This week, I've been trying out the new cryptic word game from the creator of Wordle, drooling over this stunning EV version of a classic Italian Gran Turismo, loving this site that turns YouTube into a 1990s-style channel guide, playing the 1988 Apple II point-n-click game based on William Gibson's Neuromancer, and marveling at this concept of making a digital sensor for your old film cameras (thanks Wassim!).

Note that some of the links in this issue of the Hiro Report are affiliate links and may earn me a small commission at no additional cost to you.

SPONSORED by Wimp Decaf

Imagine being able to drink as much coffee as you want without worrying about losing sleep, getting the jitters, or soul-crushing anxiety. Yep, that's the power of decaf. Historically, decaf has come with a whole bunch of sacrifices in the flavor and fun departments. No longer. Wimp makes legitimately great decaf coffee for machine brewing, pour over, and espresso. Join the decaf movement and give them a try.

Check it out

On to the good stuff!

🛜 TP-Link Roam 7 Travel Wi-Fi Router - I grabbed one of these to bring on some upcoming travels, with the goal of being able to use it to share the airplane and Airbnb's Wi-Fi connections with the entire family without having to log each device in. The travel router lets you run a VPN on the device so all traffic from all devices connected to it is automatically protected. This model is a little thicc but has really great range and offers Wi-Fi 7 for bountiful speeds and throughput. That said, if it wasn't permanently sold out everywhere, I probably would have grabbed the Wi-Fi 5 travel router from UniFi just because it's so tiny.

💿 TINYL SPLIT Transparent Bluetooth CD Player - I've got an enormous pile of old CDs in my closet and have been thinking about brushing them off for little listening parties. This beautiful transparent desktop player may be just what I need. It's got a clever modular, magnetic design that lets you split the Bluetooth speaker off from the CD player so you can take the player on the go, or bring the speaker with you as you move around the house. The CD player can also transmit via Bluetooth to any Bluetooth headphones or speakers you might have. Features aside, they had me the moment I saw the beautiful transparent case.

🎴 Wikipedia Trading Cards - This is a really fun vibe-coded project from Vijay that basically turns Wikipedia into a series of collectible trading cards like Pokémon with varying degrees of rarity. You get a few starter packs of cards that you can then tear open and flip through, all embedded in the site. You can also trade cards with friends and the community via a fun marketplace mechanic.

ℹ️ Text Sniper for macOS - This is one of those little utilities I use a ton and just forget that not everyone knows about. In short, this little applet runs on your Mac and lets you select and extract text from anything on your Mac's display. Handy for pulling text out of photos, PDFs, locked-down websites, YouTube videos, etc. It's my favorite way to OCR.

🎙 Monologue for macOS / iOS - While I'm pretty embedded in the Wispr Flow ecosystem, I've played with and really enjoyed Monologue, a competing voice-to-text dictation tool for the Mac. It's the best-looking, with a really fun retro-skeuomorphic design, and equally strong at transcribing your voice dictation into any text field on your computer as Wispr Flow. I ultimately abandoned Monologue when Wispr Flow beat them to market with a really great iOS app. However, Monologue has just recently released their own iOS keyboard app that once again looks and works fantastically in my testing. I'm currently experimenting with both and may wind up jumping ship back to Monologue. Both apps are cloud-based, which means much faster and more accurate transcription, with the downside being that your recordings are leaving your device—that said, neither app keeps any of the recordings, and they do not let your recordings or transcriptions be used for training LLMs. (If you want the option of doing local transcription, check out Superwhisper, which is also pretty solid.)

That's it for this week! My thanks again to Wimp Decaf for sponsoring this week's issue. May your coffee or tea be the perfect temperature with every sip.

This week I've been nursing a rib injury, so we're getting a leaner, tighter issue this evening. I've spent a lot of recovery time on the couch finally getting some play time with Pokemon Z-A in preparation for Pokemon Pokopia, which I'm really eager to dive into. I was also delighted to learn from Jason Kottke that the classic Mac HyperCard game The Manhole is playable for free on the Internet Archive. Beyond gaming, I spent a lot of time doom scrolling, but was so delighted by this Threads thread about a photographer who took a chance on asking a stranger for a street portrait— read all the way to the end for the delightful conclusion.

Note that some of the links in this issue of the Hiro Report are affiliate links and may earn me a small commission at no additional cost to you.

On to the good stuff!

• 👩🏼‍💻 MacBook Neo - While it's gotten a mixed reaction within the techsphere, I'm thrilled about Apple finally releasing an affordable, entry-level Mac for the masses. With an education discount, you can get it for just $499 ($599 standard price). Would you want to use this Mac for editing multiple 8K ProRes RAW videos at once, or running massive local LLMs? Absolutely not. But for everyone else that just wants a secure, approachable computer that can surf the web, check email, do homework, back up photos, etc., this thing is a home run. I'd love to see these start replacing the ubiquitous Chromebooks that have a stranglehold on the public education system these days.
• 🖊️ FontCrafter - This is a really cool web project that lets you turn your handwriting into a custom font— the best part is it's all done locally, for free, with no account needed, using JavaScript in your browser. No data leaves your computer. Simply print out the handwriting template, fill in all the letters, numbers, and punctuation, then take a photo of it with your phone and drop it into your browser. You'll get a bundle of OTF, TTF, WOFF2, and Base64 versions of your font you can use wherever you want. I'm eager to try it out.
• 🎴 Junior Hanafuda Cards - Indie designer Louis Mantia has been making gorgeous playing card sets for years. He's now offering some beautiful sets that feature a custom-made wooden box sourced from Japan. While he offers lovely standard playing cards, I'm eager to grab a set of the Hanafuda flower cards he offers. He even has a really helpful site that teaches you how to play a number of different games with both standard cards and Hanafuda cards.
• ⌨️ QK65 Mk3 Prebuilt Mechanical Keyboard - I stumbled across this fun, pricey keeb after a tip from Andrew over at Clicksnclacks. I'm mostly into keyboards for how they look and sound; I don't understand most of the nuances of different configurations, switches, etc., so I tend to drift to pre-built boards like this. This one in particular has fun retro video game vibes to it and an awesome LCD screen for displaying information and even playing mini games. I'm going to be filing this one away for a future Christmas list.
• 💡 Philips Hue Bridge Pro - I have been a big fan of Hue lights for a long time. I recently redid my whole office lighting setup with Hue bulbs, which has been fun for fine-tuning the exact color temperature and brightness I want while I work, when I switch over to video calls, etc. That said, I've been using the same home bridge for a little less than 10 years and I've been noticing a little lagginess. Sure enough, Hue now has a new "Pro" version of their bridge that supports over 150 lights at once and adds really cool motion sensor tech that basically triangulates wireless interference between the bulbs in the house to detect motion, which can then be used to trigger lights turning on/off as you pass from room to room. I will probably pick one of these up sooner than later.

That's it for this week— may you find peace everywhere you look.

This week, I've been spending way too much time staring at the news in despair, learning about the OKLCH color model, making cool map posters with TerraInk, playing around with a new minimalist bookmarking app (it's pretty but not for me), and thinking about brushing off some of my old LucasArts games thanks to the DREAMM emulator.

Note that some of the links in this issue of the Hiro Report are affiliate links and may earn me a small commission at no additional cost to you.

On to the good stuff:

• 📰 Current RSS Reader - This peaceful RSS reader has been making the rounds the last week or two since it launched, and I've got it high on my list to try out. In short, rather than filling an inbox with articles from your feeds that you have to work your way through, Current acts more like a river, where things pass through your inbox over time. You can give different feeds different amounts of time they stay in your inbox before they're erased and float away— so in-depth blog posts from your favorite author stick around longer than perhaps breaking news might. The developer, Terry Godier, wrote an epic essay explaining the rationale behind the app.

• 🔍 Mimoto Message Analysis - This is a really clever privacy-first tool for analyzing your iMessage chat history. It uses on-device AI to give you insights on your communication style, the individuals you talk with the most, the state of various relationships, along with things like which emojis you use the most. It seems almost like a Spotify Wrapped but for your own iMessages, with all processing done locally and nothing sent to the cloud. I haven't gotten to run it yet. I'm not sure if I want to know (and am also wary of trusting any third-party software with my message history), but I like seeing developers leveraging local AI more for fun things like this.

• 🖊️ Artemis II Astronaut Pen - Being a pen nerd and space nerd means I really had no choice but to grab one of these limited edition Fisher Astronaut Pens made to commemorate the upcoming (sadly delayed) Artemis II launch. It's made out of blue titanium nitride, giving it a unique sheen. Naturally, like all the astronaut pens carried by NASA astronauts going back to Apollo 7, it features the pressurized Fisher PR4 cartridge that lets you write underwater, upside down, or in zero gravity.

• 📖 Kobo Libra Colour - I've been wanting to switch from Amazon to Kobo for a while and finally pulled the trigger this week. I had been holding off because I was worried they'd be dropping some amazing new upgrade this year, but after doing some research, any upgrade they may release this year will likely be a minor refresh. This thing is great fun, super sharp display, love having physical page turn buttons, and while the color display is by no means the most vivid in the world, it is nice to have.

• 👝 Gura Gear Kiboko City Sling 6L - I'd never heard of this brand before, but I got this bag this week to carry around my camera and some spare gear for daily outings and have been super impressed with it. It's got a super light, abrasion- and weather-resistant X-Pac fabric exterior, a removable padded camera insert, tons of interior and exterior pockets with built-in organization for things like pens, AirPods, memory cards, wallets, and more. It also has a hidden RFID-blocking passport pocket. The shoulder sling also features a really unique dynamic leveling system so that the bag stays level as you move about, making it easier to safely get precious gear in and out of the bag.

Bonus Bag List

Normally, this is where I'd end the issue, but while researching bag options, I put out a request for suggestions for small camera-capable sling bags on Threads and got a ton of great recommendations from folks in the replies, so I thought I'd capture them here in case anyone else is looking for something similar. Most of the bags should work with small mirrorless camera set-ups like the Leica Q3, Fuji X100VI, etc.

Wotancraft Pilot 3.5L

WWII-inspired design meets modern lightweight tech in what multiple photographers call the best sling for compact cameras like the Leica Q. @keith.wee vouches for several Wotancraft bags, and @mralvinleung says the Pilot 3.5L is "hands down the best" after comparing it to multiple competitors, praising its perfect balance of protection and packability. Personally, I love the look of the Mini Rider v2— it's the one I came closest to ordering prior to discovering the Gura Gear bag.

tomtoc 5.5L X-Pac Sling Bag

The budget champion that punches way above its weight class. @redboy owns seven other slings but uses this one daily, fitting a Q2, GRII, and accessories with room to spare. "Impossible to beat at its price" and doesn't scream "expensive camera inside."

Billingham Hadley Pro

Heritage British craftsmanship with a 5-year warranty. @35mmrex has traveled around the world three times with this bag, noting it "doesn't yell 'Look, I have a camera in here, rob me!'" Made in England with three-layer waterproof fabric and real leather.

Wotancraft Sling Pouch 3.5L

The unstructured cousin to the Pilot—stays slim when you're traveling light. @shawnhickman loves that it doesn't bulk up when empty, perfect for minimalist carry with just a small mirrorless camera.

Peak Design Everyday Sling 3L/6L

The classic choice that needs no introduction. @leicazgl's straightforward recommendation speaks to its reliable reputation—available in two sizes to match different carry styles.

Chrome Industries Kadet

Urban-tough messenger bag style in sling form. @0lcan noted there's both a standard Kadet and Kadet Mini, giving you options for your camera setup.

Hex Ranger Mini-DSLR 3L

@sidewandering's stealth pick: "Super cheap, doesn't look like a camera would be in there." Perfect if you want to fly under the radar.

Pgytech OneGo Cloud S

@mel_mls534 recommended this unique drawstring-style camera bag—their drone accessories are well-known, but their camera bags are gaining a lot of traction among photographers, and I'm seeing them more and more in my feed.

Hung Supply Sidewalk Sling

@shawnpbruce backed this one with photos showing a well-organized layout.

Cecilia Canvas Bags

@petehalvorsen's eBay find—canvas bags that don't scream "camera" and can even fit a Leica M with lens alongside the Q. The bags look nice, but their website seems down, so they may be out of business?

Aer City Sling

I looked hard at Aer during this search; I like the clean, minimal design for tech-focused carry. @atmasphere keeps this in rotation alongside the Clever Supply Sidekick Pro 2L when he wants more space without the camera cube.

Clever Supply Sidekick Pro 2L

I also considered getting one of Clever Supply's bags; they have a great classic styling and are loved by a lot of photographers I admire. This bag got mixed reviews in my replies: @atmasphere likes it, but @mralvinleung found it "too small with the cube, still tight without cube" and disliked the strap integration.

That's it for this week! May you be happy, healthy, and at peace.

This week, I started reading Robert Heinlein's amazingly prescient novel The Moon is a Harsh Mistress (thanks Paul!), 3D printed some beautiful wall hanging planters from Lofted Goods, ogled this automatic watch from Citizen featuring a pixel art sword for a second hand, and thoroughly enjoyed discovering that Russell Crowe has started moonlighting as a watch review vlogger.

Note that some of the links in this issue of the Hiro Report are affiliate links and may earn me a small commission at no additional cost to you.

SPONSORED by Wimp Decaf

This week's Hiro Report is brought to you in the chillest of ways possible by Wimp Decaf. If you love coffee, have been drinking it for a long time, and don't want to become a strung out, anxious mess, I highly recommend adding some decaf coffee into your rotation. The problem is most decaf sacrifices all the flavor when it cuts out the caffeine. It's a compromise. Wimp Decaf is the first decaf I ever found that doesn't require any sacrifices. It is broadly available, tastes fantastic, and offers several different roasts, including limited editions. Try out some of Wimp's awesome coffee with code "HIRO20" to get 20% off your order.

Sip Decaf

🐦‍⬛ Birdie Air Monitor - Over the last couple of years, I've become sort of obsessed with air quality and have bought several air quality monitors for our house and backyard. While it's nice to know the very specific metrics, I honestly don't use them much more than "high number bad, low number good." This really cute and beautifully designed air quality monitor does the same simplification for you. When the birdie is standing upright, your air is good. When the birdie falls down, the air is bad and it's time to open a window. I'm putting this on my shopping list.

📼 SnowSky Mini DAP - Thanks to Michael for the tip on this one. The SnowSky Mini is a pocketable, digital audio player (DAP) that mimics an old cassette player in its styling, while still offering high-quality audio while playing MP3, FLAC, OGG, M4A, WAV, DSD, and other format music files. It has Bluetooth 5.3 support as well as both 3.5mm and 4.4mm headphone outputs. I've been considering getting into the standalone DAP life; this may be a good entry point. I need to find some good in-ear monitors though — anyone have good starter recommendations?

☂️ Acme Weather for iOS - The folks who brought us Dark Sky (which was subsequently bought and disbanded by Apple) are back with a new weather app, and I'm pretty stoked about it. Instead of giving you one forecast that might be wrong, Acme shows alternate predictions so you can see the range of possible outcomes and how reliable the forecast actually is — which is kinda genius. It's also got community reports where people nearby can share what they're actually seeing, custom notifications for whatever conditions you care about (windy days, high UV, etc.), and beautiful real-time radar maps. Too soon to say if it will replace Carrot, my longtime favorite weather app, but I'm enjoying trying it out.

🖥️ Dockside Shelf for macOS - Dockside puts a handy little shelf on the bottom of your screen that you can temporarily place files on while you work. For example, if you've ever grabbed a file with your mouse to move somewhere else and then realized that you have to go find the right folder, you can just set the file on the Dockside shelf while you go open the right destination folder and then drag it in. It also lets you run actions on files in the shelf and preview them in place. I've been using Yoink for a similar function for years, but this looks like a nice alternative, and not bad at just a $5.99 one-time payment, no subscriptions.

👾 Epilogue Game Boy Operator - This cool little device lets you plug any Game Boy or Game Boy Advance cartridge into your computer— immediately enabling you to play the game on your laptop on a giant screen, but also letting you do other fun things like back up your saves on old, fragile cartridges. More innovative things like using your old Game Boy camera as your webcam. It's a great concept, and I'm a sucker for transparent electronic design like this. Not bad at $49— certainly cheaper than trying to restore an old Game Boy or grabbing an Analogue Pocket.

That's it for this week! May you discover a new keyboard shortcut that completely changes your workflow.

This week, I've been getting amped watching the Spider-Noir trailer, really hoping that this new Samurai armor company is real and not AI slop, swooning over these gorgeous Otsuka Lotec watches, admiring this timelapse of how the production crew set up the entire set for the incredible Bad Bunny halftime show in just 7 minutes, and rooting for this 35mm Panoramic SLR Camera project on Kickstarter (thanks Ya Wassim!).

Note that some of the links in this issue of the Hiro Report are affiliate links and may earn me a small commission at no additional cost to you.

On to the Good Stuff:

🧳 BlackVoyage Air Carry-on Bag - This is a really clever roller bag setup that features built-in vacuum bags for compressing your effects down to the smallest possible volume. Apart from its core gimmick, it's also got a bunch of premium/fancy features like a built-in battery and wheel locks.

⌨️ ProtoArc XK04 Mini Keyboard - My iPad Mini was stolen by a serial thief in our neighborhood (my daughter), and I've been thinking I'd get another one whenever they come out with a refresh. This is probably the keyboard I'll grab to go with it. It folds up super tiny to just 5.7" x 4" (14.5cm x 10cm), but connects to up to 3 devices via Bluetooth and supports iOS, iPadOS, and Android, and seemingly has pretty decently clicky scissor switches. Not bad for ~$25-$30.

📰 Analog Reader - Analog Reader is kinda genius— it aggregates all your most favorite newsletter sources (ahem) into a beautiful, printable newspaper that you can physically print and read or load onto an e-reader device for a beautifully formatted, distraction-free reading experience. They've even got a roadmap to eventually offer printing and mailing services, so you can get your custom newspaper in the mail each week.

📷 FilmMeter for iOS - FilmMeter is an all-in-one film photographer's companion app. For film lovers, it lets you track what film stocks you're using in which cameras, when you loaded them, what shots you've taken on the roll, and more. For everyone else, the app also offers real-time light metering, LiDAR distance measurement, flash calculation, and focal length previews with different camera and lens presets. It's got me inspired to send my old film camera rig in for a CLA in time for some summer shooting.

📆 Dot for MacOS - I've been growing increasingly dissatisfied with Fantastical, and have finally found the perfect replacement in Dot, a newly launched indie calendar app. It lives in the menu bar, has great natural language processing (i.e. it will turn "Call with Bobby on Friday at 2pm" into a calendar event), and is highly customizable to look and act in a way that's most useful for you. I will say it is not a full calendar replacement (like Fantastical is); you will still need to set up your calendar accounts via the native Mac calendar app, but this is a really great way to get things done in the calendar.

That's it for this week— May you rediscover a favorite book from your youth and read it in an all-new light.

This week, I've been absolutely loving the clean, retrofuturistic look of this motorcycle and its website (even though I'm not a motorcycle guy), digging the amazing Mongolian Olympic Team's winter fits, barely resisting ordering these amazing Peanuts Vintage Astronaut Keycaps, delighting in this set of custom icons, and looking for a new pair of sneakers. Anyone have any recommendations for sneakers that both look cool AND are comfy?

Note that some of the links in this issue of the Hiro Report are affiliate links and may earn me a small commission at no additional cost to you.

On to the good stuff!

• 📱 Aulumu 360º MagSafe Stand - I have another MagSafe stand for my iPhone from Aulumu that I really like, but this new one is interesting enough that I may switch— it is a swiveling, 360º rotatable MagSafe stand that attaches to the back of your phone that is unique in that it has magnets on both sides so you can mount your iPhone to any ferrous surface and then pivot the stand to get any viewing (or filming) angle you want/need. Like my other stand from them, it's got a kind of cool cyberpunk aesthetic to it, but unlike my other stand, no hidden box cutter or protractor in this one.

• 🖋️ Muji Aluminum Fountain Pen - All of my fountain pens are pretty thick bois, so I grabbed this slim Muji fountain pen to try out this week, and I'm really loving it. It's super light, feels sturdy, and has great knurling on the grip. My only complaint is the Fine nib on it doesn't lay down as much ink as other nibs I'm used to, so ink colors come out lighter than I'm used to. That said, it's a really nice pen at a pretty reasonable price (~$29 on Amazon as of this publishing).

• ☕ Puck Yeah Espresso Tracker App - I'm a data / tracking nerd, and this app is exactly what I've been looking for. It lets you track all the parameters of the espressos you brew (dose, grind, time, temperature, yield, etc.) and then helps you dial it in as you give notes on the flavor profile, etc. You also can rate/log your shots and beans, track your caffeine intake, and more. It's really thoughtfully done with a clean, accessible UI.

• 💡 Oasis Lights - Thanks to my homie Bobby for sharing these great-looking smart home lights. If you're wanting to branch out of the Hue ecosystem, these simple accent lights and smart bulbs offer some pleasing-looking light, changing color temperatures over the course of the day, and control via Alexa and Google, with more smart home integrations apparently forthcoming.

• 👾 Retrocade - OK, this one is cool at one level and SUPER cool at another level. On the iPhone or iPad, Retrocade is a formidable emulator of a number of classic arcade games like Asteroids, Galaga, Centipede, and more. Each game has its own custom frame and controls honoring the original arcade look. It's neat! HOWEVER, if you happen to have access to an Apple Vision Pro, Retrocade will drop you into a fully immersive 1980s arcade, where you can walk up to any of the full arcade cabinets for each of the games and play them just as you would in real life. Check out this YouTube short for a preview of what it's like.

That's it for this week! May you find time to take an insanely deep breath in the outdoors.

This week, I enjoyed touring Stephen Robles' Apple Smart Home set-up, dreamed about building a PS-85 cyberdeck (courtesy of Andrew), dipped my hairy toes into the cyber futuristic waters of OpenClaw / née ClawdBot (my initial impressions here), finished reading Automatic Noodle and started reading the MurderBot Diaries, slapped a new mist + polarizing filter on my camera, and played laser tag at home with the kids.

Note that some of the links in this issue of the Hiro Report are affiliate links and may earn me a small commission at no additional cost to you.

On to the good stuff!

• 🖨️ Bambu Lab A1 Mini - I've had a couple of friends reach out lately asking about 3D printers, so I thought I would reshare the A1 Mini— It is my easiest recommendation for anyone looking to try out 3D printing. For just ~$220, you get a machine that works great and is ready to print within minutes. I've owned 5 different 3D printers and my Bambu Lab is far and away the easiest to use and has given me the best results with minimal tinkering. If you want to spend just a little more, the regular Bambu Lab A1 gives you an even larger print bed.

• 📬 Lost Post - This is a surprisingly heartfelt and delightful app. The premise is simple: Every day you get a prompt with a thoughtful question to answer. Once you've answered it, you will receive someone else's answer to the question from the day before. It's totally anonymous apart from getting to see what country the respondent is from, and they can choose whether or not to share their age and gender info. It's just a sweet way to learn more about other people and cultures, in a lovely app design.

• 📖 Pagebound - If you like geeking out on books, you should really be checking out Pagebound. It's a woman-run, independent alternative to Goodreads that has lots of great discoverability features, plus a clever review and discussion format for chatting with other folks who are currently reading the same books as you. If you join, let's be friends.

• 📔 Yamamoto Bullet Journal - I have recently been getting back into fountain pens, and my good buddy sent me this as an added temptation this week— This is a beautiful, simple Bible-sized journal/folio that opens to hold two reporter-style slim notepads for note taking, drawing, journaling, etc.

• 👝 WotanCraft Mini Rider Sling Bag - I'll admit, I have a bag problem. This one is my new obsession. A compact (and expandable) sling bag perfect for carrying a small mirrorless camera and a few other everyday carry things. This Taiwanese company makes a bunch of beautiful leather and canvas bags for travel, biking, etc., and although I don't bike, I like that this bag has the extra around-the-waist strap available to keep the sling in place while hiking/running.

That's it for this week— May you smell something delicious on the wind in the most unexpected of places.

Apart from fretting over the state of the republic this week, I've been getting to know a new camera, thinking about printing this magic wand for payment terminals, trying to resist buying this gorgeous ultem fountain pen, and really appreciating this thoughtful CoffeeGeek editorial on how Trumpism is impacting the coffee world here in the US and abroad, and bookmarking Luke Miani's video on how the major tech companies are enabling if not supporting Fascism as well. It's really encouraging to see more big platforms speaking up about the insanity we're living through at the moment.

Note that some of the links in this issue of the Hiro Report are affiliate links and may earn the newsletter a small commission at no additional cost to you.

SPONSORED by Wimp Decaf

This issue is generously brought to you by the good folks at Wimp Decaf. If you love coffee, whether it's drip, automatic, or espresso, but are tired of getting the shakes or that gnawing anxiety throughout the day, I highly encourage you to try them out either as a full caffeine replacement or just to help reduce your intake by mixing their beans in with your regular coffee. They have several fantastic roasts to try out—my faves are the Coltrane and their Special Projects. Readers of the Hiro Report get 20% off using code HIRO20.

Wimp Out

On to the good stuff!

⌚ Super Metric Lumina Yellow Watch - I always appreciate a nice splash of color. The Super Metric from the coffee-inspired indie watch brand, Brew Watch Co., is more like an explosion of color. It's got a killer 1970s-style retro case with a racing/chronometer-themed dial. I want one.

🪛 Slidecatch Titanium EDC Tool - Speaking of watches, I'm really digging the look of this sweet, pocketable EDC tool that has a smooth sliding mechanism for extending or retracting various included tool bits—it has your standard flathead and Phillips screwdrivers but also includes a watch fork tip and watch push pin for changing out the watch straps/bands on your watches. It's beautiful, fidgety, AND handy.

🔋 BLUETTI Elite 100 V2 Portable Power Station - I'll admit that this is probably too late for this current winter storm, but I highly recommend picking one of these up or something like it for the inevitable next one. I have an older version of this unit that gives us a lot of peace of mind when looking down the barrel of possible power outages, like we experienced here in Texas back in 2021. This unit can power your home devices and a Wi-Fi router for a very long time or could keep a fridge or small space heater running for a few hours in a pinch. The best part is being able to hook this up to a collapsible solar array that you can pop up in your backyard to recharge it if needed.

🎮 AYN Thor Dual Screen Retro Handheld - This is the new hotness in retro gaming handhelds—AYN has a great reputation for making overpowered retro handhelds capable of playing games from all the iconic gaming systems. Now their latest has a dual-screen setup for emulating Nintendo DS and Nintendo 3DS games as they are intended. I've also seen folks playing non-dual-screen games where the main game is on the larger top screen and then a game guide website is open on the bottom screen to help them through challenging parts. Looks like a blast.

🏋️‍♀️ Fitera - I'm trying out this new workout tracker that launched this week from Trevor, who has been building the app in public over on Threads. It's got a really clean, modern UI for tracking your weights, reps, and sets, as well as any PRs you set along the way. It's free with several popular workout routines built in, or you can pay to unlock the ability to program your own custom routines. It's actively being developed with Apple Health integration coming in the next update.

That's it for this week! Go commit a random, unprovoked act of kindness.

My thanks again to Wimp Decaf for sponsoring the report this week.

This week, I've been zooming in and out on this incredible "live feed" of images from the Hubble and Webb Telescopes, having fun trying to read at 900 words per minute, trying to convince myself I don't need this Japanese tool box, and marveling at this incredible photo of a photojournalist yeeting his Leica to another photographer as he's being tackled by ICE officers.

Note that some of the links in this issue of the Hiro Report are affiliate links and may earn me a small commission at no additional cost to you.

🤖 Matic Vacuum + Mop Robot - We got one of these at Christmas, and I've been totally enamored with it. Apart from looking cute and almost having a personality of its own, it is the best robotic vacuum that I have seen. It easily handles all the obstacles and traps that you might expect to find in a home with two young children, including shoes and toys littered everywhere. Highly recommend it if you are thinking about moving away from the Roomba ecosystem like we have. FWIW, using my link should get you 6-12 months' supply of HEPA bags for free if you want to grab one.

🦙 Alpaka Switch 2 Sling - I own a couple of products from Alpaka and I have enjoyed them all. They tend to have really nice tech materials and thoughtful design, so I'm pretty stoked about this new gaming sling that they've made. You can remove the straps and use it as just a carrying case for your Nintendo Switch 2 or Steam Deck, but it can also fit an X100V, your keys, your passport, your phone and wallet if you wanted to have it as a shoulder bag for going through the airport. Looks great.

💡 Godox Lux Master Retro - My fellow photography nerds will likely immediately recognize the brand Godox. They make generally really nice and affordable lighting equipment for photography. This new Lux Master Retro is an epic return to the bulb-style off-camera reporter flash that you have probably seen in movies from the '20s and '30s. Even if you're not into photography, go take a look at this thing. I kind of want one.

🧙🏼‍♂️ Untired for iOS - This indie-made focus app takes the fun approach of being themed around a tavern straight out of Dungeons and Dragons. It helps you block apps on your phone that sap your attention and energy, and the more you stay out of those apps, the more points you gain to be able to level up your tavern and attract unique travelers and visitors to your tavern. It's a neat concept executed in a fun retro JRPG art style. Well worth it if you're wanting to experiment with limiting your access to social media, etc., on your phone. (Thanks for the tip, Jay!)

📠 Spigen Classic Mac iPhone Case - The evil geniuses at Spigen are back with another retro Mac-inspired iPhone case that really hits all the notes of the early 1980s. It's beige and boxy, but from what I hear, it's still very slim and offers great protection. I would say that this is for those of us who are not as committed as the folks who pick up this epic 3D-printed OG Mac iPhone case off Etsy.

That's it for this week. You look really nice today.

My thanks to The Independent Variable for sponsoring this week's issue!

This week, I've been listening to this killer cover of Anthems for a Seventeen Year Old Girl, remembering how much I suck at Texas Hold 'Em, finally getting around to trying out Antigravity for vibe coding (it's great!), eager to try out the new Lego smart bricks, and getting extremely excited to see the X-Men join the Marvel Cinematic Universe (even though I haven't seen an MCU movie in years…)

Note that some of the links in this issue of the Hiro Report are affiliate links and may earn me a small commission at no additional cost to you.

On to the good stuff!

• 📱 TwelveSouth Valet Tray - This is a super simple concept, but like all TwelveSouth products, it looks quite premium and well built. This minimalist valet tray offers you a sleek place to drop your keys / wallet / phone / sunglasses / etc., but with the added benefit of a built-in wireless Qi2 charger for your iPhone or AirPods. It also has a discreet USB-C port for simultaneously charging a pair of smart glasses or an iPad overnight.

• ⌚ Casio Moonphase Watch - All of my earliest watches were Casios, so they've got a special place in my heart. This new moonphase from them has this great 80's analog techno vibe to it that I'm really digging, plus I'm a sucker for a moon phase.

• 📷 Fuji Instax Mini EVO Cinema - Fujifilm announced a cool new addition to their Instax line of instant cameras this week. This new one looks more like an old 8mm film camera than the usual Polaroid-like format of the others in the line. This one is unique in that beyond shooting and printing stills, it also takes 15 second video clips, and it has a built-in dial to choose from different "eras" of film looks from the 1930's up to 2020's. It launches in Japan later this month.

• 🎮 OhSnap MCON Gaming Controller - This is a ridiculously slick full featured gaming controller that attaches to the back of your iPhone via MagSafe and can easily be folded away so it is completely invisible from the front of your phone in between gaming sessions. It features anti-drift joysticks, Hall Effect analog triggers, and can pair to up to 3 Bluetooth devices for quick switching. Ships late January.

• 💰 Copilot: Budget Tracking for iOS - As is tradition, every January I like to revisit our budget and figure out where the heck all our money went after we get through the Christmas season. My favorite app for this is far and away Copilot (not to be confused with the Microsoft AI). Copilot makes a secure connection via Plaid to all of your financial institutions and credit cards and then uses its own smarts to categorize your spending. You can tweak the categories, or make your own, and then build budgets for how much you want to spend in each bucket each month, easily getting alerts when you're getting close to your spending cap, etc. It looks great, works great, and has killer customer service. I'm a fan.

That's it for this week! May you find subtle but effective ways to rage against the machine.

This week, I've been playing this amazing fan-made X-Men retro arcade game, marveling at the incredible new Olaf robot the Disney team built for their parks, making a whole lot of these honey graham cracker lattes, doing basic music theory exercises in the Waay app, thinking about hacking one of my home mirrors into a smart mirror, and loving the idea of this actual plant that will die if you use your phone too much.

Note that some of the links in this issue of the Hiro Report are affiliate links and may earn me a small commission at no additional cost to you.

On to the good stuff!

🔦 LoopDot EDC Flashlight - Santa picked up a pair of these flashlights for my kids after I stumbled across this quick YouTube short about them a few weeks back. The LoopDot is a super fun, pocketable, fidgetable flashlight with a pixel display that can be customized to show you the remaining battery levels, act as an RGB light source, and even play simple pixel games on. It's super satisfying to handle, and I love that you can switch between flood and spot light modes just by giving it a shake.

🎹 NanoLoop Q Pocket Groovebox - The NanoLoop Q is a tiny pocket groove box that takes the shape of a retro game pad with a 4x4 grid of monochromatic orange LEDs. Those make up a 16-step sequencer. You get up to four channels to use built-in synthesizers to create your own catchy loops and beats. I'm a sucker for any small, good-looking, pocketable devices with buttons and lights on them. Bonus points for it making really fun sounds, being USB-C powered, and having over 30 hours of battery life and multiple years of standby battery life.

🥾 Thru: Virtually Hike the PCT for iOS - This fun indie app uses your daily step count to simulate your hiking the gorgeous 2,650-mile-long Pacific Crest Trail. As you walk/run/move throughout your day, your virtual character advances on the trail map, and you unlock cute badges commemorating famous sights you've reached. I love this mashup of health, nature, and tech.

🔈 Audio-Technica Sound Burger Portable Record Player - This amazing little portable record player is impressively compact, plays remarkably well, and features both wired and Bluetooth audio out options. This is essentially a crate digger's dream. I want one.

✅ HabitKit for iOS - I put out a call earlier this week for recommendations for habit trackers to play with for the new year. After downloading half a dozen or so, this is the one I'm sticking with for the next few weeks/months. In short, apps like this help you keep track of whether or not you've completed some habit you're trying to build, or if you've successfully avoided some unproductive habit you're trying to quit. You simply mark in the app that you've done (or not done) the thing that day, and then it presents you a nice chart of your progress. HabitKit is simple but with a lot of deeper features if you want them, and best of all it looks nice. As nice as it is, there's no way I'm going to be able to stick to my resolution this year.

That's it for this week! May your 2026 be filled with all kinds of surprising delights.

I’ll be back next weekend with my usual top five finds of the week!

Note that some of the links in this issue of the Hiro Report are affiliate links and may earn me a small commission at no additional cost to you.

Computer Stuff

💻 MacBook Pro M5 - I upgraded from a 2021 M1 MacBook this year and have been really happy with the upgrade. Apart from photo/video editing and some very amateur music production, I don’t need much power for most of my work, so I really didn’t feel compelled to wait for the M5 Pro and M5 Pro Max chips.

🖥️ LG 32” UltraGear OLED Monitor - I appreciate a good dual-monitor set-up, but they’re just overkill for my needs. Instead, I like having one really big monitor to work with. This is that monitor. It’s super bright, plenty sharp, and works great with my Mac. If Apple ever offers a larger Studio Display, I might upgrade to that, but this is great for now.

📱 iPhone 17 Pro 🟠 - I upgrade every year, almost 100% because of the camera updates. This year is no different. I usually go with Black, but decided to try out the Orange this year… I think I’ll be taking Amy Winehouse’s recommendation next year.

📰 M4 iPad Pro 11-Inch - This is my travel computer of choice. It’s slim, lightweight, and the new updates to iPadOS make it much easier to use it in a way similar to how I use my Mac, meaning I don’t have to completely change my workflows when traveling. The fact that they relocated the front-facing camera to landscape orientation is also a huge boon for video conferencing on the go.

🖥️ Anker 14-Port USB-C Hub - If you don’t need Thunderbolt but have a lot of things you need to power and/or connect to your computer, this thing is fantastic. I particularly enjoy the LED display that shows you how much power your various devices are drawing.

⌨️ NuPhy Kick 75 - I’m far from a keyboard expert, but this compact, luxurious board—with its colorful, retro video-game aesthetic and touches of transparent design—is a joy. I also love that you can swap in either low-profile or standard keycaps to suit your taste. I’ve used it nonstop since it came out back in April.

⬆️ Uplift Desk - I’ve had this powered desk for 4 years now and am still extremely happy with it. At the press of a button, it changes from sitting mode to standing mode, feels rock solid, and looks great.

EDC + Accessories

📷 Leica M10-P - I picked up this dream camera in late 2024 and carried it with me almost daily for the first half of the year. I am not carrying it daily anymore, but it’s still my most-used camera apart from my iPhone.

🎧 AirPods Pro 3 - The best headphones got even better this year. The improvements to active noise cancelling are fantastic, and I find the new ear tips more comfortable for longer wear.

