Last week I chatted with Tim Bradshaw of the Financial Times about the iPad, and more specifically how I use it as my only device and a bit of prognosticating about why more don’t use it. The article, if you can’t read it, gives a good overview of where things are. Of course, reading it, I have many more thoughts I’d like to expand on, so here we are.
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A couple of weeks ago I talked about a shift in the way I am working on my productivity tools. For those who missed it, the crux was that I no longer felt like my systems were helping me to get things done. I love Things, but some how it had become a database of stress, instead of the normal tool it had been for keeping stress at bay.
I turned to my buddy Shawn Blanc, and asked him explain his digital-analog system to me. After talking to him I bought a large Baron Fig Confidant, a little ruler from them (why not?) and set out to give this system a go. I also decided that I need to go back to a standard wake up time.
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It’s September, which means that on average the price of everything GORUCK sells is now 20-30% more expensive than it was last month. This is the first time a lot of the GORUCK stuff is going up in price, notably the GR1 and GR2. Because of this a lot of people have been asking for my thoughts.
Note: this is a guide and thus much longer than most posts. Some gear in here was provided as review items, others were bought with my own money. See individual gear reviews on each to know which is which.
One of the biggest knocks against my firm stance that there exists no better backpack than the GORUCK GR1 is: “but GORUCK bags have no organization at all and it is so terrible that one should not even consider them.” For those who have emailed, DMed, and tweeted me something along those lines, you likely received a very unsatisfactory answer: ’that’s what makes them great, they are a blank canvas for you to make them whatever you want.’ This is unsatifying because I don’t actually give any advice on how to make them what you want.
It takes a good bit to get me to link to a site like The Outline, but this post from Paris Martineau is interesting. Martineau states:
Yes, Do Not Disturb mode, that underused feature on your Android or Apple device that silences all notifications and vibrations and was ostensibly designed to help you sleep better. Turn it on. Forever. Never turn it off.
It’s not a bad idea at all, and I’ve been thinking about being far more aggressive with notifications than I already am. What’s neat about this trick, is that you still see the notifications when you do check your phone. This is really how smartphones should work out of the box.
You should have to work to get these things to interrupt your day.
On September 1st, GORUCK is increasing prices by a lot. The GR1 specifically will be $395, which is a $100 increase. (Here’s a table of the increases.) GORUCK bags are buy it for life, and if you are on the fence, now the time to pull the trigger. These are the best backpacks out there.
I’ll have more thoughts on the pricing increases later.
I talk to a lot of people who often say a couple of things to me with regards to their smartphone/computer usage:
1. I probably use it way too much.
2. I really don’t think I am not that bad, so I don’t really need to curb my usage.
Most people say both, roughly in that order. I’m guilty too. It seems that in society today, people with data plans and smartphones recognize that they likely use these devices far too much. But by the same token, the usage they deem to be too much is excused away by saying it is necessary for any number of reasons. Thus, at the end of the day, no one actually thinks they should curb their usage of devices because, well, they have really gotten rid of everything nasty in their own usage.
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I ran into a small issue a few months ago. While going through TSA in Seattle my bag was flagged for additional screening. It was the first time in quite a while that I had this happen, so I was really curious as to what it was that set it off. Luckily, the TSA person was super nice, and she explained there was a dense metal cylinder that they wanted to inspect. I knew what it was, it was my Reylight Brass AA light.
That’s a beefy light, and she took a look at it, flicked it on and rightfully commented: “that’s a nice flashlight”. Goddamn right it is. But she also told me it was likely to get flagged more and more often now as it looks like it could be a gun part. Well, fuck. I had traveled with it before without issues, but TSA is constantly changing, so I was not surprised to hear this, and knew I should probably pull it from my travel kit.
I’ve written before about what now seems to be more commonly accepted knowledge: digital devices in classrooms, even if used for notetaking, leads to worse results and more distractions.
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Note: this was provided for review purposes from BOND Travel Gear.
