The Brooks Review

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

Recent Articles

  • First Look: Aer’s Tech Pack

    A couple weeks in with Aer’s latest backpack offering.

    Note: this backpack was sent to me for review purposes.

    Aer has built a brand around well-designed, purpose-built, bags. From their excellent Travel Pack, to the hybrid EDC-Gym backpacks they are known for. They recently released a new line they are calling “Work Collection” which as the name implies is for those who need a bag for work, not for travel or gym/work. The designs in this collection stand out as they all utilize a coated nylon as a key feature.

    The Tech Pack is the largest offering of this collection and is what we’ll be talking about today in a brief post as I’ve only had it a couple of weeks.

    (more…)

  • Airlines and Airports

    My many thoughts on air travel that I’ve come to believe is worth a post.

    Some random musings and thoughts about air travel, which I have been observing over the last couple of years of travel for work and pleasure. Your mileage may vary.

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  • EVERGOODS CPL24 Initial Thoughts at Red Teams

    I really want to love this bag as it looks really good, but every time I see real world photos I am glad I didn’t buy one. The bags always look dirty, dusty, and covered in dog hair. And that’s not a knock on reviewers, but rather I suspect the face fabric on these bags…

    I really want to love this bag as it looks really good, but every time I see real world photos I am glad I didn’t buy one. The bags always look dirty, dusty, and covered in dog hair. And that’s not a knock on reviewers, but rather I suspect the face fabric on these bags is a dirt/hair magnet. Too bad, maybe version 2 of them can correct that. Or maybe I’m dead wrong, but the pictures don’t seem to lie.

  • Better News Using an iPad

    My news reading strategy.

    A popular [post last week](https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/07/technology/two-months-news-newspapers.html) was from Farhad Manjoo, where he talked about his experience only reading newspapers for two months (or [maybe not](https://brooksreview.net/2018/03/farhad-manjoo-didnt-unplug/)). In the article, Manjoo wonders how he can replicate something similar in a digital landscape — and this is more or less what I’ve been doing on my iPad. So let me detail how I got over my “all-the-news–right-now” addiction and moved to something much more manageable and sane.

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

  • Farhad Manjoo Didn’t Unplug

    Dan Mitchell taking Manjoo to task: After trying, and failing, to get him to own up to the fact that his assertion that he had “unplugged” from social media was not true, I asked him whether perhaps his use of social media was messing with his own self-perception. He didn’t respond to that question.

    Dan Mitchell taking Manjoo to task:

    After trying, and failing, to get him to own up to the fact that his assertion that he had “unplugged” from social media was not true, I asked him whether perhaps his use of social media was messing with his own self-perception. He didn’t respond to that question.

  • You Can Set Up Slack To Be Less Distracting–Here’s How

    Reading this is like reading “You can make your Muscle Car More Fuel Efficient—Here’s How” or “You can make Hot Pockets More Healthy—Here’s How”. Because Slack isn’t made to be, and never attempted to be, something which isn’t attention grabbing. The entire point of Slack is to grab attention. It’s terrible. I’d get a better…

    Reading this is like reading “You can make your Muscle Car More Fuel Efficient—Here’s How” or “You can make Hot Pockets More Healthy—Here’s How”. Because Slack isn’t made to be, and never attempted to be, something which isn’t attention grabbing. The entire point of Slack is to grab attention.

    It’s terrible. I’d get a better tool if I were you.

  • For Two Months, I Got My News From Print Newspapers. Here’s What I Learned.

    Farhad Manjoo: Just about every problem we battle in understanding the news today — and every one we will battle tomorrow — is exacerbated by plugging into the social-media herd. The built-in incentives on Twitter and Facebook reward speed over depth, hot takes over facts and seasoned propagandists over well-meaning analyzers of news. Must read…

    Farhad Manjoo:

    Just about every problem we battle in understanding the news today — and every one we will battle tomorrow — is exacerbated by plugging into the social-media herd. The built-in incentives on Twitter and Facebook reward speed over depth, hot takes over facts and seasoned propagandists over well-meaning analyzers of news.

    Must read article.