📱 Torras Air iPhone Case - I went caseless for about half the year without any problems and then promptly dropped my new iPhone 17 Pro the first week after it came out and broke the screen. After getting it replaced, I went back to the Torras Air Case, which is remarkably nice. If you have to be burdened with a case, having a built-in kickstand, pop-out grip, fidget ring, and magnetic features are a huge bonus.

⌚ Apple Watch Ultra 3 - I love my analog watches but have been primarily wearing the Ultra 3 since it came out this Fall. I got it in Black and have really been enjoying both the look and the functionality. I still wear my nicer watches quite often, but I keep putting this watch back on. Having Chirp on my watch face is a huge bonus, giving me access to a smart LLM on my wrist at all times.

⚡ Anker MagGo Power Bank - This chunky boi has saved my hide a number of times. It’s about a half-inch thicker than I wish, but it can recharge my iPhone 17 Pro 2–2.5 times. It has a built-in kickstand and a small display to show how long until you’re fully recharged. It goes almost everywhere with me.

💵 Allett Sport Wallet - A dear friend gifted me one of these wallets last year, and I’ve been absolutely loving it. Very slim, lightweight, gender-neutral designs, great looks, and thoughtful touches like an optional micro-pen slot and built-in RFID-blocking materials. I cannot emphasize enough how thin both the leather and nylon versions are, even more front-pocket-friendly than my usual Bellroy.

💧 Owala Freesip - I’ve got like 4 or 5 of these in different sizes and colors. It’s my favorite water bottle, and I always have one with me. Having the built-in option to chug or sip from the straw is super pleasant, and I appreciate the built-in locking loop that allows me to hang it from a carabiner when needed.

🎒 CIVIC Travel Bag 20L / CIVIC Travel Bag 26L - I’m proud of myself. I didn’t buy any new backpacks this year. I’ve stuck with the Civic Travel Bags, which remain my favorite bags for both working from a coffee shop or taking into the woods for a day hike.

🎒 Nomatic/McKinnon Camera Sling - OK, it’s not a backpack, but I did pick up this camera sling this year and used it quite a lot. It’s surprisingly spacious and offers modular inserts for getting the perfect fit for your gear. I do wish it had more storage space for non-camera gear.

🖊️ Studio Neat Mark One - I have a ton of pens, but this one was easily my most used this year. It’s always on my desk either nestled at the top of my keyboard above the function keys or in the beautiful wooden pen block my father-in-law made me. It’s the perfect size for my hands, and the lack of a pocket clip makes it effortless to use in any orientation. It looks great too.

🔅 Govee RGBIC Smart Table Lamp - My wife and I each have one of these on our nightstands—they’re good-looking, highly customizable lights that I automate via Apple’s HomeKit to turn on at bedtime to just the right tone of warm light. I’ve tried 3 or 4 lamps like this and these are by far the best.

📷 Insta360 Link Webcam - I’m two years deep into using the Insta360 webcam. There have been several newer devices released that look like great upgrades, but I’ve not felt compelled to jump ship yet. This offers great video quality, easy integration on the Mac, and a nice built-in privacy mode. Just make sure you get some good lights; otherwise no camera can save you.

🎮 Nintendo Switch 2 - After not playing many games in 2024, I wound up playing a lot more this year thanks to picking up a Nintendo Switch 2. Totally love this device. Donkey Kong and Cyberpunk 2077 have gotten the most play time.

Home Tech

🚽 Toto Washlet C5 Bidet - I’ll spare you the details, but man is this thing nice, and one of those things you come to miss when you travel. Apart from the medical benefits of using a bidet, having a warm toilet seat alone is worth the price of admission.

🍚 Zojirushi Neuro Fuzzy Rice Cooker - We make a ton of rice in our household, whether it’s for side dishes or impromptu onigiri nights. This machine makes it dead simple to get perfect, consistent rice every time.

Apps and Services

👨🏽‍💻 Raycast - This is still my most used app every day on my Mac, and was the first thing I downloaded on my new MacBook this year.

💬 ChatGPT - I’ve played off and on with Claude, Perplexity, and others, but ChatGPT is the only AI subscription I’ve maintained all year.

🔍 Kagi - Apart from being privacy-centric, not running ads, and not selling our information to advertisers, Kagi’s search engine results are easily the most accurate and helpful of all the engines I’ve experimented with.

✉️ Fastmail & Gmail - I transitioned from Proton to Fastmail last year and have been thrilled with the switch. That said, I wound up moving my small business email from Fastmail over to Gmail this year simply because there are so many great productivity integrations for Gmail that just have not come to Fastmail (yet).

📥 Notion - I switched from Obsidian to Notion this year and found it to be a huge level-up for my needs. I use it as a personal CRM, an inbox for all my meeting notes, an organizer for my work stuff, and more. There are a million more things I could do with it if I had the time to really get it organized, but one of the things I love is being able to just throw everything into it and let the built-in Notion AI find and organize whatever I need.

🗣️ Granola.AI - This is easily my favorite AI meeting note-taker app. It runs in the background on all of my calls without needing to invite a bot to your meetings, takes meticulous notes, formats them exactly how I like, and then drops them into Notion or anywhere else I need them. The iPhone app is very handy for capturing in-person meetings. I have been using it happily for months and only recently discovered I was somehow still on the free trial version. I leapt to pay for it as soon as I figured that out, because it’s totally worth it.

⌨️ WisprFlow.AI - I tried out a bunch of AI dictation apps this year, and this one was my favorite. With the press of a hotkey, I can easily dictate highly accurate text into any app or text field. With the press of a second hotkey, I can also dictate commands like “Please proofread this text” or “Change this to all caps,” etc. They just raised a bunch of funding, so who knows if it’s going to enshittify or accelerate its awesomeness, but for now I’m a happy subscriber.

🐻 Bear App - Bear remains my favorite writing and note-taking app. There are a ton of great options out there, but it’s the one that best fits how I like to capture information. I still write the first draft of all my weekly Hiro Reports right here.

🎵 YouTube Music - I’ve never been a Spotify user, and my Apple Music algorithm has been completely taken over by my kids’ music choices, so I set out to find a music service that could just be mine. I settled on YouTube Music because it’s included for free with my YouTube Premium subscription. It’s been surprisingly great! I particularly like that you can listen to songs from their catalog as well as obscure indie music that users have uploaded as YouTube videos.

🔗 Plinky - You might be shocked to learn that I collect a lot of links over the course of the day, and Plinky is my strong favorite place to do it, thanks to its delightful user interface and hard-working indie developer, Joe Fabisevich. My only gripe is that it doesn’t have a full-featured Mac app yet, though I understand one is in the works.

🧊 Ice Menu Bar - I switched to Ice after being a Bartender user for years. This app does a great job at hiding all the menu bar items on the top of your Mac’s display until you need them.

That’s it for this year! Thank you for all of the support, feedback, and cool discoveries you’ve sent my way. May you be happy, healthy, and find peace in the year ahead.

I'm just getting back from an epic trip to Johnson Space Center in Houston for one of their overnight experiences—if you're at all space curious, I highly recommend booking a visit! Other than that, this week, I've been geeking out on this new research from Apple on making immersive environments from single photos, testing out Net.Inc (thanks McCy!), reading the incredible original script for Sinners, and dreaming about this incredible $32,000 spaceship recliner pod from the 1982 Neiman Marcus collection.

Note that some of the links in this issue of the Hiro Report are affiliate links and may earn me a small commission at no additional cost to you.

On to the Good Stuff!

📱 MagSafe iPhone Monitor Mount - I saw a cool video from Scott Yu-Jan this week where he attached one of these to his computer monitor so his iPhone could ride sidecar via a Qi 2 charging MagSafe connection. (Thanks for the tip, Eric!) It honestly seems like a great way to save desktop real estate and can be handy for folks who may not be able to pair their phones to their work computers, etc.

✂️ Paste App for MacOS/iOS - I've been using Raycast's clipboard manager for a few years now and recently decided to give Paste a try... it's a big level up! Whereas Raycast's clipboard manager covers all the basics of letting you quickly search your clipboard history and re-paste your content wherever you wish, Paste offers a great iPhone app and keyboard so you can copy and paste from your clipboard history across both devices. It also lets you copy multiple things in a stack and paste them all together in one place. Like Raycast, you can set limits on how long it remembers things, forbid it from remembering certain types of sensitive information, which is great for privacy.

🗣️ Capwords AI for iOS - This 2025 Apple Design Award winning app is a clever tool to help with language learning—it lets you snap pictures of any object you want to learn how to pronounce in another language, and then it will create a flashcard with both its name, spelling and pronunciation. It also creates a digital sticker of the object that you can collect along with the translation. A really cool use of AI combined with on‑device image processing for privacy.

🐘 Fahlo Animal Tracking Bracelet - My family and I grabbed a few of these during our last trip to the Zoo and have had a lot of fun with them. In short, these bracelets each come with a small unique QR code that lets you track the specific animal featured on your bracelet. You get photos and bio data for your critter, and periodic app notifications with its location as it travels its habitat. Just a neat concept and a fun way to support wildlife.

🍂 Hoto Leaf Blower - Not that the bar was terribly high, but this is the best looking leaf blower I've ever seen. The specs on it are not necessarily the most powerful you can find out there, but like all Hoto products it's minimalist, compact, and (importantly) rechargeable via USB-C. I need to grab one.

That's it for this week! For those of you celebrating this week, have the merriest of Christmases!

Note that some of the links in this issue of the Hiro Report are affiliate links and may earn me a small commission at no additional cost to you.

SPONSORED by Wimp Decaf

I want to thank Wimp Decaf for sponsoring this week's issue. If you are looking for a great last-minute gift to give to your coffee-loving loved ones, consider grabbing a bag of Wimp Decaf as a stocking stuffer. Wimp Decaf doesn't have to fully replace your beloved caffeinated coffee. It can just be a way to help you keep drinking coffee longer throughout the day, whether it be by alternating caffeinated and decaf coffees or just cutting your favorite espresso beans with a bit of decaf. Embrace cozy, warm drinks without maxing out your holiday anxiety levels. Grab some Wimp Decaf and get 20% off using code HIRO20.

Learn more

On to the good stuff:

☕ Homegrind for iOS - I wrote about this super fun app earlier this year, but it continues to get new features and it's just a ton of fun. For those who are not familiar, Homegrind lets you create an informal home coffee shop where family members and guests can order drinks from you via an app and then leave you emojis as tips. It is not meant to be a full coffee shop point-of-sale system; it is purely for fun. That said, they've recently added features like allowing you to add a Venmo link or QR code to the app so that people can give actual tips or donations. You also can now have multiple home baristas with access to the list of orders in case you and your partner are both on call for making drinks. I'm thinking of using it for a little neighborhood pop-up coffee shop to raise funds for charity when it gets a little warmer.

💍 Pebble Index 01 - The folks at Pebble—famous for the original E Ink watch that's now being revived as a modern smartwatch—just announced that they're also making a smart ring. It's designed to capture your fleeting thoughts via a built-in button and microphone. The ring's software is customizable, so you can ostensibly configure it to handle other tasks as well. The big catch? It's not rechargeable. You'll get about two years of use, and then you send it back to be recycled. It also doesn't offer any of the usual health tracking features you expect from smart rings. Personally, I'd have a hard time justifying grabbing one, but it's neat to see experimentation in this space—and who knows? Maybe we were given ten fingers so we can rock a constellation of smart rings?

🎹 Arturia Microfreak Synth - Santa dropped off one of my Christmas gifts early this year and I've been obsessed with it the last week or so… The Microfreak is a hybrid digital dual oscillator synthesizer with an analog filter with wavetable and granular sampling capabilities that is widely considered to be a great first hardware synth for anyone looking to experiment with building their own sounds and patches. Apart from being a good beginner's synth, it's also used by the pros like ambient composer Trentemøller.

🌬️ Arcteryx Incendo Airshell - For Thanksgiving, we went up to the Pacific Northwest for a week of hiking and exploring in the cold and rain. It was a blast, and this little ultralight windbreaker was a lifesaver. It packs down small enough to fit in your jeans' back pocket, but then quickly deploys to protect from chilly wind and light rain/drizzle, all while still being super breathable so you don't find yourself drowning in a sweat swamp while you hike or run. The Arcteryx one is pretty pricey (I was able to get a crazy Black Friday deal on mine), but this much more affordable Patagonia equivalent looks equally as good.

🔈 Edifier R1280DB Bookshelf Speakers - These desk speakers are another Black Friday/Cyber Monday deal pickup that I've been enjoying. I'm far from an audiophile expert, but they sound great to my ears, easily fill my home office, and have lots of nice features like Bluetooth connectivity, adjustable bass and treble controls, and multiple stereo ports. Highly recommended if you're looking for something for your computer, a little record player, etc.

That's it for this week! May you be safe, healthy, happy, and at peace. 🙏🏼

This week, I've been digging this remake of Bronski Beat's Smalltown Boy performed on a little groovebox, giggling at this dad's 2025 Parenting Wrapped (a la Spotify's year-end wrap-up), and once again being tempted to buy a modded Nintendo 3DS thanks to this review from Byte Review. I've also been swooning over this super fun new Omega x Swatch Moonshine Gold edition that features both moon phase and earth phase complications, and is only available for sale in stores on days when it happens to be snowing in Switzerland. So neat!

On to the good stuff:

🏠 Meross HomeKit Garage Opener - Like many families, our garage is more a cross between a gym and bulk storage space than a place for cars. As a result, we wind up walking in and out of it much more than driving in and out of it. Having this Siri-enabled smart garage attachment has been a huge help, letting us quickly open the garage by voice command or touch of a button from a homescreen widget on our iPhones. It's also nice for being able to quickly check the status of the garage to make sure it's closed when we're away from home… and if it's not, we can close it from wherever we are.

📔 2026 Standard Memorandum Book - Years ago when I lived overseas I used to keep a memorandum book like this—a simple journal with just a few lines for each day to let you capture just the highlights. I appreciated the constraint as only having space for 3-4 lines helped me be more consistent with my journaling habit, knowing that it would be a 2-3 minute exercise rather than a 30-minute, multi-page brain dump. These daily record books look terrific. I grabbed one for 2026 and also picked up a pack of their Adventure Logs for memorializing our travels next year. (Thanks Bobby!)

📖 XTEINK X4 Magsafe eReader - I love this concept. It's a small eInk device that attaches to the back of your iPhone via MagSafe connection that allows you to keep your ePub library of books handy everywhere you go. I will probably wind up grabbing one of these after Christmas so I can make progress on my reading backlog rather than doomscrolling in the new year. Could I just use the Kindle app or any other ereader app rather than firing up Threads/Instagram/Mastodon when in line at the grocery store? Totally. Do I do that today? I do not.

🗣️ Chirp for Apple Watch - I don't too often have Apple Watch specific apps to recommend, but I've been really enjoying Chirp. In short, it is a voice-enabled LLM on your wrist. At the push of a button on my watch face, it brings up a microphone button for me to hold and make my request. Chirp then uses Google's Gemini to go search for whatever I need and comes back with a very high-quality voice response. You can also use it to set reminders and dictate messages that you want to send. Best of all, you can get 7 queries a day for free, which is honestly more than I generally need.

💡 Govee Permanent Outdoor Lights — I mentioned these last holiday season and thought I'd reshare them in case anyone is looking for a great Christmas light solution. These HomeKit-compatible lights are a fantastic year-round lighting set-up that let you pick from different lighting combinations for the different holidays, or make your own from scratch. I've had them up for over a year now and now a bunch of other houses in the neighborhood have been getting in on the action.

That's it for this week, may your hot drinks stay at the perfect temperature just a little longer.

This long weekend, I've been appreciating Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak's secret to happiness, contemplating this real scientific study about the Batman effect, marveling at the gorgeous work in Citizen Printer, loving the illustration and animations in this reference manual for Making Software, and doing a fair bit of Black Friday shopping.

I'm not nearly qualified to be a deal hunter guru, but here are a few deals I took advantage of that seem to be ongoing through Cyber Monday tomorrow:

• Re-upped my Plinky subscription at 50% off.

• Grabbed a Nest Thermostat at about 20% off.

• Upgraded my Synology NAS at about 20% off.

• Snagged some single dose coffee bean storage tubes at 20% off.

Note that some of the links in this issue of the Hiro Report are affiliate links and may earn me a small commission at no additional cost to you.

On to the Good Stuff!

🔦 Olight ArkPro Ultra Flashlight - I've had a few Olight flashlights and always found them to be powerful and compact, if not exactly "cool" looking... Their latest keeps with the trend. It's a very oddly shaped flat device, reminiscent of an Apple TV remote, but it features a 200m spotlight flashlight, a 1700 lumen flood light, a green laser beam, and a powerful UV light, all in a compact, USB-C rechargeable package, with a double-sided clip so you can throw it in your pocket or attach it to the brim of your baseball hat. It's a little goofy looking but would be an amazing little flashlight to keep in your EDC bag. I'm putting one on my personal Christmas list.

☕ Stoneware Coffee Dosing Tray - My old wooden coffee dosing tray is starting to show its age (and I'm not sure that my regular RDT'ing has been kind to it), so I've been on the lookout for an upgrade. I found this gorgeous handmade stoneware one while crawling Etsy, and plan to add it to my personal Christmas wishlist. Please don't buy them all out before Santa can order mine!

🖌️ Graintouch for iPadOS - Graintouch is a really delightful drawing app that lets you simulate Risograph prints to give your art a beautiful, organic texture. Very simple, very satisfying app that does one thing well.

📷 Godox iT32 Camera Flash & X5 TTL Wireless Flash Trigger - Godox released a really fascinating, modular camera flash system that lets you swap out the hot shoe of the iT32 flash depending on which camera system you're using it with (Canon, Nikon, Fuji, Sony, Olympus, etc.), and also use the hot shoe as a wireless flash trigger for when you want to shoot off-camera flash for more natural (or artistic) lighting effects. I love this idea.

🎹 Syntorial 2 for iPad + Mac - A friend of mine recently asked me for resources to help them get started with making electronic music, and while I was poking around I stumbled across this fantastic training app for learning how to program synthesizer patches by ear. It takes you step by step through all the most common knobs and sliders you might find on a synth, and most importantly, teaches you how to dial them in to get the sound you want. The lessons are typically short, 5-10 minutes long, and then have a fun challenge where they play a sound and then you have to program the synth to reproduce that sound. The first 20 or so lessons are free, definitely worth trying out if you're at all into music production, synthesizers, electronica, etc.

That's it for this week! May you discover an enchanted bookshop in the least likely of places.

As we head into Thanksgiving week here Stateside, a whole bunch of companies are preemptively starting their “Black Friday” sales, so it seems like an apt time to share this year’s Hiro Report holiday shopping guide! As usual, I’m sharing below a whole bunch of Hiro-approved gift ideas spread across four price brackets:

$ = ≤$50
$$ = ≤$100
$$$ = ≤$200
$$$$ = Splurge

As always, if you’re looking for recommendations for anything in particular, just drop me a note— happy to help!

Note that some of the links in this issue of the Hiro Report are affiliate links and may earn the newsletter a small commission at no additional cost to you.  

SPONSORED by Wimp Decaf

Sponsor or not, I’ll keep shouting from the rooftops about the magic of good decaf coffee. If you read the news at all or spend any time on social media, it is abundantly clear that we collectively as a species all could really benefit from chilling out just a little more. What if you could chill out and still enjoy the ritual and flavor of making excellent coffee at home? My buddies over at Wimp Decaf are making just that possible. Go try a sampler of their different beans (Hachiko is my favorite for pour over, and Coltrane is my favorite for espresso). Use code “HIRO20” for 20% off at checkout!

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Alright, on to the good stuff!

EVERYDAY USE

• Baron Fig Confidant Notebook – This is my favorite notebook/journal. It not only looks super clean; it has dreamy, fountain-pen-friendly paper. $
• Kaweco Classic Sport Pen – A timeless fountain pen that is great fun to write with and easily slips into a pocket. Love this thing. $
• KeepCup Travel Mug – Probably the cutest travel drink mug I own. The cord handle is just a super fun touch, and I like drinking out of the tempered glass more than my usual insulated metal mugs. $
• Big Idea Design Baseline Pen – I’ve got a ton of pens from these guys, they’re all beautiful, tougher than nails, and fun to write with. This one’s fun because it’s so pocketable. $$
• Papanui Hell Cat WWII Cap – My favorite baseball hat. It’s made in a vintage style from surplus WWII Frogskin Camo fabric. Super quirky. $$$
• Benchmade Bugout Knife – A really solid, good-looking pocket knife is an essential. The Bugout is an excellent, all-purpose knife that’s not only a great first pocket knife but also still respected by knife nerds with massive collections. $$$
• CIVIC CPL Backpack in X-Pac – Hands down my favorite backpack for both working from a coffeeshop for the day or for taking into the woods for a day hike. $$$$

TECH

• Nuphy Kick75 Keyboard – I use this keyboard every day and just love it. Super fun design, plenty of keys, a great customizable twisty knob, customizable lights when you type, and more. $$
• Anker Qi2 MagSafe iPhone Charger – Is this a romantic gift? No. Will it absolutely save their ass when their battery is low and look good doing it? Yes. $$
• T.E. PO-33 Sampler + Sequencer – This unique little device looks like an old-school calculator but is actually a fairly sophisticated sampler and sequencer for making beats on the fly… Plus it fits in your pocket! $$
• BambuLab A1 Mini 3D Printer – The absolute no-brainer best way to get someone started with 3D printing. And it is currently back down to its pre-tariff pricing of $199. $$$
• Home Assistant Green – Give the gift of easy smart home automation with this do-it-all hub that lets you bring most any smart device into the Apple HomeKit ecosystem. $$$
• Outin Mino Travel Espresso Maker – This tiny device lets you brew espresso from ground beans or from Nespresso pods when camping or roughing it at Folgers-loving in-laws. It’ll even heat the water for you! $$$
• Flipper Zero – This little hacker multi-tool makes a great gift precisely because it’s the kind of thing it really doesn’t make sense for most of us to buy for ourselves… but it’s a lot of fun to play with. $$$$
• Fellow Aiden Brewer – Perfect for the coffee-loving gadget geek in your life. This smart brewer makes amazing coffee. $$$$

TOYS

• Doctor Popular’s Yo-Yo Starter Kit + Comic Book – Do you remember how fun yo-yos are? Doc Pop has a way of making them even more fun and cool. $
• TrimUI Brick Retro Gaming Handheld – This is my go-to recommendation for someone wanting to get into retro gaming. It’s a great-looking handheld and comes with a nice starter library of games. $
• Taiyaki Waffle Maker – If you haven’t had Taiyaki fish waffles, you’re missing out—they’re tasty, usually filled with red bean paste, Nutella, or something else delicious, and they’re shaped like fish! $
• X1 Hover Drone – Another great way to get into an otherwise expensive and complex hobby… Previously I’d recommended the DJI NEO, which is quite good, but there is a distinct possibility of DJI drones being banned here in the U.S. $$$
• Teenage Engineering EP-133 – This is one of the most fun toys I’ve gotten in recent years. It’s a great fun beat maker and sampler from the kings of fun physical product design. Think of it as the big sister of the PO-33 linked above. $$$$

LIFESTYLE

• Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson – A samurai sword–bearing pizza delivery guy, the mafia, ancient Sumerian mythology, and one of the best-named protagonists in modern fiction. Give the gift of some of cyberpunk’s finest. $
• Spinware Stoneware Cups – These are far and away my favorite cups for espresso and latte drinks, so satisfying to hold and great looking to boot. $
• SimpleBits Fonts – A little out of the box, but rather than mailing a package across the world, what if you bought someone a really cool font they could use forever? $
• Breath by James Nestor – This is one of the few books that I routinely give out as a gift because it’s so universally helpful and practical. $
• Flair Neo Flex Lever Espresso Maker – I love this affordable, tabletop lever-action espresso machine. It’s perfect for someone wanting to dip their toes into the steamy waters of espresso without dropping a couple hundred (or thousand) dollars. $$
• Otto Smart Sprinkler – This amazing smart sprinkler system has been a game changer for our lawn and garden care. $$$$
• Mercury Spacecraft 1:1 Replica Shingle – This is for a very specific type of nerd that would appreciate an exact replica of a prominent piece of the Mercury spacecraft capsule… Hello, I am that nerd. $$$$

That’s it for this week! May you be happy, healthy, and at peace!

p.s. It’s Thanksgiving here in the U.S. on Thursday. I’d just like to say a sincere thank you to all of you for reading this nerdy newsletter each week. You all make doing this a lot of fun, and I’m incredibly grateful for your trust, feedback, and support.

This week, I've been learning how to trick people into thinking you can juggle, discovering the fascinating origins of the word "ampersand", geeking out at this Redditor's collection of movie and TV show watches, obsessing over these gorgeous vintage stainless steel espresso cups, and finally getting around to watching X-Men '97 (it's crazy good!)

Note that some of the links in this issue of the Hiro Report are affiliate links and may earn me a small commission at no additional cost to you.

SPONSORED by Foofaraw Press

The Bodies by D.H. Parish, the first novella from Foofaraw Press, is here!

A rookie cop finds three bodies in Golden Park over three months. He catches the killer. Case closed. Career made. Until it happens all over again twenty-five years later. What happens next will shatter everything Captain Raymond thought he knew—and force him to decide how far he’ll go to protect his legacy.

Noir meets speculative fiction in this twisted novella where moral compromises echo across time.

Learn More

On to the good stuff!

🔅 Philips Hue Twilight Lamp - OK, let me start by acknowledging that this lamp is $300… but I really dig how it looks. It's also got two different lights built into it: a reading lamp that can be adjusted for warmer or cooler light, and a separate light in the back that can project beautiful color gradient patterns for mood lighting. It integrates with Siri/Alexa/Google Home, and best of all it has two programmable buttons on top that can be used for triggering smart home automations.

🧩 Spark Puzzles for iOS - Spark Puzzles launched this week and is a really clever collection of daily puzzles with the unique twist of not only being fun but also teaching you something new with each game. As you complete puzzles you earn points in the different fields of knowledge like history, pop culture, science, geography, and more. It's got a really fun, playful design. Go give it a try.

🕖 Dulton Double Face Clock - I saw Tom Hitchins had this beautiful Japanese-import double-faced clock in his studio, and I promptly set out looking for where I could get one for my Christmas list. It's just beautiful!

📷 Moment Pro Camera II for iOS - Moment dropped a new version of their Pro Camera app for iOS, bringing a ton of advanced features for both photos and videos into one central app. Like Halide, it will let you manually control your shutter speed, ISO, EV, focus, white balance, and opt out of Apple's sometimes heavy-handed processing on your photos. It ALSO lets you apply custom LUTs to both photos and videos, shoot in Apple Log 2, offers open gate and even anamorphic desqueezing in case you picked up an anamorphic lens for your iPhone. Best of all, it's a one-time purchase and they have a full roadmap for making the app even better in the months ahead.

🚁 Antigravity A1 - This is a really cool-looking new 8K 360º compact drone that is coming out in the next few months. It weighs 249g so you don't need to register it with the FAA to fly it recreationally in the US, and comes with an interesting motion-sensitive joystick and first-person view (FPV) goggles that let you see your flight as if you were sitting in the cockpit of the drone. Interestingly, the goggles have displays on the outside so people standing around you can also see what you're seeing. Peter McKinnon made a fun preview video of it a few weeks back in case you're curious.

That's it for this week! May you discover a small extra storage space in your home that you never knew existed until now.

This week I've been wishing I had the time and aptitude to build this DIY One-Time-Use Pad Generator, padding my movies-to-watch list with selections from this awesome guide to Kung Fu movies sorted by style and region of Chinese Martial Arts, eyeballing this borderline evil-looking vacuum cleaner, downloading BeeBot to get context-aware insights in my ears as I explore downtown areas, contemplating buying space on a billboard just for fun (and mischief), and trying to get my hands on this Japan-exclusive Tamagotchi-style Pokemon toy hybrid.

Note that some of the links in this issue of the Hiro Report are affiliate links and may earn me a small commission at no additional cost to you.

On to the good stuff!

🔐 Lockly HomeKit + Biometric Smart Lock - I go through smart locks like it's a part-time job. As the tech advances, I love upgrading to the latest and greatest. This new offering from Lockly might be my next upgrade—it not only integrates with HomeKit smart keys so you can just tap your phone or watch to the lock to unlock it, it also has facial recognition and fingerprint recognition, and a smartly executed touch combination that regularly rotates numbers so you don't leave consistent fingerprints on the same numbers over and over. Best of all, the biometrics are all stored and processed on device, and never travel out to the cloud, so your private data stays safe and local. I want one.

💍 Stream Ring - I am generally wary of the newish breed of smart devices that are always recording audio around you to capture and transcribe your every spoken word and interaction. I get the appeal for some folks, but the privacy nerd in me has major concerns. This new smart wearable has me intrigued as it's a ring that only records when you activate a button, in a sort of push-to-talk setup—it can transcribe notes, speak back to you via headphones, and draw insights from your recordings. The price isn't terrible and it's up for pre-order right now.

📻 Teenage Engineering Riddim n' Ting - Teenage Engineering's EP-133 KOII is one of my all-time favorite gadgets—beautiful and fun beatbox, sampler and sequencer rolled into one. The EP-40 Riddim is a new Reggae-inspired variant that features slightly improved specs and during the launch comes with a fun performance microphone with built-in effects and samples. Just like the original EP-133, you can wipe all the samples and install your own if you're not particularly in love with the included Reggae FX and samples.

📆 Howie Virtual EA - I've just started playing with Howie this week and have been pretty impressed. In short, it's an AI-powered executive assistant that helps with schedule and calendar management. Need to schedule something with someone? Just cc Howie and it will find times on your calendar, coordinate with the other person and send invites according to your preferences/training. The part I like best about it is that it's backed up by real humans who double-check to make sure the AI doesn't do something dumb with your calendar.

🖋️ Tactile Turn Switch Pen - Texas-based Tactile Turn manufactures some of my favorite US-made everyday-use pens. I've got several of their bolt action and click pens, and now I'm eyeing these new Switch Pens pretty hard—they feature a unique light switch-style flicker on the side of the pen that looks super satisfyingly fidgetable. It's made out of titanium and comes in two different sizes, allowing you to choose between your favorite type of refill cartridges.

That's it for this week! May your hot beverages stay warm just a little longer.

This week, I've been thoroughly enjoying Halloween, browsing through the archives of Fleuron, a 1923 journal of typography (thanks to Dan), looking forward to the release of Last Samurai Standing, reading about this 30x30 pixel camera built from an optical mouse, fretting about the state of our space program, and gearing up to play some more Print and Play games this fall.

Note that some of the links in this issue of the Hiro Report are affiliate links and may earn me a small commission at no additional cost to you.

On to the good stuff!

🎒 Evergoods 24L Tote - My favorite everyday use bag maker is out with a new structured tote bag that features their usual mix of clean lines, reliable tech textile, and smart organizational features. While I think it looks good, I'm honestly not sure if it's my style, but it looks so convenient that I'm tempted to get it just for coffee shop runs and weekend trips.

🖋️ Writey Cursive Handwriting for iPadOS - A few years back, as I was really getting into analog note taking, I realized my handwriting was terrible and decided I wanted to level up. I grabbed a copy of Barbara Getty's excellent Write Now self-study book for handwriting improvement and put in the work. It was a ton of fun and made a big difference. So naturally, I was excited to find this iPad + Pencil Pro-powered app for helping to improve your handwriting and learn things like calligraphy and flourishes.

📷 Peak Design Rope - I love my adjustable Peak Design camera straps and now they're out with a new rope-style strap that looks crazy good. Apart from looking good, the straps also feature Peak Design's awesome modular camera anchors that make it remarkably easy to swap out straps between cameras and configurations. Beyond the Rope straps, they've also got some really nice looking fixed length leather straps and a new version of their excellent Field Plate.

✂️ Hoto Tools Cordless Electric Scissors - Hoto is one of my favorite tool companies—all of their products that I own look great and function impeccably. So, I'm kind of geeking out to try their new electric scissors. Here's the catch: I don't know what I'd use them for... I could see maybe getting into cardboard craft projects at some point, but I feel like I need a lot more time first. Anyone have any recommendations?

📱 Torras Ostand Q3 Air - After about 3-4 months of going caseless on my iPhones, I finally dropped and destroyed the screen on my iPhone 17 Pro about a week into owning it. Upon getting the screen fixed, I overnighted this case from Torras to protect the new screen. I've had a few Torras cases before, and this one is my favorite—I like the air cushion bumpers, and feel like the kickstand/grip ring is the most stable yet. I also really like the look of the blue case on my Cosmic Orange.

That's it for this week. May you experience at least one incredibly pleasant breeze in the days ahead!

This week, I've been reading about the surprising history of pad thai, kinda digging the new Toyota Land Cruiser FJ that's woefully not coming to the U.S. anytime soon, loving the look and concept of this Analog + Digital Espresso Timer Watch, watching season 2 of No One Wants This, pre-ordered a $100 bill and some hot sauce for $14, and marveling at this mod to turn a Lego Game Boy replica into a functioning retro gaming system.

Note that some of the links in this issue of the Hiro Report are affiliate links and may earn me a small commission at no additional cost to you.

On to the good stuff!

👟 RunBuds for iOS - RunBuds is a fun, indie take on social running apps, letting you watch both yours and your friends' runs on a track. You can also set up group goals, like collectively running a certain cumulative distance by a deadline. I'm not running much these days (more into rucking), otherwise I'd be all in on this.

⌚ James Brand x Timex Watch - Thanks to Adam for flagging this gorgeous GMT field watch from Timex and The James Brand. It uses a super reliable Miyota 9075 automatic GMT movement, letting you track the time in two different time zones at once, and has the perfect amount of color pops for my liking. I have a few knives and tools from The James Brand and have always been really pleased with them—they look great and hold up to regular heavy use.

🏴‍☠️ Hacktivate - Shout out to Andrew for flagging this cool educational game/simulator that teaches you the real-life fundamentals of offensive hacking, encryption, decryption and more. Even if you're not into cybersecurity, you'll probably enjoy the puzzles and challenges. Best of all, you can try it for free, and then it's a one-time payment to unlock it for playing on your Mac, iPad, and iPhone. I'm having a blast with it.

🖼️ Aura Ink - Aura released an interesting new take on their fantastic digital photo frames this week, this time using color e-ink in its display, giving a more analog, paper look to your photos. The large 13.3" e-paper frame looks to be pretty high resolution and can run for up to three months on a single charge, letting you mount it on a wall amongst your other pictures. We have had several different digital photo frames, but the ones from Aura have easily been our favorite.

📷 Leica M EV-1 - Leica released a new version of their iconic M-series cameras, this time ditching the glass rangefinder in favor of an electronic viewfinder. While it can be seen as a controversial move if you forget that no one is forcing you to buy this camera, I think it's a really savvy move to increase the accessibility of the Leica M range. Like all Leicas, the new camera is gorgeous and costs an insane amount of money. Even if you have no interest at all in this camera, I highly recommend watching YouTuber GxAce's fantastic review that is almost more of a time-traveling cyberpunk documentary than a camera review.

That's it for this week—may your status be a little less quo than usual.

This week, I spent time marveling at this 50-year-old breaking a skateboarding world record, reading Joe's great intro to making and using Claude Skills, coveting this Casio homage to Back to the Future (thanks Bobby!), brainstorming new Apple Intelligence-powered Shortcuts, peeking into Peter McKinnon's camera travel bag setup, and checking out Rahul Hulry's writing desk setup, and wondering how long I can resist before I break down and grab the new Pokemon game.

Note that some of the links in this issue of the Hiro Report are affiliate links and may earn me a small commission at no additional cost to you.

SPONSORED by Wimp Decaf

If you like coffee as much as I do, you've probably found yourself having to draw some limits around your intake… either you learn that you can't drink it after noon, or no more than two cups a day, or maybe you've even had to take a couple of weeks (or couple of months) break to detox. In any case, the problem is rarely the coffee… it's the caffeine. I love Wimp Decaf because it lets you cut the caffeine without having to give up the delicious coffee and the relaxing ritual of making it at any time of the day. Beyond the great flavor, Wimp Decaf as a company just totally embraces the anti-hustle movement, encouraging us all to slow down and enjoy the good things. If you haven't tried them out yet, go grab some for 20% off with HIRO20!

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On to the good stuff:

📱 Aulumu MagSafe Grip Stand for iPhone - I ordered one of these as soon as I saw McCy's post featuring this thing. It's a MagSafe rotatable, fidget-able grip and kickstand for the iPhone that also works as a protractor and has a tiny ceramic box opener built in… all while looking like something straight out of Blade Runner 2049 or Cyberpunk 2077.

☕ Spinware Handmade Stoneware Cup - I recently got a new espresso machine with a notoriously small gap between the portafilter and the drip tray, meaning it will fit only very small/short cups. After seeing these gorgeous cups in Tanner Colson's reels for a while I decided to give them a shot, and am blown away by how great they feel. They feel amazing in hand, are the perfect size for a flat white or cappuccino, but also are fantastic for cupping a double shot of espresso. Highly recommended.

🖥️ Dia Browser - The Browser Company announced the general release/availability of their follow-up to Arc Browser earlier this month. I've been on the beta for months and have found it to be my favorite of the various AI-powered browsers out there right now. It's got a clean UI, the AI is there if you want it but stays out of the way if you don't need it, and is just a nice-looking implementation of a Chrome browser all around. I still don't love that the Browser Company requires you to have a user account to use their browsers—a major privacy strike in my opinion. That said, it's a great option as long as you know what you're getting yourself into.