Tools rolls are one of the neatest looking items you’ll see on gear sites. They roll up small, and then unroll on the workbench to an accessible system for getting at what you need. What’s not to like? In practice though, most tool rolls don’t live up to the hype. They often become quickly bloated, oddly shaped, and generally are more hassle than they are worth. One recent exception to this is the small tool roll from Triple Aught Design, but it is very small.
And then I saw this tool roll from BOND Travel Gear and I was intrigued, because it seems like that small tool roll, but blown up to scale. What sets the BOND tool roll apart is that it doesn’t roll, it folds. I’ve found that this is a key difference, so given that, I’ve been testing out this tool roll on a bunch of trips.
Ryan Nakashima reporting:
To demonstrate how powerful these other markers can be, the AP created a visual map of the movements of Princeton postdoctoral researcher Gunes Acar, who carried an Android phone with Location history off, and shared a record of his Google account.
And guess what?
The map includes Acar’s train commute on two trips to New York and visits to The High Line park, Chelsea Market, Hell’s Kitchen, Central Park and Harlem. To protect his privacy, The AP didn’t plot the most telling and frequent marker — his home address.
All sorts of yikes in this.
I saw a comment the other day about ’thin devices’, where the author was complaining about the compulsive drive of tech companies to make devices ever thinner. This is not the first time I’ve heard this, and can usually be heard each time an iPhone comes out with an ever thinner new model.
The reason for thinner devices is rather obvious and is two part. The first reason for this drive is that thinner devices seem impossible. Go and look at either a new iPad Pro, or MacBook (Pro or not) and tell me they are not impossibly thin, and that’s even before you consider the amount of things you can do with these devices. If you are reading this on an iPad, stop and take any and all covers off of it and hold the device in your hands — really look at it and feel it — and you will immediately know the truth.
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In the world of MOLLE laden products there’s no shortage of “admin pockets” or pouches if you prefer. A quick search on Amazon will give you a plethora of options, but one of the best out there is Triple Aught Design’s OP1. I’ve long stayed clear of it as I thought it was either too small or too large depending on the reason why I was looking at it.
I picked one up a few months ago to give a whirl, and I’ve been pleasantly surprised by it.
Note: This bag was sent to me from Piorama as a review sample.
It’s been hard for me to miss knowing about this bag, it seems that the A10 Adjustable duffle bag is everywhere I look these days. It is an intriguing bag too: expanding to double the size, with both a shoulder strap and a backpack strap setup. I’ve also not read any bad things about the bag, so I jumped at the chance to test this bag, and test it I have.
So far it’s been on three trips with me, and I’ve sent it through the bag hell which is checking it for a flight. Even after all of that, I still have a bag which looks nearly new, so let’s talk about this bag.
Just released today in black only is the long awaited return of the 15L Bullet Ruck. It looks to be the same setup as the 10L, but with more width throughout and just a touch deeper. That’s about how I would want it too, I picked one up right away. I can’t wait to test it out.
There’s been a lot going on with tablets in the past few weeks, with a new Microsoft Surface Go coming out, as well as Samsung’s new Galaxy Tab S4 Tablet. Let’s take a look at all of this.
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Nikhil Sonnad:
There are certain things you do not in good conscience do to humans. To data, you can do whatever you like.
Fantastic article.
I got a KR1 – Kid Ruck in last week and had a chance to take a look at it. (Also, you might want to hurry, there are fewer than 40 left at the time of writing.) This is not a review, but rather my initial impressions of the bag, since I won’t have had enough time with it before the school year to weigh in on it more.
One of the sets of organizational gear I picked up was smaller and more unconventional pouches from Triple Aught Design. Specifically the BC4, BC8, and S2 pouches. The first are designed specifically to carry the battery cases that Triple Aught Design sells, and the latter being made for a flashlight. These aren’t really made to hold general items, as much as they are for specific items, but that doesn’t mean they can’t hold other things.
I’ve been playing with these as possible quick access and organizational pouches on the internal MOLLE webbing of my GR1s, so let’s take a look at these.
As I mentioned in my post last week, I wanted to follow up with what worked and what didn’t on my road trip, so here’s a smattering of gear related thoughts, both mini-reviews and thoughts on what I should and should not have packed.
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