  • Things 3 From an OmniFocus and TaskPaper User

    Gabe Weatherhead: Culture Code has done a good job at designing many of the Things features around input efficiency. I like that. I still worry that Culture Code may stop development or go for years between releases. They lost a lot of credibility in my book with how they managed Things 2. I never thought…

    Gabe Weatherhead:

    Culture Code has done a good job at designing many of the Things features around input efficiency. I like that. I still worry that Culture Code may stop development or go for years between releases. They lost a lot of credibility in my book with how they managed Things 2. I never thought I’d spend another dime on their software, but I also never thought they’d beat OmniFocus at their own game.

    It’s a testament to how good Things 3 is, that they won back so many people.

  • Flowfold Conductor Limited – 40L Duffle Bag

    A versatile and very light weight duffle bag.

    Note this bag was sent to me from Flowfold for the purposes of this review.

    Despite my predilection for backpacks, I’ve always been a huge duffle bag nerd, and so when Flowfold asked if I wanted to try theirs out — I jumped at the chance. I typically use duffle bags in one of two settings: I need to check luggage when I fly, or I am traveling with my kids or wife. Or, I guess, “all of the above”.

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  • A Modern Watch

    A look at the changing use and goals of watches, and what kind of watch really matters to me.

    Over the past couple of years I’ve been spending more time thinking about the tools I use at a deeper level of detail. One item I’ve been thinking about is watches — in part because of the Apple Watch and looking at how that distorts watches in general, but also because I’ve been generally unhappy with my current slate of watches to wear.

    You must be a member to this article.

  • Triple Aught Design Context Organizer

    Taking a look at a new gear organizer, which is quite a bit larger than you might expect.

    I’ve been looking for a solid organizer to use in place of my other options for carrying everything in my EDC kits. The idea being that if I can keep my standard gear all in one thing then I can have only one set of gear. As it is right now, I keep an entire set of gear in each bag, since I don’t have an easy way to move it from bag to bag. Thus I either spend a lot of money buying the same gear, or I have one kit of gear which is my favorite and the other kits made up of lesser goods (which is the reality).

    I’ve tried GORUCK Field Pockets and a few Maxpedition pouches, but today I take a look at Triple Aught Design’s latest offering the Context Organizer. The Context Organizer is fairly unique in this admin pouch realm, as it is expandable, able to hang with built in straps, and yet has tons of organization abilities in it. And it’s huge.

    (more…)

  • iPad Productivity Report — 2/26/18

    Back to iPad Productivity, with a tip and a look at a bunch of apps.

    It’s been a good break a since the last Productivity Report, but I’m back at this week. Taking a look at org charts, hand written note apps, email forward tip, and lastly an app for planning your road trips.

    You must be a member to read this article.

  • Good vs. Better at Bad

    Joe Cieplinski: Here’s what I really want out of a virtual assistant: Assistance. Not trivia questions. Not timers. Utility. It needs to actually make my life significantly easier. Let me give you an example. And there’s no doubt in my mind this will be possible someday. “Alexa, book me a flight for Peers Conf.” If…

    Joe Cieplinski:

    Here’s what I really want out of a virtual assistant: Assistance. Not trivia questions. Not timers. Utility. It needs to actually make my life significantly easier.

    Let me give you an example. And there’s no doubt in my mind this will be possible someday.

    “Alexa, book me a flight for Peers Conf.”

    If I had a human personal assistant, that’s all I’d need to say to get this task done. They would go straight to work, and I’d get on with my day.

    Great take on where these devices are right now.

  • The Case Against Google

    Charles Duhigg, in a long winding post about all the ills facing our society from these massive tech companies, encapsulates the issue really well here: Put differently, if you love technology — if you always buy the latest gadgets and think scientific advances are powerful forces for good — then perhaps you ought to cheer…

    Charles Duhigg, in a long winding post about all the ills facing our society from these massive tech companies, encapsulates the issue really well here:

    Put differently, if you love technology — if you always buy the latest gadgets and think scientific advances are powerful forces for good — then perhaps you ought to cheer on the antitrust prosecutors. Because there is no better method for keeping the marketplace constructive and creative than a legal system that intervenes whenever a company, no matter how beloved, grows so large as to blot out the sun. If you love Google, you should hope the government sues it for antitrust offenses — and you should hope it happens soon, because who knows what wondrous new creations are waiting patiently in the wings.

