The Brooks Review

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Leica Sofort 2June 13, 2024
Casio Duro MDV-106 Re-ReviewDecember 15, 2022
The Hype: Yoshida & Co’s Porter BagsAugust 26, 2025

Recent Articles

  • SureFire Titan Plus

    A fantastic light that could be many peoples only light.

    I’ve been hearing about this light for quite some time now, with the consensus being that this is a fantastic light at a great price (especially for a SureFire light). There are two models of this light, the Plus and the standard. Both take a AAA battery to power them, but the size and output varies.

    The standard Titan is shorter by a fair amount and has a maximum output of 125 lumens — which is about all you need for most scenarios where you would be using a light this small. It has two modes at 15 lumens and 125 lumens and is only $55.

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  • Snack Pick of the Week: 2/4/19

    Ohhh yyyyyeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaahhhh

    This week I am going with a classic snack, and one that will fill you up as well. Ritz Sandwich Crackers which come with either a cheese filling or a peanut butter filling. There is a divide in our house over which is best, with my oldest daughter and wife preferring the cheese, and my youngest the peanut butter. I personally think the peanut butter takes the win on this, but the cheese is very good as well.

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  • iPad Productivity Report — 2/4/19

    I thought a Mac might suck me back in, until I used to for a few days.

    This week I touch on some thoughts around Darkroom for iPad (and in general). I also share thoughts on my reacquaintance with a Mac, now that I have one again for work, as well as my evolving desk setup now that I am figuring out the tools I need for my new job.

    You must be a member to read the rest of this article.

  • A New Report on Internet Usage

    Matthew Hughes: That figure sounds like a lot, but it’s absolutely astronomical when spread across an entire year. It equates to more than 100 days of online time every year for every Internet user. That’s more than 27 percent of every year.

    Matthew Hughes:

    That figure sounds like a lot, but it’s absolutely astronomical when spread across an entire year. It equates to more than 100 days of online time every year for every Internet user. That’s more than 27 percent of every year.

  • New Study On Facebook Use

    Nicole Karlis, reporting on the new study: As the researchers state: “We find little evidence to support the hypothesis suggested by prior work that Facebook might be more beneficial for ‘active’ users—for example, users who regularly comment on pictures and posts from friends and family instead of just scrolling through their news feeds.” The whole…

    Nicole Karlis, reporting on the new study:

    As the researchers state: “We find little evidence to support the hypothesis suggested by prior work that Facebook might be more beneficial for ‘active’ users—for example, users who regularly comment on pictures and posts from friends and family instead of just scrolling through their news feeds.”

    The whole report is basically: you’re better off without it.

  • Bond Venture Pouch

    My new go to DOPP kit.

    For a very long time my travel DOPP kit has all resided in a GORUCK Field Pocket. First in the GR1 Pocket, and then in the Echo Field Pocket. Those both worked really well, but those pockets are overly bulky and heavy for what you really need. I decided to give a new piece of gear a try, the Bond Venture Pouch.

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  • Facebook’s Exploitation of Teenagers for $20/mo

    Josh Constine: We asked Guardian Mobile Firewall’s security expert Will Strafach to dig into the Facebook Research app, and he told us that “If Facebook makes full use of the level of access they are given by asking users to install the Certificate, they will have the ability to continuously collect the following types of…

    Josh Constine:

    We asked Guardian Mobile Firewall’s security expert Will Strafach to dig into the Facebook Research app, and he told us that “If Facebook makes full use of the level of access they are given by asking users to install the Certificate, they will have the ability to continuously collect the following types of data: private messages in social media apps, chats from in instant messaging apps – including photos/videos sent to others, emails, web searches, web browsing activity, and even ongoing location information by tapping into the feeds of any location tracking apps you may have installed.” It’s unclear exactly what data Facebook is concerned with, but it gets nearly limitless access to a user’s device once they install the app.

    Why do people keep going to work at this company? Kudos to Apple though for swiftly shutting this down.

    (BTW, Google is doing it too.)

  • Intel’s Foldable Phone Concept

    Love it. Want it. So very Westworld. Goodness I hope someone makes this a reality. One device for everything. That’s the dream, shit, we had that in the 90s. Well, not that you could take those everywhere, mostly just that you could only afford to have one.

    Love it. Want it. So very Westworld. Goodness I hope someone makes this a reality. One device for everything. That’s the dream, shit, we had that in the 90s. Well, not that you could take those everywhere, mostly just that you could only afford to have one.

  • Japan’s Plan for IoT Security: Hack Everyone

    On one hand, this is a clever way for them to go about finding these vulnerabilities. On the other: no thanks.

