is to imagine a device half way between a normal iPad and one of the big ass iPhones. Or maybe just imagine your typical soft cover novel… It’s perfect for reading. Perfect for video… and perfect for all those small tasks you do while sitting on the couch and mindlessly watching football.

I just can’t say enough about it and have been cussing myself for not picking one up sooner.

In any case, they are on sale right now at Best Buy. Or, you can do what I did and risk buying a used one on eBay.

3D printing in the past has always been sort of a tinkerer’s hobby where you modded and massaged your printer and its settings in order to produce a semi-useful trinket or two. Companies like Prusa have stretched this a bit, but no one has ever really produced a plug and play printer that just works and is capably of producing consistently useful object.

In the past year, that has changed with the Bambu Labs X1. Essentially, it’s a 3D printer built for those that just want to print shit without worrying about the technicalities of doing so. It’s also built really well… Frankly, it’s brilliant.

Check it out.