The Brooks Review

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Leica Sofort 2June 13, 2024
Grand Seiko SBGX261February 23, 2023
Casio Duro MDV-106 Re-ReviewDecember 15, 2022

Recent Articles

  • A Look at NetNewsWire 4

    Here’s hoping that updates can restore NetNewsWire as the power users go to RSS reader.

    When I first got a Mac, one of the first pieces of software that I fell in love with was NetNewsWire — it was a revolution in how to keep up with news. It was quite something, and so it took a lot for me to move away from it. But years of stagnation meant I had to try other services. For quite sometime that was Fever, a self-hosted RSS reader, but that too started to get long in the tooth. A while back I went through the plethora of great RSS services before deciding on FeedWrangler + Reeder + Unread.

    While FeedWrangler isn’t the prettiest offering, it is the fastest, and it is damn reliable.

    On September 3rd, Black Pixel announced that NetNewsWire 4 was out. I didn’t even bother to try it before buying the iPhone and Mac version and making the switch over to it.

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  • Removing Mental Overhead on Your iPhone

    iOS Spotlight search and the once screen CGP Grey method

    A while back I mentioned that I had switched to the CGP Grey method of organizing my main home screen on both my iPhone and iPad. This method is simple:

    • One page of apps only
    • At least one row of apps empty
    • Three icons in the dock

    I was highly skeptical that this method would work, but as it turns out this method is supremely good — as long as you are ok with using Spotlight search. I’ve only used this setup on iOS 9, so I can’t speak to how it works on iOS 8, but I can say that there is no going back at this point.

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  • Fuji Fun Vs. Sony Specs

    I loved this post. Great explanation of why I don't care about all the specs of the new Sony cameras. As I tweeted the other night: Cameras: Sony plays the spec sheet. Fuji plays for your heart. I hadn't read this article yet, but I knew what it would say. Fujifilm reminds me of Apple:…

    I loved this post. Great explanation of why I don't care about all the specs of the new Sony cameras.

    As I tweeted the other night:

    Cameras:
    Sony plays the spec sheet.
    Fuji plays for your heart.

    I hadn't read this article yet, but I knew what it would say. Fujifilm reminds me of Apple: they care about the smile the device gives you in the end. But Sony sure seems to impress some people, and I'm happy for them.

  • The EZGO Slim 2.0 Wallet

    I wrote about my new go to wallet for Tools and Toys. It’s pretty nice.

    I wrote about my new go to wallet for Tools and Toys. It’s pretty nice.

  • Apple’s content blocking is chemo for the cancer of adtech

    Doc Searls: On the B2C side, Apple is working on behalf of its paying customers. This is huge. There isn’t a customer on Earth who wants to be tracked like an animal without clear and explicit permission, or to have pages slowed by tracking cookies, beacons and ads fed by unknown and unwelcome servers. Especially…

    Doc Searls:

    On the B2C side, Apple is working on behalf of its paying customers. This is huge. There isn’t a customer on Earth who wants to be tracked like an animal without clear and explicit permission, or to have pages slowed by tracking cookies, beacons and ads fed by unknown and unwelcome servers. Especially on mobile. Apple knows that because they talk on the phone and in stores every day with those customers. They’ve also seen abundant research (some cited above) that makes clear how much people hate having their privacy violated, which Adtech does with abundant impunity. Meanwhile adtech doesn’t talk to those customers. It only follows them. Ain’t the same.

  • AT&T Hotspots: Now with Advertising Injection

    Shit heads.

    Shit heads.

  • The Fave Knife

    The least favorite knife I own.

    I was recently perusing Huckberry — something I really should not do — and I saw the Fave knife. It’s a 4” fixed blade, full-tang, knife with an interesting tag line:

    With this in mind, we set out to create the perfect take-it-anywhere, use-it-for-anything knife, the one that you would always keep close by – for slicing vegtables, cutting a rope or opening a package. A simple, well-built, useful knife that would be equally at home in the kitchen, a workshop, on your desk or out in the backyard.

    Oh really? So I picked one up because I had to know. I mean I really had to know: could a fixed blade knife really be a true utility knife? I was skeptical if this knife could both be good around my garage, and also good in the kitchen.

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  • The Tom Bihn Cadet

    Nice review of the Tom Bihn Cadet from Casey Liss. This is a bag that has always intrigued me, that and the Co-Pilot he also mentions. This looks like a good bag for non-backpack people. (Note I'm testing another shoulder bag that is quite different at them moment, if you are in the market that…

    Nice review of the Tom Bihn Cadet from Casey Liss. This is a bag that has always intrigued me, that and the Co-Pilot he also mentions. This looks like a good bag for non-backpack people. (Note I'm testing another shoulder bag that is quite different at them moment, if you are in the market that review should be up in a couple weeks.)

  • What mobile ad blocking looks like in the real world

    The gifs are telling — this blockers are going to be huge. I’ve been testing one for a little bit now and it is extraordinary how much faster things are.