⌚ Seiko Rotocall / Astronaut Watch - Seiko announced this week that they are re-releasing their famous digital quartz from the early 1980s that was worn by several astronauts due to its hardiness and that the bezel could be manipulated even while wearing spacesuit gloves. I love the retro digital aesthetic, and will definitely be looking to pick one up when they become available in the U.S. next spring. (They'll be available in Europe and Japan next month!)

⌨️ Raycast Keyboard for iOS - One of my essential macOS apps continues to iterate on its newish iOS counterpart. This week, they released their iOS keyboard which gives you access to your Raycast notes, templates, and snippets right in any text field. Most usefully, they also added an AI dictation feature that way outperforms the built-in Siri voice dictation on iPhones. You can also set up templates for the type of dictating you're doing so that it will format the transcription like an email, a text message, etc.

That's it for this week! May your hope spring ever eternal.

My sincere thanks again to Wimp Decaf for sponsoring the Hiro Report 🙌

This week, I've been dreaming about finding a cache of literal sunken treasure like this, switching my AppleTV keyboard over to grid format thanks to this tip from Stephen, reading the Monster Support Group series with my kiddos, trying to figure out how much smoke and mirrors is involved in the Figure 03 humanoid robot announced this week, and checking out all the cool apps made during RevenueCat's Shipaton event this year.

Note that some of the links in this issue of the Hiro Report are affiliate links and may earn me a small commission at no additional cost to you.

On to the good stuff!

🔪 Benchmade Mini Bugout Knife - A buddy of mine asked me this week for a recommendation for an EDC knife, a topic that I could spend hours talking/writing about. While there are a million good options depending on one's budget, needs, style, etc., the one that is the easiest for me to recommend is the Benchmade Bugout. Benchmade makes fantastic, long-lasting knives that will last forever with good maintenance. The Mini Bugout is compact, discreet, comes in a million different color and blade options, and there is a whole universe of DIY 3rd party modifications out there for changing out the grips, thumb studs, and more. It's a great all-around pocket knife.

💾 Lexar Pro Go SSD for iPhone - I've become hooked on shooting video with the new iPhone 17 Pro (c.f. this moment of Zen on the Oregon Coast)… The phone's ability to shoot both Open Gate and Apple ProRes RAW means you have a professional-grade video camera suite in your pocket. The only catch is that footage just devours storage… and some footage settings literally require an external SSD before the phone will even let you shoot them. Enter the Lexar Pro Go, which is an insanely tiny external SSD that discretely clips onto the back or bottom of your phone. I just leave it clipped on when I'm out and about shooting, and it's barely noticeable.

🎥 Kino and OpenCam for iOS - Speaking of shooting video, here are my two favorite apps for shooting cinematic video on the iPhone. Kino gives you full manual control of your format, shutter speed, etc., and even lets you apply LUTs (essentially video filters) to your footage in real time while you shoot. OpenCam, on the other hand, lets you shoot Open Gate footage, meaning that it will capture video from the entire sensor without cropping in to the typical widescreen format we usually get from video footage. It ends up giving you a really cool large format feel to your footage, or gives you the flexibility to crop and reframe to your liking in post.

📱 Koco Widgets for iOS - I stumbled across Koco Widgets a week or two back and have really enjoyed it. Koco has lots of highly customizable widgets (and Live Activities) that you can use on your phone for tracking useful information (like health data, calendar, news, etc.) or just to bring some fine design elements to your screen layout. I particularly like the widgets that include hot buttons for launching specific apps, letting me save some space on my homescreen.

🪑 Embrace Chair - The folks at Elgato announced a really compelling new office chair that looks to be competing directly with the classic Herman Miller Aeron office chair. It's leveraging the same slightly transparent, highly breathable style that's perfect for those of us afflicted with chronic sweaty back syndrome– but presumably at a much better price point. I'm pretty happy with my current chair, but if I were in the market, this would be the one I would grab—every Elgato product I've had (including my beloved Key Light) has been a delight.

That's it for this week. May you find a really great Norm to challenge.

This week, I’ve been listening to a lot of Bardcore covers of K-Pop Demon Hunters and other pop songs, trying to figure out how to get more people to see One Battle After Another, considering building my own desktop environment with Hyprland (thanks, Matthew!), playing the gorgeous in-browser game Messenger (set in what feels like a fictional small Japanese coastal town), trying to convince myself I don’t need this new drum machine from Roland (their first analog drum machine in 40 years!), and reading the first issue of Starship Godzilla. I also wrote a fun snapshot review of the Flair NEO Flex v2 over at CoffeeGeek!

Note: Some of the links in this issue of the Hiro Report are affiliate links, which may earn a small commission at no additional cost to you.

On to the good stuff!

✅ Stuff App for iOS — Stuff is a beautiful, detail-obsessed task management app for iPhone and iPad, created by indie developer Austin Blake. It has all the tools you need for a solid GTD workflow—an inbox, Today list, labels, dependencies, shared to-do lists, and even an Adventure Log to track your accomplishments. The latest update adds Apple Intelligence support, letting you snap a photo of your handwritten to-do list or speak your brain dump aloud and instantly turn it into tasks. It feels like magic.

🖱️ Logi MX Master 4 — The Logi MX Master 3 has been my go-to mouse recommendation for the past couple of years, and now there’s the newly updated MX Master 4. I grabbed one as soon as it was announced. Like the last generation, it connects to up to three devices, offers ultra-low latency, and packs more customizable buttons and scroll wheels than most people will ever need. The new version adds a haptic feedback pad that’s incredibly satisfying to use, plus a customizable Control Wheel you can summon on-screen with a button press to access quick actions. My only complaint: It's almost too quiet?

💍 Oura Ring 4 Ceramic — I’ve written before about my appreciation for the Oura Ring 3. Last year, they released the Oura Ring 4 with a slimmer, omnidirectional design and better battery life. This week, they rolled out some stunning new ceramic options. The biggest drawback of previous models was how easily they would get tarnished from daily use; the new ceramic design not only adds fun color pops but also promises far greater durability. They look fantastic. When my Gen 3 ring finally gives up the electronic ghost, I’ll probably grab one.

📂 Folder Quick Look for macOS — Most Mac users know “Quick Look”: select a file and tap the Space bar for a preview. It’s great for PDFs, photos, videos, and more—but oddly, not for folders. This simple app fixes that, letting you press Space on a folder to peek inside. Even better, it also lets you peak into the contents of compressed archives like ZIP and RAR files. Best of all? It’s free.

🍱 Sidio Crate — Sidio Crates are my favorite way to organize gear at home. I have one for all my stationery and pens, one for retro gaming handhelds and hacker toys, and another for cables and old hard drives. Could you get something functionally similar for half the price at the Container Store? Absolutely. Would it look as good, be as rugged, or customizable? Probably not. I’m linking the Amazon page above for faster delivery, but if you want to get fancy, go build your own custom crates on their site. (Thanks for the reminder, Kevin!)

That’s it for this week! Remember: Ocean waves, Bob. Ocean waves.

I’ve just returned from a gorgeous week in “war-ravaged” Portland, which was one of the most beautiful, pleasant, and relaxing vacations we’ve taken in a long time. Apart from travel, I’ve been contemplating grabbing one of these haptic smart home knobs, I pre-ordered the new Moment Camera II app (while simultaneously awaiting my Moment Case for my iPhone 17 Pro), and I’m considering getting on the waitlist for this awesome mod that turns your old Casio watch into a Bluetooth‑synced, step‑tracking, customizable smartwatch (thanks, Andrew!).

Note that some of the links in this issue of the Hiro Report are affiliate links and may earn me a small commission at no additional cost to you.

SPONSORED By Wimp Decaf

This week’s Hiro Report is brought to you in the chillest way possible by Wimp Decaf. If you like coffee as much as I do, you’ve probably found yourself needing to cut yourself off from time to time, either for health or sleep reasons. The issue for me is that I like drinking coffee not just for the caffeine but also for the flavor and ritual of preparing it. Wimp Decaf lets me enjoy tasty coffee any time of day, in whatever quantity I want, all without the jitters and sleepless nights. Go try ’em out with a 20% discount using code HIRO20!

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⌚ Nomad Apple Watch Ultra Sport Band - I was simultaneously shocked and dismayed that Apple neglected to come up with a fun, orange-colored watch strap to pair with the new Cosmic Orange iPhone 17 Pro. Fortunately, third parties have stepped up to the plate. I grabbed an Orange Sport Band from Nomad, which has been a delight. Feels extremely well made and is super comfortable. It’s not a perfect color match (they already had this orange strap for sale before the launch of the iPhone 17 lineup), but I’m really enjoying it.

☕ Outin Mino - The folks at Outin have just launched a new, even smaller, portable, powered espresso machine for travel and camping. They have very kindly sent me one to review in the coming days, so I’ll have more thoughts soon, but first impressions based off the specs alone are positive—It’s more compact than their Nano that I used and really enjoyed on a recent trip, but claims to heat your water both hotter and faster while also including a more powerful pump for your ’spro. It looks like a winner.

🏃🏻‍♀️ The Outsiders for iOS - This is a fun new app from the makers of Gentler Streak, this time bringing their same love of great design and health data to an offering meant for those really invested in increasing their athletic performance. Personally, I’ve been using Bevel for this kind of data and will probably stick with that, but I signed up for a month of The Outsiders and really enjoy the look of the app.

🔦 Prometheus Lights Beta QRV3 - Let me preface this by acknowledging that the price point on this thing is ridiculous, but it’s a really fantastic light. It’s about half the size of a thick pen, but kicks out a whole lot of high‑quality (90+ CRI) light. With the optional clip, it clips nicely into jean pockets or backpacks, but with the default magnetic keyring, you get some magic—When you tug the flashlight off the magnetic keyring, it automatically turns on, and then turns itself back off when you reattach it. Super satisfying. I’ve had mine for a few years now, and it’s one of my favorite fall and winter EDC items as the days get shorter.

🧘🏻‍♀️ Bento Focus for iOS - Francesco, one of the creators of Bento Focus, kindly gave me a trial to take a look at the app, and I’ve really enjoyed playing with it. While it’s specifically designed for helping folks diagnosed with ADHD, it’s still just a really relaxing and delightful app for anyone who is feeling overwhelmed with tasks or overstimulated in general. The app has several different modules tailored to your unique motivation style and distraction risks to help you focus, track to-dos, and more. It’s been recently updated for iOS 26, bringing Liquid Glass to its lovely UI.

That’s it for this week! If you see something, say something.

P.S. My thanks again to Wimp Decaf for sponsoring this week’s Hiro Report!

I’m visiting the Pacific Northwest this week, which has been the perfect test ground for all the new Apple gear that just dropped. (I am team Cosmic Orange this year.) I’ve also been enjoying Nine Inch Nails’ original soundtrack for the new Tron Ares movie, catching up on the latest issues of Ryan North’s run on Fantastic Four, playing with a new (to me) Voigtländer 28mm lens, and making lots of calls to my representatives—which, as it turns out, is having a measurable impact on my blood pressure.

Pssst… Please enjoy this week’s Hiro Report with limited ad interruptions, proudly brought to you by Foofaraw Press.

Note that some of the links in this issue of the Hiro Report are affiliate links and may earn me a small commission at no additional cost to you.

On to the good stuff:

⌚ Train Fitness Tracker – I’ve been testing a few new fitness apps, and this one stands out. It lets you build and track different workout types—nothing groundbreaking there—but the rep- and rest-detection on Apple Watch is the best I’ve seen. It somehow nails the exact number of reps I do and automatically detects when I’m resting between sets. Bonus: you can have it generate workouts using AI.

🕶️ Meta Ray-Ban Display – Let me start by saying, I’m not advocating you buy these… but they are definitely worth noting. Meta unveiled smart glasses this week with a tiny embedded display and a “neural wristband” that tracks discreet hand and finger movements for controlling the device. It’s undeniably cool, and yes, I signed up for a demo. But no, I don’t plan to buy them. I still like my Ray-Ban Metas from last year for POV footage on adventures, but I stash them away when I’m done. The real magic of this new version comes from wearing them all the time—and I’m not prepared to give Meta that much access to my life. Still, I’m excited by the tech and hopeful for either an Apple version or a stronger privacy commitment from Meta (I think we all know which will come first).

🖥️ Notion 3.0 – I switched from Obsidian to Notion earlier this year and have been enjoying its cleaner, more user-friendly approach to information and database management. The built-in meeting transcription and note-taking, combined with the beta of Notion AI, have been especially handy. With version 3.0, the AI gets a serious power-up: it can now handle agentic tasks inside Notion and across popular web services, meaning it can actually help you knock things off your to-do list. I’m excited to see what it can really do when I get back from my vacation later this week.

⚡ Belkin 3-in-1 MagSafe Travel Charging Station – My last travel charging setup died a tragic death between trips, so I picked this up for travel this week. It’s a clever foldable 3-in-1 station that charges your iPhone, Apple Watch, and AirPods at the same time, now with Qi2.2 support for 25W MagSafe charging. It even comes with both a cable and a beefy but diminutive charging brick—nice touch.

🔪 Ultrasonic Chef’s Knife – This one feels like a slice of the future. (See what I did there?) Seattle Ultrasonics has released the world’s first ultrasonic chef’s knife for home cooks. Press a button and the blade vibrates 40,000 times per second—so fast you can’t see, hear, or feel it. They claim it cuts through food 50% easier, with less sticking and faster cleanup. The demo video is compelling, and I’m really eager to try one for myself.

That’s it for this week. May you have at least three extremely cleansing deep breaths.

Thanks again to Foofaraw Press for sponsoring this week’s issue!

This week, in an effort to keep my mind and eyes off the news, I've been ordering a whole bunch of new Apple gear, participating in a great fun 9/11 Memorial Ruck, dreaming about Kenichiro Kawabata's home/workshop, setting a reminder to grab this NASA Orange Timex when it drops this week (thanks Bobby!), revisiting No Man's Sky on the Switch in light of the forthcoming ship building update, finishing reading this great History of Chinese Martial Arts, and grabbing this great vertical desktop stand for my MacBook to clear up space on my desk.

This week we're doing something a little different— With iOS 26 dropping tomorrow and bringing a shiny new user interface to the iPhone and iPad, I wanted to share a few fun indie apps that are going to really sparkle on the new OS.

First things first, if you're looking for a good overview of what all is changing on your iPhone, check out Stephen Robles' great iOS 26 review/roundup video.

Now, on to the apps! Some of these are apps I currently use every day, others are from developers I like and respect, and others still just look like fun apps that are on my list of things to try after iOS 26 comes out tomorrow. There are way too many awesome apps to mention, so I’m focusing on smaller indie apps that some folks may not have discovered yet.

Please also note that I'm sending this out Sunday night, so some of these apps won't actually be available for download in the app store until tomorrow (the 15th). If you find a great hidden gem app that's been updated for iOS 26 but not on this list, please hit me up— I’m always looking to feature more!

Let's start with apps that I have personally used and enjoyed—

Daylish - Manuel Kehl, creator of my favorite meditation timer app, Zenitizer, has created this delightful day planning app that leverages iOS 26's new Alarm Kit feature to help you make sure to never miss a super important meeting. The app launches tomorrow, but you can catch the preview video at the link above!

Noir - Jeffrey Kuiken's Noir is one of my favorite Safari extensions on iOS, as it very handily helps add a dark mode to any website you visit. This is perfect for late night scrolling when you don't want to wake your partner or fry your eyeballs by visiting a site that doesn't support dark mode natively. It's ready to go with a new Liquid Glass design. Be sure to also check out his Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom and Mario Kart World Travel Guide apps as well!

Chronicling - Rebecca Owen's lovely Chronicling is one of the best looking tools out there for keeping track of, well, anything. Keep track of habits and routines, health metrics, books read, when you water your plants, you name it. The iOS 26 update brings a new liquid glass design and Apple Intelligence support for smart event logging.

Glu Sight - Jay’s Glu Sight is a beautiful, iOS native app for tracking your glucose and insulin levels, and it’s getting a Liguid Glass polish this week. Also check out Mira, his cool new video and mood journal app, also getting the iOS 26 treatment.

Glass - Joao Dordio is the iOS developer behind Glass.Photo, an awesome independent photo sharing platform/community. The app has always been gorgeous and design-forward, and it's getting even better with an iOS 26 update coming out tomorrow.

Orbit - Joshua Newton's Orbit is a gorgeous app for finding and keeping track of all of your subscriptions, and it's getting a great looking Liquid Glass update. I personally have saved a couple hundred bucks thanks to Orbit helping me hunt down and cancel some subscriptions I forgot about.

Alyx Caffeine Tracker - This is one of my favorite iOS 26 exclusive launches that I've gotten to beta test— It's a really silly, super fun caffeine tracker with personality. It makes good use of HealthKit, Alarm Kit, Apple Intelligence and more to make it effortless to keep track of your caffeine, how it might or might not impact your sleep, and even when you need to cut yourself off from your feel good juice so you can make it to bed on time. It won't officially release until the 15th, but will be worth the wait.

Moonlitt - Flipping Hues' Moonlitt is a beautiful moon phase tracking app that I really enjoy for the Apple Ecosystem. It's got a number of beautiful widgets, watch complications, and more, all getting a slew of iOS 26 updates.

Quiche Browser - Greg de J.'s Quiche Browser is a beautiful, customizable web browser for iOS that's getting the full Liquid Glass treatment.

Cleft Notes - Jonny and Justin's Cleft is an awesome voice note transcription and summarizing tool getting a bunch of iOS 26 features like Spotlight Integration, Apple Watch syncing, speed updates, and even more features coming in Cleft 2.0 in November.

Sofa - Shawn Hickman's Sofa is a delightful app for keeping track of things you want to enjoy later— Shows, movies, books, video games, podcast episodes, you name it. It's getting a great iOS 26 boost tomorrow.

Flyleaf - Max Melzer's beautiful Flyleaf is a really clean read-it-later app for saving articles from the web to read in a much more pleasant reading view without pop-ups, ads, etc. The new update brings a Liquid Glass design update.

65x24 - Héliographe's 65x24 is a stunning panoramic camera app for the iPhone getting a big design and functionality update tomorrow.

GamePal - Jeremy Swinnen‘s GamePal is my favorite way to keep track of my gaming back log, and has an iOS 26 refresh all tee’d up for the big day.

FoodNoms - Ryan Ashcraft's FoodNoms is hands down my favorite way to track macronutrients and calories via both its large native food database and its awesome AI features that can turn a picture or descrition of a meal into a full macro list. It's getting a Liquid Glass UI element update.

Plinky - Joe Fabisevich's Plinky is a playful and thoughtful link saving app for keeping track of (and organizing) articles, recipes, funny social media posts, and more that you find as you surf the information super highway. It's getting both a Liquid Glass update and a new theme, with more feature updates on the horizon.

Sequel - Romain Lefebvre's Sequel app is my go to app for keeping track of movies and shows I want to watch, where to watch them, AND when they're going to be released. It's getting a Liquid Glass update as well as some nice organization and navigation updates.

And here are some apps I've not gotten to try yet, but that look like they'll be fun to check out this week—

Elytra - Nikhil Nigade's Elytra is a simple, private and feature rich RSS feed reader for the Apple Ecosystem that's getting a Liquid Glass glow-up with some new under the hood improvements as well.

Garden - Quotes Club - Victoria Ali's Garden is a lovely looking app for finding/tracking meaningful quotes releasing tomorrow.

Plant Daddy - Jordan Hipwell's Plant Daddy is a lean, iOS-forward app for tracking when to water and otherwise care for your plants. Jordan's done a great job of integrating lots of Apple ecosystem features like widgets, iCloud syncing, notifications, and now an updated look for iOS 26.

Keepfully - Alexander Käßner's Keepfully is a clever iOS app for keeping track of things you've loaned out and things you've borrowed, who has them, when they're due back, and so on. It's getting a Liquid Glass update.

MinTask - Rafael Ramos' MinTask is a playful productivity app built around the Eisenhower Matrix for smart task management.

That's it for this week! May the updates only bring you joy and very little frustration, and may your deliveries be on time.

This week, I've been checking my couch cushions for a couple of extra million dollars to try and get the original Darth Vader lightsaber that was at auction this week, adding this indie documentary about birdwatching to my viewing list, playing the original Hollow Knight and Star Wars Outlaws on the Switch, and laughing my backside off while watching the new The Naked Gun.

Note that some of the links in this issue of the Hiro Report are affiliate links and may earn me a small commission at no additional cost to you.

On to the good stuff!

🗒️ reMarkable Paper Pro Move - I've been coveting reMarkable's e-ink notepads for a few years, and their latest offering is the most compelling yet. This new one shrinks it down to a pocketable/handheld digital note-taking tablet reminiscent of a reporter's notebook with a high-resolution color e-ink display. I'd be all over this one if it wasn't for the eye-watering price.

🎧 Mophie Max Headphone Charging Stand - This is a really clever new release from Mophie that lets you simultaneously charge both your AirPods Max and AirPods Pro in a single, attractive stand. I ordered one as soon as I saw it—I would like to use my AirPods Max more, but it seems like they need a charge every time I reach for them.

🍄 Pocket Scion Synth - This funky little, pocketable synth was made by Instruo in collaboration with Modern Biology, the creator of some really fun bio-feedback driven synth tracks. In short, the synth comes with two small sensors that you can attach to plants and mushrooms, creating a small closed circuit, and the minute electrical signals from the plant will be interpreted as signals to make music with the synth. I have the Pocket Scion's bigger brother, the original Scion, in my Modular Synth rack and have had a blast with it. Kind of gimmicky? Totally. Do I want one to get the new smaller one? 1000%

📈 AnyTracker for iOS - I downloaded this app a while back and never actually put it to any use, but this week had cause to try it and am really liking it. In short, it lets you select any data on a website, and it will monitor that data for changes. For example, it can monitor for pricing changes, pre-order announcements, and more. You just surf to a website, select the text/number you want it to monitor, and it will alert you when it detects an update. You can even set thresholds like "Just notify me if the price drops below $100."

📱 AstroPad AR Screen Protector for iPhone - AstroPad launched this week a new anti-reflective screen protector for iPhones that promises to reduce reflections and glare on your screen by 75%. The side-by-side comparison photos are pretty startling... As someone who loves AstroPad's Rock Paper Pencil paper-like iPad screen protector and pencil combo, I'd be all over this screen protector if there weren't rumors that the iPhone 17 Pro will have similar tech built into its display. We'll find out this week.

That's it for this week! Be sure to tune in next week where I'll be featuring some of my favorite apps upgraded for iOS 26.

This week, I'm moving playlists over from Spotify to Apple Music using Apple's new built-in tool, thinking about signing up for an ink and watercolor class, wrapping up my first month of Tai Chi classes while reading Kenji the manga, keeping an eye on the Pentagon Pizza Tracker, playing with NotchFlow on the Mac, making old school photo contact sheets, and playing a bunch of Streets of Rage 4 on the Switch.

Note that some of the links in this issue of the Hiro Report are affiliate links and may earn me a small commission at no additional cost to you.

On to the good stuff!

📺 Govee Envisual TV LED Backlight - This device features a small camera that captures whatever is on your TV screen, and then syncs colored LED lights mounted on the back of the TV to light up the wall behind it to match the on-screen visuals. In theory, it should create a much more immersive movie-watching experience. I've been wanting to try something like this for a while but have always been put off by the price for what is essentially a bit of a gimmick. This new entry from Govee has great reviews and costs way less than others I've looked at previously. I'll be putting it on my Christmas wish list.

📷 EV13 Light Meter App for iOS - For photography enthusiasts, especially those interested in film photography, EV13 is a beautifully designed light meter app. It helps you quickly and effectively determine the right shutter speed and aperture settings for your shots. The app offers spot, center, and average reading modes, and includes many delightful design features throughout.

🖥 Height Adjustable Magnetic iPad Stand - After seeing this stand in Chris Lawley's excellent iOS 18 iPad Workflow video this week, I immediately ordered this nice magnetic stand for my desk that will let me use my iPad Pro in Sidecar mode as an extra monitor for my Mac. I like the clean, Apple-like minimalism of the design, and the fact that it's easy to rotate between portrait and landscape modes.

⏰ Exoplan for iOS - Exoplan is a clever new indie app from a Ukrainian developer that leverages your health data and calendar to let you plan out your day for peak effectiveness. You simply write out a free-form description of everything you want to do for the day, and then it looks at your sleep, recovery, and activity trends to schedule all the various activities in light of when you'll likely have enough energy and concentration to do them. It's got a clean, modern design, and handles all your data on-device—nothing goes to the cloud.

🖊️ Mark One Pen with Clip - Austin-based Studio Neat recently launched a new version of one of my all-time favorite pens, the Mark One. The new version introduces a clip for those who want to throw the pen in a pocket or want to keep it from rolling off the desk so easily. Personally, I love the sleek, clipless version on my desk, but for folks who want an EDC version, this might be what you've been waiting for.

That's it for this week! Please take the time to thank a tree for its service this week.

This week, I've been playing with Hank Green's Focus Friend for my phone downtime, zoning out to Lemo FM, making fun "cyber signatures," watching vintage samurai movies on the big screen, getting on the waitlist for a Popcorn eSIM, contemplating getting a Daytripper to use for pranks and mischief around my (home) office, and getting stoked for the new He-Man and the Masters of the Universe side-scrolling 2D brawler.

Note that some of the links in this issue of the Hiro Report are affiliate links and may earn me a small commission at no additional cost to you.

SPONSORED by WIMP DECAF COFFEE

Last year I started experiencing some pretty strong bouts of anxiety, and quickly deduced that it was closely linked to my caffeine intake, which was, to say the least, extremely high. I cut way back but found myself missing the ritual of making coffee throughout the day and the taste of my favorite beverage.

Right around this time, I stumbled across Wimp Decaf and was immediately drawn in by both the chill lifestyle espoused by the brand and its founder, as well as the fact that it was the first decaf coffee I'd had that didn't taste like flavorless old decaf.

This is legitimately good coffee, just without the heart palpitations. I like to mix it in 50:50 with my other favorite full caff beans in the morning, letting me sip more coffee for longer with less stress on my system.

Go check them out and use code "HIRO20" for 20% off at check out.

Sip Decaf

💡 Kasa Matter Smart Light Switch - A few years back, I installed smart dimmer light switches throughout the house, and have since suffered through all kinds of anomalous lighting issues that had the family wondering if maybe we'd accidentally invoked some lesser Goetic demon that communicated exclusively via flickering lights. Turns out, a bunch of our light fixtures are not compatible with dimmer switches. Whoops. Over the last month, I've been gradually switching all the troublesome lights over to these cheap smart switches from Kasa and have been very happy with them. They look nice, are compatible with Siri / Alexa / Google Assistant, all without a special hub thanks to their being Matter certified, and you can buy a 3-pack for just $45.

📹 Mira - Video Journal + AI for iOS - Indie developer, Jay, released a great-looking privacy-focused video journaling app this week. Mira has you recording ~30-60 second videos to document your thoughts, feelings, and recollections of the day, and then uses on-device AI models to transcribe and perform sentiment analysis to catalog your mental and emotional states. One of the best parts, in my humble opinion, is that nothing leaves your device, but Jay still takes advantage of app intents and Spotlight search to help you make the most of your entries.

🏃🏽‍♂️‍➡️ Bevel Health Dashboard for iOS - Bevel Health Dashboard brings you almost all the power of Whoop but without the heavy investment in yet another wearable. Bevel pulls data from Apple Health whether it's being drawn from your Apple Watch or an Oura Ring, etc., to give you insightful and well-composed analytics for strain, recovery, sleep, nutrition, and more. I've played with a few apps like this, but this one has one of the cleaner and more practical user interfaces. And I also particularly like the included nutrition scoring leveraging AI. I am a week in but already enjoying the data and how it's presented more than most other similar offerings I've tried from Whoop and Oura.

🤖 Cobot Agentic AI for iOS - Cobot is an app currently in beta that markets itself as a todo app that also gets things done. It does this by combining LLM smarts with agentic capabilities that leverage APIs for everything from Weather and News to things like Github, Notion, Canva, Square, and more. Once plugged into the various services of your choosing, it then allows you to build powerful automations that run at scheduled times like—"Every morning at 7am, send me a breakdown of the weather and my schedule, and a prioritized list of outstanding To-Do's from my various Notion projects, with suggestions for what time during the day I could tackle them." Cobot runs both as a web app and as a very clean and functional iOS app in TestFlight for subscribers.

☕ Keepcup Glass Travel Coffee Mug - I saw a woman in line at my favorite North Austin coffee truck rocking one of these mugs and immediately went down a rabbit hole online to try and find it. It's super compact, looks great, and I love the hardened glass that lets you quickly see how low you're getting on coffee/tea.

That's it for this week! My thanks again to Wimp Decaf for sponsoring this week's Report, go try them out and use HIRO20 checkout for 20% off!

This week, I've been tempted to grab a few TinyVinyl records to add to my collection thanks to Mako's intro to them, watching my personal fish do laps in DrawAFish, enjoying this fantastic Thread about how people managed to dress so much nicer and more elegantly in the heat than we do today, and thinking about installing this Game Boy emulator on my Playdate device.

Before we dive in, I'd like to take a moment to thank this week's awesome sponsor, Foofaraw Press!

SPONSORED BY: FOOFARAW

Well hello again, it’s I, Foofaraw—the zine of surreal storytelling and worldly observations. While 99% of what we publish is free for all to read, we have some pretty cool zines, link round-ups, and an ad-free experience for our wonderful paid subscribers. Get 25% off your first year with code THEREGOESMYHIRO and support indie publishing!

Check It Out

Note that some of the links in this issue of the Hiro Report are affiliate links and may earn me a small commission at no additional cost to you.

On to the good stuff!

⌨️ Sachiel - Lego Keyboard Kit - I'm kind of obsessed with these build-your-own keyboard kits I just stumbled across from KBD Craft that have you build your board from scratch with Lego components (but real, functioning switches and keys). The new-ish Sachiel is an 85% keyboard with fun-looking, programmable twisty knobs, but I've also got my eye on the Israfel which is a low-profile, 50% ortho/split keyboard. I suspect one of these will be my next pick-up, but for now, I'm still really enjoying my Nuphy Kick75. (*Note: Their website seems to have gone down, so I've updated these links to their Instagram Page in the meantime.)

📂 Mountain Duck for MacOS - This is a cool little app I'm trying out this week that lets you mount remote servers and cloud storage as a disk in Finder on your Mac, sort of like how DropBox used to work but with any service you want—Amazon S3, FTP, Google Drive, Azure, Backblaze, etc. (Dropbox may still work this way; I've not used it in years.) This lets you quickly access and open remote files like browsing any other files on your computer, or back up files to your remote server with a simple drag and drop.

📻 Macrowave for MacOS - Macrowave is a gorgeous Mac app that lets you create your own private radio station that can securely stream your system audio to anyone you give the link to. This lets you create real-time peer-to-peer "radio" broadcasts of whatever music or video you're watching, and also allows you to voice over just like a DJ. The app is a little pricey if you want to broadcast, but it's completely free for anyone with a Mac/iPad/iPhone to be able to tune in via your link. You can even get push notifications when your favorite stations go LIVE. I'm going to be experimenting with a few small broadcasts this week over on my private station in case you happen to like old school punk, electronica, and hip hop.

📼 Cassette: Home Video Player for iOS - Indie developer Devin Davies released this great fun app this week, with a really charming launch video. The app acts like old camcorder tapes that were filled with random family memories all jumbled together. Cassette pulls at random from your iPhone videos to resurface memories in a fun, nostalgic way, leveraging a really fun, skeuomorphic video tape-inspired style. Go watch the launch video—you'll immediately know if it's for you or not.

☕ MHW-3Bomber WDT Tool for Espresso - I've been on the record about really not loving this company's name or branding, but I have to say this mechanical WDT tool is so insanely satisfying to use on my coffee grinds each morning. For those not familiar, the Weiss Distribution Technique (WDT) is a method of using small, very fine needles to break up the clumps in your coffee grinds to improve their consistency and distribution for a more even and better-balanced espresso shot. There are a lot of different tools out there, but this one uses a whole system of springs and gears to thoroughly mix your grinds and leaves them looking smooth and fluffy, ready for tamping. It gets bonus points for looking and feeling like a steampunk coffee accessory.

That's it for this week! May you experience a brief but impactful moment of oneness with the universe this week.

It was a pretty nutso week so I didn't get to spend too much time surfing the webs, but I did get to start making some silly pixel art game experiments with ChatGPT 5 and picked up some nostalgia-inducing comics at my local comic shop. We also cobbled together a lemonade stand in our neighborhood, reminding me just how much I love this citrus juicer I linked to a few weeks back.

The LegenD of Zelda: Link's Awakening for Nintendo Switch GIVEAWAY!

Thanks to a very generous donation from longtime reader, Blair, we have a digital download code for the Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening remake for the Nintendo Switch / Switch 2. I'm blown away by the generosity of the community, you guys make this whole thing super fun. Thank you, again, Blair for keeping this going!

Entry is simple: you just need to be subscribed to the Report, be 18 years or older, and have a Nintendo Switch or Switch 2 (or plans to get one). Members of the $1/month Super Secret Supporter Cabal get double entries.

I'll announce the winner in next week's Report!

Enter the Giveaway for Free

Note that some of the links in this issue of the Hiro Report are affiliate links and may earn me a small commission at no additional cost to you.

On to the good stuff!

📱 Brick - The Brick is a small grey square with an NFC chip in it that acts like a key for unlocking all the distracting apps on your phone. I've had several folks recommend this thing, and have resisted it for a long time—I keep telling myself I have more self control than I actually seem to possess. The reality is I pull my phone out of my pocket often throughout the day just to take a peek at something and then find myself 5 minutes deep into a social media scroll or work email exchange. One week with the Brick and I'm becoming way more aware of just how often that muscle memory kicks in. When you set it up, you select all the apps that you'd like to lock away (for me it's basically social media + work apps) and either set a schedule of when you want them to be locked (like in the evening when I'm playing with my family), or you can just selectively lock them when you want to focus (like during your morning routine). When you want to "unlock" these apps, you have to physically walk over to wherever you keep your Brick and tap the phone to the NFC chip inside.

⬈ Mighty Cursor - I've been using this app for just a few days, but I'm enjoying it so far. It turns your mouse cursor into an AI assistant that you can control with voice commands. It will answer questions, provide context-aware analysis, and more. Best of all, you can use your own API keys for the AI provider of your choice and let you bring your own Elevenlabs keys to give it the voice that you want.

🔥 X-Sense Smart Smoke + Carbon Monoxide Detector - Last week one of our fire alarms went off in the middle of the night, woke everyone up (including our two very freaked out kids), and yet there was absolutely no smoke or fire. This was the second time it'd happened in a month. A month or two before that we had one of the fire alarms start chirping in the middle of the night indicating it needed a battery. It took 10 minutes just to figure out which fire alarm it was. I was fed up, and decided to go shopping. I wanted to get a "smart" alarm so that I could get notified of low battery on my phone rather than via chirping in the middle of the night, and I also wanted to be notified if an alarm is going off when I'm not home. The X-Sense checks all those boxes for way less than the now discontinued Nest Protect smoke alarms. Set-up was super quick and easy, and so far no false alarms!

☕ OutIn Claro Espresso Scale - I grabbed one of these to take on a trip late last month and enjoyed it so much that it's now my primary espresso scale and my older MHW-3Bomber scale is in a drawer as back-up. It's compact, looks great, and has been highly accurate in my testing. I particularly like that you can control whether or not it beeps when you press buttons. Though I've not used it for pour-overs, it also has a handy feature to automatically tare and track your coffee grinds to water ratio.

📙 MOFT Dynamic iPad Pro Case - I've had a Magic Keyboard Case on my M4 iPad Pro since it first released. It's fantastic, but lately I've been using my iPad less for productivity, and more for consumption (basically playing Balatro + reading vintage comics in Marvel Unlimited). I went looking for a new cover that wouldn't weigh as much or be as bulky as the Magic Keyboard, and have wound up really liking this one from MOFT. Apart from being both sturdy and minimal, the cover can also be folded and tucked in a dozen different origami-like patterns to get the exact right stand angle for your purposes.

That's it for this week! May the birds chirp just a little louder when you walk by.

This week I've been on the road, visiting family on the East Coast. It's been a delight getting the family time and spending time on/near the water. Apart from the vacation, I've been reading Silo author Hugh Howey's surprisingly down to earth workout and diet routine, playing this free demo of the new Shinobi game on the Nintendo Switch (thanks Andy!), reveling in the retro futuristic vibes of the new Fantastic Four movie, drinking a whole bunch of this crazy good coconut water, and listening to these banging heavy metal covers of K-Pop Demon Hunter tracks.

Note that some of the links in this issue of the Hiro Report are affiliate links and may earn me a small commission at no additional cost to you.

On to the good stuff!

☕ OutIn Nano Portable Espresso Machine - I picked up one of these for a series of trips I am taking through the summer and fall. I was drawn to it by the smallish form factor, the fact that it can heat water for you or take boiling water from a kettle, and brews with either ground coffee or Nespresso pods. After having gotten to put it through its paces this last week, I don't think it's going to win any world barista championships, but I am really enjoying having this as a quick and easy espresso option wherever I go and it certainly beats hotel room coffee machines. I'll be bringing it with me on the rest of my travels and camping trips this year. Schedule allowing, I hope to write a more detailed review of it for CoffeeGeek this fall. It's far from perfect but it's sparking joy for me.