    His look at how Microsoft could have (should have?) crushed Google is very telling. Even if you don’t believe the idea that Google is “evil”, then you should at least believe that it’s not in Google’s best interest to help competitors…

  • Alto’s Odyssey

    This is a brilliant follow up game. It’s absolutely sublime. I’ve seen a few reviews mention how calm it seems, and I think that’s an apt description: calm beauty. Love it.

    This is a brilliant follow up game. It’s absolutely sublime. I’ve seen a few reviews mention how calm it seems, and I think that’s an apt description: calm beauty. Love it.

  • The #1 reason Facebook won’t ever change

    Om Malik: That may be a very simplified version of a sequence of events, but the fact of the matter is money and obsession with growth and engagement are what makes Facebook go around. That is embedded in its psyche, its DNA, and it will never change. Good, short, read.

    Om Malik:

    That may be a very simplified version of a sequence of events, but the fact of the matter is money and obsession with growth and engagement are what makes Facebook go around. That is embedded in its psyche, its DNA, and it will never change.

    Good, short, read.

  • Impressions: OmniOutliner 3 for iOS

    How can you make OmniOutliner 3 for iOS a tool that is worth the money and time to learn.

    Last week, Omni Group launched [OmniOutlier 3 for iOS](https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/omnioutliner-3/id1174101450?mt=8&uo=4&at=1l3v36d) — something I have long been waiting for. I was on the public-ish beta of the product so I’ve had plenty of time to use it. I am also a diehard OmniOuliner user, as it was the first Mac app I fell in love with. The problem, though, is that with OmniOutliner 3 for iOS — I struggle to speak positively about it.

    I thought about linking to it and letting that be that, no comment “hey new shiny” something of that ilk. I thought about writing a long and terrible post about where it misses the mark and how you probably shouldn’t buy it. Then I thought about writing a post about how it’s not really good, but it’s the best of a really poor app category so that by default makes it the best.

    And that’s the thing, OmniOutliner on iOS is the best outlining app you can get — by a huge margin. But that doesn’t mean it’s a wonderful app to use — I mean it tries to ignore that iCloud Drive exists.

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

  • Facebook Funded Most of the Experts Who Vetted Messenger Kids

    Nitasha Tiku: When Facebook launched Messenger Kids, an app for preteens and children as young as 6, the company stressed that it had worked closely with leading experts in order to safeguard younger users. What Facebook didn’t say is that many of those experts had received funding from Facebook. What’s notable isn’t that they paid…

    Nitasha Tiku:

    When Facebook launched Messenger Kids, an app for preteens and children as young as 6, the company stressed that it had worked closely with leading experts in order to safeguard younger users. What Facebook didn’t say is that many of those experts had received funding from Facebook.

    What’s notable isn’t that they paid experts, that’s rather common, what’s notable is that it looks like the only experts supporting Messenger Kids are the ones Facebook paid.

  • Rising Early

    A quick aside about the culture of waking early to be the bestest person on Twitters.

    I really love ‘life hacking’ articles, specifically how they are based on sample sizes of one, often from people who have literally never tried anything else. (e.g. “I was born a vegan and that’s why I am amazing”, “Rich parents and how you can to”) And one of my favorite tropes is ‘rise early’. Why should you rise early? Because that person did it, started months ago actually, and shit has never been better? Is that really the object of desire? Are we so bad at being humans that the vast majority of people just don’t realize that all you need to do to make your wildest dreams come true, is to wake up before everyone else? But what happens when everyone starts waking up at 5am, then do I need to wake up at 4am? Why even sleep?

    Allow me to add my anecdotal evidence of one to the mix.

    (more…)

  • Facebook is pushing its data-tracking Onavo VPN within its main mobile app

    Sarah Perez: However, it’s not likely that all Onavo users understand they’re actually feeding Facebook the information that allows it to take on any challenger to its social networking empire. (That empire also includes WhatsApp and Instagram as well as smaller acquisitions like tbh and MSQRD). Noooo, whaaaaat?

    Sarah Perez:

    However, it’s not likely that all Onavo users understand they’re actually feeding Facebook the information that allows it to take on any challenger to its social networking empire. (That empire also includes WhatsApp and Instagram as well as smaller acquisitions like tbh and MSQRD).

    Noooo, whaaaaat?