    The gifs are telling — this blockers are going to be huge. I’ve been testing one for a little bit now and it is extraordinary how much faster things are.

  • The Shinola Pocket Knife

    The next best thing to the Chris Reeves Sebenza 21.

    I have this terrible habit: once I find something I deem to be near perfect enough — such that continuing to find something better would be not worth the extra effort — I just stop looking around. I am now happy and I move on with my life.

    Such was the case with pocket knives.

    Was.

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  • You Can’t Do Squat About Spotify’s Eerie New Privacy Policy

    But by all means bitch about the UI in Apple Music instead…

    But by all means bitch about the UI in Apple Music instead…

  • Building Better Defaults

    Fantastic post from Shawn. And it fits in with how I am using the Due app to help try and build some of these small habits. One of the things that never seems to get down at my house is emptying the bathroom garbage. So I have created a new task in Due which repeats…

    Fantastic post from Shawn. And it fits in with how I am using the Due app to help try and build some of these small habits. One of the things that never seems to get down at my house is emptying the bathroom garbage. So I have created a new task in Due which repeats weekly to empty those.

    Same could be done for a reminder to start something else, like writing, that you want to build a habit of.

  • Acorn 5

    I buy every new version of Acorn, because it is awesome.

    I buy every new version of Acorn, because it is awesome.

  • The FluidStance Level

    What is it like to work on a nearly constantly moving surface? Turns out that it isn’t that bad at all.

    (Editor’s note: This product was sent to me at no cost for the purpose of a review.)

    I should start this by saying that I have never been a skateboarder and in general I am not the best at things which require good balance. So it is with that in mind that I met The Level, a product for standing desk users made by FluidStance, with a bit of fear. I was fairly certain that I was going to end up on my ass after standing on the Level for just a day — maybe with a broken hip, or ankle to show for it.

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  • Inside Amazon

    Gabe Weatherhead, responding to the Amazon workplace hubbub, and specifically Jeff Bezos’ email regarding the matter: Second, sending a company email on the weekend implies that the company culture encourages working on the weekend and considers it completely normal.

    Gabe Weatherhead, responding to the Amazon workplace hubbub, and specifically Jeff Bezos’ email regarding the matter:

    Second, sending a company email on the weekend implies that the company culture encourages working on the weekend and considers it completely normal.

  • How Relay FM Proves That Podcasts Aren’t An Overnight Success

    Romain Dillet reporting: “I don’t need new shoelaces, I need new shoes. I thought to myself, if I buy new shoes — they are work shoes, I only wear those shoes at work. If I buy new shoes, I’m committing to myself that I need them because I’m going to be there for a while.…

    Romain Dillet reporting:

    “I don’t need new shoelaces, I need new shoes. I thought to myself, if I buy new shoes — they are work shoes, I only wear those shoes at work. If I buy new shoes, I’m committing to myself that I need them because I’m going to be there for a while. I’m going to quit my job.”

    Congrats to Myke and Stephen on a year in the books.

  • The increasingly long lives of old Macs

    Dan Moren: This longevity goes hand in hand with the decline in specs that I wrote about last month. We’ll continue to use our devices as long as they accomplish what we want them to, not simply when specs suggest we “should” upgrade. I have a 2008 MacBook Pro still in service as a home…

    Dan Moren:

    This longevity goes hand in hand with the decline in specs that I wrote about last month. We’ll continue to use our devices as long as they accomplish what we want them to, not simply when specs suggest we “should” upgrade.

    I have a 2008 MacBook Pro still in service as a home server, as it replaced my 2005 G4 Mac mini — and that happened just a few months ago. Apple really should be given credit for the longevity of their devices.

  • Creating a kill-switched VPN on Mac with PIA and Little Snitch

    His Little Snitch rules for mimicking the ‘overcloak’ feature of Cloak is pretty awesome.

    His Little Snitch rules for mimicking the ‘overcloak’ feature of Cloak is pretty awesome.

  • Quickertek-USB Type C Products

    Quickertek has a sweet external battery pack for the new MacBook. It appears to charge the MacBook while it is running and adds 8-48 hours of battery life. The only downside? The price: $300. Still, I would love to get one of these.

    Quickertek has a sweet external battery pack for the new MacBook. It appears to charge the MacBook while it is running and adds 8-48 hours of battery life. The only downside? The price: $300. Still, I would love to get one of these.

  • Inside Amazon: Wrestling Big Ideas in a Bruising Workplace

    You know how, as an American, you just always assume that work cultures like the French just look at American workers and laugh. But thier laugh is both pompous and pitiful? That's how I think most American workers are going to view this article about Amazon workers. That system is going to implode.

    You know how, as an American, you just always assume that work cultures like the French just look at American workers and laugh. But thier laugh is both pompous and pitiful? That's how I think most American workers are going to view this article about Amazon workers.

    That system is going to implode.