🦆 Duckbill Personal Assistant - Tip of the hat to Alex for introducing me to this interesting virtual assistant service that combines AI and actual human experts who can take care of real world tasks for you. As great as ChatGPT and the like are, they still can't (yet) call a doctor's office and move an appointment for you, or call three different plumbers to get quotes for a job, and the like. Duckbill lets you request tasks via text, website, and an app, and promises to either complete your task or get you an update within 24 hours. I'm going to try it out.

📝 TRMNL X - My friends over at TRMNL have opened pre-orders for a new, much larger version of their fantastic, DIY-friendly, e-ink platform. The TRMNL X rocks a 10.3" display with more shades of gray, a higher resolution, and a faster refresh rate. It also has a magnetic back mount, a waterproof case, and touch controls. It will still work with their awesome, community-driven library of plugins and integrations with various web services and information sources. Full disclosure: TRMNL has sponsored previous issues of the Hiro Report, but this is not sponsored—I'm just stoked about the new release and have already put in my pre-order.

🗒 Paper Apps LABYRINTH - Paper Apps makes super fun games that are played in a small, spiral notebook with just a pencil and one or two dice. I'm a big fan of their Dungeon game that I've written about previously and that has you play through a single-player dungeon crawl on the go. The new Labyrinth is a "3D" paper game from the same folks that has already way exceeded its funding goal on Kickstarter and is due to ship next month. There are three days left to back it/pre-order it; otherwise, you'll need to wait until they get it in stock on their website later this fall.

✉️ Cora for Email - I've been playing with Cora the last few weeks for my Google Workspace email account and really appreciating it. Cora is not an app; it's a web service that sorts your email, smartly pulling out just the emails that you actually need to read and sending the rest to you in a short briefing that you get sent twice a day. It will also scan your outbound emails and learn how you write so that it can create draft responses to important messages in your voice. It will never send these messages for you, but when you open an email in your Gmail inbox, it will often have a response pre-drafted for you. I've found it to be scarily accurate in both prioritizing my emails and in figuring out a good starting draft of how I would respond to an email. Importantly, your data is never used to train their models and is all siloed to your Google account. Sadly, it only works with Google Workspace/Gmail… I'd love to see them add support for Fastmail at some point.

That's it for this week! May you be happy, healthy, and at peace.

This week, I've been getting nostalgic while poking around this beautiful 3D vintage Nokia Phone museum, setting a reminder to grab one of these beautiful LEGO Game Boy sets when they launch in the fall, testing out the privacy-friendly AI assistant launched by the Swiss privacy wizards at Proton, playing with this fantastic video game map resource, experimenting with using Cora to triage my work emails, and looking for a good AI calendar assistant (help me out if you know of one!)

Note that some of the links below are affiliate links and the Hiro Report may earn a small commission at no additional cost to you.

On to the good stuff!

🔋 Powerbug MagSafe Charger - The Apple product-loving geniuses over at twelvesouth have come up with a really clever and obvious offering in the Powerbug. It is a small puck-shaped power plug, no larger than an AirPods Pro case, that plugs into any power outlet and has a MagSafe-friendly charger right on the back of it. No need for cables or a fancy docking station. You can just attach your phone right to the plug. That said, it does have a discreet USB-C PD port that can deliver up to 35W of fast charging for other, non-MagSafe devices. I plan to grab one of these and use it in my kitchen.

🖼 Shakkei for MacOS - Rahul (of the excellent Hulry Newsletter) and his wife released a beautiful MacOS app this week that transforms your desktop background with dynamic, relaxing, hand-painted landscape scenes. It also optionally adds nature sounds and chill music to help you focus. It's a great concept, well executed, and a one-time purchase after a free demo. (Remember when all apps were like that?)

📷 VSCO Capture for iOS - VSCO has finally launched an app that they should have made ages ago—a camera app that lets you apply their fantastic, customizable photo filters to your photos in real time as you take them. The app features all the manual controls you might expect from a "Pro" photo app, with an elegant live view that shows you exactly what your photo will look like with the filters and manual controls applied. I don't think this is going to replace the Leica LUX app as my go-to iPhone camera, but it's a great alternative.

📱 Ostand Q3 Air for iPhone - I've joined team "no case" for my iPhone this summer just so I can keep my pockets as slim and light as possible during the hotter months here in Austin. HOWEVER, if I was rocking a protective case, I'd be grabbing the newly announced Q3 Air. It looks to be a major improvement to my favorite case design, featuring a MagSafe-friendly ring on the back that can be used both as a grip aid and as a versatile kickstand for propping the phone up in any orientation, or for magnetically attaching it to any sufficiently ferromagnetic surface. This new update adds a fun high-tech aesthetic, airbag-derived drop protection, and satisfyingly clicky buttons.

⌚ Big Idea Design Ti GMT Watch - Let me preface this by saying I am wary of featuring Kickstarter projects, but the folks at Big Idea Design have done an impressive 51 launches on Kickstarter, and I happen to own and love a good number of their products… They're a great company churning out good-looking everyday carry gear. So, with that all said, I'm really intrigued by the beautiful new titanium-bodied GMT watch that they just launched this week. It features a beautiful double-domed sapphire crystal with an anti-reflective coating over a bright, good-looking full dial lume. For those not familiar, a GMT watch features an additional hour hand that you can set to keep track of time in a different time zone by pairing it with the 24-hour bezel on the face of the watch. It's a handy feature for travelers, and also just a super fun complication to add to mechanical watches. They're limiting it to just 300 pieces and plan to ship to backers next month.

That's it for this week! May you discover at least one interesting thing about how your inner world works.

This week, I've been loving the vintage 90's Weather Channel vibes of this amazing retro weather website, learning about the idea of a dopamine menu and starting to build my own, trying out some beginner tricks with the Kendama I wrote about last week, playing a whole bunch of Donkey Kong Bonanza, and framed and hung this stunning irezumi-style Kaiju poster.

(Quick side-note on acquiring Donkey Kong Bonanza— For those of you with Costco memberships, they're selling the game for $7 off, which is pretty compelling until you realize they ALSO sell $100 Nintendo eShop gift cards for $75. I'm normally on team hard copy, but 25% off AAA Switch games is hard to say "no" to.)

Note that some of the links below are affiliate links and the Hiro Report may earn a small commission at no additional cost to you.

CyberPunk 2077 for Nintendo Switch 2 GIVEAWAY!

Through a clerical error on my part, I wound up acquiring an extra copy of Cyberpunk 2077 for the Nintendo Switch 2. Rather than send it back, I thought I'd give it away as thanks to all of you reading and supporting the Report each week.

Entry is simple: you just need to be subscribed to the Report, be 18 years or older, and have a Nintendo Switch 2 (or plans to get one). Members of the $1/month Super Secret Supporter Cabal get double entries.

I'll announce the winner in next week's Report!

Enter the Giveaway for Free

On to the good stuff!

🔅 Smart Night Light - I wrote recently about my project to set up more lighting automations, and this week I grabbed a two-pack of these smart color night lights that can function as traditional night lights with a motion sensor that turns on a small light pointed at the ground. Because it is HomeKit enabled, you can also run all sorts of automations on the lights, like "only trigger the lights when motion is detected after 10pm," or you can use the motion detectors as triggers for whole-home automations, like "turn on this night light but also turn on the light in the bathroom." You can also trigger the lights and change their colors using automations, you don't have to rely on the motion sensors— i.e. "If it's going to rain today, change the light to blue," or "The night before trash pick-up change the light to red to remind me to take the cans down."

🛫 Focus Flight for iOS - I had several people reach out to me this week recommending I check out Focus Flight (thanks Luke and Jay!) This app helps you block out distractions by setting a timer and then your phone goes into a simulated flight, to include engaging a mock-up "Airplane mode". The app then cuts off outside distractions, setting a screen time restriction on not allowing you to open certain apps of your choosing. It also plays white noise and shows a plane on a map flying various destinations around the world. It is a simple premise that is replicated in other ways in other apps, but the execution here is just beautiful. Lots of really thoughtful design choices that make for a luxurious experience and a lot of little delightful moments.

📝 SideNotes for macOS and iOS - SideNotes is a handy Mac utility that lets you keep a really clean, minimalist notepad on the side of your screen. It has built-in Markdown to Rich Text translation and quickly slides on and off the side of your screen by either clicking a little bar or sliding your cursor to the edge of the screen. Your notes on the Mac sync to the SideNotes iOS and iPadOS companion apps via iCloud, and it's only a one-time payment to purchase.

🎒 Matador BetaLock - I plan to pick one of these up for my travel kit: It is a really smooth-looking carabiner for quickly attaching things to other things. The twist is it includes the added bonus of having a small built-in lock and key so that you can slightly more permanently attach things to other things. I've had a few other products from Matador and have found them to be pretty great.

🍋 Eurolux Premium Citrus Juicer - Summer in our household means lemonade stand season. Our motorized lemon juicer gave up the ghost last summer, and we recently picked upthe Eurolux Premium as a replacement. It is about twice the price of the last one, but a significant level up. The parts feel premium, and it juices remarkably quickly and efficiently, leaving nothing but the pith behind. It has adjustable filters for controlling how much pulp you want to let through and is fairly quiet. I definitely recommend it if you like making your own orange juice or plan to make citrus-based drinks in bulk.

That's it for this week! Thank you, as always, for reading. May you get one extra walk in this week than you would otherwise.

This week, I've been enjoying this epic Tiny Desk Concert with Clipse, giggling my way through the latest season of Taskmaster, devastated that I missed out on this Fossil x Fantastic Four collab watch (Thanks Andrew), and setting a reminder alarm so I can grab this Back to the Future 40th Anniversary Hot Wheels set.

Note that some of the links below are affiliate links and the Hiro Report may earn a small commission at no additional cost to you.

On to the good stuff!

💡 Aqara FP2 Occupancy Sensor - I picked up one of these to do some experiments with for home automation. We have two young kiddos in the house who have been on a streak lately of getting up in the middle of the night. So I've been wanting to automate a few of our smart lights to turn on at a dim setting to light up their path when they are fumbling around in the dark. This is probably overkill for that solution. The FP2 uses mmWave radar to detect up to 5 people's movement in a space. You can also define zones within a space so that it can trigger distinct automations based off presence in specific parts of a room— i.e. When someone sits on the couch, turn on the lamp. I'm having a lot of fun playing with it and will probably pick up a few more.

📝 Tweek - Weekly Planner for Mac/iOS - Tweek is a really clever, simple weekly to-do list planner app and web service. It integrates nicely with Google Calendar, but you can also use it on its own simply for laying out what all you need to get done for the week and dividing it up into the days you plan to do it. The ability to overlay calendars so that you can actually block off time to do things you need to do is a great bonus. At a minimum, it's worth checking out for the pretty interactive landing page.

🪀 Sweets Kendama for Beginners - On my buddy Matthew's recommendation, I put an order in for one of these kendamas this week. As someone who loves yo-yos and other skill toys you can perform tricks with, I've been curious about these classic Japanese toys for a long time. It's just a ball, a string, a spike, and two cups, but people can do all kinds of fun things with them. It looks both fun and meditative. Eager to give it a try when mine comes in next week.

👻 Ghost Reminders Capture for iOS - I saw a few people mentioning this app over the last week and decided to give it a try. It's a really great concept: with the press of a button, you can just speak and it turns whatever you said into to-do items that get added to your reminders app. It's very simple, but it's got a delightful ghost-themed interface, and I particularly like that the voice transcription is all done on device. It does have a neat feature that will integrate optionally with a ChatGPT account that will provide insights and prioritization of your to-do list if you want some AI help. I'm finding it really satisfying to just quickly brain dump my to-do list and have it all show up in Reminders.

👨🏽‍🍳 CREME Video Recipes App for iOS - This is one of the better looking recipe apps I've seen. It's got a really slick UI and differentiates itself by providing small videos of every step in the recipe process. It also features some nice smart integrations, like the option to add all the ingredients from a recipe to an Instacart shopping list. I'm definitely going to be stealing some ideas from this for family meals over the next week or two.

That's it for this week! May you find a cryptic note on the sidewalk that leads to a small, but meaningful treasure.

This week, I’ve been playing around with iOS 26 beta and Shortcuts, coveting this beautiful new cassette player from Maxell (yes, that Maxell), getting incredibly amped up for the Project Hail Mary movie, taking an online art class from the inimitable Crom, and geeking out with this great tool for figuring out how to use your airline miles and credit card points.

I’ve also been thinking about all the families affected by the terrible flooding this weekend here in Central Texas. If you’re interested in sending support of some form or another, the Statesman has a good roundup of options.

With that, I’d like to thank our friends over at Foofaraw for sponsoring this week’s issue to announce their recent podcast launch…

SPONSORED

Hey, is this thing on?! Oh okay... We're Foofaraw—a zine of surreal storytelling and worldly observations. We've been publishing some pretty, pretty cool and weird things for awhile now, but this week we launched something brand new! Foofaraw Frequencies is a fiction podcast narrating our weekly short stories—with stunning voice acting by Keenan of Friendship Material. Download the first episode and subscribe on Apple Podcasts or your app of choice.

Learn more

Note that some of the links below are affiliate links and the Hiro Report may earn a small commission at no additional cost to you.

💤 Loop Quiet 2 Ear Plugs - I have been on a multi-year sleep optimization kick. I’ve introduced a sleep mask and mouth tape to my routine, and my latest experiment is with ear plugs. I probably have too much tech in the house, but I can’t tell you how many nights I’m woken up by random beeping sounds either from my own tech stack or from some errant toy belonging to one of my kids that is gasping for a fresh hit of battery life. It's early days still, but these $20 plugs look to be just what I need to block out noise while I get some sleep.

👾 GamerCard - Grab & Go Gaming - Grant Sinclair, the nephew of the inventor of the original ZX Spectrum 8-bit computer, invented this beautiful and svelte retro gaming handheld that is the thickness of just a few credit cards. It’s got a 4in high-resolution screen, two touchpads on the front, a USB-C port, and 128GB of storage, which means it’s a super pocketable and slick way to get a quick fix of Yoshi’s Island or Pokémon Emerald, et al. (H/T The Verge)

📷 FujiStyle for iOS - If you’re at all into cameras, you probably know by now about Fujifilm cameras’ unique film simulation recipes that let you develop custom “looks” for your JPEGs so they can be transferred straight from your camera and be ready to post. The FujiStyle app appears to have cracked the code on a common complaint—that you typically have to manually thumb through a whole bunch of menu settings to build or replicate recipes. With the latest update, FujiStyle lets you effortlessly transfer recipes you find in their growing database of film simulations directly to your camera for quick saving in the C1–C7 slots.

🔥 Traeger Wood Pellet Grill + Smoker - Over the holiday weekend, a good friend asked me about my grill/smoker of choice, and the unequivocal answer is the Traeger. I should caveat that I am not a “grill guy”—I love cooking, but I am by no means a master of smoking meats or anything like that. With that said, the Traeger suits my needs perfectly, using small wooden pellets to grill and/or smoke everything from salmon to homemade BBQ, and imbuing a rich smoky flavor that varies with the type of pellet we use. Traeger has added a bunch of great tech to their line-up in recent years, including Wi-Fi control/monitopring and compatibility with wireless meat thermometer probes.

🔖 Send to Self for iOS - Shout out to Jay for sharing this fun new indie app concept for iOS that lets you send links, articles, bookmarks, notes and the like to yourself. The difference from just doing this via Messages is this app lets you organize content into categories and more easily search than you can with Apple’s built-in offering. However, like Messages, everything is synced via iCloud so you can access it across devices. It’s all free, with no subscriptions. Fun concept!

That’s it for this week! May you find an interesting woodland critter to befriend.

My thanks again to Foofaraw for sponsoring this week’s issue, please go check them out!

This week, I’ve been loving this beautiful, immersive article on the possible health benefits of playing cozy games (thanks to Andrew), trying to figure out how K-Pop Demon Hunters came out so damn good despite the absolutely ridiculous premise, wishing I had the time, skills, and resources to make this Fisher Price / Game Boy retro gaming mash-up for myself, reading a queer literary zine that can only be accessed via the ancient Telnet protocol, and plotting one of my first purchases if I won the lottery.

Note that some of the links below are affiliate links and the Hiro Report may earn a small commission at no additional cost to you.

On to the good stuff!

✏️ Kaweco Pencil - A very dear homie kindly hooked me up with one of these, knowing how much I enjoy a good mechanical pencil. This beautiful brass-bodied tool features a tiny mechanical claw that holds onto a very thick pencil lead, which can be extended or retracted with a satisfying click on the back. The whole thing is a delight to hold, and I love its thick, stubby nature, which makes it both unique and super satisfying to use.

📷 The Last Camera Project for iOS - This is a really clever combination of iPhone photography app and collective art experiment/experience. The premise is that you sign up and join hundreds of thousands (or millions?) of others, each of whom gets to take one photo that gets added to a collection to be revealed at Art Basel in Miami this December. You have to join a waitlist, and you’ll be notified when it’s your turn to take your photo. Once you’ve taken your photo, you can see all the other photos as they get added, which is really cool. I’m eagerly waiting my turn.

📰 Alfread App - I have written about my article-hoarding tendencies: I collect links with every intention of eventually reading them, but most of the time I never do. Alfread looks like a great tool to help me actually start knocking down my read-it-later list. You can save articles directly to Alfread or connect your Pocket or Instapaper accounts. You then set a goal for how many articles you want to read and schedule notifications for when (or where) you want to be reminded to work on your reading list. I’m going to try scheduling some reminders at bedtime for the next week.

👟 Avelo Running Shoe - I’m always wary of highlighting Kickstarter projects, but this is one that I’m particularly excited about, and it’s being done by a team of ex-Nike, Garmin, and Under Armour folks who know how to ship products like this. In short, this is a smart running shoe that tracks not just your pace and distance but also coaches you on your running technique for things like minimizing impact, perfecting your tempo and stride length, etc. As someone who really enjoys running but has to limit it due to repeated injuries from poor technique, I’m excited to give it a try. I backed it on day one.

🎬 Sequel 2.5 for iOS - My favorite app for tracking movies, books, and shows that I am watching or want to watch has just released version 2.5, which I’ve been beta testing for a while now and thoroughly enjoying. Beyond all the tracking features I enjoy and the great design, it’s added features to let you open media in over 50 destinations, ranging from Goodreads and Audible to Letterboxd and IMDb, for when you want to dig in and learn more or share about something you’ve enjoyed. I also particularly appreciate the integration that lets you know if a movie has post-credit scenes you should stick around for (this helped me out when I finally got to see Sinners recently). Love seeing great indie apps like this continue to grow and flourish.

That’s it for this week! Stay cool and kind, everyone!

This week, I've been drooling over this announcement trailer for the new James Bond game coming to the Nintendo Switch 2— so great to see 007 back on Nintendo! Separately, I wrote a new Hiro Lab report about an extremely overpriced flashlight that I love for the excellent Foofaraw Press, got on the waitlist for NeonIchiban, a new digital comics store from a bunch of ex-Comixology folks, played around with an AI-powered virtual pet on my desktop, and have been rocking out to this Denzel Curry cover of "Bulls on Parade".

My sincere thanks to TRMNL for sponsoring this issue.

On to the good stuff!

Note that some of the links below are affiliate links and the Hiro Report may earn a small commission at no additional cost to you.

👾 GiiKER Super Decoder - I bought one of these as a gift for my son this summer, and we both have become kind of obsessed with it. It is a small handheld game that really leans on the retro gadget aesthetic. With light up LEDs, morse code-like sound effects, and a really satisfying twisty knob, it just looks and feels great. The gameplay itself is a lot like Wordle, except that instead of a word, there is a hidden color pattern that you need to guess, and depending on the difficulty level, it will let you know which colors you have guessed correctly and are in the right space vs. which colors you have guessed correctly but are not in the right space. You only get 7 guesses, and in some cases, a countdown timer. It's super satisfying and gets harder and harder as you level up through the 500+ levels of the game.

⌚ elago Vintage Mac Apple Watch Charger Stand - Anyone who has been reading the site for a while will not be surprised to learn that I have a thing for vintage Macs. So naturally, I did a double or triple take when I found this beautiful little Apple Watch charger in the shape of a vintage Mac. This company also has a really good-looking one in the shape of a classic Game Boy. I just wish that these supported my Apple Watch Ultra - otherwise I would be all over them both.

💊 Pill Buddy for iOS - Pill Buddy is a brand new indie app for iOS that is here to help you remember to take your medications on time. Granted, iOS has its own medication reminder baked into the Health app, but Pill Buddy makes the whole thing much more fun and playful. Your pill buddy is an animated Daruma that acts like a virtual pet, basically gamifying your pill tracking. I really dig the aesthetic.

☕ Octave: Pour Over Guide for iOS - Speaking of delightful indie apps, Octave launched last week as a simple but fun app for guiding you through your coffee pour overs' timing and recipe. It has a really unique retro pixel art aesthetic but offers some unique touches like the ability to adjust your recipe based on your desired flavor profile for your coffee. Seasoned veteran pour over makers definitely do not need this app but it's great for beginners or anyone who just wants to add a playful touch to their morning ritual.

🔌 Anker Prime Docking Station - I recently had the embarrassing experience of running out of ports on the small Thunderbolt dock that I had for my office set up. After some deliberation, I wound up grabbing this larger and more capable docking station from Anker. In so doing, I gave up Thunderbolt ports, but gained the additional USB-C and USB-A ports that I need and saved a good bit of money. Your mileage may vary, but for me, I'm just running one 4K external display and not doing any major data-intensive stuff, so Thunderbolt is just kind of overkill for what I'm up to. It's totally a gimmick, but I also like the little digital display showing my power usage.

That's it for this week!

I'd like to extend one last warm thanks to TRMNL for sponsoring the Hiro Report this month. If you haven't already, go check out the new color ways they've added this month, and the growing list of both official and community-generated integrations.

This week, I've been brushing up on basic phone security best practices and reading about Rayhunters, getting excited about a new Wu-Tang fighting game, flying with this Nintendo Switch 2 travel case from Belkin, and learning about Null Island thanks to a package of mine taking a quick day trip to Africa.

I want to extend my sincere thanks to TRMNL for sponsoring this issue. There's only a day or two left on their kind offer to get $10 off their fantastic e-ink display for all your most important information. Just use coupon code "hiroreport" at checkout.

On to the good stuff!

Note that some of the links below are affiliate links and the Hiro Report may earn a small commission at no additional cost to you.

🔍 PixelDrop for iOS - This handy little free utility lets you easily redact sensitive or private information in your photographs by applying a permanent pixelation effect or black bar to the image. This is handy for things like removing folks faces from photos, or removing private information from screenshots. While there are plenty of other apps out there that will do this, I really like the clean, simple user interface and the smart features like auto detection of faces and text so you can quickly redact and share your photo.

📶 Heltec MeshPocket - I've written previously about Meshtastic, a really fun off grid, peer-to-peer, text-based wireless communication protocol. The MeshPocket is a new Meshtastic-powered Qi2 battery pack that attaches to your phone for wireless charging but also comes equipped with Bluetooth and a built-in LoRa wireless communication antenna and an e-ink display for showing signal status, messages, and more. The whole thing is hackable for devising your own specialized applications as well, so it's not just limited to Meshtastic.

🗣 Wispr Flow for macOS - This is the latest app I'm experimenting with for voice dictation/transcription on my Mac. With just a quick hot key, Wispr Flow will let me dictate perfectly clear text right into any text field on my Mac. It also has a really clever iOS offering in the form of a custom keyboard that you can pull up in any app to get much more accurate voice dictation than Apple's built-in offering. The app looks and works fantastic in my first few weeks of testing, and has quickly replaced the two other apps I'd been using for this.

🌬 HOTO Auto Care Vacuum + Blower - The folks behind the awesome mini vacuum/blower that I use to keep my keyboard and coffee bar clean are back with a new, more powerful version made for quick clean up in cars. This was an instant buy for me, as we're constantly needing to clean up dried mud, goldfish crackers, and other small things from our car mats. I also like that the blower is strong enough to blow leaves off your windshield wipers, another regular annoyance once we head into fall/winter.

🖋️ Diarly for iOS/iPadOS/macOS - I've happily used Day One for my digital journaling for years, but I've been feeling the itch lately to try something different. Diarly offers many of the same great features like multimedia journaling (include voice recordings, drawings, and photos), encrypted back-ups, custom and pre-made journaling templates, and so on. Where Diarly stands out for me is that it lets you sync your journal between your Mac/iPad/iPhone using an encrypted vault in your iCloud files, rather than requiring you to use their own proprietary sync servers. Beyond that, I appreciate that it gives you a little more customization over the look and feel of your journals. They're also being forward-leaning about letting you have the option of incorporating AI in your journaling for running queries, getting writing help, etc. It's only been a few weeks but I'm enjoying it.

That's it for this week! May you discover an ancient treasure or an eternal truth in the days ahead.

My thanks again to TRMNL for sponsoring the Report this month!

This week, I’m finally getting around to watching the original, unreleased Fantastic Four film from my childhood thanks to James' awesome write-up, appreciating Gobino’s insightful analysis of his experiment with turning a standard Fuji camera into a Fuji X-Half camera for a few days, giggling at this guide to Intercontinental Ballistic Missile Ring of Power Feasibility Study thanks to M. Hulot, keeping track of hyperlocal rainfall with Raindrop thanks to my Dad, and spending every spare moment I can get playing Fantasy Life i, Mario Kart World, and Cyberpunk 2077 on the new Nintendo Switch 2.

Lastly, I want to extend my sincere thanks to TRMNL for sponsoring this issue. There’s one week left on their kind offer of $10 off for Hiro Report readers using coupon code: hiroreport. Shout out to my buddy, Ben Brown, who just grabbed a TRMNL last week and already has written up an awesome guide for turning your TRMNL into a slow movie player that shows one frame at a time from movies of your choice.

On to the good stuff!

Note that some of the links below are affiliate links and the Hiro Report may earn a small commission at no additional cost to you.

📷 Not Boring Camera for iOS - The folks from the Not Boring Company have a knack for taking app categories that are pretty oversaturated and finding a way to bring something new and exciting to the space. After making really unique takes on Weather, Timer, and To-Do apps, they are back with their take on a camera app. As usual, they’re bringing really fun and thoughtful design while still providing much-appreciated, good-looking filters for a more authentic look than standard iPhone camera processing allows. My only complaint is that you only get a small handful of test shots before they push you right into a $15/year subscription. I like it, but I’m not sure I’m ready to give up the Leica LUX app for it.

📱Moft iPhone Stand / Tripod - I only mentioned this thing in passing in my Summer Gift Guide last week, but want to give a little more detail here– I’d been seeing this thing pushed by a bunch of influencers in my algorithms for months and resisted for a long time because it seemed kind of cheesy. However, I crumbled a few weeks back, and it’s quickly become one of my favorite iPhone accessories. I’m using it every day for everything from propping up my phone on my desk while I work, to using it as a tripod to take group photos, and as a way to more easily display my Ladder workouts when I’m in the gym. I previously used and loved the Peak Design MagSafe tripod, but this is just so much easier and versatile (not to mention half the price)… there’s no way I’m going back.

🥬 Alma Nutrition Tracking for iOS - I am a sucker for a good nutrient and macro tracking app. The big problem that I usually run into is the old garbage-in, garbage-out issue—meaning if I get too lazy or if it’s too difficult to log the info, I wind up not getting much useful info back, and as a result, I give up on the venture after a day or two. I’m excited to try out Alma because it seems committed to making the logging and entry process as effortless as possible. It does this by leveraging AI to let you either dictate with your voice a description of what you ate or snap a picture, which the AI then analyzes to give its best guess at the nutrients, calories, etc. It also has a built-in AI-powered nutrition coach where you can ask questions to help you make more informed decisions before eating things. Cool!

🕶️ ND Filter Sunglasses - Big thanks to Jeff for flagging these awesome adjustable tint sunglasses. For those who may not be camera nerds, ND filters attach over a lens to cut the amount of light passing through—much like sunglasses do. The difference here is that adjustable ND filters let you twist the filter to either increase or decrease the amount of light passing through. As a result, these sunglasses let you manually adjust how bright or dark you want a scene to be. If you are out in the Atacama Desert on a sunny day, you probably want to dial those things in. On the other hand, if you’re out on a cloudy day in the Irish countryside, you probably would want to let more light in. I need a pair.

 Pico Mac Nano - I am kind of obsessed with this, and if it weren’t for the 90-day backorder, I would probably jump on one right away. These are incredibly small, functioning replicas of the original Apple Macintosh 128k. They use a pico zero microcontroller to power a two-inch LCD screen with a custom-designed PCB to give you a ~2.5in / 62mm tall vintage Mac replica. You can run it with an internal battery or plugged in, and you can attach a full-size keyboard and mouse to put it through its paces.

That’s it for this week! May you find lots of productive mischief to generate this week.

My thanks again to TRMNL for sponsoring the Report!

Today marks the second anniversary of the Hiro Report, so I thought it would be fun to do a special edition to celebrate waltzing in to my terrible two's. Since I started writing this geeky little newsletter in order to share cool things with others, I thought I’d make this issue a summer gift and gear guide. Between graduations, Father’s Day, and summer birthdays, I hope you find some ideas for cool things to gift to others—or just something fun to level up your own summer.

But before I jump into the gear (and a few fun app updates), I want to take a moment to thank the very first sponsor of the Hiro Report, TRMNL!

Sponsor: TRMNL

I’m so pleased to have TRMNL as the first sponsor of the Report because it’s a product I genuinely really enjoy—in fact, I bought one with my own money and have written about it twice previously in the Report!

The TRMNL is a customizable e-Ink display that sits on your wall, desktop, or counter and shows you the information you want to see most throughout the day. It features a growing number of official and community-generated integrations that let you hook up everything from obvious stuff like your calendar and local weather to more esoteric things like your favorite webcomic, Reddit subreddit, or RSS feed. It even lets you set up custom schedules so it shows you the information you want, when you need it most. Best of all, it’s got an epic multi-month battery, so no unseemly wires cluttering up your space.

If you’ve looked at TRMNL in the past but have been put off by the waitlist, then good news—as of this week, they’re officially fully stocked and no longer requiring pre-orders. They’ve also very generously offered to extend a $10 discount to readers of the Hiro Report for the next two weeks. Just use Coupon Code: hiroreport

Fresh Indie App Updates

Lastly, before we get to the Gift Guide, I thought I’d share a few fantastic indie iOS apps that have gotten great updates in the last week:

Focus – This great Apple-native Pomodoro timer has updated its look and introduced insightful productivity statistics.

Zenitizer – My favorite meditation timer app has a great update dropping tomorrow (02JUN2025) with a new sound picker and sound mixer interface to create the perfect soundscape for your meditation.

Mercury Weather – One of the best-looking weather apps for iOS introduced Weather Maps / Radar for the first time last week.

AgBr – The best black-and-white film emulator added the ability to apply color filters to your photo edits to control contrast and tonality, just like when shooting real B&W film.

On to the good stuff!

Note that some of the links below are affiliate links, and the Hiro Report may earn a small commission at no additional cost to you.

Summer 2025 Gift Guide

Pen & Paper

🪪 Hoban Letterpress Calling Cards – I’ve had a bunch of these made and they’re such a delight. It’s an awesome (albeit nerdy) way to share your contact info with new friends over the summer. ~$65 to $165

🖊️ Uniball Zento Pen – My favorite disposable pen—they look great and write insanely smoothly with way less feathering and smearing than most other pens out there. ~$7

🖊️ Studio Neat Mark One Pen – Give someone the best-looking pen they’ve ever had. ~$85

📖 Midori Traveler’s Notebook – Send your loved one down the rabbit hole of aesthetic journaling. ~$55

Health

😴 Manta Sleep Mask – This high-end sleep mask + mouth tape has completely up-leveled the quality of my sleep. I have both the Slim version and the “Pro” version—I prefer the Pro a little, but I wouldn’t say it’s 2x the price better. ~$35

📚 Breath – One of a few books that fundamentally impacted my lifestyle by making me completely rethink how I breathe. ~$17

💪🏽 TheraGun Therabody Relief – For my fellow dads of a certain age who like to work out, this thing does wonders for aches, pains, and mobility. ~$145

📚 The Comfort Crisis – A super inspirational prod to get out and do hard things, and why it’s not only good for our bodies but also our spirits. ~$12

Outdoors

☕ Flair Go Espresso Machine – Let them make café-quality espresso in their hotel rooms and at their campsites. It blew me away when I met with Flair this spring. ~$200

🔪 JAMESº Carter Pocket Knife – A pocket knife that will hold up great in the woods and still look great on a valet tray. I have one in heavy rotation. ~$160

⛺ Kammock Double Roo Hammock – An amazing, lightweight camping hammock that comes with a great collapsing stand for when you don’t have trees handy. I use mine weekly. ~$375

🕶 Folding Ray-Ban Wayfarers – These classic Ray-Bans don’t have any smart features, but they do fold up extra tiny to slip into a pocket. I bring mine on every trip I take.

Tech

👾 TrimUI Brick – An awesome, pocketable Gameboy-style retro gaming handheld that comes chock-full of games. ~$85

📲 Moft iPhone Tripod – A super slim, MagSafe-friendly tripod to prop your iPhone up at just about any angle for group photos or easy viewing while working. ~$40

⌨️ Nuphy Kick75 Keyboard – An unbelievably fun and highly customizable mechanical keyboard with great pops of color. ~$120

📰 TRMNL e-Ink Display – OK, yes, they’re sponsoring this issue, but I’d be putting the TRMNL on the list anyway—it’s that fun… Please don’t tell the guys at TRMNL. ~$130 with discount code: hiroreport

That’s it for this week! My sincere thanks to you for being a reader—you all make writing this thing so much fun each week. Please keep sharing your feedback and suggestions for future issues!

This week, I've been drooling over this Scandinavian futuristic cafe racer, getting pumped for the release of Missile Command Delta this summer, writing about the TrimUI Brick* in the latest Hiro Lab, loving the ingenuity of the poetry camera (H/T Alex's great newsletter), and experiencing gratitude for the men and women who have given everything so we could enjoy the freedoms we have today– a great inspiration to not let those freedoms now be eroded away.

On to the good stuff!

🗺 Sortd App for iOS - I've been beta testing this app for a good while and was excited to see that it finally launched last week. In short, it solves the problem of saving Instagram Reels, YouTube Shorts, and TikTok videos that have practical information in them but that you never get around to extracting. For example, my algorithms know I like food so I get a lot of Reels about new restaurants and recipes I want to check out, but it's kind of a pain in the butt to actually write down the recipe or the address of the new restaurant in the moment. With Sortd, you just share these videos to the app, and it "sorts" all your saved videos into different categories (e.g. Restaurants, Recipes, Products, Books, et al), uses AI to extract the practical information and then gives you links to go find the restaurant in the Maps app, go buy the book online, or simply read the recipe without having to squint at the small caption text. It's got a great, friendly design, and is made by a hard working indie dev. Go check it out.

⌚ Holme & Hadfield Watch & Knife Display* - I don't think it will surprise anyone that I have a bit of a watch and pocket knife collection. My sweetheart bought me one of these Holme & Hadfield display / valet boxes a few years back and I still use it every day. I like how it lets me put my watches on display but also has a handy pull out drawer for picking out a pocket knife or pen (or both) to bring with me for the day. It looks like they have a nice sale going on this weekend, so I thought I'd share.

🖱️ Linear Mouse for MacOS - Thanks to Jared Newman over at the excellent Adviserator newsletter for flagging this great, free MacOS app. Linear Mouse lets you customize how your different pointing devices (trackpad, mouse, etc) work. You can set up device-specific scrolling speeds, click rate preferences, and even custom actions for when you click certain buttons within specific apps. I, for one, am using it to customize my Logi MX Master 3S* without having to use the bloated Logi app.

📷 Fuji X-Half - Fuji is back to making weird little cameras, and I love it. This week they released the Fuji X-Half, a little camera designed to get you as close as possible to the experience of shooting an analog half frame film camera in a digital camera. The camera shoots vertically oriented 3:4 photos by default and even has a thumb wind "film advance" lever. One of my favorite things is that you put in virtual rolls of film, wherein you choose what sort of film simulation you want to use, how many frames you want to be on it, and then you shoot away through the optical viewfinder until you finish the roll—only then can you see what you actually captured. The camera will even save a virtual contact sheet that shows you all 36-72 photos in one image, in addition to each individual frame. There's a lot more fun stuff this camera can do that makes it seem like it would be a blast. I love seeing Fuji experiment like this.

📲 Glif iPhone Tripod Mount - After being sold out for ages, Austin-based Studio Neat has finally found another Texas-based manufacturer that is going to help them bring this awesome iPhone accessory back to market. I've had mine for years and it's still my favorite way to mount an iPhone (or any similarly shaped device) on a tripod.

That's it for this week! Stay tuned—next week is the 2nd anniversary of the report and I'm hoping to do something fun for it!

*Asterisks indicate links that may generate a small commission to support the site at no extra cost to you. These links are not sponsored, and I have no relationship with the makers of these products.

