This Week: app makers breaking their apps; Comply AirPods Pro tips; New York Times and Apple News; New Email; Houston Heat; Facebook still sucks.
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Top Posts
Leica Sofort 2June 13, 2024
Casio Duro MDV-106 Re-ReviewDecember 15, 2022
The Hype: Yoshida & Co’s Porter BagsAugust 26, 2025
Recent Articles
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Member Journal — 7/6/2020
A game of finger pointing no one wants.
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GORUCK Xmas in July Sale
Some insane deals as always. GR2s for $229, GR1s for $169, and the 15L Bullet ruck for just $79. You cannot go wrong with any of those and I highly recommend each. Hard not to buy those bags at those prices, but I already own multiples of each. Also the Simple Pants and the Stealth…
Some insane deals as always. GR2s for $229, GR1s for $169, and the 15L Bullet ruck for just $79. You cannot go wrong with any of those and I highly recommend each. Hard not to buy those bags at those prices, but I already own multiples of each.
Also the Simple Pants and the Stealth Polo are on sale, and I recommend both of those. I wear a stealth polo at least twice a week. Simple pants are my workout pants, and my backup pants whenever I travel, they rock.
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Filson Medium Field Bag Review
I love this bag, it is one of the best out there for daily general use.
Pop quiz, hot shot, how do you carry around face masks, hand sanitizer, pens, and anything else you might need for a COVID-19 day out?
You carry this bag. And I want another, here’s why.
(To see the real reason for why I bought this bag, please read this post.)
I love Filson, as a brand, as a company, and the stuff they make. They remind me in a lot of ways of my grandfather. Everything they make is classic, over built to almost a comical level, and pretty fucking straightforward. Funnily, my grandfather never wore/used Filson stuff, which is almost in itself perfect.
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Member Journal — 6/29/2020
Take your pick on this one, because I talk a lot about iPad apps, but also about emergency kits for your home. Huge value in this edition.
It is almost July, how is that possible?
This week: arm on Mac; iPadOS 14 feels; Scribble thoughts; new sidebar design paradigm; VESA stand follow ups; Emergency kits; Alone; Best Coffee; masks; and life indoors is wearing me down.
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Member Journal — 6/22/2020
That time when a reader saves me from neck strain.
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Hey, Controversy
Apple sides with users, and Hey, that didn’t work out for a new app.
As you have all likely seen this week, there has been some App Store drama over Apple’s rejection of the Hey.com email client. This is a story that has two important parts:
- App Store Rules
- App Store Rule Enforcement
But first, the drama.
- Hey.com is a subscription email service only, and you can only buy said service on their website.
- They had an approved iOS email client.
- They launched, and submitted a bug fix for review in the App Store.
- Bug fix update to the app was rejected, because the app gives the user no way to pay for the subscription in the app, via an In-App Purchase, and instead is web driven.
Pause here for a moment, because there are two things to be outraged by: that the app was initially allowed, and then rejected; and that surely you can name other apps which require a subscription, but which you cannot subscribe in the app. Others are just mad this rule exists.
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My Evolving Everyday Carry (EDC) and How I Arrived at a COVID-19 EDC
The evolution of what I am carrying, why, and some stuff to buy.
Seeing kits posted online of what people are carrying as businesses reopen, and of what people are carrying to participate in protests, had me thinking about the gear I have carried over the years. The most helpful thing is typically not telling people what you carry, but rather why you chose to carry those things. And luckily for all of you, I have been thinking about this stuff for a long time. So let’s dive in, maybe it will spur you to carry something helpful in your life. (And don’t worry, I do have recommendations at the end.)
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Member Journal — 6/15/2020
I go deep on LEDs.
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Member Journal — 6/8/2020
Advil and whiskey kind of week.
This week: unrest.
## Small and Big
Last week was rough for the country(and it hasn’t let up), and when you toss in the fact that I began moving Wednesday and am still unpacking — well Advil and Whiskey is my new life slogan.
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Member Journal — 6/1/2020
I have nostalgia for ‘getting’ bored, instead of just ‘being’ bored.
*Holy shit, it’s June…*
This week: tech downturns; remote work scam; what runs your lock down life, and a couple notes…
## Silver Linings and All
[Om Malik, writing about tech downturns and silver linings:](https://om.co/2020/05/24/why-every-tech-downturn-has-a-silver-lining/)
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Benchmade Bugout, Believe The Hype
This is more or less a perfect knife.
