The Brooks Review

A couple core collaboration tools for working effectively with Mac users, and the why and how of iOS 11’s Dock, which changes quite a lot all on its own.

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I’ll have more to say about this at a later time, but I’ve moved this site to a new server. If you are seeing this, you’re seeing the new server. There’s only one issue I know of: SSL is not yet working correctly. Otherwise, everything should be fine. So if you see something, say something?

Yeah, let’s go with that.

Thanks

Note: this bag was sent to me from Aer for review purposes.

If you read the Duffel Pack 2 review and thought: that’s nice but wish it were smaller, well then… Aer’s Fit Pack 2 is for people who want the same utility of their larger bags, but in a smaller format — for me it’s an ideal size everyday backpack.

At roughly 19 liters, this bag strikes a nice size, enough for what you need everyday, and a little extra for those days when you need to pack more. In typical Aer fashion, this bag is both backpack and duffel bag, with a large duffel compartment running the length of the bag on the top, and a laptop sleeve and organization section against the wearers back. And yes, it includes the shoe compartment, just as the Duffel Pack, but in this bag it eats almost the entire duffel compartment if you use it.

Continue reading: Aer Fit Pack 2

I recently wrote about the ESEE Izula, and talked about small fixed blade knives. The Eldris is another in the small fixed blade knife category, made by the well known and respected Morakniv (“Mora”). I purchased this knife quite some time ago after seeing it winning some awards for the design and usefulness of the knife.

Morakniv knives are well known and well regarded. They are inexpensive, and preform generally well as survival knives and in many other circumstances. I’ve personally never been fond of them, but the Eldris is so well liked by so many people, and so light, that I picked one up. They generally cost about $30.

Continue reading: Morakniv Eldris

Note: this backpack was sent to me from Aer for the purposes of this review.

Aer was one of the first companies I saw doing a duffel pack — a duffelbag-backpack, hybrid. I see them all over when I am shopping around for bags, and they’ve always intrigued me. I never tested the first version, so this review is based solely on what the Duffel Pack 2 is.

Aer makes this bag targeted at people looking for one bag to carry all their work gear along with their gym gear — in that sense this is a niche bag. However, in practice it’s a fairly normal backpack and can be used as such. To test the bag I took it on a long trip to the Washington Coast, and put it through its paces there.

Continue reading: Aer Duffel Pack 2

Fixed blade knives are among the coolest knives you can get — they are bad ass. But, the usefulness of them is questionable. Are they useful? Yes. Are the useful very often? Not really.¹ However, there are such things as smaller fixed blade knives, among which the ESEE Izula is one of the more popular options.

The Izula has a small, but able, 2.6” blade on it made of 1095 high carbon steel. It’s like a mini version of my favorite survival knife, the ESEE 4. And that makes it really interesting.

Continue reading: ESEE Izula

1. For most people, that is. ↩

I review a lot of bags on this site, and because I have a best page, as well as commenting on what I carry on a day to day basis, there’s some confusion on whether a bag (or anything else) is good, if I don’t carry it, or list it as “best”. So I want to take a moment to clarify all of that.

Continue reading: A Good Bag versus a Bag I Use

August always feels like such a dead month when it comes to Apple related things. You’ll see a ton of rumors or “leaks” leading up to new iPhones in the fall, and the rest of the community seems to live like hermits preparing grandiose shit no one will read in its entirety. Any ways, back to iPads.

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One question I am often asked: “I want a bag that is like the GR1, but lighter and cheaper, do you know of any?” My answer is always: “Sorry, no, but let me know if you find something.”

The reality is most people use a backpack to go to and from work, but want it to be able to pull double duty for travel or day hikes as needed. That last bit rules out a lot of the bags you see coming out of Kickstarter — most of those bags are not even close to being comparable to a GR1 — but the GR1 is still heavy and expensive for most.

Continue reading: Mystery Ranch Urban Assault

Another in my wallet search. IMPORTANT, these wallets were provided to me in exchange for a review and help me please, because I just saw they sell backpacks.

Ok, so to recap where I am: the EZGO was too bulky but otherwise great, the Slimfold wasn’t limiting enough, but otherwise great, and the Magpul was bad, and otherwise bad. Today, we talk about Flowfold. I received two of their minimalist wallets, one with white sailcloth, and another in a different material¹ colored aquamarine.

Continue reading: Flowfold Wallets

1. They do not specify what it is. ↩

A shorter report this week, as I took vacation last week, but I wanted to touch on WiFi only iPads, and the auto-correction hubbub.

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Last week I took a trip to the East Coast for a visit with family and friends. Instead of taking one of my roller bags, which I’d typically use for a week away, I decided to carry everything on my back¹. That meant careful packing, and judicious choice of electronics—especially those which require additional chargers and cables.

The first leg of the trip was to my in-law’s cottage on the James River, in Southern Virginia. That meant lots of time in the water, and sand. I didn’t take my Apple Watch, and instead bought a fun summer watch—a beater—built for sun, sand, and waves. I had pulled the trigger on my first dive watch.

The watch I purchased was the Orient Ray (second edition), and I really like it.

Continue reading: Review of the Orient Ray (II) Dive Watch

For the next week, the part of Ben will be played by Rob Rhyne. Opinions are his own, and do not represent his employer. You can read more on Twitter or his site.

Hiring is a hot topic, and a large problem area in the technology space. When I was running MartianCraft, we were always on the search for great talent who would excel in (and hopefully expand) our culture. That’s how I came to know Ben Brooks personally—I interviewed him for a job. Hindsight proves it was a great decision to hire Ben, but I’m not writing here to talk about how cool I am¹.

Many have asked me how I evaluated candidates for MartianCraft. You might assume that technical skill was a key indicator, but we found it wasn’t a discriminate enough indicator. There are a lot of smart, technically capable people in our industry.

Problem is, there aren’t as many thinkers.

Continue reading: The Importance of Curiosity and Moving Beyond Informed Opinions

1. I’m the coolest of the cool, if you must know. ↩

I’m taking a short break from the site this week while we go on a family vacation. To keep you company, I’ve asked my good friend Rob Rhyne to keep an eye on things for me — he’s a hell of a writer.

You can find Rob’s writing on his site here, follow him on Twitter and maybe other stuff too. Rob is one of the few people out there I know, where, if he tells me something is good, I don’t need to do any further research — I can take his word for it.

See you next week, thanks again Rob.

Another selection in my wallet search.

Finding the Slimfold too accommodating, and the EZGO too large, I decided to go as crazy small as possible, which is the Magpul Daka. It’s basically a piece of polymer stuff that holds about two credit cards and nothing else.

Continue reading: Magpul Daka Wallet