This week, I've been reading some great tips on night photography, thinking about brushing off my Traveler's Notebook, playing through the fan-made Pokemon Unbound for the Gameboy Advance, and contemplating hacking my Aiden coffee brewer so I can have ChatGPT help me refine my brew recipes.

On to the good stuff!

🗃️ UGMONK's Capture System - Jeff Sheldon of Ugmonk is back with yet another great-looking upgrade to our desktop note-taking systems. The Capture is a stackable, modular system for capturing and filing handwritten notes at your desk, building off his excellent Analog Productivity System, with which this new system is also compatible. The new system provides a tray for holding your 3x5in Analog to-do cards, and adds a new, larger tray and premium stock 5x6.5in Capture Card for long-form notes. I particularly like the addition of a small flap at the bottom of the trays to make it easier to slide used cards into the bottom of the stack (something I've struggled with on my wooden Analog tray).

🪛 Hoto Electronics Screwdriver Set* - I've written before about my love for Hoto's stuff. They make thoughtful, beautifully designed tools for home use. They're back with a new version of the awesome Electric Screwdriver set that I use almost daily, now designed for precision screwdriving. This new set is for assembling and disassembling smaller items and electronics, compared to the other set that's more for furniture. Like the older set, this one comes with a nice storage case for all 56 bits... However, unlike the boring grey of the original, this one has a cool pop of color and uses magnets so you can modularly stack it with their other new tool sets. The electric driver supports three speeds with built-in smarts to prevent over-torquing micro screws on your glasses, phone, laptop, etc.

🕦 Kehai Wall Clock - I've been seeing this clock in several design feeds recently and decided to hunt it down. Originally designed and released in 2004 by Japanese designer Makoto Koizumi, it's just been brought back into production. I love the glazed finish on the glass and the pops of color. It reminds me of an abstract take on the VisionOS aesthetic. I want one.

📱 GNAR iPhone Case - The folks at Peak Design just keep cranking out cool products. I already love and own several of their Every Day iPhone cases*, and am now very tempted to grab one of these new extra rugged but sleek outdoor cases. This case not only looks great but adds 4.5m/15ft drop protection, a removable USB-C plug to keep water and dirt out of your charging port, and a pleasing diamond-knurled edge on the outer bumper for extra grip. This could be perfect for helping my phone survive our summer rock climbing and swim hole outings.

🔍 Chance.AI - Chance AI helps you look at things more deeply. Unlike standard AI visual tools that simply report what they see, this app uses a reasoning model to "think out loud" about the scene, providing insights about design, cultural or historical significance, and more. I'm enjoying it as a tool to explore moments more deeply, giving me more to consider as I watch scenes unfold.

That's it for this week, may you be happy, healthy and at peace!

*Asterisks indicate links that may generate a small commission to support the site at no extra cost to you. These links are not sponsored, and I have no relationship with the makers of these products

This week, I've been jamming out to this remake of the Goldeneye 007 pause music done on a Teenage Engineering K.O. II and OP-1 Field, 3D printing my own TinyPod knockoff, buying too many Kaiju Kitties, marveling at KORG Berlin's new eight-voice acoustic synthesizer featuring tunable electromechanical voices (what did I just write??), and writing about Breville's forthcoming Oracle Dual Broiler espresso machine over at CoffeeGeek.

On to the good stuff!

🎛 SwitchBot Smart Switch* - We're at an interesting intersection in home tech. An increasing number of our electronics are networked and can be controlled via app, voice, presence, and more. But what do we do with older tech that we want to automate that doesn't connect to the web? Well, this humble Smart Switch aims to help answer that dilemma. In short, it's a little physical flipper that you can attach to any device with a button or toggle that you'd like to be able to flip remotely. The flipper can be activated over Bluetooth out of the box, or with a SwitchBot hub, you can control it with Apple HomeKit / Alexa / Google Home. Personally, I picked one up to be able to automate turning on my low-tech espresso machine in the morning so that it's ready to brew by the time I stumble into the kitchen.

🗣 Granola.AI - There are a bunch of AI note-taking apps/services out there. This is the one I've been using lately and really liking. It runs in the background on your Mac and records both sides of virtual meetings, but cleverly also presents a notepad on screen that you can take notes in during the call. Once the call is over, it combines the transcript of the call with your notes to give you a nicely organized meeting summary. You can use their default templates, or create your own prompts for how you'd like the AI summary to be formatted, what it should focus on, etc. I like that it doesn't require having a weird bot dial in to your call, it just runs locally on your Mac. Handily, Granola also just released an iPhone app this week. It can't record calls yet, but it can be used for recording and generating notes for in-person meetings.

🖊️ Big Idea Design Base Line Pen - My everyday carry pen of choice is a Big Idea Design Bolt Action Pen. I love it, but it's pretty pricey and hard to recommend at an eye-watering price of $100. The big brains over at Big Idea Design recently came out with a very similar offering to the Bolt Action Pen that maintains the same fun, fidgety bolt action for just $60. It appears that the only thing you give up is the adjustable body length of the Bolt Action Pen, as the Base Line only accepts Parker-style refills… Which is just fine by me, because I'm always rocking a Parker-style Monteverde Ceramic Gel* refill in my pen anyway.

📰 Particle News - So I almost hesitate to share about Particle News because it feels like the last few times I mentioned a good news app it got acquired and shut down within a month or two. That said, I've been really enjoying Particle. It lets you tailor your news feed to the topics you're most interested in, and then for every news story it starts with a condensed easy-to-read summary of what it is and why it's newsworthy, and then offers more details, along with a list of links to multiple news sources to go read more details directly from them. It's super customizable, all the way down to your being able to choose whether you want the intro summary for articles to be simple bullet points or an "explain it to me like I'm five" description, or some other style.

🎮 Backbone Pro - I've been enjoying my original Backbone controller* for years— It's a handy video game controller that turns your iPhone or Android device into a portable gaming station by docking the phone right in the middle of the controller via a USB-C connection. The new version now not only connects to your smartphone but will also connect to your Mac and AppleTV via Bluetooth. It also appears that they have beefed up the grips a little bit for better ergonomics. This thing is perfect for playing platformers from Apple Arcade, cruising through retro games in Delta for iOS, and even streaming games from your Xbox or PlayStation cloud accounts while traveling.

That's it for this week, be well everyone! (Make sure to call your Mothers!)

*Asterisks indicate links that may generate a small commission to support the site at no extra cost to you. These links are not sponsored, and I have no relationship with the makers of these products.

This week, I've been jailbreaking my old PS Vita to make yet another retro gaming handheld, thinking about the pros and cons of wearing a wire, seriously considering backing this nature observatory in a pod on Kickstarter, debating grabbing another pair of AirPods Pro 2 while they're on an absurd sale*, and dreaming of building this totally insane micro note-taking device.

On to the good stuff!

☕ HomeGrind for iOS - HomeGrind is a super fun indie app that released this week for us home baristas that are constantly taking drink orders from the rest of the family. The app lets you make a custom drink menu for your home cafe, listing all the drinks you can make and giving your guests options for the different milks and sweeteners you have to offer. Family and guests can download the app and place orders, upon which you'll receive a notification on your phone of the specifics of their orders. Your home "customers" can even leave tips in the form of emojis. I love this idea and am even feeling inspired to maybe do a free pop-up cafe for my friends in the neighborhood.

🧳 Nomatic 5L Camera Sling* - Ever since getting my Leica M10-P, I've really made an effort to try and bring it with me just about every time I leave the house. It's small enough and hardy enough to really be able to lug it everywhere. That said, there are times where I don't want to worry about it flopping around my neck, or when I want to bring a spare lens or two, so I started looking for a really small everyday carry bag I could use for my outings. After trying a bunch of options, I've settled on this awesome 5L camera sling Peter McKinnon made in collaboration with Nomatic. It's got a customizable internal padded section for a camera and a lens or two, as well as small pockets for SD cards and batteries, while still leaving just enough room for me to throw in a wallet and sunglasses, or notebook and pen. I particularly like the structured outer shell that zips completely open for visibility and easy access to the camera compartment. The sling works great both as a shoulder bag and as a fanny pack, and doesn't scream "I've got a fancy camera in here." I dig it.

⏰ Clocks App - This is a really cool little iOS, iPadOS and macOS app that essentially offers alternative screensavers to replace the default Standby Mode baked into the iPhone. It offers 28 different animations that you can customize with overlays of the time, date, and weather. Thanks to clever use of Shortcuts, the app will teach you how to set up your iPhone to automatically open the app and display the screensaver of your choice when you plug in your device to charge. If you like it on your phone, you can also use these screensavers on your iPad and Mac at no extra cost.

🫂 Friendzone Friend CRM for iOS - This new app offers something that I've long wanted- a simple, organized way to keep notes and reminders about the people you meet. In my professional career outside of my secret underground Hiro Report laboratory, I use a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) tool to keep track of my conversations with prospective customers and current/past clients. I've often thought it would be great to have something similar for one's personal life— An easy way to remember things about the people you meet, notes on those casual acquaintances you keep running into at mutual friends' parties so that you don't have to keep asking them where they're from and what they do every time you run into them, the names and backstories of the kind wait staff at restaurants you frequent, etc. Personally, I don't see myself using it for keeping track of my close relationships… but, at the risk of sounding like a total sociopath, I can see it being helpful for being able to build deeper relationships over time with folks that you are not in regular touch with.

📲 Raycast for iOS - Longtime readers will recall that Raycast* is one of my most used and beloved Mac apps. After months of teasing, they finally released their iPhone app this week. On its face, the iOS app is pretty simple— Due to the limitations of iOS, the Raycast team was unable to bring over the full suite of capabilities from the Mac. What they did bring over was their clean, minimalist, Markdown-powered, synced notes capability, quick access to all of the major LLMs via both their voice and chat AI interfaces, and access to your synced text snippets and quick links from your Mac. It's clear this is a first step towards something larger, however, and Raycast has already acknowledged they are working on developing an iOS keyboard so you can access more of this functionality in-line while writing on the iPhone and iPad. That said, Parker Ortolani has already written about the possibilities for using quick links and shortcuts to use Raycast for iOS as a modern day replacement for the vaunted Launch Center Pro. I'm excited to delve in and experiment more.

That's it for this week! May you have a fruitful conversation with a woodland creature in the days ahead.

*Asterisks indicate links that may generate a small commission to support the site at no extra cost to you. These links are not sponsored, and I have no relationship with the makers of these products.

This week has been action-packed with the preorder for the Nintendo Switch 2 opening in the U.S., Slate debuting a $20k American-made electric pickup truck that actually looks kinda awesome, electronic producer Moby releasing 500 songs for free for nearly unlimited commercial and non-commercial use, and Simon gave Mac users everything they need to set their computer on fire and smash it with a hammer.

Meanwhile, I went down to Houston as a correspondent for CoffeeGeek to cover the Specialty Coffee Association Expo— I've got a few articles up on the site already with more to come over the week ahead. If you're at all in to the intersection of coffee and tech, go take a look!

On to the good stuff!

☕ Fellow Espresso Series 1 - Among several big coffee announcements this week, the big one in my coffee-soaked corner of tech nerdom was Fellow's entry into the home espresso space with their countertop Series 1 Espresso machine. Apart from looking sleek and beautiful, as is their tradition, the Espresso Series 1 strikes an interesting balance in offering distinct features for both beginners and for seasoned barista pros. From newbie-friendly things like a digital display giving you feedback on your shot timing/grind size and temperature-guided automatic milk frothing, to pro features like adjustable pressure, flow, and temperature profiles, the Series 1 packs a lot of tech into a good-looking and surprisingly competitive price point. I got to try a shot pulled from it this weekend while at the SCA Expo, and wrote up my first impressions for CoffeeGeek, in case you want to go down the rabbit hole.

🎙 DJI Mic Mini* - This is probably a somewhat niche recommendation, but I knew I would be conducting a lot of formal and informal interviews at the SCA Coffee Expo this weekend and I wanted a hands-free way to capture the audio of the conversations. I settled on the DJI Mic Mini and was extremely pleased with the size and quality of these tiny, wireless lapel-borne microphones. Interestingly, the Mic Mini is the smaller and cheaper sibling to the DJI Mic 2, but somehow manages to have both longer battery life and greater range for wandering away from the camera or audio receiver. I kept one transmitter on my shirt and the receiver plugged into my iPhone in my pocket, and just recorded straight to my Voice Notes app for quick transcription. Just that one mic was enough to capture both sides of the conversation even in the crowded, noisy exposition hall.

☀️ Lume GPT Weather for iOS — On the recommendation of friend of the blog, Slow Brewed Studio, I've been trying out this new GPT-powered hyper-local weather app. I don't think it's going to replace Carrot Weather, my favorite slightly homicidal weather app, but I do appreciate its unique proposition of leveraging over 200 weather data points in combination with AI to help you plan the absolute best times in the day to do outdoor activities like running, going for a walk, taking photos and more. Simply choose what you want to do, Lume will crunch the weather data, and return a time window along with an explanation of why that's the optimal time.

✈️ AirFly Pro 2* - The wizards over at 12South recently released an update to their awesome AirFly dongle which lets you turn any headphone auxiliary jack into an audio device to which you can connect your AirPods or other Bluetooth headphones. Although originally designed for use on planes to be able to use your own wireless headphones to watch inflight movies, I find it useful for using my AirPods with retro gaming handhelds during late night gaming sessions when I want to listen to the chip tunes without disturbing my partner. This new version now has buttons to make it easier to pair up to two sets of headphones simultaneously without needing to use a splitter.

💰 Evergoods Bi-Fold Wallet - I'm a sucker for a good minimalist slim wallet, and this week the folks at my favorite bag manufacturer, Evergoods, introduced exactly that. They did some engineering magic to make the wallet out of a seamless single piece of insanely thin but water-resistant fabric, while making it easy to organize 6-8 cards and access your bills, regardless of their size. At $70, it's hard for me to justify replacing my Allett wallet that is still developing a lovely patina, but this would be a good contender if I were in the market.

That's it for this week, be happy, healthy, and at peace everyone!

*Asterisks indicate links that may generate a small commission to support the site at no extra cost to you. These links are not sponsored, and I have no relationship with the makers of these products.

This week, Foofaraw Press kindly published another issue of the Hiro Lab about eufy security cameras. Go check it out!

Separately, I’ve been debating dropping a few hundred bucks on a secondhand Apple II just to play this port of the epic Shuffle Puck Cafe, daydreaming about what a Fellow espresso machine might look like, and barely resisting this Kickstarter for a tiny robot that sits on the rim of your coffee/tea and blows cool air on it.

On to the good stuff!

🕹️ TrimUI Brick* – Another month, another retro gaming console I’m trying out. The new hotness in the small, EDC-size retro handheld space is the TrimUI Brick, which came out last fall. It strikes a great balance between a compact, Gameboy-style form factor and more comfortable ergonomics with better materials than the Miyoo Mini+ I also own. It comes preloaded with a couple thousand retro games from Atari, Nintendo, and on up to the PlayStation 1. But what really sold me is the ability to install and run PakUI, a custom OS featuring BitPal—a fun digital pet system that has you level it up by playing assigned games from your library. Anyone who’s used one of these systems knows how paralyzing the sheer volume of options can be—I’ve spent entire “gaming sessions” just flipping through titles without actually playing. BitPal seems like a fun way to discover new games and also commit to actually playing them. The PakUI install is a bit of a technical lift, but manageable if you’ve ever set up a Raspberry Pi or similar project.

⚖️ Uni-Convert – A website, not an app?? That’s right. Despite being just a humble site, Uni-Convert is a fantastic new utility that launched this week and immediately earned a spot in my bookmarks. As the name suggests, it offers a wide range of conversion tools—for everything including Imperial/Metric measurements, CSS units, clothing sizes, colors, and more. It also includes handy tools like PDF merging/splitting, QR code generation, text transformation, BMI calculation—you name it. All on one clean landing page. I’ve been using ChatGPT more and more for stuff like this lately, but for precise conversions where I don't want to run the risk of AI hallucinations, I usually go double check using dedicated conversion tools. It’s great to have them all in one place—and free.

🖼 Aura Aspen Digital Frame* – I’ve written before about my love for Aura’s frames. We have an Aura Carver on the bar in our kitchen that we huddle around daily to coo over resurfaced memories from family trips or our kiddos' early childhoods. This week, Aura took everything I love about the Carver and improved it with the Aspen. It features a beautiful 12” display, and the frame body is so thin it could easily pass for a traditional picture frame from the side. I can’t wait to see one in person and check out how the photos look.

📷 Polaroid Flip – On the opposite end of the camera tech spectrum, Polaroid has released a new “flip” model of its instant film cameras. The design nods to a Polaroid I had as a kid, now updated with smoother, more modern aesthetics. It includes features for sharper focus and better exposure than traditional models, though I’m a bit puzzled by the decision to also offer smartphone-based control for exposure settings. Still, I love the look and can’t wait to read more reviews.

⌚ TinyPod – Honestly, I think this concept is either genius or totally unhinged. (¿Por qué no los dos?) The TinyPod is a case that transforms your Apple Watch into a mini smartphone. For anyone who occasionally wants to leave the house without their iPhone (and all its temptations), this is a clever solution. Remember—Apple Watches with cellular can handle calls, messages, Apple Maps, Music, Podcasts, and more. You could actually get by with this thing. Best of all, the TinyPod has a throwback-style physical scroll wheel for navigating the watch. Redundant? Yes. Awesome? Also yes. (H/T to Joe for sharing this!)

That’s it for this week! Wishing you plenty of quiet opportunities to stir up mischief. Be well, everyone.

*Links with asterisks next to them are affiliate links and may generate a small commission for the site at no additional cost to you. However, as usual, none of the content in this newsletter is sponsored.

This week, I’ve been enjoying Framelines’ YouTube channel and their photography magazine, thanks to Cliff’s recommendation; marveling at this hyperlapse video of Berlin shot on a Nintendo DSi; and getting amped up to don my press pass and cover the Specialty Coffee Association Expo as a coffee tech correspondent for CoffeeGeek.com later this month.

On to the good stuff!

⌨️ Nuphy Kick 75 (Amazon*) – I wrote about this keyboard when preorders opened, and mine finally arrived this week. Hooboy, am I loving it. I’m far from a keyboard expert like Andrew, but this compact, luxurious board—with its colorful, retro video-game aesthetic and touches of transparent design—is a joy. I also love that you can swap in either low-profile or standard keycaps to suit your taste. It’s my new favorite keyboard. (I say this every time I get a new keyboard.)

📹 Kyu Camera – This quirky little camcorder feels like a modern spin on early 2000s handheld Flip Video cameras. It records nine-second clips up to 27 times a day, and you transfer them to your phone by unplugging the memory module and popping it into your iPhone’s USB-C port. I’m fascinated by this high-tech/low-tech mashup. The app even lets you create folders and share moments via QR codes. It’s as if they’re intentionally resisting mainstream camera and social tech. Will it replace the wildly popular DJI Pocket 3*? Absolutely not—but it’s cool to see fresh ideas in this space.

🍅 Busy Bar – From the folks behind the Flipper Zero (which I reviewed in The Hiro Lab recently), Busy Bar is another gadget I don’t need but still kind of want. It’s a highly hackable productivity timer with a slick retro-style pixel display that shows when you’re focusing (or pretending to). It’s open-source, smart-home compatible, and can even toggle focus modes on your iPhone and Mac. Surprisingly tempting.

🎴 Coyote – At South by Southwest this year, I attended an event where Tim Ferriss made an appearance and gifted everyone an advance copy of Coyote, a card game he co-created with Elon Lee of Exploding Kittens fame. Despite some initial skepticism, I’ve played several rounds with my family and we’ve had a blast. The mechanics are simple enough for playing with young kids but offer enough depth to get competitive between adults. There’s also a fun cooperative version. It's light, silly, and great for quick family or party games.

🖼 Backdrop* – I’ve been loving this animated wallpaper app for macOS. It offers a vast library of animated desktop wallpapers—from sci-fi to serene nature scenes—and there’s an active community adding new ones all the time. You can try a curated selection for free or opt for a reasonably priced annual subscription. At the very least, it motivated me to finally clean off my desktop so I could enjoy the view.

That’s it for this week! May you be happy, healthy, and at peace.

*Asterisks indicate affiliate links that may earn the site some commission at no additional cost to you. As usual, none of these links are sponsored.

The big fun news of the week was of course the formal reveal of all the details about the Nintendo Switch 2. I, for one, am super excited and can't wait to pre-order it… whenever we actually get to… you know, because of the whole bad thing.

On a brighter note, I'm curious about what the folks at Craft are building with their Chaps app(s?), appreciating Stephen for sharing CheatSheet for MacOS with me, playing around with Matt's new utility hub, Quick Stuff, thoroughly enjoying The Studio on AppleTV+, and marveling at this camera made of 20k+ coffee stirrers and a Raspberry Pi.

On to the good stuff!

• 🤖 Niimbot Labelmaker* - I'm finally starting to mail out commemorative Photo Challenge stickers to all who participated, so I needed to grab a label maker to help me with addressing all the envelopes. I stumbled across the Niimbot and have been really pleased with it. It is a high resolution label printer, capable of printing to various label sizes, and is controlled via Bluetooth with an iOS/Android app that lets you use preset templates or design your own with tons of fonts, icons, and more. You can even use your own photos/images.

• 📚 A Burglar's Guide to the City (Amazon* | Bookshop.org*)  - I really enjoyed this look at architecture and city planning through the eyes of cat burglars and bank robbers, with lots of interviews with actual master thieves and the FBI agents tasked with catching them. It also features a fun detour into the world of lock picking as guided by the always entertaining Deviant Ollam. You won't look at cities and buildings the same again after reading it. *Affiliate link to support the newsletter.

• 👟 Avelo Running - I hinted about this stealth running wearable tech a few months back when they first launched their teaser. This week, Avelo took the wraps off with an awesome reveal video and website launch. In short, Avelo is a smart running shoe built by a bunch of senior Nike and Garmin alumni. The shoe and associated smartphone app analyzes your strides and footstrikes to coach you before, during, and after your runs on how you can improve, recover, and avoid injury. As someone who actually really enjoys running but has basically given it up due to repeated injuries, I'm really eager to give it a try. They're going live soon with pre-orders.

• 📷 Leica LUX for iOS - When I first saw that Leica was launching its own iOS camera app, it felt a bit like they were making a cash grab with a gimmick, and then I went happily back to using Halide (my iOS camera app of choice). That said, I decided to give the app a shot on a whim this week and have been really impressed by it. Beyond giving you manual shooting controls and the option to shoot in ProRAW, the app has an "Aperture Priority" mode where you can choose from several classic Leica lenses, pick the aperture you want to shoot at, and it outputs photos with simulated bokeh / lens blur effects characteristic of each of the lenses. The effect is much better than I expected, even capturing the swirly bokeh effect of some vintage Leica lenses. The app is pricey at $70(!)/year, but they have a free trial that lets you shoot up to 38 photos at no cost if you just want to give it a spin.

• 🔍 Text Lens for MacOS - The always excellent indie developer, Sindre Sorhus, released a new app thisweek designed to let you copy otherwise unselectable text from webpages, photos, and more. The little applet sits in your menu bar and when invoked lets you click and drag a box over any text on your screen, which then gets OCR'd and added to your clipboard for easy pasting wherever you'd like. A no brainer pick-up for me.

That's it for this week! Be excellent to each other, and party on dudes.

This week, I've been playing around with the new OpenAI image gen capabilities, which got me fascinated with this homemade AI-powered camera, thinking about backing up all my Audible books, ordered coffee via API in Raycast from terminal.shop, had a major nostalgia moment playing Glider for the Apple II in my browser, and learned how to make an 8 page comic or zine from Doc Popular.

• 📰 TRMNL - After pre-ordering a few months back, I finally got my grubby hands on this simple, beautiful e-ink display that can update itself with key information throughout the day. I am really enjoying the high resolution screen, the impossibly thin frame, and getting a constant stream of updates on my calendar, weather, daily Zen quotes, XKCD comics, and more via the large and growing number of plugins and APIs compatible with the display. If you've been on the fence about grabbing one, I recommend it.
• 🚪 Eufy Dual Camera Video Doorbell* - When my most recent smart doorbell went completely unresponsive this week, I took the plunge and decided to try out this new one from Anker's home electronics subsidiary, eufy. It's early days still, but I'm loving it— It has an internal battery so it can be installed anywhere OR hardwired in to your existing doorbell with the battery as fallback in the event of blackouts, it also records and AI processes all video locally without sending anything to the cloud (unless you specifically turn on cloud back-ups) but it's still accessible for remote viewing via an end-to-end encrypted connection between your smart phone and the device. I find the video quality to be excellent and I appreciate that it has two cameras— one for showing you visitors as they approach, and one pointed down to show you packages and pets at your door. Caveat: Three years back, it was discovered that eufy was not encrypting its web streaming video feeds (while claiming they were), leading to a major showdown with The Verge. They have since gone to great lengths to amend, have brought in auditors, started a bug bounty program, and have doubled down on making everything local by default. I’m comfortable giving them a try now, but everyone should make their own considerations. *This is not sponsored, but I am using an Amazon Affiliate Link to support the site at no additional cost to you.
• ⌘ Paletro for MacOS - Paletro lets you quickly search and execute commands from the menu bar of any app. I have found myself using it most in Lightroom when I cannot remember how to toggle a certain setting on or off. I just hit the global hotkey for Paletro, which opens a small search window where I type out the function I want to toggle and hit return— it immediately executes without me having to click and search through every item in the menu bar to find it. I really like the app, but to be fair, if you're an avid Raycast user like I am, you could just use the built-in "Search Menu Items" function.
• 🎙 MacWhisper for MacOS - I really enjoy the process of writing. However, sometimes I have a hard time getting myself into the headspace to sit down and really get the work done. To help with this, I have been experimenting with MacWhisper, which is a super powerful audio transcription app powered by local on-device LLMs that will transcribe your voice dictation and insert it in line wherever you are writing. It can also be used to record voice notes, meetings, or podcast episodes that you can then keep in your PKM of choice. It's free, but with a one-time payment, you can unlock lots of advanced functionality like the ability to run AI processes against your transcripts either by sending the transcript to services like Anthropic or OpenAI, or you can leverage local AI apps like LM Studio to parse and edit your transcript or answer questions about it if you want to keep everything local.
• 🧪 Easlo Experiments for iOS - If you've dabbled at all with Notion, you've probably come across content from minimalist designer, Easlo. This last week he launched a new app, completely unrelated to Notion, for tracking personal experiments. The concept is great— You set up something you want to try out for a fixed amount of time, and then track the results over time with daily reminders and a notes field for you to record your observations. If you've been curious what cutting caffeine for a week might do for you, or if meditating daily for a month might have some impact, this app is a great way to treat it as a proper experiment and give it a go.

That's it for this week– be healthy, safe, and kind everyone!

This week I've been marveling at the amazing Moncler Fall/Winter 2025 fashion show held in the French Alps, enviously admiring the gorgeous new Swiss passport design, reading up on the mess that is DRM on ebooks, and hanging out with some dapper farm animals.

On to the good stuff!

• 🗃️ Lego Desk Drawer - This is ridiculous and I think I need it. Lego made a beautiful wooden desk organizer drawer in the shape of a Lego building brick. It is made from oak, has 8 studs and a removable drawer. I want to see more furniture designs from them in this clean, playful style.

• 🤓 G1 Private Smart Glasses - These are the first pair of smart glasses I've considered trading my Meta Ray-bans in for. While they're missing the camera, they have a cool, minimal built-in display, and a really clean, lightweight aesthetic with excellent battery life. Tip of the hat to Andrew for sharing these.

• 🧳 Clever Supply Co Sling Pro - If you've been reading the Hiro Report for a while, you probably know I have a minor bag problem— Much like the principal author of the Federalist Papers, I can never be satisfied. This new 2L sling from Clever Supply Co will probably be my next purchase. Apart from looking great and offering some nice internal organization features, it also comes with a thoughtfully designed modifiable camera cube that can be adapted to hold an impressive array of camera types and sizes. Check out the always excellent Benjamin Haisch's walk through of all the things he can fit in this thing.

• 🌊 Surf by Flipboard - This is not at all sponsored, but the folks from Flipboard have been hard at work making their next big thing, and very kindly reached out to offer expedited access to the beta to subscribers of the Hiro Report— Just use Referral Code "SURFHIRO" at the link above. Surf is a sort of universal feed builder, letting you aggregate RSS feeds, YouTube Channels, Bluesky, Mastodon, and Threads accounts into custom feeds dedicated to your interests. You can also subscribe to curated feeds made by others, like my Indie Tech Writers feed. They're doing some awesome machine learning to let you get super granular about the feeds you build— For example, you can make a feed of writers you like but only include content from those writers when they specifically write about their desk set-ups, but not when they write about pencils. Impressively, distinct from apps like Tapestry, you can interact with content too— liking, retweeting, and replying to Bluesky, Mastodon, and federated Threads messages as you scroll them all integrated in one feed.

• 🔈 Bogasing M5* - Let me start by saying that the Bogasing is not the best portable speaker you can buy. But here's the thing— I don't need the best portable speaker I can buy. I need one that I can throw in my backpack and not worry about it getting crushed or scratched up. I also need one that lets me connect to it every which way— Bluetooth, Aux Cables, USB A and USB-C, and more. The Bogasing does all of that while kicking out an impressive amount of sound given its diminutive form factor and costing only $40-$60 depending on whether you can catch it on sale (which it frequently is). I've had mine for over a year now and it still works great, has crazy battery life and works equally well as a garage gym speaker and a monitor for my TE OP-1 Field. *Not sponsored, but this is an affiliate link to support the site at no additional cost to you.

That's it for this week, be safe, happy, and mischievous everyone!

It seems like the weather has been particularly weathery for everyone this week— I hope you're all staying warm or cool, or whatever you're supposed to be experiencing in your current season and location!

This week, apart from having a blast at the Fediverse House at SXSW and visiting the Renaissance Faire, I've been marveling over the beauty and clever design of these mugs with 3D printable attachments, actively trying to avoid buying this upgraded 1980's Sony Alarm Clock, admiring the web design for Hiroshi Yamauchi's private family office (h/t Andy), swooning over this turntable-inspired watch, and seriously contemplating grabbing one of these incredibly small Pico Micro Macs, a vintage Mac 128K emulator running on a Raspberry Pi Pico.

On to the good stuff!

🖊️ Uniball Zento Signature Pen - I feel kind of bad for linking to this pen because it's basically impossible to get. It just launched a few weeks back in Japan, and it's sold out across the country. The only US retailer I could find that carries it (linked) is also sold out. The Zento Signature is a premium-ish (~$30) version of Uniball's new Zento line of ink/pens. They reportedly spent 5 years developing this luscious water-based gel ink that writes ridiculously smoothly while also drying quickly without bleeding/feathering. The Signature version comes with a cool metallic body design and a satisfying magnetic click when posting the cap. If, like me, you can't wait to get your hands on the Signature version to try out Zento, you can grab a two pack of the standard Zento pens* for cheap— I just got some and love how they write.

⏰ Remind Me Faster for iOS/MacOS - While the Apple Reminder's app has made big leaps bringing it closer to being able to act as a full GTD system, one sticking point that lingers for me is reminder entry— it's just too fidgety. Enter Remind Me Faster, which leverages natural language processing to let you very quickly create reminders and add them to any list with any qualifiers right from your keyboard. It's also got a really polished design that I appreciate.

📷 AgBr for iOS/MacOS - The long-teased iOS and MacOS black and white photo editing app from Nuevo Tokyo and Heliographe finally released this last week. I have to say it's really impressive. Apart from offering a bunch of stunning black and white film emulations that you can quickly apply to any of your photos, I particularly love that it randomly generates its grain effects, so that you get unique photo grain patterns on every single photo. Highly recommended if you want to experiment with shooting more black and white.

😶‍🌫️ Aranet4 Indoor CO2 Detector* - We had the original windows replaced on our old home last year, and while we have appreciated the energy efficiency and having less road noise and dust in the house, we've also noticed the house getting stuffier after the change, correlating with what's felt like more headaches and worse sleep. My brilliant wife had the idea of getting some indoor air quality detectors to check out what's going on. We wound up getting this Govee PM2.5 monitor* to measure ultra fine particulates in the air and the Aranet4 CO2 detector to measure Carbon Dioxide. I'll spare you all of the sordid findings (although I will say they were shocking), but I've been super impressed with the Aranet4 in particular. It is pricey but is apparently very highly regarded and was effortless to set up. I particularly like the super legible e-ink display.

🌬️ Paku for PurpleAir for iOS/MacOS - Speaking of air quality, I am a big fan of Paku for hyper local air quality monitoring. Paku lets you get readings from PurpleAir sensors in your neighborhood, often giving you much more accurate results than you can get through generic weather apps. If you live in a high pollution or pollen area where air quality can have a big impact on your plans, I highly recommend grabbing the app.

That's it for this week! Wishing you and yours at least one epic belly laugh in the days ahead.

*Asterisks indicate an Amazon-Affiliate link which helps support the Hiro Report's hosting fees at no additional cost to you!

This week, I've was inspired to try out this amazing soda can camera project, enjoyed this archive of software folklore (even if some of it has been debunked), hopped on the waitlist for the reboot of Digg, downloaded all three of these designery space wallpapers, flipped a real coin in someone else's house using the internet, called to harass my senators, and practically meditated while doing these gorgeous puzzles made from vintage illustrations of real fauna.

On to the good stuff!

• 📆 Lifeweeks.app - I saw a few folks link to this tool this week, a very clever web app for visualizing one's entire life as divided up into weeks. There are neat customizations you can do to depict where you were during periods of your life, mark important dates, and so on. Whether for sharing publicly or just keeping your own life log, I love this concept.

• 🕦 Tinker Clock Widgets for iOS - This beautiful little app lets you design/build your own clock widget to keep on your iPhone homescreen. It comes with components you can choose from to build your own design, or you can upload your own images to turn into clock elements. It's such a clever, good-looking little app.

• 🗺 Things In - Thanks to Matthew over at Wimp for turning me on to this great site for quickly exploring the top-rated activities, restaurants, and places to stay in any given town. It doesn't have coverage EVERYWHERE yet, but it does have a good number of major cities for many countries around the world.

• ✈️ Peak Design Roller Pro - Speaking of travel, Peak Design launched the pre-orders for their long-awaited rolling travel bag this week. In typical PD fashion, they've meticulously designed every single piece of it—no off-the-shelf components. It has a super slim, entirely carbon fiber retractable handle. The insides are cavernous with thoughtful touches for securely organizing everything from your clothes to your cameras and laptop to your passport. I really dig it. That said, it costs $600 at retail when it releases later this year. Big gulp.

• ⌚ Stardate Voice Notes for WatchOS and iOS - Shout out to DocPop for the introduction to this excellent Apple Watch and iPhone voice notes app that launched last week. The aptly named Stardate lets you record voice notes of unlimited length and then transcribes them entirely on device with a downloaded large language model (LLM) fine-tuned for audio transcription. I've been using it for journaling, capturing ideas, making lists, and more. I cannot emphasize enough just how much better the transcription is in Stardate compared to Siri's transcription. In my early testing, the quality of transcription is on par with the also excellent Voicenotes app, however I really like that Stardate does not send your recordings off to a third-party AI service and everything is stored in your own iCloud Drive account. In fact, nothing leaves your device unless you choose to share the recording or the transcription with some other app or service. Lastly, the launch video for it has a puppet in it, and I love it all the more for it.

That's it for this week! May you find lots of clever ways to create good trouble this week.

This week, I’ve been reading about finding wild clay in nature, drooling over these gorgeous retro Apple-themed Airpods Pro, clicking around the brilliant landing page for Josh’s Whimsical Animations course (thanks to ANHVN), making web shooter hands while watching the fantastic new Spider-Man series from the X-Men '97 team, and ogling the stunning (albeit somewhat idiosyncratic) Sigma BF camera.

On to the good stuff!

• 📓 Rocketbook* - The Rocketbook is a really interesting reusable analog/digital notebook concept that features special paper that can be easily erased with a damp cloth, and pairs with an iOS/Android app for scanning the pages and digitizing your notes in the cloud storage solution of your choosing. At about 1/20th the price of a ReMarkable Paper Pro*, this looks like a great way to dip your toe in to Analog/Digital notetaking to see if it would work for you. *Affiliate-links to support my coffee and tech addiction.
• 🧠 MyMind for Web/iOS - I’ve been trying out MyMind this week, which aims to serve as your external memory— letting you save websites, photos, videos, quotations and more in one central place. There are lots of similar offerings out there, but this one is unique in that it leverages AI to automatically generate tags and categories for you so everything is organized in neat, easily searchable ways. On top of all the AI magic is a really delightful, pretty UI. Too soon to say if it’s going to stick for me or not, but I’m really enjoying it and like the concept.
• 📚 Mark - Smart Bookmark - Do we need AI crammed into absolutely everything? I think not. HOWEVER, this gorgeous little AI-powered book mark looks like a lot of fun. In short, it can keep track of your reading, summarize what you’ve read, let you share with others your progress in books, and more. It may be a little gimmicky, and is not actually for sale yet, but I definitely signed up for the waitlist.
• ✂️ Cricut Explore 4 - We’ve been happy owners of a Cricut Explore 3 for years, using it for things like cutting fabric for my wife’s quilting to cutting card stock for fun 3d paper projects I build with the kids. Cricut just came out with the 4th generation of the Explore and Maker models that not only bring down the price for both but also increase the cutting speed and precision for most materials. If you’re at all in to crafting type stuff, it’s worth checking them out.
• 💾 Hyperspace - This handy little utility by John Siracusa just came out this week and lets you quickly reclaim space on your Mac by searching for files with identical content and then does some technical Mac wizardry to condense them down to the storage space of just one copy, all without deleting any of the files. Thanks to Lou’s excellent AppAddict for flagging this.

