The Brooks Review

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The Hype: Yoshida & Co’s Porter BagsAugust 26, 2025
G-SHOCK DW-H5600 After 7 MonthsJuly 31, 2025
Casio Duro MDV-106 Re-ReviewDecember 15, 2022

Recent Articles

  • The Arcido Bag Review

    I love the fabric, and am still amazed at how large this bag packs.

    Editor’s note: this bag was provided to me for review purposes, and is a pre-production unit.

    Cavernous, that’s the word I would use to describe this travel backpack and shoulder bag. To give you a better sense of what I mean, I had to triple the amount of clothing I would normally pack for my trip, in order to make the bag feel somewhat full and to keep my stuff from sloshing around the bag.

    Even with all that extra clothing, there was plenty of room to spare. I typically don’t open with thoughts on the size of a bag, but that’s the most striking part of this bag. It’s big. It doesn’t feel big on my back, or even heavy, but it looks big and packs even bigger.

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  • Towards More Minimal Travel

    Interesting post about the process of going from a take everything to a take very little traveler. I will say, he still packs a lot of stuff. But the fact he fits it all in the Aeronaut 45 is really impressive to me.

    Interesting post about the process of going from a take everything to a take very little traveler. I will say, he still packs a lot of stuff. But the fact he fits it all in the Aeronaut 45 is really impressive to me.

  • Toward a Smarter Software Future

    Ben Bajarin: For years I had been writing about the need for better predictive intelligence in our software. It seems ridiculous that my smartphone does not know more about my context and take relevant actions on my behalf. If I’m in a meeting, send all calls to VM or send a text message. If I’m…

    Ben Bajarin:

    For years I had been writing about the need for better predictive intelligence in our software. It seems ridiculous that my smartphone does not know more about my context and take relevant actions on my behalf. If I’m in a meeting, send all calls to VM or send a text message. If I’m running late to a meeting, offer to send an email or text to those I’m meeting with to let them know I’m running late and an ETA of when I’ll be there (since it knows where I am on the road, the traffic situation, and my time to destination). Our smartphones are really not that smart when it comes to the intelligence equation. That is about to change.

  • Dividing the Work Between Two iPads

    It’s amazing how quickly having two iPads becomes a natural thing.

    There used to be endless posts online on how to best work with two Macs — how to keep things in sync between a desktop and a laptop — and all the other messes that technology had yet to solve. I was right there with everyone, trying to divvy the work between two computers. In a way, having two iPads reopens this same discussion.

    Though, I must say, things have changed considerably for the better.

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  • The iPad Pro 9.7″ Smart Keyboard Cover

    It’s so little, so easy to carry, but so tiny to type on.

    I purchased the 9.7″ iPad Pro to be a couch computer and note taking machine, but also to be something I could easily take with me on short trips, or to the coffee shop. Which means I needed a keyboard for it, and given how much I love the Smart Keyboard Cover on the larger iPad Pro, it was an easy decision for me to buy it on the smaller iPad Pro as well.

    I’ve now spent some time using it and I find myself missing the larger keyboard with every keystroke.

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  • We tested over 60 different nail clippers to find the best

    User MooReview: Given that there was no exhaustive guide on nail clippers and thesweethome’s top pick recommends the nickle-plated Muji’s (good but not great) and the awful tweezerman barrel spring nail nipper, we thought we would get snipping to see if we could find something better. This is how you spend a Friday night. And…

    User MooReview:

    Given that there was no exhaustive guide on nail clippers and thesweethome’s top pick recommends the nickle-plated Muji’s (good but not great) and the awful tweezerman barrel spring nail nipper, we thought we would get snipping to see if we could find something better.

    This is how you spend a Friday night. And to save you time, here’s their best all arounder (my affiliate link, as they provided no links).

    Also, the BuyItForLife subreddit is one of my favorites.

  • Are We at the Start of a Tech World War?

    Nick Bilton: Technology is also likely to be at the center of the next major geopolitical battle. The anti-immigration, anti-one percent, anti-capitalism and anti-everything else we’re seeing right now isn’t just going to go away in a society where people feel their voices are not being heard. They’re going to continue to try to affect…

    Nick Bilton:

    Technology is also likely to be at the center of the next major geopolitical battle. The anti-immigration, anti-one percent, anti-capitalism and anti-everything else we’re seeing right now isn’t just going to go away in a society where people feel their voices are not being heard. They’re going to continue to try to affect change, and increasingly, they will rely on technology. And it’s that same technology that is likely to ensure that all future wars bear little resemblance to previous ones.

    Fascinatingly terrifying article.

  • Morning Brain Dump

    Getting stuff out of my head really fast.

    I wake up when the kids get up every morning, which means my schedule is never set. I can’t set a reminder to brain dump at X time, because I want to sleep as late as I can. (Big fan of waking early, but with two small kids it doesn’t work well for me right now.) I’ve also long complained about how slow it can be to add tasks to OmniFocus, and how much better 2Do handles this, but even 2Do isn’t low-friction enough in the groggy mornings.

    I really like to dump everything out of my brain, and into to 2Do while I sip my morning coffee. But I also needed a better way to handle this.

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  • Comparing iPad Pros

    The 12.9″ should be thought of as the 15″ MacBook Pro is on the MacBook lineup.

    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…

    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

    I want a smart notebook, not a digital version of my paper notebook.

    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.

    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.

    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.

    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

    Yes I have two iPad Pro’s, but I am also iOS only now

    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

    This is one really good looking travel bag at great price.

    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.

    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

    This is a really small bag.

    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…

    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

    Variety is the weight in travel.

    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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