The Brooks Review

Category: Free

  • The Apple of Your Eye

    Sean Sperte on a common sentiment about no longer feeling like a through and through Apple fan:

    There may be other reasons I haven’t thought of, but those are the ones that immediately came to mind. And obviously, I do really prefer the user experiences I get with macOS and iOS, despite their many, many… many (gosh, doesn’t it seem like more than ever?) flaws.

    When I was talking about the Surface Studio on Twitter, someone responded “have you guys even used Windows lately”. I chuckled, because I have, and it’s shit. Anyone who thinks the Surface Studio makes up for that, is going to be really fucking sad.

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  • The Nock Lanier – Initial Thoughts

    Editor’s note: This product was provided to me at no cost for review purposes.

    Nock is best known as a company serious about their writing implements — so serious that they create niche carrying cases for writing implements, as well as high quality notebooks. It’s been a while since I wrote about them last, and part of this needs to be addressed up front, because Nock is almost the antithesis of my approach to working.

    I work hard to digitize my life onto my iPads, and Nock works to maintain the tradition of handwritten excellence. Two approaches to the same problems. The last time around I hacked a Nock case to hold my wires and stuff, but now Nock is taking aim at something I know all too much about: bags.

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  • What a Week

    I’ve started a new newsletter, and it is ad supported. I’d love it if you signed up, it’s a weekly affair. Here’s a taste from this week’s:

    I wasn’t going to mention all the Samsung Galaxy Note 7 Fire Editions, but umm, well it burned a Jeep to the ground (and if the story couldn’t be better, FLORIDA). I don’t even know what to say, but my bigger question is: how does anyone ever trust Samsung again? This isn’t like a Tesla catching fire — people feel like they can escape from cars. This is a potential bomb you are putting in your pocket, right next to your sensitive areas there. Good lord. Even Australian airlines are banning these phones from flight and the FAA is wanting you to keep them off. I joke a bit, but I am serious about the implications: how long until people question whether their phone is going to burn down their house while they sleep? Amazingly, this isn’t getting the news coverage it really should be.

    Sign up here.

  • Special B&B Throwback Episode: The iPhone 7 Event

    I texted Shawn on Tuesday to see if he wanted to do a special show, and amazingly we both had time to fit it in. We talk about the iPhone 7 stuff, as well as paying for new devices. Shawn also explains math to me. All in all: good times.

  • Canvas #17: 2Do with Ben Brooks

    I had a lot of fun filling in for Federico. A huge thanks to Federico and Fraser for having me as a guest. We dive into 2Do but also talk about my iPad only journey.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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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  • Last Reminder: Membership Drive & Giveaway

    One last reminder that the membership drive ends today at 5pm PST. There’s also one other thing: the quarterly membership plan ($7/quarter) is currently way cheaper than all other plans. After today that plan will be gone for good. If you are on that plan now, you get to keep it until you cancel it.

    After today though, that will no longer be an option. Thanks to everyone who has been signing up, I can’t wait to do the giveaway.

  • Membership Drive & Giveaway

    I haven't held a membership drive in quite some time, so here we go. As most readers know, there are two funding sources for this site: affiliate revenue, and membership revenue. On an average month I make about 70% of the money for this site from memberships.

    Reviewing things not only takes me considerable time (even just finding things which might be good to review), but it also costs considerable money. I only receive items in exchange for a review about 30% of the time — the remainder of the time I am left spending my own money on these items.

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  • Tom Bihn’s Sprout Backpack: A Review

    Editor’s Note: The following is a guest post from my talented wife, Erin Brooks. Do go check out her blog where she writes a good deal about her amazing photography. This bag was provided to us free of charge for the purpose of review and feedback.

    When we sought a backpack for Sloane, our almost-4-year-old daughter, we wanted a durable bag. There are plenty of backpacks available, but many wouldn’t last more than one school year, if that. Luckily, our friends at Tom Bihn let us know they were trying out a new backpack for kids, and we jumped at the chance to give it a whirl. The first version of the Sprout backpack was her favorite color, purple (aubergine), and perfect in size, but Sloane had one recommendation: it needed a sternum strap.

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  • The James Brand County Pocket Knife Review

    I wrote a little pocket knife review for Tools and Toys on the James Brand County knife. It’s is simply gorgeous.

  • Dumbshit got hacked mid-air while writing an Apple-FBI story

    Steven Petrow:

    That was last week, when the standoff between the FBI and Apple seemed much more about principle than practice to me. That’s when I thought I’d write a column on whether this legal fight matters to regular folk — people like my mother, a retired social worker; my best friend, who works in retail; or even my 20-year-old niece in college. That was before I found out — in a chillingly personal way — just why it does matter. To all of us.