That’s it for this week! Take great care and be totally awesome to a stranger if you can.

This week, I’ve been falling down a rabbit hole of YouTube videos about cinematography and really enjoyed this fun piece on the art of cinematic lighting and this fascinating look at why movies don’t look like movies anymore. Elsewhere on the internet, I’ve been loving this concept of embedding NFC tags in manicures, dreaming about a stay at Casa Alférez outside Mexico City, and enjoying Craig Mod’s latest essay, Garbage.

I’ve also been delighting in the awesome photos from participants in The Photography Composition Challenge. If you haven’t already, I suggest browsing the #TheCompoChallenge hashtag.

On to the good stuff!

• 📷 Foto for iOS/Android - I’ve been enjoying beta testing Foto for the last few months, and am glad to see it finally went live to the public this week. It’s yet another Instagram competitor focused on giving people a beautiful, ad-free place to share their photography—no video/reels, no ads, no algorithm. It’s very similar to Glass, but unlike Glass, Foto is free (with optional paid Pro tiers). I’m @hiro over there—say hi if you decide to check it out!

• 🌡️ Meater SE* - I’ve been a happy user of the Meater Plus* cooking thermometer for a few years—it’s seriously leveled up my cooking of meats and fish and has become one of my favorite pieces of kitchen tech. The newer SE model is more affordable by swapping out the bamboo materials on the base station for plastic, but it still offers the same excellent remote temperature monitoring and alerts on your iPhone via Bluetooth and WiFi. *Amazon Affiliate link to support my tech addiction.

• ⌨️ NuPhy Kick75 - I've been thinking about getting a NuPhy keyboard for awhile– They look great and are often endorsed by people much smarter than me about keyboards (like Andrew at ClicksNClacks). This new one that is currently on pre-order might just be the one I get. It's got a killer retro game-inspired aesthetic and is unique in being the first keyboard to let you switch between high and low profile switches. Confession: The tech is cool, but what's really got me sold is the clear case and the fun colors.

• 🎒 CIVIC Bookbag 22L - Every once in a while, I get a marketing email that makes me incredibly itchy to make an irresponsible purchase. The launch announcement for this bag from one of my favorite brands, Evergoods, nearly sent me spiraling. Imagine the classic Jansport-style backpack we all carried in school, but completely upgraded with high-end, durable materials and thoughtful design tweaks for the modern, tech-loving adult. I want one.

• ⚡ Nomad ChargeKey - Well, this is a beautiful, handy little thing. Nomad released an updated version of their ChargeKey this week, a super small USB-C to USB-C charging cable that fits on your keychain. The new version supports fast charging up to 240W and data transfer speeds up to 10Gbps (USB 3.1). I also love that the two cable ends magnetically stick together, preventing them from flopping around like useless squirrel nunchaku. I want to grab a pair (or four) to stash in all my bags.

That’s it for this week! May you find lots of opportunities to practice radical acts of kindness.

This week, beyond prepping for the Photography Composition Challenge, I’ve been loving this fun story about an SR-71 showing off for a bunch of Cessnas, exploring the excellent Type Atlas blog of independent typefaces (courtesy of Kevin), and revisiting the SteamWorld Dig games on the Nintendo Switch.

However, the most delightful surprise this week was discovering the amazing Floor796 (thanks to Mako’s newsletter)—an incredible, hand-animated homage to nerd culture. You really just have to see it for yourself.

On to the good stuff!

• 📹 Pikadittions – It’s been a few months since I’ve checked in on the state of AI-generated images and video, and I was totally blown away when I discovered Pika’s Pikadditions tech. The concept is simple: upload a video, add a picture of something you want to insert, describe what you want it to do, and within about two minutes, Pika delivers a spectacularly impressive rendering of your request. You can try it out for free or subscribe for a few bucks a month if you want to go all in. Here is a koala space pirate at my dining room table, and his little friend jumping on my meditation pillow.

• 🎧 Beats Powerbeats Pro 2 Headphones – This week, Apple launched the latest update to their workout-centric headphones featuring built-in heart rate monitoring alongside the Apple H2 chip, enabling super-efficient playback, automatic switching between Apple devices, and more. My favorite workout app, Ladder*, has already integrated support so you can see health data during workouts without wearing an Apple Watch. I’ll probably stick with my Apple Watch and Oura Ring for now, but I do like the look of these, especially the new electric orange color way—my AirPods Pro 2 still fall out of my ears from time to time, especially when I’m getting a little too enthusiastic listening to RATM. *Not sponsored, but these are affiliate links to support the site.

• 🔍 Kagi Privacy Pass – I’ve written before about Kagi, my favorite search engine. I love that for a modest subscription, you get zero ads, superior search results, and strong privacy protections. This week, Kagi doubled down on privacy with Privacy Pass, allowing you to log in and perform searches using anonymized tokens. This means that even Kagi itself can’t see who you are or what you’re searching for, despite your paid membership. Clever stuff.

• 📱 Daily Wallpaper for iOS – I am a sucker for simple utility apps like this. Indie dev Leo Mehlig released Daily Wallpaper this week, letting you automate adding a fresh new iPhone wallpaper to your screen every day from sources like NASA’s APOD (Astronomy Photo of the Day) and Bing’s Nature Photo of the Day. I have mine set to pull down a NASA spaceflight photo every morning.

• ☎️ 5 Calls App for iOS – Not to get too political, but we’re living in an intensely political moment in the U.S. I have friends across the mainstream liberal-to-conservative spectrum who are deeply concerned about at least some of the things happening. It’s easy to get caught up in either doomscrolling oneself into oblivion or completely avoiding the news altogether for mental health. I get it. But when/if you’re ready to take action, the 5 Calls app is a great resource. It gives you five phone calls to make each day to your elected representatives based on the issues you care about, complete with starter scripts and one-tap dialing.

That’s it for this week! May you stay safe, warm, and happy.

This week, I’ve been really enjoying this excellent long-form piece from DieWorkWear on building a classic shirt wardrobe, laughing my backside off rereading the insane scribblings of Joshua Allen in his short story collection Knife Fite*, playing around with Matt Birchler's excellent, newly launched Quick Reviews app, and marveling at the paradoxes and engineering behind this cassette-shaped MP3 player, which has a digital display yet still fits in cassette players (h/t Doc Pop).

But the big thing I worked on this week is…

On to the good stuff:

• 🙂 ‎Unhinged Mood Tracker for iOS - Beyond meditation, one mindfulness practice that’s been really helpful for me is simply pausing to acknowledge what I’m feeling in a given moment. Maybe it’s just me, but I easily get carried away by my thoughts or emotions without realizing how much they shape my actions and experiences. Unhinged is a delightful app that facilitates this practice—cheerfully pinging you throughout the day to ask what you’re doing and how you’re feeling. This serves the dual function of keeping you mindful of your emotional state while also creating a fun micro journal of your day.
  
• 💡 Hue Signe Table Lamp* - I picked up an earlier generation of these a few years back and have them set up all over my office. They kick out a great amount of soft light with customizable temperature and color options via both the Hue app and Siri/Apple Home. I find them particularly great as fill lights for video calls (supplementing the Elgato Key Light*) and for adding fun accent lighting when pointed into a corner or placed against a wall. They’re pricey but have been rock-solid reliable for me.
  
• 📰 Tapestry for iOS - I’ve been beta testing this new unified timeline/reader app from the indie app legends at The Iconfactory, and am excited that it's finally live for everyone. It’s a great-looking, highly customizable universal feed reader that lets you curate a fine-tuned feed of RSS subscriptions, social media accounts, Reddit subreddits, and more—all centralized in one easy-to-scroll interface. This saves you from hopping around between apps to get all the content you love. I particularly appreciate the ability to mute keywords and terms you don’t want to see (e.g., if you’re exhausted from the news cycle, it’s easy to filter out certain controversial personalities). All of this is wrapped in a lovely, very Apple-native UI.
  
• 🥧 Pieoneer for macOS - This fun new app launcher/switcher brings a unique circular interface to macOS. At the press of a button, it pulls up a wheel of your favorite apps and folders, letting you quickly launch them with a click and then get back to work. What sets it apart is the beautiful UI/UX and sound design from Martin Lexow, who makes a number of stunning utilities like this. I also use his Keystroke Pro anytime I’m doing a screencast.
  
• 📷 Camera + Lens Cleaning Kit* - In preparation for the photo challenge, I wanted to get my cameras cleaned up. At the risk of oversharing, I had some gross dust and schmutz building up between the shutter and exposure comp dials that I just couldn’t blow off* or swab away with Q-tips. A frustrated bout of web searching led me to this kit from K&F Concept, and it’s exactly what I needed. Three minutes with the combination of a bulb blower, soft brush, and smudge remover, and my two main camera bodies are looking nearly brand new.

That’s it for this week! For those of you eyeballing this issue between downs during the Super Bowl, may your favorite team win! I love watching the game but don't really follow sports, so like most years, I’m mostly just rooting for the ads and the snacks this year.

*Asterisks indicate an affiliate link that may generate a small commission for the site if you use it, at no additional cost to you. None of these are sponsored.

This week, I’ve been jumping on the waitlists for a bunch of interesting-looking tech and apps. I’m featuring one below, but two others I’ve signed up for are Avelo Running, a mysterious new running tech wearable from a team of ex-Nike and ex-Garmin rockstars, and Ruckr, an app designed to better track rucking workouts and more accurately calculate calorie burn based on the extra load you carry. Check them out!

Outside of health tech, I’ve been geeking out over the crazy discoveries NASA’s OSIRIS-REx asteroid sample return mission has enabled about the origins of life in the universe, and enjoying this fun look at the history of spaceflight patches.

On to the good stuff!

• ⌚ RePebble - Does anyone else remember the Pebble smartwatch from a decade ago? It was an early phone-connected wearable with an e-ink display that looked neat but never really took off. Amazingly, Google has open-sourced the software that ran it, and some of the original team are bringing it back with new and improved hardware while staying true to its minimalist ethos. I’m very excited to see where this goes. Check out Eric Migi’s explanation for why they want to do this.
• 📺 Channels for Apple TV + HD Homerun DVR* - I’ve been trying to prune back subscriptions, and a big pricey one was YouTube TV. In looking for alternatives, I came across this fantastic DIY solution. You get a cheap indoor antenna*, plug it into an HD Homerun DVR box that connects to your home network, and then, with the fantastic Channels app, you can stream live TV at home and while traveling, get a great TV guide, and set up both one-off and recurring recordings—all from your iPhone, Mac, or Apple TV. I’m really digging this setup.
• 🔍 OpenHayStack - This is a cool little project that builds a framework allowing most Bluetooth devices to be tracked using Apple’s Find My network. Right now, it supports only a few devices, like Raspberry Pi 4s* and the Micro:Bit Go* (a pocket-sized computer for coding, making games, etc.), but with the open-source community involved, I expect more support soon. I’m eager to try it out.
• 📝 Reflect for iOS and macOS - I’ve been experimenting with various personal knowledge management (PKM) and note-taking solutions for a while. I’ve used Obsidian pretty heavily for two years, dabbled with Craft off and on, and use Bear daily for long-form writing. They’re all great! However, I’ve finally found something close to exactly what I need in Reflect. Standout features include end-to-end encryption (so even Reflect staff can’t access your notes), Kindle integration to download book highlights as searchable notes, a daily note-focused setup, excellent AI-powered voice transcription, and AI-powered search for connections and insights. I’ll still use Bear for writing projects, but everything else is going in Reflect… this week.
• 🖱️ Stimulation Clicker - Jason Kottke linked to this extremely silly web project earlier this week, and I had fun playing around with it. Without spoiling too much, this little website demonstrates a crazy number of dark patterns that apps use to steal your time and attention. Mess around with it for just a minute or two, and you’ll recognize tons of UI/UX tricks designed to keep you hooked. It’s tongue-in-cheek but serves as a great reminder to be mindful of what you give your energy to on your devices.

That’s it for this week! Many thanks for all your great feedback and support—it makes writing this report so much fun. I love getting your emails and toots each week.

*Asterisks indicate an affiliate link. Purchases through these links may generate a small commission to support my insatiable tech habit.

While cooped up inside, I launched the first issue of my monthly column at the excellent Foofaraw web ‘zine, which will be hosting my Hiro Lab reviews of contentious tech products for the year. This month, I wrote about a fantastic entry-level starter drone that has a decent chance of being banned in the U.S. later this year. Let me know your thoughts!

Other highlights this week included Bob Fett’s excellent write-up on his analog, everyday note-taking setup, discovering this new art print from Ravi Zupa, and falling in love with Lost Pixels’ work, where a fountain pen mounted on a plotter creates stunning algorithmic city maps.

Note: This issue is not sponsored. However, links with an asterisk next to them are affiliate links that may generate a small commission to help offset the hosting fees for the newsletter at no additional cost to you.

On to the good stuff!

• 🖥️ Replacicon - Replacicon lets you swap out the icons on your Mac apps to better fit the theme or aesthetic you’re going for, similar to what’s become popular on iOS. A standout feature is its ability to automatically search the web for alternative icons for your system and third-party apps, letting you pick your favorite. You can even turn any PNG image into an app icon. Fun!

• 🚰 LARQ Bottle PureVis™ 2* - I’ve mentioned my minor water bottle addiction before, and this one may be my next purchase. It has a built-in filtration system to remove contaminants, self-cleans every two hours to prevent bacteria buildup, and connects to your phone to track hydration levels. Is it tech overkill and possibly overpriced? Probably. Has that ever stopped me in the past? Never.

• 🔠 Fontanello - Fontanello is a simple browser extension for Chrome, Firefox, and iOS that identifies fonts on webpages you visit. Highlight some text and it’ll show you the typeface, spacing, size, weight, and more. I’m going to be geeking out with this a lot—though I wish they had a Safari extension for Mac.

• 💪🏽 Ladder* - Thanks to Alex for recommending Ladder to me. Here's the premise: choose a team and coach based on your preferred workout style—powerlifting, CrossFit, yoga, HIIT, etc.—and get daily workouts, a supportive community, and an engaged coach who checks in with texts and video messages. I’ve only been at it a few weeks, but I’m really enjoying it. The link above should get you a free week trial if you want to check it out.

• 💡 Govee Permanent Outdoor RGB Lights* - I picked up a set of these over the holidays and have been thrilled with them. These string lights mount under the eaves of your house to project a pleasant downlight effect. They’re HomeKit-compatible thanks to Matter integration, making them fully programmable and automatable. I have them set to turn on at sunset, off at bedtime, and twinkle in holiday-themed colors and patterns on special days. Delightful!

That’s it for this week! May you find lots of quiet pockets of peace in the days ahead.

Beyond geeking out over the reveal of the Nintendo Switch 2 this week, I also found myself tempted to revisit some of my vintage handhelds after seeing this reel about a workshop in Brooklyn where you can go refurbish your very own vintage Game Boy with all parts supplied (including a used Game Boy).

Speaking of cobbled-together tech, I’m also drooling this weekend over Un Kyu Lee’s next Micro Journal release. This one is giving serious vintage PC/keyboard vibes, and I think I need it in my life.

Note: This issue is not sponsored. However, links with an asterisk next to them are Amazon affiliate links that may generate a small commission to help offset the hosting fees for the newsletter, at no additional cost to you.

On to the good stuff!

• 🖼 Aura Frame* - Being a photo nerd, I’m always on the lookout for ways to display family and travel photos around the house. We’ve tried a few different solutions, but far and away, my favorite is the Aura Frame. It’s got a great-looking digital display and a really easy-to-use app. I particularly appreciate that anyone in the family can send photos directly to the frame via the iOS share sheet.

• ☕ HOTO Micro Vacuum* - I’ve shared this in the past as a great desk accessory, but I’ve actually found an even better use for it— It’s become an integral part of my coffee/tea station for cleaning up stray coffee grounds, loose tea leaves, and just aggregated dust. It’s a little handheld, USB-C device that comes with various attachments for blowing focused air to clean keyboards or inflate things, as well as a surprisingly effective micro vacuum attachment. I just love this thing.

•🥃 Vero Glasses - Speaking of coffee, I got a set of these Vero cappuccino glasses for Christmas and have really been enjoying them for small lattes, Americanos, and turbo shots. Great colorways, chunky thick glass, and comfortable in hand. A winning combination.

• 📷 Topaz AI - I’ve been helping my parents restore some old family photos lately, and while I’ve been able to do a decent amount of color correction and dehazing with my meager Lightroom and Photoshop skills, I quickly ran into issues when dealing with a set of priceless but ever-so-slightly blurry photos taken by a drunken wedding guest at my parents’ wedding quite a few decades ago. In searching for a solution, I came across Topaz Photo AI and have been blown away by its ability to bring focus back to out-of-focus subjects, upscale old low-res photo scans, and generally denoise/color correct on the fly. It’s pricey, but a really impressive tool.

• 💰 Orbit for iOS - Orbit just launched this week as a beautiful subscription tracker. It lets you quickly input all your recurring subscriptions (think Netflix, DoorDash Plus, etc.), how much you pay for each, and the frequency with which you’re billed (weekly, monthly, annually, etc.). Then, it shows you how much you’re spending each year on subscriptions or the average cost per month. Beyond the beautiful design and easy UX, I also appreciate that it lets you track free trials and reminds you when they’re about to convert to paid. In honoring the spirit of the app, it’s also nice that it’s a one-time purchase after a free trial, rather than being one more subscription to track.

That’s it for this week! Wishing everyone good health, happiness, and peace.

This week, apart from perusing news and previews from CES, I’ve been playing with Minitap, an open-source Chrome browser extension that’s a full-fledged digital sequencer and beatbox, and listening to this gorgeous live Ólafur Arnalds concert filmed in the Icelandic wilderness. I also really enjoyed this great essay drawing storytelling lessons from Tom Stoppard’s revisions to the original draft of Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade’s script—thanks to Phil Gyford for the find. We also found the world’s greatest piggy bank, a major accomplishment.

Lastly, congratulations to Tobías for winning the Wimp Decaf giveaway! Thanks to everyone who entered, we'll definitely be doing another giveaway later this Spring 🙏🏽

On to the good stuff!

• ⌨️ AP-1 Keycaps - Well, these photography-themed keycaps are right up my alley. Aperture Priority AP-1 is inspired by the stylish, minimalist markings on classic cameras. Apart from being really good-looking keys, the Akuko Labs website is beautifully designed as well—worth checking out even if you have no intent to buy.

• 🪟 Caseta Smart Shades - I’m still digesting all the wild and often plain silly stuff announced at CES this year, but this smart window shade from Caseta leapt out as something I’ll likely wind up grabbing for myself. I have a bunch of Caseta smart light switches throughout the house, and they’ve worked impeccably with Siri/HomeKit for years. Being able to have Siri or various automations open/close our blinds would be amazing. I also appreciate that they offer custom sizes and blackout options.

• ⚡ Anker 140W USB-C 4-port Charger* - Of course, right after I link to the excellent Anker charger I’ve been using in my 2024 most used gear list, Anker releases a new one that looks even better. This one features three USB-C ports (up from the two on mine) and one USB-A PD3.1 port, and it’s capable of kicking out enough power to charge a 16” MacBook Pro in just 30 minutes. I also appreciate the ports being on the bottom of the charger, which should help reduce the weight of the cables pulling the charger out of the wall. *Amazon Affiliate-link to support my tech habit.

• ✂️ Supercopy - This is a small one but one of those things that can save you a ton of time in the aggregate. As you might guess, I copy and paste a lot of links throughout my day, especially when working on the Report. Having recently switched back to Safari, I’m really appreciating Finn Voorhees’ Supercopy Safari extension. It lets you quickly copy the URL of whatever site you’re looking at with ⌘+⇧+C, rather than having to click or ⌘+L into the menu bar first and then copy it.

• 🎵 ‎Dtd Playlist for iPad - This iPad app is a really fun way to get some chill vibes going when you’re trying to get some work done at your computer or around the house. Similar to the always-excellent Lo-Fi Girl channel, it has several curated playlists of lo-fi hip hop, downtempo cafe music, and more for you to choose from. Each playlist features an animated video loop and a clock that makes for an aesthetic iPad wallpaper/screensaver while it plays tunes to help you either focus or disassociate.

That’s it for this week! Wishing everyone lots of good health, happiness, and peace.

Hey there! How was this issue?

• 👍🏽 Lots of good stuff!
• 🤙🏽 Nothing really new, but it was fun.
• 👎🏽 Not interesting to me.

Like much of the rest of the tech world, I’ll be spending a lot of the week ahead poring over CES Coverage to see what new fun gadgets we’ll have to play with or lust over during the next year or so.

In the meantime, I’ve been really enjoying Mere Civilian’s write-up on getting started with 3D printing (featuring the Bambulab A1*), and I’ve been going down various rabbit holes after watching architect DamiLee’s excellent video on the Kowloon Walled City.

I’m also thrilled that the great folks at Wimp Decaf are back in action after Hurricane Helene forced them to pause operations for a bit. I’ve ordered a big restock for myself and an extra bag of beans to give away to a Hiro Report subscriber! (Details at the bottom of this email.) This is not in any way sponsored—I just like supporting good people making delicious coffee. Go show them some love if you’re looking to cut back on the jitters and anxiety vibes this year.

On to the good stuff!

• 🔑 Quiet Carry Q3 - I hate having keys jangling around in my pocket, so I was thrilled when I found the Q3 a few years back. It’s a very small slab of titanium that holds your keys together in its sleek embrace, along with either a small utility blade or multitool insert. It keeps all my stuff together, no jangle, and looks and feels nice. One of my favorite pieces of my EDC. That said, if you want something even more lightweight, check out OrbitKey’s offering*.

• ⛺ Kanvas 001 - OK, before I start, let me just get this out of the way: This thing costs £12,500. Phew, okay, it feels good to have that off my chest. With that done, I can tell you that this badass elevated camping tent, made with high-tech materials, was inspired by the design of the Apollo lunar lander, and I desperately want one. LOOK AT IT.

• 📝 Day One - I’ve been using this fantastic journaling app off and on for over a decade and recently started putting more time into it again. It features a beautiful Apple-native design, end-to-end encryption, and lets you document your life with text, photos, videos, voice notes, and other file attachments. It also integrates nicely with Apple’s new journaling prompt APIs and lets you easily import and export all of your entries in convenient formats, including JSON. If you’re thinking about taking up journaling in the new year, I definitely recommend giving it a go.

• ⌨️ 8BitDo Retro Keyboard - Xbox Edition - 8BitDo’s Nintendo and Famicom-themed* mechanical keyboards have been a smash hit, and now they’re back with a killer-looking translucent green Xbox version. Beyond just nailing the aesthetics, the keyboard comes with all manner of handy features for keeb nerds. Honestly, it’s a little over the top for me, but I love that they’re doing this.

• ☑️ Godspeed - Just when I think I’ve tried every to-do list app imaginable, I find some great, attractive new one to consider. This week, thanks to Erlend, I’m using Godspeed. It’s got a pleasant, minimalist design on top of a feature-rich system. The app’s self-proclaimed focus is on speed of entry, making everything just a keystroke away and hyper-responsive. Personally, I appreciate it having both speedy sync and full offline support, collaborative lists, labels, and Markdown support.

*Anything with an asterisk is an Amazon Affiliate link that may earn the newsletter a small commission at no cost to you if you buy something.

That’s it for this week! Wishing everyone an energizing start to the new year!

Hey friend, how was this issue?

• 👍🏽 Lots of good stuff!
• 🤙🏽 Nothing really new, but it was fun.
• 👎🏽 Not interesting to me.

This week, amidst all the festivities, I’ve been having my hair blown back by discoveries while playing around with ScreenCred and revisiting 1983’s The Right Stuff, getting a little cyberpunk with my watch face, and diving into this amazing illustrated guide to how mechanical watches work. I also took a super fun workshop on making latte art from the fine folks at Greater Goods Coffee Roasters out in Dripping Springs, TX.

With us wrapping up the year this week, I thought I’d do a special edition of the Report revisiting some of the most useful tech and gear of 2024 for me, personally. My Christmas cookie-addled brain is undoubtedly going to have overlooked some things, but this should be a good mix of stuff highlighted over the last year and a few previously unmentioned things.

As usual, none of this is sponsored, but any link with an asterisk* next to it would generate a small commission for the site at no additional cost to you should you purchase something with it.

Enjoy!

The Obvious Stuff

• 💻 MacBook Pro - My 2021 MacBook Pro remains my go-to machine for most work, writing, and photo editing. It still feels blazing fast and is just a lot of fun to use. MacOS Sequoia has brought a lot of much-appreciated quality-of-life improvements, led foremost by iPhone Continuity.

• 📱 iPhone 16 Pro - This phone is honestly overpowered for most of the stuff I do, but I upgrade year over year for the camera. According to the Photos app, I took just under 8,000 photos with it this year. 🤯

• 🎧 AirPods Pro 2 - Absolutely essential for surviving my workdays, and they just work insanely well.

Not Mentioned On Purpose

• 🕶️ Apple Vision Pro - It’s absolutely stunning hardware, but I have not used it nearly as much as I thought I would. Part of that is due to IT restrictions with my day job and less travel than usual this year. I’m hopeful I’ll figure out how to use it more next year.

• ⌚ Apple Watch Ultra - The Apple Watch Ultra is an amazing tool, but again I sadly did not go on nearly as many adventures as I’d normally like this year, so its features were largely overkill. Also, being a mechanical watch lover and avid Oura Ring user, I pretty much only wear my Apple Watch when working out or when going to bed thanks to its unrivaled silent alarm feature.

Accessories

• 📔 StudioNeat Totebook - This handy, flexible notebook has been my primary note-taking and sketching medium for the bulk of 2024. I love the fountain pen-friendly paper, the tasteful dot grid with subtle guide markings, and the pages in the back that are pre-perforated for both tearing out and for easily tearing into smaller index card-sized sheets.

• 📷 Insta360 Link Webcam* - Being a bit of a photo nerd who works from home, I take my camera setup for video calls more seriously than is probably reasonable. After using a dedicated DSLR with a video capture card for years, I switched to the Insta360 Webcam a little over a year ago and haven’t looked back. It offers great video quality, with easy integration on the Mac, and a nice built-in privacy mode. They updated to version 2.0 this year, which looks like a tempting upgrade. Just make sure you get some good lights*, otherwise no camera can save you.

• 📱 Anker Magnetic iPhone Case* - I’ve had at least one model of iPhone every year since they were first released, and I’ve tried A LOT of iPhone cases over the years. There are some great ones out there—I really like the cases from Peak Design and Moment in particular. That said, I am all in on this new Anker Case. It’s a relatively thin but strong case, with the distinct feature of having a small ring that unfolds for extra grip and can also rotate to serve as a kickstand in either landscape or portrait orientations. The real win is that you can both do MagSafe charging through the ring, and it features extra-strong magnets that allow you to attach your phone to any sufficiently metallic surface. I’ve attached mine to the fridge while cooking, to the squat rack while working out, to an airport rail while waiting for a flight, and more.

• ⚡ Anker 3-Port Fast Charging Block* - I promise I’m not sponsored by Anker. They just make ridiculously good stuff at a decent price. This 3-port charger goes everywhere with me. It’s got 2 fast-charging PD USB-C ports and one PD USB-A port. Pretty much all I need whether its a quick coffee shop run or a week in Europe.

• 🎒 CIVIC Travel Bag 20L / CIVIC Travel Bag 26L - Hands down my favorite backpack for both working from a coffee shop for the day or for taking into the woods for a day hike.

• 💧 Owala Freesip* - Like many modern households, we have multiple drawers and cabinets completely dedicated to our irrationally large collections of water bottles. We’ve tried most of the main brands, but my favorite and most-used this year is the Owala Freesip. Having the built-in option to chug or sip from the straw is super pleasant, and I appreciate the built-in locking loop that allows me to hang it from a carabiner* when needed.

• ✍🏼 Molotow Acrylic Markers* - I discovered these Sharpie alternatives this year and have been super impressed. The black is much blacker than a black Sharpie, and these things can write on anything. If you’re a maker or regularly need to leave really permanent markings on random things, I highly recommend them.

• 💵 Allett Sport Wallet - A dear friend very kindly gifted me one of these wallets this year, and I’ve been absolutely loving it. Very slim, lightweight, gender-neutral designs, great looks, and thoughtful touches like an optional micro-pen slot and built-in RFID-blocking materials. I cannot emphasize enough how thin both the leather and nylon versions of these wallets are, even more front-pocket friendly than my usual Bellroy.

Apps and Services

• 👨🏽‍💻 Raycast - Everybody has that first handful of apps they’d download right away on a new computer. Someday I might write out my full list, but I’ll skip straight to #1 with a bullet here—Raycast. It’s become so essential to many of my workflows for how I use my computer. In short, it’s a quick “everything bar” for your computer—sort of what Apple’s Spotlight is supposed to be but never quite delivers on. Raycast lets you search your computer, convert currency or units, do an AI query, queue up some music, and more, thanks to an extensive free shop of community-built plugins.

• 💬 ChatGPT - A little controversial, I know, but I’ve used ChatGPT a ton this year for everything from quickly retrieving information to practicing my Spanish and Arabic, proofreading my writing, and helping me get some starting points for research. Obviously, I have to double-check its math quite a bit, and I’m mindful about what I’m willing to share with it, but it’s been a very helpful tool for me.

• 🔍 Kagi - Apart from the fact that it is very privacy-centric, does not run ads, nor sell our information to advertisers, Kagi’s search engine results are easily the most accurate and helpful of all the search engines I’ve experimented with over the last year, consistently beating Google, DuckDuckGo, Bing, and others. I happily pay the monthly subscription.

• 🧘🏻‍♂️ Zenitizer / The Way - It’s been a wild and tough year. I have not been nearly as consistent with my meditation practice as I’d like. As some master once said, “When you have absolutely no time at all to meditate is when you most need to sit down and meditate.” When I actually manage to take that advice, Zenitizer is easily my favorite unguided meditation timer and meditation habit tracker app, and I’ve tried dozens. For times when I need help staying focused and want a guided meditation, my go-to is The Way from Zen master Henry Shukman—absolutely wonderful.

• 🥐 Croissant - With Twitter’s accelerated descent into an echo chamber for crypto bros, fascist bros, and crypto-fascist bros, there’s been a fun (albeit slightly chaotic) splintering of the online short-form social space into three front runners. I honestly like Mastodon, Threads, and Bluesky all for different reasons and visit and post to them all regularly. Croissant has been a huge help in keeping my toes in all three ponds.

• ✉️ Fastmail - I transitioned from Proton to Fastmail this year and have been thrilled with the switch. I find it to be way more user-friendly and the email search functionality to be much more accurate (an essential for me). It still also includes lots of great privacy features that I’d previously appreciated with Proton, like support for aliases and anonymous temporary emails.

• 🐻 Bear App - Bear is, simply put, my favorite writing and note-taking app. There are a ton of great options out there, but it’s the one that best fits how I like to capture information. In fact, I write the first draft of all my weekly Hiro Reports right here in the app. It’s got a really clean, minimal design that quickly and effortlessly syncs your writing between their Mac, iOS, and iPad apps. It lets you write in both Markdown and Rich Text and export to whatever format you like. It also supports back-linking to other notes within the app. While it’s not as powerful (or complex) as something like Obsidian or Notion, it is aces for my own informal zettelkasten / PKM efforts to track books I’m reading, my favorite things I’ve ordered at various restaurants, movies I want to watch, and so on.

That's it for this week, see you all next year!

Hey, how was this Special Edition?

• 👍🏽 Lots of good stuff!
• 🤙🏽 Nothing really new, but it was fun.
• 👎🏽 Not interesting to me.

I’ve also been geeking out on space stuff, including really enjoying this great animated explainer video from Jared Owens that answers the question, “How does a Space Telescope work?”

Lastly, I thoroughly enjoyed reading Federico Viticci’s write-up this week on how he is running the MacStories empire entirely from his 11” iPad Pro.

On to the good stuff!

• 💡 Govee Bedside Lamp* - I am a stickler for good lighting. If a room is not lit enough or is lit poorly (e.g., too many different color temperatures from the various light sources), it makes me physically uncomfortable. I should probably talk to a specialist at some point about my affliction. All that said, I’ve been looking for good bedside lighting for a while, and after trying a lot of different options, this new Matter-enabled lamp from Govee is my strong favorite. It integrates handily with HomeKit, letting you control it with Siri and set up automations. It kicks out plenty of light and even has a bunch of fun RGB scenes that you can install.

• ⌚ The DSKY Moonwatch from Apollo Instruments - Well, this sets my nerdy heart aflutter– The DSKY is super-upscale calculator watch that takes extensive design cues from the Apollo program’s Mission Control boards. It nails the space race-era technology vibes, and I, for one, am completely here for it.

• 📖 Flyleaf for iOS and iPadOS - I mentioned in last week’s report that I am revamping my RSS reader setup. Hand in hand with that, I’ve been playing with different read-it-later solutions. Thanks to Lou’s great write-up, this week I’m trying out Flyleaf, a beautiful new app for storing and reading articles. I like that its default reading mode is paginated, meaning it breaks articles into pages you can flip through like reading on your Kindle. Something about breaking out of the common scrolling mechanic is really soothing.

• 😴 Viory Mouth Tape* - I’ve written previously about using mouth strips to help me sleep better. The short version is these weird-looking strips promote nasal breathing while you sleep, minimizing a number of common sleep disturbances like snoring and mouth dryness. They’ve been a game changer for my wife and me. After trying a bunch of subpar alternatives to the Hostage Tape brand I'd previously recommended, we’ve found this obscure third-party brand on Amazon to be as good, if not better, and at a slightly lower price point. Recommended.

• 📷 Peak Design Camera Leash - Since getting a new camera recently, I’ve been searching for a new camera strap to go with it. After looking at a bunch of beautiful leather straps and other popular/trendy options, I’ve ultimately decided to stick with the Peak Design Camera Leash, the strap I’ve had on my Fuji X100V for years. It’s lightweight, super adjustable, very durable, and I love the Peak Design anchor system that makes it SO easy to swap the strap on and off while still remaining very secure on the camera. I like it so much that I added one to my Christmas list so I can have one on each of my cameras rather than swapping back and forth each time I go out.

That’s it for this week! Wishing everyone who celebrates a wonderful, relaxing Christmas!

*Not sponsored, just an affiliate-link to support the site.

Hey, how was this issue?

• 👍🏽 Lots of good stuff!
• 🤙🏽 Nothing really new, but it was fun.
• 👎🏽 Not interesting to me.

Separately, this week I asked everyone what they’re using for feed readers. Many thanks to everyone who responded over on Mastodon, Bluesky, and Threads! Some great apps and services in the replies. For now, I’m primarily using the new Reeder for a more zen feed reading experience and trying out News Explorer for keeping track of the feeds I absolutely don’t want to miss. I’ll be trying the other recommendations over time.

On to the good stuff!

• 📰 TRMNL - I’ve been looking for something like this for a while—a simple, beautiful e-ink display that can update itself with key information throughout the day, like RSS feeds, weather, business/social KPIs, and more. They also seem very invested in making it easy for developers to make their own plug-ins. I’m making this a late addition to my personal Christmas list.

• ☕ MHW-3BOMBER Scale* - I’ve bought some pretty fancy and expensive coffee scales over the years, but I’ve been very pleasantly surprised by this dirt-cheap scale from the extremely awkwardly named MHW-3BOMBER. It is tiny, water-resistant, USB-C charged, and weighs accurately down to 1/10th of a gram. It also has a built-in timer for your extractions and an automatic tare function that sets the scale to 0 the moment you put a cup on it. The only thing missing compared to some of my fancier scales is Bluetooth connectivity, but that’s just not a feature I ever use. Recommended. *Amazon-affiliate link to support my tech and coffee habit.

• 📲 PassCollect for iOS - We recently joined a rock climbing gym in the area, and they gave us the world’s smallest barcode tags to scan whenever coming in for a climb. I knew right away I would for sure lose mine, let alone the kids’ tags, so I went in search of a solution. I landed on PassCollect which just launched in the last week or so and couldn’t be happier. Simply scan whatever library, gym, grocery store, membership, or rewards barcodes you have, and it stores them in a handy virtual wallet, ready to be scanned whenever needed.

• 📆 JoiPlanner for iOS - I’m always on the lookout for new calendar and organizer apps, and this beautiful new one has been a lot of fun to use. It takes a unique approach by asking you to choose your recurring priorities (e.g., meditating, going for a walk, taking a coffee break, etc.) and then shows those as to-do’s that you slot into your existing calendar each day. It’s got a beautiful, very iOS-native design that I’m really digging.