When Benchmade launched this knife it was everywhere — the distinctive bright blue handle and silver blade. It was loud, and those buying it were even louder. Everyone loves it, the only complaint seemed to be that maybe the handle couldn’t survive (insert contrived extreme example not likely to occur). But the thing is, I resisted getting this knife because it was large, and despite people talking about the low weight, I was unconvinced I needed it.
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Member Journal — 5/25/2020
I found an app everyone needs, and also a bit of a rant on the short sighted work from home decision making going on.
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Get a Purse, or ‘Man’ Bag, EDC Bag, Dad Bag, ‘Kit’ — It’s Highly Recommended
It started as something to make my life easier, but then the pandemic hit and now it seems more prudent than ever.
Simon Crompton writing for the style journal Financial Times:
The vogue for men’s bags has now hit full stride,” says Alessandro Sartori, creative director of menswear brand Berluti. “It has taken a decade to get here but bags are now an essential part of every menswear collection. Men carry them; we design them. They are everywhere.
Oh, hell to the yes.
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Member Journal — 5/18/2020
This article has not been written for most people.
This week: Comparison tables; changes I think will stick; face masks; Magic Keyboard battery issues; GIPHY; a sweet duffle bag; and a knife review preview.
## Reviews at The Wirecutter
It has been a while since I wrote about The Wirecutter, but they posted something interesting: how they make their selections for what they recommend. They use [comparison tables](https://thewirecutter.com/blog/comparison-tables/) to track everything and clearly see what product should be the winner.
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Ministry of Supply Chroma Denim Pants
Could these be the best jeans money can buy?
Note: These pants were sent to me at no charge for review.
One of the most popular items out there is to make performance denim — to take your standard blue jeans and tweak them somehow to make them better than denim. Ministry of Supply seems to have went for all of that, and then some with the Chroma denim. They claim: no color fade, ‘smart stretch’, and durable construction.
And, in my testing, I think they are on to something here.
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Member Journal — 5/10/2020
Yeah I get it, we all want to stay working from home, but it ain’t gonna happen.
This week: retired Mac mini; Instacart thoughts; Shemaghs, buy some; long term remote work; copper touch tools.
## Retired Mac mini
Back in 2012 I spun up a remote Mac Mini with Mac Stadium, and over the years I used the hell out of it. It was, for a very long time, the web server and email server for this website. At the time, it was so much faster than any hosting I could get.
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New GORUCK Goods
Ohhh, it’s not really a bag, but it is cool.
The new Ruck Plate carrier is sweet looking, I snagged one. The founder of GORUCK mentioned on Reddit that this is more of a conditioning tool for people and not really something to look at as a means for replacing the more expensive rucks. In other words, for most rucking activities a Ruck is better, but I am going to give this a go for my rucks.
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Garmin Instinct Tactical
Finally, a ‘smart’ watch I love and really think you will love too.
The Garmin Instinct Tactical is the first “smart” watch I like. Actually, I like it a lot. Because this isn’t really what you would expect of a smart watch, this is more like a modern incarnation of what G-SHOCK should be building. This is worth talking about.
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Member Journal — 5/4/2020
I want to tell you about my revolutionary idea I have for the iPad, and other things of note.
This week: Magic Keyboard part two; Trackpad is the real story; give me a Magic KVM; Kondo; restaurants are really wanting to go out of business; and let’s not forget what it was like to be alone.
## Magic Keyboard, Week 2
I spent the last week only using my Magic Keyboard to do all my work, and all my personal writing (which there wasn’t any of until the weekend this go around). A simple desk, with just a powerful tablet, *Magic* Keyboard — and then you know another iPad and a trackpad next to it so I could monitor the rapidness with which the world around me is changing.
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Member Journal — 4/27/20
The Magic Keyboard arrived for my iPad Pro and if only for that moment, this pandemic slipped away from my thoughts.
This Week: magic keyboard is here; pandemic gadget; Zoom; the end of life hacking; bad bosses take two.
## iPad Magic Keyboard, Let’s Talk About It
Like many of you, I have spent the past few days reading hot takes from around the web about the iPad Magic Keyboard — is it good, is it worth nearly $400 for the 12.9” version (after you account for taxes)? Will I like it?
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