The Brooks Review

Month: June 2016

  • Comparing iPad Pros

    I remember being a kid when our family got a new kitten. We had two other cats at the time and this kitten made those full grown cats look like giants. That feeling came right back when I picked up the iPad Pro 12.9″ when it was launched. There were moments when I would pick up my new iPad Pro and just start laughing to myself at the sheer size of the thing.

    It was so big in comparison to my iPad Air. The entire thing felt absurd — it’s even bigger than my MacBook. But unlike with my cats, the smaller iPad never grew larger to normalize things. Instead I just got rid of the iPad Air and my 12.9″ iPad felt normal after a bit.

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  • Daydreaming of an iPad-only future

    Tom on The Minimal:

    Going all in on iPad-only? The question for me today is when rather than how.

    He’s not just talking about leaving the Mac either, he’s looking at what it would be like to just have one device. As in: iPhone or iPad only. He’s got some really good points on both sides of the coin.

  • Finding a Good Apple Pencil Handwriting Note App

    Over the weekend I downloaded as many “handwritten notes” apps as I could find on the App Store to test and find what might be the best for using my 9.7″ iPad Pro as a notepad while I work. I was planning on writing one of those posts where I go through them all, but after searching hard and testing dozens, there’s none which I have found good enough to talk about.

    There are some promising apps, like Notability, Noteshelf, Notes Plus, Notepad+ — but they all have a fundamental flaw. For some reason each of these apps try harder to replicate what you would get from a paper notebook, than to take advantage that they are digital.

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  • 20 Best Carry on Backpacks 2016

    I don’t agree with the title of this post, but It is a good list to get you started.

  • Items for Sale

    I’ve posted four bags for sale. I’ll be posting my MacBook on that page Monday. Keep an eye on it from time to time. Some great deals on some of my bags. Pretty much all of them can be considered in excellent condition.

  • An Osprey Farpoint 40 Review at Scientifics

    A nice review from Steve on a bag which is easily one of the most recommended travel bags I see on forums.

  • The Primary OS

    When the 9.7″ iPad Pro was announced there were a lot of people asking me if I was going to get it. My answer stayed annoyingly consistent: I’m waiting for an iPad mini Pro — one that works with the Apple Pencil. My thinking being simple: I’d like to have another iPad which could lie flat on my desk and replace paper notebooks with the use of apps and the Apple Pencil.

    Further, I would like a smaller iPad for plane flights and hanging out around the house. I know that seems silly to some, but the 12.9″ iPad Pro is very large and unwieldy for some handheld use cases. Yet I wouldn’t trade it for any other device out there. If I had to pick just one device, it would be the 12.9″ iPad Pro — I use it more than my iPhone at this point, though, I thankfully don’t have to make that choice.

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  • Aer Travel Pack

    I recieved a pre-production version of the Aer Travel Pack to review and check out while the Kickstarter campaign is going. This is my first interaction with Aer bags, despite long looking at their interesting Duffel pack, and my first impressions of the brand are very good.

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  • Photo Walk Recap by Erin Brooks

    This was a really fun event to attend and see happen. I also grabbed a couple of the best shots I’ve taken this year:

    See it on Instagram.
    See it on Instagram.

  • GORUCK GR Echo

    When I purchased the GORUCK 10L Bullet Ruck, I thought I had found the perfect combination of backpacks to own: 10L Bullet Ruck, GR1, GR2. These three bags covered 99% of my bag needs and it felt good. Then I decided to switch to the iPad Pro as my full time computer, and I found the iPad Pro (12.9″) doesn’t fit in the Bullet Ruck.

    Now I had a gap once again at the bottom of my bag sizes — which also happens to be my most frequently used bag size. So I began trying a lot of different bags out to find one more compact than the GR1, but mostly I just kept taking the GR1 as everything I tried just didn’t feel right.

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  • The End of Apple Man

    Katie Notopoulos on watchOS 3:

    The second feature is the emergency alert system. To me, this seemed so clearly designed for women – a safety alert system for walks home at night or through a deserted parking lot. Safety was one of the features women liked about the Apple Watch to begin with – like being able to call an Uber without taking their phone out of their purse.

  • Traveling Light: Packing It All Up

    The point of these posts has been simple: take only what you need to use. Pick smart items that handle travel well and keep honing your system.

    I hone my system after every trip when I unpack. If there was something which I unpack and never touched during my trip, then I know that I likely don’t need to pack that item again. Make a mental note, keep paring your gear down with each trip you take. This also helps you ease into it. You might feel uncomfortable if you try to travel with just one set of clothes, so instead start with traveling with just one pair of pants. Once you are used to that, pare back somewhere else. There’s no need to do it all at once.

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  • Traveling Light: Everything Else

    Everything we’ve covered thus far has been tailored towards my needs and my tastes. This is the post about all the other stuff I have come across which might interest other people. And tips I have for buying travel oriented gear.

    While I have covered the basics, the basics might not be enough for you. That’s fine, just remember, that for the most part, those items are a nice to have and not a necessity.

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  • The Great Content Blocker Showdown

    There’s somewhere between 80 and 80,000 content blockers on the App Store. I own many of them. I’ve done quite a few posts on them — comparing their data savings and their speed increases. Purify, kept the lead for the most part.

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  • 1Blocker for Mac

    Really great app, now on the Mac. What I like best: you get a lot of control over it, and it syncs your settings from iOS. Whitelist a site on iOS, it is whitelisted on your Mac. Love that.

  • Aer Travel Pack on Kickstarter

    Aer has launched a new travel backpack/carryon today on Kickstarter. I have a review sample of the pack and will have something to share soon on it. In the mean time, it’s a really well made bag.

    Here’s a few comparison photos you might find interesting:

    Aer Travel Pack next to SLICKS
    Aer Travel Pack next to GORUCK GR2
    Aer Travel Pack next to GORUCK GR1
    Aer Travel Pack next to Standard Luggage Carryon Backpack

  • iOS 10 Security Wishlist

    Editors note: this is a guest post from Guillaume Ross.

    With iOS 10 coming up this fall, and WWDC announcements about it right around the corner, the web is now assaulted by tons of wishlist, requests and predictions articles.

    As I like to be a part of every problem, I figured why not throw in some of my iOS 10 wishlist items, but only those that relate to security.

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  • Traveling Light: Shoes

    The key: pack one pair of shoes. In fact, most people who travel long enough slim down to one pair of shoes, and a pair of sandals for a full year of travel. I don’t do sandals, but I fully agree with one pair of shoes being all you really need.

    Shoes are not only bulky, but they are heavy. There’s two things which will push you to having to carry a larger, and often heavier bag: shoes and jackets. I’ve talked about picking the right jackets — they need to be compressible. Most people really only need one pair of shoes when they are traveling — and honestly the only reason you would need more than one pair is again: variety.

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  • Heading to the Coffee Shop

    There’s a monotony that comes with working at home. Same room, same desk, every day. No one in the house ever puts things in my office without me knowing. There’s no coworkers who ever stop by to torpedo my day. I can listen to whatever I want. I can do whatever I want.

    My office is mine, and mine alone.

    This is good. This is great.

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  • Crafting My Home Office

    A small standing desk, that’s really all I need.

    So up went that small desk in the corner of our bedroom, and there I worked for a good 6 months. It wasn’t big enough though, and I often found myself working on the bed or the floor. I needed a bigger desk.

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