• ⏱️ Time Since Launch - I found this cool little piece of tech art via Jason Kottke’s excellent Holiday Gift Guide. It’s a timer that starts counting whenever you pull out a pin, and then the self-contained unit will just keep counting upwards for 2,000 years on its own power. A really neat way to commemorate how long it has been since some major milestone—a wedding, moving into a house, launching a product, etc.

That’s it for this week, be well everyone!

Hey, how was this issue?

• 👍🏽 Lots of good stuff!
• 🤙🏽 Nothing really new, but it was fun.
• 👎🏽 Not interesting to me.

OK, on to the good stuff!

• 📷 Pixii Max Rangefinder Camera - The latest offering from Pixii is the only full-frame digital rangefinder camera on the market that I know of other than Leica’s vaunted M series digital cameras. At just half the price of a new Leica M11, the Pixii is a really neat, modular, upgradeable, software-defined camera. Best of all, you can send older models in and, for a fee, they will upgrade your components (new sensors, new processors, etc) as they are released. So, for example, there are folks who bought the original Pixii 5 years ago with an APSC sensor, that are sending their cameras in to be upgraded this month to the new full frame sensor. How cool is that? That said, it does have some limitations that keep it from really being a fit for me (no mechanical shutter being a big one in my mind), BUT I’m really rooting for these guys and would love to see them bring some more competition to keep Leica on its toes.

• ⚡ Anker MagGo 3-in-1 / Anker MagSafe Charger Stand* - For Apple-toting friends who may be gearing up for holiday travel over the next few weeks, I highly recommend grabbing one of these two 3-in-1 travel chargers. There are a bunch of products like this that will charge your iPhone, Apple Watch, and AirPods in one place. Personally, I have the cube-shaped one, and just really appreciate that these things are SO compact and well made. They take all the stress out of charging your stuff. Bonus points for making it so you really only need to bring one cable to charge all three devices. *These are Amazon-affiliate links that may earn me some commission to support my tech habit.

• 📖 Lochby Mini Field Journal - Lochby makes amazingly rugged and good-looking canvas and waxed canvas journals. I have one of their larger Field Journals I’ve used off and on for years. It just makes me happy every time I see it. Very strong “I’m going to uncover a mystery at an archaeological site” vibes. Now, they have launched a smaller, pocket-sized version that can carry about four Field Notes booklets in it. I am probably going to have to pick one of these up. (Thanks to Abu C for making sure I see this!)

• 🛞 Hoto Tire Inflator* - This last week I discovered, right at the most inopportune time, that the off-the-shelf “roadside emergency kit” I’ve been carrying around in the back of the family car for years was, in fact, nothing more than a flaming pile of armadillo poop wrapped in reflective neon canvas. (What kind of roadside kit doesn’t have jumper cables??) Anyway, I’m rebuilding my kit from scratch. Enter the Hoto Tire Inflator. I have bought a number of products from Hoto now, and every* one* has been a delight. This tire inflator is no different—it actually looks cool, is USB-C chargeable, has preset modes for car tires, motorcycle tires, bike tires, sports balls, and more, as well as a handy built-in flashlight. I’ll be more ready next time. *These are Amazon-affiliate links that may earn me some commission to support my tech habit.

• 👩🏽‍🎨 Read.cv - Thanks to Andrew at ClicksNClacks for flagging this cool design portfolio/resume site/job board combo. Admittedly, it’s doing kind of a lot of things, but it’s beautiful to explore and is chock full of cool side projects and hobby websites made by people who really care about the design of what they’re making. Highly recommend a click around—who knows, you may find a great designer to hire for your next project or opening.

That’s it for this week—be well, everyone!

Hey, how was this issue?

• 👍🏽 Lots of good stuff!
• 🤙🏽 Nothing really new, but it was fun.
• 👎🏽 Not interesting to me.

Big thanks to Alex, Jedda, Maique, Michael, Gobino, Brumph, Otávio, Chris Glass and others for the photo blog inspo!

Otherwise, I mostly dodged the Black Friday madness, but I did notice that many items from my Holiday Gift Guide for Gear and Tech Fiends are on sale.

On to the good stuff!

• 📝 Analog + Discbound Analog - Ugmonk’s beautiful Analog system has been one of my favorite systems for tracking tasks and to-dos over the past year. It’s essentially a sleek stack of loosely formatted 3x5 cards to manage daily tasks, long-term goals, and random ideas. The design and build quality are top-notch, as with everything Ugmonk makes. Their new Discbound version makes the system portable and even more practical for those who like to take their organization on the go.
  
• 👨🏽‍💻 Craft 3 for iOS and MacOS - Craft is one of the best-looking apps in the increasingly crowded Personal Knowledge Management (PKM) space. This week, they released version 3, which introduces improved task management, the ability to organize collections within notes, and new styling options for offline and published notes. David Pierce’s excellent write-up dives deeper into what’s new and the company’s philosophy going forward. I’ll be spending a lot of time with it this week. Check out Andy's reading tracker as a cool example of Craft in use.
  
• 🖱️ MX Master 3S Mouse - Over the years, I’ve tried countless mice, but the MX Master 3S is easily my favorite. It’s incredibly comfortable, lasts weeks on a single charge, and features customizable buttons that adapt to specific apps. Highly recommended if you are looking to change something up on your desk.
  
• ⌚️ D20 Watch - I love a gimmick watch, and boy is this one right up my alley. This nerdy little devil claims to be the first watch ever designed for table top role-playing games (TTRPG’s), due to the fact that it will let you roll virtual dice right on your wrist. It also nails the early 90’s digital watch aesthetic that was my bread and butter growing up. Unfortunately, it’s preorder only right now, so in the meantime I’ll keep playing with Dice by PCalc on my Apple Watch.
  
• 💻 Cleanshot X for MacOS - For someone who is not a professional designer, I still take a crazy amount of screenshots each day. Cleanshot X is a utility that makes it easy to capture your screen and then share it in a way that looks nice. It offers all kinds of handy features like adding custom backgrounds behind your screenshots, making easy screen recordings that highlight your clicks, markup tools to highlight what you want to call out, and more. It's one of those remarkably well designed apps that just makes little things easier and more delightful.

That’s it for this week! To quote two wise sages from my youth: “Be excellent to each other, and party on, dudes!”

Please note that many of these links are affiliate links that may get me a little kickback but, as always, I am only recommending products I either have and recommend or would genuinely like to have. I also tried, when possible, to link to the most affordable place to buy a product once you factor in shipping, which sometimes was Amazon and sometimes was directly from the vendor. That said, I recommend doing your own research if you’re looking for the absolute best deal on any of these items.

Alright, on to the good stuff!

EVERYDAY GEAR

• Baron Fig Confidant Notebook - This is my favorite notebook/journal. It not only looks super clean, but it also has dreamy, fountain-pen-friendly paper. $
• Hero Clip Gear Carabiner - I cannot emphasize enough how handy this multifaceted hanger is. $
• Cantonment Handkerchief Set - Another thing that, once you start carrying, you can’t believe you ever went without. Clean glasses, camera lenses, wipe away sweat, clean up a spill, or wear as a hanky when it’s hot or cold. $
• Studio Neat Mark One Pen - Give someone the best-looking pen they’ve ever had. $$
• Reylight Mini Titanium Flashlight - This thing is tiny, mighty, and kicks out a lot of light. It’s also beautiful. $$
• James Brand The Carter Knife - A really solid, good-looking pocket knife is essential. I have fancier, more costly knives, but I still wind up carrying The Carter quite a lot. $$$
• CIVIC Travel Bag 20L / CIVIC Travel Bag 26L - Hands down my favorite backpack for both working from a coffee shop for the day or taking into the woods for a day hike. $$$$
  

TECH

• LOFREE Flow84 Low Profile Mechanical Keyboard - This thing looks fantastic on a desk, is a pleasure to type on, and is also small enough to bring with you on trips. $$$
• Micro Journal - This gorgeous little device is like a modern typewriter with customizable keycaps, letting you just focus on your writing and nothing else. $$$
• BambuLab A1 Mini 3D Printer - The absolute no-brainer best way to get someone started with 3D printing. And it is on sale right now for $199. $$$
• DJI NEO Beginner Drone - Another great way to get into an otherwise expensive and complex hobby. This is a great starter drone that can be scaled up with a remote and FPV goggles if needed. $$$
  

TOYS

• Slider/Trider Fidget Toys - Who doesn’t love a good fidget toy? These are super clicky, slide-y, and nice. $
• Doctor Popular’s Yo-Yo Starter Kit + Comic Book - Do you remember how fun yo-yos are? Doc Pop has a way of making them even more fun and cool. $
• XU Mini Retro Handheld - There are a million retro handhelds out there. This one is my current fave and comes with an insane number of retro games. $
• Teenage Engineering EP-133 - This is one of the most fun toys I’ve gotten in recent years. It’s a great fun beat maker and sampler from the kings of fun physical product design. $$$$
  

PRACTICAL STUFF

• Anker Ultra Magnetic iPhone Case - While I think there are better-looking iPhone cases out there, I've yet to find a more practical and effective one! $
• CIVIC Access Pouch 2L - I bring this thing with me everywhere for carrying all my tech gear when I travel. Doubles as a nice little camera cube in a pinch. $$
• Anker Qi2 MagSafe iPhone Charger - Is this a romantic gift? No. Will it absolutely save their ass when their battery is low, and look good doing it? Yes. $$
• Otto Smart Sprinkler - This amazing, smart sprinkler system has been a game-changer for our lawn and garden care. $$$$
  

LIFESTYLE / CULTURE

• Breath by James Nestor - This is one of the few books that I routinely give out as a gift because it's so universally helpful and practical. $
• Retro  Sticker - These stickers are guaranteed to level up your Apple devices’ cool factor by at least 42 points. $
• SimpleBits Fonts - A little out of the box, but rather than mailing a package across the world, what if you bought someone a really cool font they could use? $
• The Way Zen Meditation App Subscription - Let’s face it, we’re all gonna need some zen in the year ahead. Having tried all the guided meditation apps, this one is my fave. $$
• Outin Nano Travel Espresso Maker - I haven’t tried this, but it’s on my Christmas list—this tiny device lets you brew espresso from ground beans or from pods when camping or roughing it at Folgers-loving in-laws. $$$
• Fellow Aiden Brewer - Perfect for the coffee-loving gadget geek in your life. This smart brewer makes amazing coffee. $$$$
• U-Turn Orbit Plus Turntable - Records are just obscene fun, and this one is a great way to break into it without breaking the bank. $$$$

That’s it for this week! May you be happy, healthy, and at peace!

Hey! How was this issue?

• 👍🏽 Lots of good stuff!
• 🤙🏽 Nothing really new, but it was fun.
• 👎🏽 Not interesting to me.

Lastly, like many others this week, I’ve been revisiting Bluesky and having fun exploring how it differs from Threads and Mastodon. If you’re over there as well, please say hi! Also, check out Joe’s awesome starter pack of Apple developers to follow and Parker’s excellent starter pack of tech media/reporters.

On to the good stuff:

• ☕ Fellow Aiden* - After what felt like an eternity waiting for my pre-order, I finally got my thirsty, coffee-dependent hands on Fellow’s latest creation: the Aiden. This precision coffee brewer offers an insane level of control over your brewing process. Whether you’re using its quick brew mode for foolproof brewing or guided profiles to fine-tune temperatures, flow rates, and bloom times based off the roast of your beans, the results are incredible. I’m blown away by the brew coffee I’ve been getting from it… plus it’s rather handsome on the counter. *Amazon affiliate link to support the site.
  
• 🛰️ Sky Guide for iOS - With the sun setting earlier, we’re entering peak stargazing season. While there are plenty of excellent iOS apps for checking out astral bodies at night, my personal favorite is Sky Guide. It’s beautiful and packed with features: point your phone at the night sky to identify celestial objects, learn their mythological origins, or their scientific significance. I especially love its ability to identify passing satellites—though I’m consistently disappointed to discover they’re not UAPs as I secretly hope.
  
• 📚 Libro.fm - This one might be old news to some, but it’s new to me: Libro.fm is like Bookshop.org for audiobooks. A portion of every purchase supports the local bookstore of your choice. You can opt for a monthly subscription with credits or buy books à la carte. I plan to try it out… once I work through my mountain of Audible credits.
  
• 📝 Leaflet.pub - Leaflet is a delightfully simple web publishing platform reminiscent of the early indie internet. Just visit the site and you’re immediately presented with a blank document. You can then type or upload whatever you like, and publish it with a shareable link, or keep it private but collaborate with others via a secret link. No login, no ads, no subscriptions—just clean, minimalist web pages perfect for party invites, newsletters, zines, and more. Thanks to Ben for introducing me to it via his excellent coffee recipe list!
  
• 📝 Raycast Notes - Raycast, one of my all-time favorite Mac apps, recently added a fantastic notes feature. With a simple hotkey press (I use ⌥N), you can pull up a floating notes panel anywhere you are on your computer to capture thoughts, draft journal entries, or jot down reminders. It supports Markdown, is fully searchable, and lets you export notes in HTML, rich text, or plain text. (Interested in Raycast Pro? My invite link gets you 10% off.)

That’s it for this week—be well, everyone!

Hey, how was this issue?

• 👍🏽 Lots of good stuff!
• 🤙🏽 Nothing really new, but it was fun.
• 👎🏽 Not interesting to me.

Most importantly, I’ve been really trying to focus on gratitude for all the wonderful people in my life and online communities. Thank you all for reading, sharing, supporting, and being a part of this awesome little group. It means a lot.

On to the good stuff:

• 💪🏽 ‎Dropset: Gym Tracker - After a series of injuries, I’ve been in a rut with my workout tracking. The app I’ve used for years feels abandoned by its developers and is clunky to use. Enter Dropset: a robust, Scandinavian-minimalist app that makes it easy to create and track routines so you know exactly what weight to lift, how far to run, ruck, or row, etc., on any given day. Best of all, it’s built by an indie dev who’s very engaged with ongoing updates.

• ⛺ HEST Memory Foam Camping Mattress* - Cooler weather in central Texas means it’s time to start planning our first camping trip of the season. Last year, we got two HEST foam camping mattresses that totally upped our game. They’re big, heavy, and pricey—sold yet? But hear me out: they’re almost as comfortable as my bed at home, which makes camping way more restful. No more waking up feeling like a stale extra-crispy chalupa. Love these things. *Amazon-affiliate link to support the site.

• 👨🏽‍💻 Alcove for MacOS - Alcove is a beautiful, simple utility that recreates the iPhone’s Dynamic Island on your MacBook Pro’s notch. It displays info like the current song, volume changes, screen brightness, and more. I’ve seen other apps try this, but Alcove’s attention to detail and animations make it a standout. Thanks to Tyler for the tip!

• 📲 OneTap for iOS - Ever find yourself typing out the same text over and over, or constantly sending the same images or files? Whether it’s a standard customer support reply or directions to your house, OneTap is a game-changer. Unlike Text Replacements, which can handle quick phrases but not long blocks of text, OneTap is a “magic clipboard” that sits in your iPhone’s keyboard, letting you insert frequently used text, code snippets, URLs, photos, PDFs, and more into any text field. This app has saved me so much time over the last month.

• ⌨️ Yuzu Keycaps - Speaking of keyboards, Yuzu Keycaps just launched as a platform for making custom keycaps for mechanical keyboards. I love the look of their keycaps, and the user interface for customizing colors, fonts, legends, etc., is super smooth and approachable. I’m excited to give these a try!

That’s it for this week! Be kind to yourselves and each other.

To distract myself from election coverage, I’ve been geeking out on coffee resources like this printable PDF chart for measuring your grind size shared by CoffeeGeek, and latte art tutorials by Lance Hedrick and others. If you have anything you think I should be checking out, just reply to this email- I'd love to see what you all are in to these days.

On to the good stuff!

• 🔠 Alphabet in Motion - This pop-up book for grown-ups who love typography and design looks amazing. Described as an interactive museum of lettering history and typeface technology in book form, it promises to be both beautiful and fun despite its potentially dense subject matter.
• 👾 New Nintendo Stuff - It’s been a good week for Nintendo fans with the release of the iOS version of the Pokémon Trading Card Game and the ‎Nintendo Music app within days of each other. I’m thoroughly enjoying both—the card game captures the excitement of opening packs, collecting cards, and battling, with well-executed design and animations. (If you need a buddy in the app, feel free to add me!) The Nintendo Music app is perfect for listening to classic game themes while getting some focused work done. While we all really just want Nintendo to release the Switch 2.0 and stop antagonizing their own fans, it’s great to see Nintendo continuing to release fun and out of the box stuff like this.
• 🌬 Smart HVAC Vent With Matter Support - I haven’t tried this yet, but as a natural born sweater always longing for cooler temperatures, I’m intrigued. These units replace your home’s air vents and have built-in motorized fans that reportedly increase airflow by 30%. Plus, they integrate with Apple HomeKit through Matter, which makes my sweaty little nerd heart race.
• 🥤 Aerflo - Ever been on a long hike and thought, “I wish my water was carbonated?” No? Same here! That said, despite their outdoorsy marketing, I really like the idea of this portable water bottle that holds CO2 cartridges for making sparkling water on the go. (Thanks to Adelle for flagging this!)
• ☕ Subscale - This is one of the cooler kitchen/coffee gadgets I’ve seen in a while. It’s a dosing cup for measuring out coffee beans or loose-leaf tea before brewing, with a built-in scale and a light-up display on the inside of the cup showing the weight. It’s food safe, water-resistant, and even lets you brew espresso directly into it. Definitely going on my Christmas list.

That’s it for this week—stay safe and healthy, everyone!

How was this issue?

• 👍🏽 Lots of good stuff!
• 🤙🏽 Nothing really new, but it was fun.
• 👎🏽 Not interesting to me.

Lastly, I’ve been debating setting up a Discord server just so I can implement this fascinating Blog2Pod project, which automates turning articles on your reading list into audio via AI, then outputs a downloadable MP3 podcast feed you can subscribe to from any podcast app. Genius for anyone using a “read-it-later” app without built-in audio conversion.

On to the good stuff!

• 📝 Capture for iOS/Mac - Capture does one thing incredibly well. It lets you “capture” anything—a quick thought, a reminder, text, a webpage, a phone number, a photo—and save it to an inbox. You can later go through your inbox and send items to various apps—send a reminder to the Reminders app or Things, send a thought to a note or email, add a webpage to a Bear note, and so on. It’s a simple concept, but it’s great for freeing up mental space and ensuring you don’t forget anything.
• 👾 Solder Your Own Retro Game Kit - I haven’t gotten my hands on one of these yet, but I fully intend to. It’s a simple, build-it-yourself kit that creates a little LED dot matrix board running retro games like Tetris, Snake, and Space Invaders. I really dig the vintage electronics aesthetic.
• 📷 Nitro for iOS/Mac - My all-time favorite photo editing app was Apple’s Aperture, which was sadly discontinued. Since then, I’ve been stuck with Adobe Lightroom, but I’ve longed for Aperture’s simplicity (and price). Enter Nitro, built by a former Aperture developer. It’s a powerful, full-function Lightroom alternative for both Mac and iOS. It integrates natively with your Photos app and doesn’t require a separate library. At $29.99/year, it’s about 1/4 the price of Adobe’s offering.
• 📓 OrbitKey Folio* - I first wrote about this lovely LWG-certified leather folio a year ago and still love it after a year of hard use. With the new iPad mini launching this week, it’s worth mentioning again. Available in A4 and A5 sizes, it’s perfect for holding a bullet journal or notebook and an iPad mini, with thoughtful organization for business cards and a pen. In Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, a nice leather folio probably sits right around self-actualization in terms of urgency—but it’s really nice. *Amazon Affiliate link to support my tech addiction.
• 🩸 Glu Sight for iOS - This one’s a bit niche, but if you’re managing diabetes, check out the newly launched Glu Sight app for iOS. It’s a beautifully designed, Apple Health-connected glucose tracker and insulin reminder app. It’s so refreshing to see thoughtful design in a niche often lacking aesthetic appeal.

That’s it for this week! Stay safe, stay healthy, and go support democracy in the voting booth if you haven’t already!

How was this week's issue?

• 👍🏽 Lots of good stuff!
• 🤙🏽 Nothing really new, but it was fun.
• 👎🏽 Not interesting to me.

More than anything, I’ve been working on “appreciating everything endlessly” thanks to this absolutely amazing 20 minute talk by Cabel Sasser at XOXO, that half the internet has been linking to for the last week (seriously, make the time to watch it and try to avoid spoilers).

On to the good stuff!

• ☕ Breville Infuser* – I’ll spare you the long backstory involving my wedding, tiny Argentine countertops, and 10 years of wanting an espresso machine, but I finally picked up this one, recommended by CoffeeGeek, during Amazon's Prime Day sale. It’s beginner-friendly, looks great on my counter, and offers manual controls for pulling a legit shot and steaming the perfect latte milk. I'm loving it and suggest keeping an eye out for a good Black Friday sale on it. *Amazon affiliate link to support my coffee and tech habit.
• ⌨ Hubano – Dan from SimpleBits Type Foundry just released Hubano, an all-caps display serif inspired by old Cuban cigar box lettering. It's gorgeous! Check out his other fun fonts, like Wilco Loft Sans and Dragonsteel. Dan also has a secret club with secret typeface meetings, but forget I said anything about that!
• 🧳 Transit Packing Cube 8L – I’m by no means the world’s most organized person, but I’ve learned over the course of a few decades and many continents that travel is smoother when you pack in an organized manner. After trying everything from budget Amazon brands to REI and Peak Design, my favorite packing cubes are these 8L ones from Evergoods. They’re lightweight but durable and open flat into two compartments for easy access. They are also terminally sold out, but a new batch are available for pre-order now—grab some for holiday travel!
• 👾 GamePal for iOS – GamePal launched this week, offering a beautifully designed way to track your modern and retro game collections, log playtime, and journal your progress— No longer having to waste time trying to figure out what quest you left off on, or what you were planning to do next time you fire up your game. iCloud sync and iOS 18 widgets make it even more delightful. I’ve only just started using it, but it feels like this will be my new go-to for tracking my games.
• 🕹️ Analogue 3D – Speaking of retro gaming, the brilliant (but evil?) minds at Analogue are back with their much-anticipated Nintendo 64 console. It’s not only stunning to look at but also will natively upscale your old N64 cartridges to glorious 4K! The console will work with original N64 controller as well as more modern Bluetooth and Wifi remotes... I'm no expert, but it should also emulate any N64 games that you may have backed up from your legally obtained cartridges, thanks to USB and SD card ports. Pre-orders open Monday, and it’s pretty much guaranteed to sell out immediately.

⠀That’s it for this week. Stay safe everyone!

How was this week's issue– find anything fun or new?

• 👍 Definitely some good stuff in this one.
• 😐 Nothing new, but it was still fun.
• 👎 Nothing new or of interest this week.

On to the good stuff!

• 🚁 DJI Neo - The Neo is DJI’s latest micro drone. It’s unique because it costs just $199, requires no controller or FAA license, and can go from your pocket to airborne in about 3 seconds. While its basic function is as a “selfie drone” that takes high-res photos and 4K videos with AI-powered subject tracking, it can also be hooked up to a remote controller or an FPV headset for immersive flight. I got mine last week, and I’ve been having a blast—more impressions to come in a future Hiro Lab™ write-up. (Amazon Affiliate Link to support the site.)
  
• 🕶️ SAPIENS glasses - In a fun counterpoint to the race for advanced smart glasses, this Spain-based company makes eyeglass and sunglass frames modeled after the eye sockets of different pre-Homo Sapiens hominid ancestors. They’re funky, cool, and the aspiring paleontologist in me loves the backstory. I need to figure out how to get a pair (though many of their designs seem to be in-store exclusives in Europe). Shoutout to The Colophon design inspo newsletter for surfacing these this week.
  
• ⏰ Nintendo Alarmo - Doubling down on their commitment to weird, fun tech, Nintendo released the Alarmo this week. It’s an alarm clock featuring animations of iconic Nintendo characters and music from their games to wake you up. In classic Nintendo fashion, it has a motion sensor that reacts to your movement—if you go back to bed, it’ll reactivate the alarm! I grabbed one as a Christmas present for my eldest—it’s going to be hard to keep it hidden for two months!
  
• 🍲 FoodNoms for iOS - FoodNoms is my favorite macronutrient tracker. It’s clean, minimalist, and makes tracking everything from calories to protein, fiber, and caffeine a breeze. Whether you’re cutting pounds, packing on muscle, or just want a sense of your daily intake, this app has you covered. The developer, Ryan Ashcraft, just dropped a killer update that lets you import recipes or take a picture of your food for an AI-powered nutrient breakdown.
  
• 📱 WidgetPaper for iOS - WidgetPaper is a clever new app that launched this week, designed to create transparent widgets on your home screen, letting you hide other stacked widgets when you don’t want them cluttering up your carefully curated screen. Here’s a demo from the app’s creator on Threads.

That’s it for this week! Have a great one, everyone.

P.S. Find anything cool or new in this issue? The whole point of The Hiro Report is sharing fun stuff with people. I’d be honored if you’d consider forwarding it to a friend or just telling them to sign up for future issues. Thank you! 🙏

On to the good stuff!

• 🕶 THE HIRO LAB™: Ray-Ban x Meta Limited Edition - After months of going back and forth, I finally gave in and bought a pair of the limited edition transparent Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses. I’m using this as an opportunity to launch a new, irregular series of in-depth notes based on completely unscientific testing, called The Hiro Lab™. Check out the first edition with my somewhat conflicted first impressions on the Ray-Ban Meta's HERE, and let me know what you think. Would you like to see more in-depth write-ups here from time to time?
• 🦖 Long Ago Tracker for iOS - Long Ago is a neat utility for tracking how long it’s been since you’ve done, well, anything. You set up activities you want to track, document the last time you did them, and the app displays how much time has passed, both in the app and via lovely home screen widgets. It also offers reminders, goals, and metrics for each activity. I’m tracking when I last finished a book, how long it's been since I got some quality outdoor time, when I deep cleaned my espresso machine last, and when I last took my wife out on a date.
• 🛰️ Garmin InReach Messenger Plus - Garmin just released the newest addition to its InReach Messenger line, allowing you to send photos, voice messages, and text messages up to 1,600 characters via satellite when you’re off the grid. It’s impressive tech, though I’ll remind iPhone 14 (or later) users that you can now send/receive iMessages via satellite for free for two years after purchasing your phone. That said, iMessages via satellite don’t support photos or voice messages. I wonder how long until they do?
• 🫀 Oura Ring 4 - Oura launched its slimmer 4th generation health-tracking ring with improved sensors and battery life this week. I’m a happy Oura 3 owner and find its data more insightful and actionable than my Apple Watch Ultra, especially when it comes to recovery and HRV. Plus, I love that the ring lets me wear a mechanical watch and still get health data sync'ed straight to Apple Health on my iPhone. Like all things in the Report, this is not sponsored, but if you’re interested in trying out Oura, this link should get up to ten readers 10% off, with no kickbacks to me.
• 🖥️ Yoink for MacOS - Yoink is one of those little apps I install immediately on any new computer because it just makes life easier. Whenever you click and drag files, Yoink opens a small drawer on the side of your screen where you can drop them temporarily. Then, you can navigate to a new destination and drag it out of the drawer. Such a small thing, but it’s way better than trying to hold onto the file while searching for where you want to put it.

OK, that’s it for this week—be well, everyone!

I'll start by saying I’ve been curious about the Ray-Ban x Meta smart glasses for a while now and was looking for an excuse to try them out. Last week, fate handed me two:

1. I lost my regular, non-smart folding Ray-Ban Wayfarers.
2. Meta announced a limited edition Transparent colorway for their Wayfarer-style smart glasses during Meta Connect. Transparent, as in the frames are clear and you can see all the tech inside. Awesome.

(I swear it happened in that order and not the other way around. I basically had to buy a pair.)

In 6 days since they've arrived, I've used them during workouts, horsing around with the kids, running errands around town, and during a long day trip to San Antonio. While I’m not claiming to know everything about them, I’ve definitely formed some opinions.

So, how are they? Well, there’s a lot these glasses can do, so let’s break it down:

How are they as a pair of fun, good-looking sunglasses?
Excellent! Meta’s collaboration with EssilorLuxottica to use the iconic Ray-Ban Wayfarers was a brilliant move. The Transparent design is gorgeous, and even the black charging case looks slick with its small glowing ring to indicate charge status. They seem durable, too—I’ve taken them on long, sweaty rucks, and they held up great through sweat, tears, and some dry heaving.

How are they at blocking the sun?
Not great, not terrible. The transition lenses in this limited edition are the latest generation, supposedly darkening faster under UV light than before. I’ve never had transition lenses prior to these, so I can’t compare, but they don’t seem to darken very quickly, and I never feel like they get dark enough. They’re functional, though—I’m not squinting in Texas sunlight—but I worry they look more like skeezy tinted glasses than actual, proper shades. I may swap the lenses out for a more traditional polarized pair at some point. Also, the transparent frame sometimes catches light at certain angles, and seems to magnify it right into my eyeballs. I'm willing to live with that though, we all must occasionally suffer for fashion.

How are they as a fuss-free POV/action camera?
Great! I wasn’t sure how much I’d use the camera given it’s just 12 megapixels and wide-angle, whereas my iPhone has a 48-megapixel camera with multiple focal lengths. But the photos and video are surprisingly good in decent light, and they’re definitely high-res enough for viewing on a phone. The real win is the hands-free, first-person perspective. I’ve been capturing so much footage of family adventures and backyard playtime, with the results being so much more natural than if I were staring at a phone screen held out between me and my subject(s). These first-person videos will be such a treasure over time.^[1]

How are they as an AI-powered wearable?
Pretty good, which—given the competition like the Rabbit R1 and the Humane Pin—makes them best in class. It was probably bad timing for me to try Meta AI just a week after OpenAI launched ChatGPT’s advanced voice mode. Compared to the new ChatGPT voices, Meta’s assistant is underwhelming. It’s more capable than Siri but not as conversational or engaging as ChatGPT. Meta AI tends to give short, pithy responses, even to more complex questions. I’m sure this will improve over time as the AI competition continues to heat up to Lord knows what end.

How are they as off-ear headphones?
They certainly are off-ear headphones... for better or worse. The sound quality is better than expected, and it’s impressive how loud you can play them without people nearby hearing. But they don’t sound as good as most Bluetooth headphones. Even though I know others can’t hear it, I still feel like I’m blasting my music into the world. This is a me problem. I need sound in my ears, not around them. It just feels more personal that way.

How are they as a preview of a dystopian, surveillance capitalist future?
Look, I’ve got some dear friends working at Meta, and I’m a daily user of Instagram and Threads, but Meta overall does not have the best track record with privacy practices. Unfortunately, that legacy is going to stick to any product offering this team creates, no matter how great. When the bulk of your revenue comes from running an advertising platform, there’s always going to be pressure to gather marketing data, which often involves privacy trade-offs.

That said, I was impressed by the number of privacy controls offered during setup. You can decline a lot of things, like sending photos to Meta’s cloud or having your conversations with Meta AI used for training. I particularly appreciate that you can transfer photos and videos from the glasses straight to your iPhone, nothing has to go to their servers. Kudos to them for that, it really heels with building trust.

Still, putting on these glasses means strapping a Meta-powered camera and mic to my face. Even if Meta isn’t doing anything shady, there are definitely others out there who’d like to.^[2] For now, I’m totally good wearing them during casual outings and adventures, but I’ll skip them for sensitive or personal moments like doctor’s appointments, strategic work conversations, or intimate chats. Whatever your tolerance and privacy posture is, this is just something we are all going to have to be mindful about as these technologies become more entwined with our day to day lives.

Conclusion

Alright. Those are my early thoughts. As I said, this isn’t a formal review, so no scores or recommendations. Personally, I’m enjoying them and really appreciate the chance to play with some cool looking, objectively fun tech... all while bearing in mind when it does and does not make sense to use them.

1. If you’re considering these glasses and have an Apple Vision Pro, definitely download Spatial Media Toolkit, which converts 2D photos and videos into 3D content. Watching Ray-Ban Meta footage in 3D on the Vision Pro is seriously powerful, making it feel like you’re right there. ↩︎
2. Many of you may have seen reports about the college kids using these glasses for biometric facial recognition searches in public. It’s a scary proof of concept, but as many have pointed out, you can already do the same with a smartphone or a telephoto lens tethered to a laptop, and way less work. While I am concerned about the privacy implications of the escalating number of cameras there are in public spaces in general these days, I’m not too concerned with these particular glasses enabling shenanigans that couldn’t already be done with less effort via other means. ↩︎

Elsewhere, I’ve fallen down the rabbit hole of Balatro on iOS, an addictive rogue-like poker/solitaire fever dream. I’m also loving this immaculate ASICS ad, which features zero pitching of ASICS, and drooling over the newly announced Leica Q3 43 variant, which sports a more natural 43mm focal length.

Alright, on to the good stuff!

• 📍 Cachly for Geocaching - With cooler weather finally arriving, I’m feeling the call of the outdoors— Which, for my family, means lots of geocaching. For those unfamiliar, it’s like a global Easter egg hunt. People hide “caches” (small containers with logbooks or trinkets) in trees, under rocks, or in hidden urban spots like park benches or drainage pipes all over the world. You can find a catalog of caches and learn where to look for them (usually either via geocoordinates or solving a series of puzzles) by subscribing to Geocaching.com and using the official Geocaching app. It’s a blast. That said, if you’re a fellow Apple nerd and like nicer apps, check out Cachly which is a much nicer interface for the service, with handy features for helping you map, hunt for, and log caches.
• 📇 Ooh.Directory - Burnt out on bite-sized algorithmic content? Looking for something a little deeper? Ooh.Directory is a great web project that curates high-quality indie blogs across various categories. It provides insightful details like the author’s country, how often they post, when they last posted, and how long the blog has been online. I’ve been filling up my RSS reader with lots of excellent long-form writing thanks to this site.
• 📲 Lokki’s iOS Icons + Widgets - If you’ve downloaded iOS 18 and are enjoying the new customization features but are wondering how to make your home screen look even nicer , there are tons of designers offering custom iOS themes and icon packs to help take your personalization to the next level. I’ve bought a few packs from Lokki and really enjoy them—here’s my current home screen setup. Not into the modern, minimalist aesthetic? A quick Etsy search will give you hundreds of other options. With fall in the air, I’ve got my eye on this cozy farming sim-themed one— don’t hate me.
• 📹 OK Video - Does anyone else remember the Flip video cameras from the mid-2000s? I loved how simple and fun they made capturing videos and montages on the go. OK Video for iOS brings back that feeling. It’s a simple, well-designed app with a full-screen camera view. Tap anywhere to start recording, lift your finger to stop. Slide your finger up or down while recording to zoom in or out. The magic? It saves all your clips into a project you can export as one full-length video. Perfect for travel vlogs, stop-motion, or capturing moments from your day. I’ve been using it for daily video journal entries, which I then export straight into my journaling app of choice.
• ☕️ Premium AeroPress Coffee Set - While AeroPress is one of my all-time favorite coffee brewing methods, please don’t buy this premium kit from Williams Sonoma for $149 (unless you’re super into it and can afford it, natch). I’m sharing it just to highlight how awesome AeroPress coffee is, and the fact that you can make stellar brews at home with a standard AeroPress kit* for just $39. Want to get fancy? Add a Fellow Prismo attachment* for $29, and you’ll be making even better coffee than the $149 kit—at less than half the cost. Boom. *Amazon affiliate links to support my tech/coffee habits.

That’s it for this week! Be well, everyone!

On to the good stuff!

Gear

• 🏕️ Nestout Weather-proof Power Bank - I don’t have one of these waterproof power banks (yet), but I love the cut of their jib. Good looking, bomb-proof design with screw on caps to protect the USB-A and USB-C sockets on them. I also dig the dimmable camping lamp attachments that plug right in to the unit. These are definitely going on my fall camping shopping list. Thanks to BC for sharing this Gear Patrol Review with me.
• ✒️ Studio Neat’s new colors - The Mark One is my favorite pen to use at my desk. It’s equal parts art and dream-writing-machine. Austin-based Studio Neat launched a bunch of new beautiful color options for the pen this week, making it look even more like something that belongs in a design museum. They’re also including their beautiful wooden pen trays with all orders for the next two days. Thanks SC for putting my wallet in peril by sharing this.
• 🎒 Evergoods’ Griffin Line - Evergoods makes my favorite travel and EDC backpacks. They’re back with a new collaboration with Carryology, bringing beautiful (albeit pricey) waxed cotton shells to some of their most popular designs. These look perfect for either a motorcycle ride across Patagonia OR a quick trip to a Brooklyn coffeeshop to get some design work done. Don’t want to drop $400+ on a backpack, but still want the good stuff? Get on the waitlist for the restock of their CTB 20L, the dream carry-on backpack.

iOS 18-friendly Apps

Here are a few great indie apps I’ve either been beta testing on iOS18, or was just excited to see their new updates download on Monday. 