    On one hand, this is a clever way for them to go about finding these vulnerabilities. On the other: no thanks.

  • iPad Productivity Report — 1/28/18

    Some updates on USB-C accessories from last week, as well as my pick for a new Apple Pencil note taking app.

    This week I am covering some of the newest additions I have been trying and working with on my iPad Pro. I have a new favorite handwriting/Pencil note taking app, updates on some of the newer USB-C accessories I picked up. And I ordered a new mechanical keyboard as well, so we should certainly talk about that.

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  • Facebook’s plan to merge WhatsApp, Instagram, and Messenger sounds a privacy alarm

    Good synopsis.

    Good synopsis.

  • 90 Day Fiancé — A TV Train Wreck You Should Watch

    Allow me to introduce you to the second best show on TV.

    There exists this show on the TLC network called 90 Day Fiancé and it is among the best of reality television. Both the show itself, the and cult like following and dissection of the show on blogs, but mostly on Reddit (which is an insanely active subreddit). What’s the show about? It’s about rather sad Americans (who are typically troubled in some way), going and “falling in love” with a foreigner and applying to bring them to the U.S. on a K1 visa (Fiancé Visa) which gives them a scant 90 days to marry that person once they arrive in the US, or send them packing.

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  • Amazon Knows What You Buy. And It’s Building a Big Ad Business From It.

    Only surprising part is that it took this long, I guess.

    Only surprising part is that it took this long, I guess.

  • iPad Productivity Report — 1/21/19

    I moved to a one iPad Pro setup, and to the new 12.9” model.

    Over this holiday break my iPad Pro setup changed. I had no intention of switching my setup, but a generous gift of an 11” iPad Pro upended my thinking. As I’ve [written in the past](https://brooksreview.net/2018/10/the-new-ipad-pros-everything-i-wanted-and-nothing-i-needed/), there was no real need for me to upgrade my iPad hardware, but that’s not to say that the new devices aren’t very nice.

    So what happened next was simple, I decided to proceed with the 11” iPad Pro which had the base 64gb of storage (this is how I know first hand this is actually enough storage). I used that setup for a week and a half and sold off all my other iPads. And then, I changed my mind and swapped the 11” for a 12.9” model and since I was swapping I went ahead and increased the storage size for peace of mind down the road. So what I want to talk about this week is threefold: the 11” iPad size, the new 12.9” footprint, and some accessories I have added to my stable.

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  • Revamping iMessage Notifications

    Love these suggestions.

    Love these suggestions.

  • A Quick Update on Performance Clothing

    You really need to be wearing clothing that works better.

    I wrote a series of posts a while ago about my quest for finding better clothing for travel. That morphed into finding better clothing for everyday and all of that morphed into my launching a new site with my pal Steve, called Everyday Wear.

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  • I Mentored Mark Zuckerberg. But I Can’t Stay Silent

    Roger McNamee: The people at Facebook live in their own bubble. Zuck has always believed that connecting everyone on earth was a mission so important that it justified any action necessary to accomplish it. Convinced of the nobility of their mission, Zuck and his employees seem to listen to criticism without changing their behavior. They…

    Roger McNamee:

    The people at Facebook live in their own bubble. Zuck has always believed that connecting everyone on earth was a mission so important that it justified any action necessary to accomplish it. Convinced of the nobility of their mission, Zuck and his employees seem to listen to criticism without changing their behavior. They respond to nearly every problem with the same approach that created the problem in the first place: more AI, more code, more short-term fixes. They do not do this because they are bad people. They do this because success has warped their perception of reality.

  • Are “healthy” snacks like veggie chips actually good for you?

    Only people who will be shocked by this are the ones who wasted money on these.

    Only people who will be shocked by this are the ones who wasted money on these.

  • Benchmade Proper 319

    There’s something very special about this knife.

    If there was one knife I spent all of 2018 wanting, it was this knife: the Benchmade Proper. This is a fantastic looking knife and a bit of a modern take on an older knife style.

    I’ve been using this knife now for about three weeks and I have fallen in love with it. It is fantastic, so let’s dive in.

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  • US police can’t force you to unlock your phone with fingerprints or face recognition

    Abhimanyu Ghoshal: The ruling is significant because it runs counter to previous interpretations of the law in cases requiring access to data locked on personal devices. With that, biometric methods for unlocking phones are now being viewed similar to alphanumeric passcodes in the eyes of the law in the US.

    Abhimanyu Ghoshal:

    The ruling is significant because it runs counter to previous interpretations of the law in cases requiring access to data locked on personal devices. With that, biometric methods for unlocking phones are now being viewed similar to alphanumeric passcodes in the eyes of the law in the US.