    This story would be funny if it wasn’t so disturbing. Not because he was hacked — that’s what you get for not protecting yourself on a public WiFi network — but rather because Petrow was going to write about a complex topic without even coming close to understanding it. He is just one journalist, but I suspect it is far more common for those writing about this Apple-FBI fight to not truly understand what is at stake, and instead just pretend that they know right from wrong here.

    It should be up to each of us to decide what to make public, and what to keep private, he continued. For me, I felt as though the stranger on the plane had robbed me of my privacy—as was explicitly his intent. He took the decision of what to share out of my hands. He went in through the back door of the Gogo connection.

    So much for the oft touted “but I have nothing to hide” line. I’d like to buy this so called “hacker” a drink for his public service.

  • The Upside of Changing the Way an Apple Pencil Works

    Federico Viticci on the changed behavior of the Apple Pencil in 9.3’s beta:

    Using a Pencil to scroll lists and interact with menus has serious benefits for people with RSI problems, and, I have to say, it’s just convenient if you don’t want to switch back and forth between touch and Pencil all the time.

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  • Fujifilm X100T- a Camera Review

    Erin Brooks on the camera she stole from me:

    It’s so easy to use. Even not knowing all of the technical rules about cameras and photography, a person would be able to get fabulous shots using this camera. There aren’t a lot of settings that I need to tinker with, so I can have a basic understanding of how a camera works, and get the shot quickly, without much thought toward the set-up.

    I miss my camera…

  • Ulysses Beta

    Sign up to get on the beta for the iPhone and iPad Pro. It’s really great.

  • Some Important Updates

    Last month a veritable shit storm hit Twitter and many blogs, with the seemingly unwarranted attack on an anonymous blogger going by the name “Samantha Bielefeld”. This week I have been given a lot more information about this person and it makes me angry. Very angry.

    While I still believe gendered, and personal, attacks on anybody for their opinions is fully unwarranted, it has become increasingly clear to me I have misplaced my trust in this person. That misplaced trust was something this person appears to have been depending on and I regret this very much.

    Further, I apologize to you my readers for abusing the trust you have placed in me. And I apologize and thank those who tried to warn me early on, and who I disregarded.

    I have a long standing policy of not deleting posts, and this situation makes me wish that was not true, but I have gone back and edited all posts related to this matter to reflect the current situation.

    I hope to write more on this in time, but that time is not right now.

    To save you searching, and to keep you up to speed, the updated posts are:

    Lastly, I apologize to Marco Arment for calling him out so harshly when it seems far more likely now — he knew something I did not know and was trying to walk a difficult line.

    That is all for now.

  • Arriving at San Francisco

    Over on The Syndicate, we published the second part of Nick Keppol’s deep dive on San Francisco — and man did I learn some stuff about the typeface.

  • Regret

    Update on 11-25-15

    The events of the past few days have brought to light, and to my personal attention, many new facts and stories I did not previously know about the person going by the name “Samantha Bielefeld” and because of this new evidence I have a much different take on the situation. I still believe many valid points were made by this person, and that gendered and personal attacks are never warranted — I stand by that.

    However, given what I now know I cannot in good conscience continue to defend this person. I apologize for my misplaced trust and hope to elaborate on this more at a later time. I have a long standing policy of not deleting posts once they are published, and that policy still stands. Again, my apologies. You all trust me, and in this circumstance I have failed you.

    Often, as writers, we end up with a mix of: good, mediocre, and sometimes bad stuff out there in the world for others to see. I know I have my fair share of it on this site. What usually follows the mediocre and bad, is a sense of regret.

    I cannot stand to have something wrong on this site. Even if at the time I thought I was dead right, it bugs me knowing it is there, and regret sets in. That doesn’t mean I regret having ever written something, but that I regret being wrong. It’s certainly an egotistical view, but I think it is true for most who publish online, whether in tweets or on a blog.

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  • Responsibility

    Matt Gemmell:

    That was a shitty thing for me to do, because having a following doesn’t just make patronage work, or let you take creative risks in product monetisation; it’s also a responsibility.

    Now, that sucks, because you can’t possibly be held accountable for the actions of every sociopath who happened to click the Follow button on your Twitter profile. You can’t.

    I am so glad he wrote this. I’ve been struggling with a similar post, but Matt has said it far better than I could have. Well done.

    UPDATE 11-25-15: As with the other posts on this matter the new evidence coming forward calls into question the motives of the individual in such a way that I no longer feel as many people were, or are, in the wrong as they were.