• Peak: Fitness Widget - Peak pulls Health and/or Fitness data from your Apple Watch/iPhone and displays progress, trends, goal accomplishment, and more in lovely looking ways while completely respecting your privacy— no data leaves your device. Peak’s 4.0 release is a doozy, adding all kinds of delightful widget options so that you can keep tabs on basically any fitness or health datapoint you’d like on your Lock Screen or home screen.
• Dark Noise: Ambient Sounds - This is the best “noise generator” app I’ve ever used. It’s beautiful, has a plethora of options, and the developer is always adopting the latest iOS API’s to keep it app at the cutting edge. This time round, we get things like quick access to the app from the Control Center and more beautiful widgets so you can turn on pink noise, the sound of the ocean, or any other pleasant background sound with just a tap.
• Sequel: Media Tracker - I use Sequel every week to keep track of the shows and movies that I watch and want to watch. The latest update adds a Control Center button that makes it easy to quickly add new media to your list, and now you can search for things you’ve saved right from Spotlight.
• Flighty: Live Flight Tracker - This is my go-to app for tracking flights. It keeps me updated on departure gates, delays, and all the nitty-gritty of air travel, and now, with the iOS 18 update, it also supports Live Activity tracking on the Apple Watch. You can see exactly how much time is left until boarding or wheels-up and track your flight progress from the Watch. Super handy for frequent flyers.
• Halide Mark II - Pro Camera - I’ve written about this app a lot lately, so I’ll spare you rehashing all the cool RAW photography features it brings to the table. The big iOS 18 update to the app enables you to replace the Camera button on your lock screen with Halide, so that you can click the button and jump straight into Halide’s camera without having to stop to authenticate first. It feels like magic!
• Plinky: Easily Save Links - Plinky is a great, design-forward app that makes it dead simple to keep track of links/bookmarks/articles you want to be able to find again down the road. It’s the best looking of all the bookmarking apps I’ve used, and with the new update they now have some fantastic looking widgets to be able to quickly jump to your most recent or favorite bookmarks. They've also added integration with Apple’s spotlight search so you don’t even have to open the app to find that article you started reading 3 months ago but never finished.
• Focused Work: Pomodoro Timer - Focused Work is a Pomodoro timer that helps you structure your work in sprints– There are lots of apps in this category, but this on is just nice. The design is clean and minimalist, making it easy to stay focused and productive. The iOS 18 update lets you quickly start or pause timers from the Control Center, and you can view your current session and timer as a Live Activity on your Apple Watch. Bonus Point: The developer gave me a very helpful tip to make my website better– Thanks Mike!
• Zenitizer: Meditation Timer - Zenitizer is easily my favorite meditation timer and meditation habit tracker... and I’ve tried dozens. Manuel added handy interactive widgets, Control Center and Lock Screen controls, and lovely new Dark Tinted app icons with this update.
  

That’s it for this week, be well everyone!

Outside of Apple news, I’ve been diving into old 1980s and 1990s news interviews with early computer hackers, dreaming about building this gorgeous DIY espresso machine, and experimenting with YouTube Music for music discovery (already found a gem in Ikebe Shakedown).

On to the good stuff!

• 🎮 XUMini M Retro Handheld - As Marco recently pointed out, the retro handheld market is booming, with new models launching constantly. I’ve bought…a few over the last year. My current favorite is this relative newcomer from XUMini. It’s small enough to be pocketable but far more comfortable and performs better than my previous favorite, the Miyoo Mini+. Bonus: mine came preloaded with 100+ GB of retro games. If you’re brave enough to venture into AliExpress, you can often find crazy deals on these devices.
• 💧 HydraPak* - After a hiatus due to back issues, I’ve been getting back into rucking this year. It’s a low-impact way for me to get a solid cardio workout while exploring the outdoors without wrecking my knees. The one catch? I’m a natural-born sweater, so I need a lot of water to stay hydrated in the Austin heat. Enter the HydraPak, a rugged but slim option for carrying water, complete with a magnetic bite valve that attaches to my bag for easy access. It’s a common concept, but I’m liking this one much more than the CamelBaks I’ve had in the past.
• 📡 Heltec V3 / Meshtastic - This is a fun rabbit hole to dive into. Meshtastic is an open-source, off-grid, decentralized mesh network that runs on low-power devices. Imagine being in Texas during the 2021 winter storms—power’s out, internet’s gone, and cell towers are down. Meshtastic provides a way to still communicate with friends, loved ones, or emergency services. It works over impressively long ranges as long as there are nodes or other users within radio range to relay messages onward. The Heltec V3 is a cheap and pocketable entry point that pairs with your iOS/Android phone via Bluetooth to let you send messages over the mesh network— all without touching the internet or the cellular network.
• 📓 Resketch Notes Brand - We all know the 3 R’s: Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle. While most notebook companies focus on recycling paper, Resketch tackles the “reuse” part. Their notebooks are made of "reclaimed"/repurposed (not recycled) paper, meaning each page is a mix of lined, graph, or even printed scraps. It’s like a paper collage, bound into a unique and highly aesthetic notebook. I love my Baron Fig notebooks, but I’m intrigued by Resketch and will definitely give them a shot when I run through my current stash.
• 📷 Halide Process Zero - I’ve talked before about how much I love the Halide camera app for iOS. It’s my go-to for more technically complex shots, like capturing the recent solar eclipse where I needed precise control over exposure and color balance. Halide’s newly released “Process Zero” mode uses no software processing, HDR, or AI, giving your photos a raw, unpolished look. It’s perfect for capturing images that are closer to what your eyes actually see, without the over-polished iPhone magic (which I still love!). Check out their blog for some awesome example photos.

That’s it for this week… but I have one more thing—iOS 18 releases tomorrow (Monday), and I’ve been beta testing it for the last three months. I’m loving the quality-of-life updates, and I’m even more excited about the new features developers will be able to add to their apps. I’ll share some of my favorite indie iOS app updates in next week’s issue. If you know of any apps I should be checking out, just reply to this email!

Thanks and be well, everyone.

*Amazon Affiliate links used to support the site and my tech habit.

On to the good stuff!

• 💼 Miniature Scale Vintage Computing Replicas - Hear me out on this one— This amazing Montreal-based artist makes insanely detailed miniature replicas of vintage 1970s and 1980s computer labs and offices. My favorite is this absolutely perfect replica of Matthew Broderick's home computer set-up from the movie WarGames, but all of their work is so great. You can browse detailed shots and behind-the-scenes build photos on their website, or just follow their latest creations on Instagram.
• 🚥 NanoLeaf Permanent Outdoor Lights - I've been looking for something like this for a while and am really excited that NanoLeaf finally put this together just in time for the holidays. These multicolor lights install under the eaves of your house and are controllable by basically any smart home system (including Apple HomeKit) thanks to their Matter-compatibility. They offer all kinds of neat holiday patterns, or just stylish plain white accent light during the off-season, and can be scheduled/triggered/automated using Siri.
• 🧲 Magnetic USB-C Charger Attachment* - I've been really digging these little adapters that convert any USB-C port into a MagSafe-style magnetic connection. Simply plug the small host adapter into your device's USB-C port, and attach the other adapter to your preferred USB-C cable, and suddenly you can quickly attach and detach your cable magnetically like the old MacBook charging cables. This has given me a lot more peace of mind with my laptop and iPad when they're charging with little ones running around the house. *Not in any way sponsored, but an Amazon Affiliate link.
• 📰 Reeder App for iOS - Silvio released his total rethink of his already stellar RSS app, Reeder, this last week. I've been beta testing this new version for months as it's been developed and have really enjoyed this fresh approach. In short, Reeder lets you create a scrollable feed of all your favorite RSS feeds, plus basically any other feed you want— YouTube creators, Reddit subreddits, podcasts you follow, social media accounts you want to follow, and so on. It remembers where you are on your timeline, and then you can just scroll through updates as you like. If you're burnt out on algorithmic content, and just want to see the stuff you like, I highly recommend checking it out.
• 📷 CampSnap Cameras - These little digital cameras have peripherally been on my radar for a while, and they've just come out with their third version. After reading Jedda's Review, I'm now kinda intrigued to pick one up. In short, these $65 point & shoot digital cameras have no screen, just an LCD shot counter, and seem meant to replicate the experience of having a disposable camera (fixed focus, cheap, plastic lens and all). You don't get to see your shots until you connect it to your computer later. I could see this being great for camping trips, nights out, or for introducing young kids to photography.

⠀That's it for this week, be well everyone!

p.s. Instead of asking you to forward this issue to a friend as usual, this week I want to ask you to consider joining me in donating to the OMG.LOL fundraiser for St. Jude Children's Hospital. This really fun annual fundraiser is hoping to raise $12,500 this year for battling childhood cancers, and we're getting crazy close to the goal. If you are already supporting other causes, or don't have the spare funds right now, no sweat at all, but we'd sure appreciate you sharing the good word!

On to the good stuff:

• 👩‍🚀 Supercluster's Astronaut Database - I stumbled across this slick database by Supercluster that catalogs every astronaut ever, detailing their time in space, spacewalks, and more. It includes not just humans, but also dogs, monkeys, and even larvae(!) astronauts, along with their mission details. Super fun tool!
• 🌱 Plant Hygrometer* - You could make a horror movie for plants based on how many we've lured into our home and slowly murdered by over or under watering them. This admittedly low-tech Hygrometer solution has been a game-changer for us. Simply poke this little guy into the soil, and it instantly tells you the moisture level down by the roots. When used with an app like Planta, it becomes much easier to keep our little green friends alive. *Amazon Affiliate link
• 📁 Goodlinks - I'm something of a digital hoarder. I encounter way more articles, videos, and links than I can ever absorb. Do I use these as opportunities to practice mindfully letting go? Absolutely-freaking-not. I stuff every one into a database on the OFF CHANCE that 8 months from now, I'm stuck in a waiting room and finally ready to read the hot gossip from the February 2024 Apple Shareholders meeting (or whatever). I've cycled through Pinboard, Pocket, Instapaper, Readwise, Anybox, Plinky, and many others. Right now, I'm using Goodlinks, and it's very good. Simple, delightful iOS and Mac app versions, great share sheet extensions, and a nice reader view, with a one-time purchase make this a winner for my preferred way to stash digital ephemera this week.
• 🎥 NEW Every Frame a Painting - Tony Zhou and Taylor Ramos' celebrated video essays on cinematography and filmmaking have been on pause for 8 years. After an interminable wait, they've just released their latest on the Sustained Two Shot. If you like movies at all, you'll love their videos, and this new one, coming in at just under 6 minutes, is no exception. Check it out! (For other great episodes, see "Steven Spielberg - The Oner" and "Edgar Wright - The Art of Visual Comedy.")
• 💡 Neewer Tube Light* - Probably a niche recommendation, but I grabbed one of these little battery-powered tube lights to help round out my video conferencing lighting, which was starting to look a little "witness protection"-y. Tube lights are great because they don't take up much space, cast big soft light, and are versatile. This model kicks out a lot of light, is magnetic for quick mounting on many surfaces, and has built-in multicolor lighting effects controllable via the light itself or your smartphone. I’m using it in conjunction with my Elgato Keylight, and suddenly feel like a high tech streamer when I dial into my work calls. *Amazon Affiliate link

That's it for this week, be well everyone!

P.S. Get any good ideas from this issue? I'd be honored if you'd forward this to a friend, or suggest they sign up over here. Thank you! 🙏

On to the good stuff! (Pro Tip: Quick reminder that you can press ⌘ + click on a link in most Mac apps and it will open the link in a new tab behind the current page so you don't lose your spot in this email.)

• ☕ Wimp Decaf - I’ve been wrestling with caffeine-related issues for over a year now, constantly searching for ways to still enjoy coffee without getting jittery. The problem? Decaf coffee usually tastes like stale pond water compared to the artisanal beans I love. Enter Wimp Decaf, with a mission to bring top-notch coffee that just-so-happens-to-be-decaf to the masses. I’ve been chatting with these guys over the last few weeks leading up to their launch, and their commitment to the coffee community is impressive. This is not sponsored; I ordered a sample set of their beans when they launched, and I finally got my beans in this week– I can sincerely say that their Kubrick beans are not only the best decaf I’ve ever had, it’s right up there duking it out among my usual favorite snobby full-caff beans. Delicious.
• 🔊 Ferro Fluid Sound Analyzer* - I’m not above a nearly pointless tech gimmick. This certainly appears to be one, but I’m almost certainly putting it on my Christmas list anyway. Watch this video and tell me it’s not awesome. It’s giving me early '90s Aphex Twin vibes mixed with the alien language from Arrival. *Amazon-affiliate link
• 🗺️ PastMaps - PastMaps is a cool site that overlays historical maps over modern ones with very high accuracy. This lets you see what used to be in places you visit, discover old settlements for metal detecting outings, find old, unmarked paths to explore, or uncover entrances to long-forgotten mines. Sadly, it’s US-only for now, but I’d love to explore other countries’ historic maps when they eventually get added. This has my treasure hunting heart aflutter.
• ⏺️ VoiceNotes - VoiceNotes is a unique app designed to help you ditch the cognitive load of trying to remember everything. It lets you quickly capture a voice recording and uses powerful transcription tools to perfectly transcribe your notes. (If you have an iPhone 15 Pro, you can have the Action Button launch straight to the voice recording feature.) The app builds a personalized AI model based on your notes, letting you ask questions like, “Make a list of all the books I’ve mentioned in my notes” or “Pull together all the things I’ve said about XYZ topic and use that to build an outline for a speech on the subject.” This would be killer for supplementing class notes, or capturing highlights from talks at a conference. Thanks Maique for the tip.
• 🛡️ Link’s Awakening for Nintendo Switch* - I’m about halfway through this amazing remake of the Legend of Zelda Gameboy classic. While I loved Breath of the Wild and the more recent Tears of the Kingdom, I’ve been on a retro kick lately and wanted to play a more traditional Zelda game. Instead of firing up one of my retro handhelds, I discovered this gorgeous 3D remaster of the 8-bit original. It’s an absolute blast, and I love that it doesn’t require much “skill.” It’s perfect for casual play without needing to remember complex button combos and techniques. Highly recommended. *Amazon-affiliate link

That’s it for this week, be well everyone!

p.s. I'm really grateful for every single one of you who have signed up to read this newsletter. Thank you! This whole thing hinges around introducing people to fun things, I'd be honored if you'd help by forwarding this email to a friend or having them just go sign up over here.

On to the good stuff—

• 📊 iStat Menus for Mac - I’ve been using iStat Menus on my Macs for years, and they just released version 7.0 this past week. The app runs in your menu bar and offers a customizable stack of readouts on all kinds of things—local weather, CPU/GPU usage, memory/storage, and more. The new version looks like another fantastic iteration. It’s super helpful for figuring out which app is causing your fan to spin up or quickly checking if you have enough space to download that movie for a flight. You can buy it directly from Bjango or get it as part of SetApp’s subscription catalog of Mac and iOS apps.
• 🏡 Meross Smart Garage Opener* - I’ve been through quite a few “smart garage” openers, and I’ve finally found one that works consistently—this Meross model plugs into your existing garage opener and connects with Siri/HomeKit. You can check in the Home app from anywhere to see if you remembered to close the garage, tell Siri to open it for a delivery, or set an automation to make sure it’s closed every night. One less thing to worry about.
• 🔦 X3 EDC Flashlight* - The X3 flashlight is a pocket-sized marvel that’s quickly become one of my favorites. Despite its compact size, it packs 700 lumens of output, plus a single-lumen moonlight mode and a night vision-preserving red light mode. I love its rotating head for traditional or candlestick-style carry, its magnetic bottom for sticking to cars/poles, and its built-in clip for attaching to the brim of a baseball hat. It charges quickly via wireless Qi chargers or its portable recharging case for off-grid adventures. Among my embarrassingly large collection of flashlights, this little wonder stands out as a top pick.
• 🃏 Slay the Spire - Love card games, RPGs, or just fun in general? This crazy addictive game combines the mechanics of collectible card games like Magic the Gathering with rogue-like dungeon crawlers like Dead Cells and Hades. It’s perfect for quick 2-3 minute sessions or an entire 2-hour flight. It came out a few years ago on basically all platforms, but I recently picked it back up and am totally engrossed again. If you subscribe to Apple Arcade, it’s available for free here.
• 📝 Quick Journal - QuickJournal is a minimalist iOS journaling app created by an indie developer looking to simplify and beautify the journaling process. It’s bare-bones and text-only but has everything you need to jot down thoughts, feelings, or important notes throughout the day. While Day One remains my favorite long-form journaling app, it’s great to see others exploring this space. This could be a cool solution for someone just looking to get some thoughts down in a clean, delightful interface.

That’s it for this week, be well everyone!

p.s. Are you on Threads or Mastodon? Let's be internet friends!

*Amazon Affiliate links

On to the good stuff!

• ✈️ Timeshifter - This iOS app is my secret jet-lag killer. Just enter your home location, destination, travel dates, and duration of the trip, and Timeshifter creates a custom schedule to help adjust your circadian rhythm before, during, and after your trip. It includes recommendations for dosage and timing of sleep, caffeine, screen time, and sunlight exposure. I’ve used it on two transatlantic trips, and both times, I managed to sleep peacefully through the night at my destination and when I got home.
• ⏰ Flighty - Flighty is another one of my essential iOS travel apps, regardless of whether it’s a quick domestic flight or an epic international jaunt. As an Apple Design Award winner, it beautifully tracks your flights, gates, baggage carousels, and uses Live Activity notifications both to alert you to any delays and to track how much time is left on your flight. It also lets you share a live tracking link with friends and family so they can keep up with your flight status and arrival time as it evolves.
• 😴 Manta Sleep Mask - A few years back, when I traveled across time zones more regularly, I discovered the magic of sleep masks. After trying a bunch of various options ranging from free in-flight ones to more premium options, the Manta Sleep Mask has become my go-to for quality sleep in unfamiliar places. I have both the Slim and Pro versions—I prefer the Pro slightly, but I’d say that it’s probably not worth paying double the cost of the Slim for it.
• 💦 Oto Lawn - I need no further confirmation that I’ve reached middle age than the realization that this piece of lawn irrigation tech is one of the technologies our household has adopted this year that I’m most excited about. The Oto is a nifty little box you connect to your hose, and then program from your smartphone to use its incredibly precise spray nozzle to systematically water your lawn and garden with the frequency and schedule that you like, without over spraying any zones or watering the sidewalk. It also has liquid lawn fertilizer, anti-mosquito, and odor eliminator pods that you can have it mix in to its watering routines on a set schedule. I’m loving it. The link above has my “refer a buddy” code which should save you $25 at check out, if you want to give it a go.
• 🔅 TTArtisans Mini LED Light - This is likely a niche recommendation, but I saw this and knew right away that I had to have it. It’s a small LED light shaped like an old roll of 35mm film. It magnetically attaches to your camera’s hot shoe, providing supplementary light for photo/video work… or you can just hand hold it as a little flashlight. Is it the most effective light? No. Did I buy it immediately because it’s cute and costs less than $10? Absolutely. Just look at the thing, you’ll see what I mean. FWIW, I wound up buying it through Amazon to avoid the $20 shipping fee from the manufacturer—here’s my Amazon Affiliate link to it if you also want to grab one and help offset the Report’s hosting fees at the same time!

That’s it for this week, be well, everyone!

On to the good stuff!

• 💵 Allett Wallets - A dear friend gifted me one of these wallets recently, and I’ve been absolutely loving it. Very slim, lightweight, gender-neutral designs with thoughtful touches like an optional micro-pen slot and built-in RFID blocking. I cannot emphasize enough how thin both the leather and nylon versions of their wallets are— somehow even more front-pocket friendly than my usual Bellroy slim wallets.
• 📦 Parcel - Parcel is my go-to app for tracking packages. It’s simple, lightweight, and features handy widgets and notifications for tracking mail through 300+ global carriers, including DHL, FedEx, UPS, USPS, and Royal Mail. Simply copy and paste your tracking number into the app or use the share sheet plug-in on your Mac or iOS device, and you’ll get notifications as your package makes its way to its destination.
• 📱 Widgy - If you ever used custom skins for WinAmp back in the day, you’ll love this. Widgy lets you create custom widgets for your iOS home screen to track whatever information you want. There’s a massive community making free and premium widget designs. The app has a discovery section where you can explore widgets made by others, but I’ve personally been using and enjoying ones from Lokki, as well as some cool ones I found on the Widgy subreddit.
• ☕️ DRYPLY Prestige Coffee Tumbler - If you’re meticulous about weighing and grinding your beans, and using the precise water temperature of water during your timed pour over, it feels wrong to just use any old to-go cup for your morning brew. This tumbler is part art piece, part ceramic-lined, insulated, leak-proof coffee delivery vehicle. I haven’t gotten my grubby mitts on one yet, but the ceramic lining should prevent it from absorbing flavors and odors, making it great for high-quality teas and batch-mixed cocktails as well.
• ⌨️ Angry Miao RGB 65 Keyboard - I have been getting the old itch to either mod my existing keyboard or get a new one. During my frothy internet travels, I stumbled over this new offering Angry Miao (currently only available on pre-order). It's well out of my league, but the insane mix of techno maximalism and retro video game stylings, has got me a bit sweaty. If you take a peak and find yourself tempted, just know it can be yours for the low low price of only $450 (not including keycaps or switches).

That’s it for this week—stay healthy, happy, and at peace, everyone!

On to the good stuff!

• 💨 Hoto Suck and Blow* - OK, technically, it’s not called the Suck and Blow, but I prefer that over the official title: “HOTO Handheld Vacuum Cleaner Cordless, Desk Vacuum Cleaner Compressed Electric Air Duster 15000Pa Suction, 4-in-1 Portable Vortex Vacuum Dust Buster Air Blower for Computer, Keyboard.” Hoto makes fantastic, small, beautifully designed tools, and this one is a great addition to my collection. I use it to clean up ground coffee, blow dust out of my keyboard, and other little clean-ups that don’t merit lugging out the big vacuum. To quote Wayne Campbell, this thing certainly does suck.
  *Amazon-affiliate link.
  
• 🌩 Lazy Weather for iOS - I love weather apps, and this minimalist concept for iOS is fun. It tells you if it will be warmer, colder, or the same as the day before, and if it’s going to rain or snow. All of this is done with a clean, lean aesthetic, and it gives you more data if you want. It’s a nice change from the information overload of my usual weather app, Carrot (which I still love).
  
• ✅ Done for MacOS - This is a unique take on productivity tracking. Instead of a to-do list, it’s a “done” list to track everything you’ve accomplished during the day. I’ve been doing this off and on in my note-keeping system, but I like having this little app running in the menu bar to celebrate my wins (however small) throughout the day.
  
• 🔠 Butterick’s Practical Typography - Matthew Butterick’s excellent web-based book on typography principles is delightful. I’ve referred to it for years and always learn something new. If you want to understand what makes a good typeface, how to choose the right ones, or just need recommendations, this book is a gem and beautifully designed.
  
• 🚀 Project Hail Mary - Thanks to Mr. BC for the recommendation, I recently devoured this amazing sci-fi novel by Andy Weir, author of The Martian. This book has so many fun twists that I recommend learning as little as possible before starting. If you liked The Martian or any sci-fi where the protagonist overcomes obstacles with legit, non-fictional science, you’ll love this book. The Audible performance is fantastic and won the 2022 Audies award for best audiobook.

That’s it for this week. Be well, everyone!

• ✏️ Uniball Kuru Toga Pencil* - I’ve been using mechanical pencils more and more lately. They’re just a lot of fun, and it’s handy to be able to erase rather than scratch out my inevitable mistakes. I’ve long loved my Rotring mechanical pencils, but they are almost as fragile as they are beautiful and expensive. Lately, I’ve switched to a Uniball Kuru Toga and found it delightful. It’s cheaper and features neat technology that rotates the lead for a consistent tip size.
  *Amazon-affiliate link.
• 🎬 Stream Team - I’ve mentioned before how much I enjoy Letterboxd, a “social network” for reading and sharing movie reviews. I still love it, but it lacks the fun of conversing with friends about the movies you enjoy. Kyle Ford launched Stream Team last month as a more conversation-oriented community for chatting about movies and shows. Every day there’s a prompt to spark discussion, like “What is the best sequel of all time?” or “What was the funniest movie you watched as a kid?” Lots of fun to share and reflect with others. If you’re into geeking out about movies, this is a great fun place to hang out.
• 🤳 Simple Scan - From Greg Pierce, the creator of the excellent Drafts app, Simple Scan is my favorite iOS app for quickly scanning documents. It effortlessly auto-detects the edges of your document, cropping and stretching appropriately, lets you make black & white, grayscale, or color scans of multi-page documents, and quickly exports in whatever format you want to wherever you want it to go. Lovely.
• 🍴 The “Roman” Army Knife - As a life-long everyday carry gear nerd whose obsession started with a Swiss Army Knife gift as a kid, I loved this piece of history—a nearly 2000-year-old Roman utility knife featuring a knife, fork, spoon, and several other small picks and extractors, all in one. Hugs to my mom for spotting and sharing this one—Hi Mom!
• 📚 Library Extension - This brilliant browser extension lets you know if your local library carries (and has in stock) any books or ebooks you’re browsing on Amazon, Good Reads, etc. It works for thousands of libraries across the US, Canada, the UK, Germany, Australia, and New Zealand, and also supports digital books and audiobooks for libraries that offer them.

That’s it for this week, be well everyone!

• 📝 Bear App - Bear is my favorite writing and note-taking app. There are many great options out there, but this one fits how I like to capture information. It has a clean, minimal design that effortlessly syncs your writing across its Mac, iOS, and iPad apps. It also handily supports back-linking to other notes within the app. While it’s not as powerful as Obsidian or Notion, it excels for my informal zettelkasten / PKM method for keeping notes on books, my favorite things to order at various restaurants, my friendly mechanic’s name and backstory, etc. Easy to write and easy to reference— In fact, I draft all my weekly Hiro Reports in Bear.

• 🔎 Upscayl - Upscayl is a handy web utility for increasing the resolution of old photos. Think of the “enhance” button in old cop procedurals when zooming in on a suspect’s license plate. Have old digital photos from the 90s you’d like to view without wincing on your fancy iPhone Retina display? Give it a try. Thanks to Marco for flagging this.

• 🌎 Whole Earth Catalog Archive - From the site’s description: “The Whole Earth Catalog was an American counterculture magazine and product catalog published by Stewart Brand several times a year between 1968 and 1972, and occasionally thereafter, until 1998. The magazine featured essays and articles but focused primarily on product reviews. The editorial focus was on self-sufficiency, ecology, alternative education, ‘do it yourself,’ and holism, featuring the slogan ‘access to tools.’” This archive is a treasure trove—vintage tech, original R. Crumb art, hippy manifestos, and articles by Ursula K. Le Guin, Ken Kesey, and more!

• 🎵 Music Match - I love music and sharing it with others. However, as an Apple Music subscriber, I often get sent Spotify songs and albums, which can be a pain to look up in my streaming platform of choice. Music Match solves this problem. Set your default music platform (Apple Music, Spotify, YouTube, Tidal, etc.), and it redirects any music links you receive to your preferred app via its Safari and share extensions. Likewise, when you want to send a friend some music, you can use the share extension to create a universal link that will let your friends decide what service they want to listen in. Simple. Magic.

• 🪄 10 Types of Magic - Speaking of magic, this short video from Kevin Parry uses simple camera effects to demonstrate the 10 classical forms of magic (Levitation, Vanish, Production, etc.). It’s really fun and well done.

Alright, that’s it for this week. Be well, everyone, and thanks for reading!

• ☕ Cometeer - After hearing about this for a while and thinking it was a gimmick, I was eventually swayed to give it a shot by Matthew Panzarino’s glowing review on his The Obsessor blog. They work with top indie roasters from around the country to brew their coffee exactly as recommended (specific temps, mineral content in the water, etc), then flash freeze it in pods that they ship to your door. Pop them into hot water, and you’re drinking coffee as if it were brewed fresh by a barista at home. I was dubious butmy first box has really impressed me. The coffee is much more flavorful than what I can make with my setup. [Disclosure: The link above will get you 20 free cups of coffee and supports my coffee intake. If you’re not comfortable with that, feel free to visit cometeer.com directly!]
• 🗺 Trip Tunes - This one is for Apple Music users—this nifty app uses machine learning to create custom playlists for your road trips. Enter your starting destination, where you’re driving to, what genres of music you want included, and a brief description of the vibe you’re going for, and it will create an Apple Music playlist just for you. It’s been spot on in my experiments so far.
• 🖋️ 3x5 Bullet Cards with Dot Grid* - This may be niche, but I love 3x5 index cards—they’re great for flash cards, taking notes on the go, and sharing information like book recommendations with friends while you’re out and about. These are my favorite: nice rounded edges, high-quality paper stock, and they are dot grid rather than lined, so you can use them for sketching, bullet journaling, etc. Keep a pack in your bag or car—you’ll be surprised how often they come in handy.
  *Amazon-affiliate link.
• 🎲 Diceapalooza - The folks at Wyrmwood Gaming are doing their annual Diceapalooza on Kickstarter. If you play any dice-based games (D&D or back alley craps tournaments), check them out for some truly next-level beautiful dice—don’t miss the epic 9-karat gold 20-sided die. I’m torn between the Ancient Bronze set and the Wishing Well set but am definitely getting one of their handmade wooden dice vaults.
• 🎬 Callsheet - I use this app every time we watch a movie or TV show. Type in whatever you’re watching, and it gives you the full cast list. You can then explore each actor, director, producer, and screenwriter to see what else they’ve done. It’s perfect for those “where have we seen them before” moments. Well worth the subscription to avoid the slow, ad-ridden IMDB site. I’ve written about this app before, but it just keeps getting better. I like the recent addition of including what age each actor was when they were in a given movie.

That’s it for this week, be well everyone!

On to the good stuff—

• 📷️ Sebastiaan de With’s Gear Guide - Speaking of photography, a few weeks back, I linked to Kino and Halide, two excellent video and photography apps from Lux. This week, Sebastiaan, one of Lux’s co-founders, shared his photography gear guide. Do NOT read this unless you’re prepared to develop a bad case of G.A.S. (Gear Acquisition Syndrome) for some very nice cameras. He has incredible gear and takes beautiful pictures of it. A deadly combination.
• ☁️ Ente - I’ve been growing increasingly nervous about having nearly ALL my photos in one basket (iCloud). I do have a local network-attached storage (NAS) device that I’ve backed up many of my pre-iPhone photos on, but most of the daily memory photos from the last decade+ are in one cloud service. I need a good backup solution that lets me back up both my NAS photos and my iPhone photos. I haven’t tried it out yet, but Ente looks promising—it offers end-to-end encryption on photos, mirroring Apple’s security model, which would give me peace of mind about storing my photos offsite while having some redundancy. Furthermore, the software (and its hosting solution) are open source and audited by the same team that audits Bitwarden, a well-regarded password storage solution.
• 🧊 Therabody Cold/Hot* - Through a series of unrelated accidents over the last few weeks, I’ve managed to get myself pretty banged up, with multiple visits to Urgent Care for various sprains and fractures. I found myself going through a lot of ice packs and eventually found my way over to this wonder device from Therabody. It’s a small cube that you strap on to whatever trouble spot you’re having, and it quickly chills or heats it according to your desired setting. It even offers alternating hot/cold contrast therapy. It’s been amazing.
  *Amazon-affiliate link.
• 🗣️ ElevenLabs Reader - ElevenLabs makes some insanely good text-to-speech software, and lately, I’ve been really enjoying using their Reader app. In short, you can take any article, PDF, ebook, etc., and this app will read it to you in a very natural, human-sounding voice of your choosing at whatever speed you like. I’m loving being able to listen to some of the longer journalism pieces I’ve had on my “to-read list” forever.
• 🇺🇸 Washington’s Dream - In the spirit of the upcoming 4th of July holiday for us here in America, I’ll leave you with this hilarious SNL skit from last year.

That’s it for this week, be well everyone!

P.S. Enjoying the Hiro Report? The highest compliment you can give is sharing it with others! Feel free to forward them this issue, or just tell them to sign up over here.

• ☁️ Ente - Private cloud for your photos, videos, and more - I haven’t tried this yet, but I’m intrigued by the concept. I’ve been growing increasingly nervous about having ALL my photos in one basket (iCloud). I have a local network attached storage (NAS) device that I’ve backed up many of my pre-iPhone photos on, but most of the daily memory photos from the last decade+ are in one cloud service. I need a good backup solution. Ente offers end-to-end encryption on photos, mirroring Apple’s security model, which would give me peace of mind about storing my photos offsite while having a redundant backup.
• 🪄 Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom - Nintendo announced a bunch of new games this week that are all coming to the Nintendo Switch later this year. The highlight for me was a new Legend of Zelda game, where you finally get to play as Princess Zelda rather than Link. Instead of using a sword, Zelda uses a magic wand to copy and paste elements from the environment as tools and weapons. It looks like a fascinating mechanic, and I can’t wait to try it. As the dad of two young gamers, I’m thrilled they’ll have another great action game with a kickass female protagonist.
• 📸 Circuit Bent Sony Cyber-shot - DocPop, the yo-yo master and polymath, shared this epic blog post about his experiments with a Sony Cyber-shot pocket digital camera from the early 2000s that had undergone some modding to its sensor. The effects it produces make for totally epic retro cyber futuristic photos. Check them out. If you want to grab one of your own, here’s the link to the vendor.
• ⌨️ Micro Journal Rev.6 - There’s a kinda fun “anti-tech” tech trend right now. Think the Daylight DC-1 and other minimalist, screen time-reducing devices. The Micro Journal fits right in with this trend. It’s basically a digital typewriter with an e-ink display. While there are other offerings like this, this one stands out by being a) $169, b) customizable for keyboard nerds to change out the keycaps, and c) open source, so everyone can build their own rather than buying it. I’m intrigued.
• Sebastiaan de With’s Gear Guide - Last week, I linked to Kino and Halide, two excellent video and photography apps from Lux. This week, Sebastiaan, one of Lux’s founders, shared his photography gear guide. Do NOT read this unless you’re prepared to develop a bad case of G.A.S. (Gear Acquisition Syndrome) for some very expensive Leicas. He has incredible gear and takes beautiful pictures of it. A deadly combination.

That’s it for this week! Be well, everyone.

OK, one more thing—if you want to listen to the soundtrack for writing this week’s report, go to your music streaming platform of choice and look up Little Simz. I’m doubtlessly incredibly late to discovering her music, but man, am I hooked.

• 💻 Macbook Privacy Screen - For those who value privacy when working out and about at coffee shops or on planes, a privacy screen can provide great peace of mind. Unfortunately, most privacy screens look awful and degrade the viewing experience. I finally found one I can stand from Amazon. It works well and attaches ✨magnetically✨ for easy attachment and removal. I’ve been using this for a few months now and really liking it.
• 🗡️ Paper Apps Dungeon - This looks like a little spiral-bound pocket notebook on the outside, but inside contains an entire rogue-like D&D-style adventure you navigate using just a pencil and a six-sided die. You get to create your own character, crawl through dungeons, collect loot, and level up. Each notebook is procedurally generated too! Super creative and fun concept.
• 🔎 Vanilla - This is admittedly a little niche, but there was some brouhaha earlier this month over one of my favorite Mac utilities, Bartender, changing ownership without proper communication to the user base about intentions, new owners, etc. Like many others, I went looking for alternatives and found that another indie Mac developer that I adore, Matthew Palmer — the maker of the excellent Rocket for Mac, has a menu bar manager substitute. Vanilla lets you rearrange and hide the menu bar icons at the top of your display, much like Bartender did. With about 20 different utilities running at any given time on my machine, Vanilla is a simple solution to replace Bartender’s functionality and clean up my menu bar so I only see the ones I need to use exactly when I need to use them.
• 🍎 All the Little Things Apple Left Out of the WWDC Keynote - Apple held their Worldwide Developer’s Conference (WWDC) this week and shared previews of all the exciting new features coming to the next versions of their software platforms. While they revealed lots of fun, the star of the show was their unveiling of “Apple Intelligence,” a privacy-first AI integration throughout their operating systems. I’ll have more to say about that once I’ve tried it out when it’s released to beta testers later this summer. For now, I’m enjoying the early beta updates for the iPhone, iPad, and Apple Watch. The above linked article is a fun summary from The Verge on all the neat little things Apple is bringing to the next OS updates that weren’t mentioned in the keynote. If, by chance, you missed the headlines, The Verge also has a great 18 minute summary video of all the big stuff announced.
• 📷 Rollei 35AF - With an off-the-top-ropes high-five to BLC for sending me this, there’s a remake/rerelease of the iconic Rollei 35mm film camera coming to market later this year. It will keep the same classic 60’s design, shoot 35mm film, but adds LiDAR-powered autofocus and autoexposure capabilities. I’m thrilled to see more new film cameras coming to market, as it’s my favorite medium for shooting photos. Hopefully, the market will also bring faster, cheaper, and easier ways to develop and scan film negatives to keep up with the increased demand. I, for one, hopped right on the waitlist for this beauty.

On to the good stuff—

• 🎥 Kino - Pro Video for iPhone - I’ve mentioned before my love of Halide] for complex iPhone photos. Now, the team behind Halide has released their take on a beautifully crafted, manual control video app, and it’s dreamy. I particularly like their integration of real-time color grading features (LUTs), which let you achieve the “look” you’re going for in-camera while shooting, while still preserving the raw LOG video details for later editing.
• 📱 Anker Grip Case for iPhone - I’ve had at least one model of iPhone every year since they were first released and have tried A LOT of cases over the years. There are some great ones out there—I really like the cases from Peak Design and Moment. That said, I’ve ditched both and am all in on this new Anker case. It’s relatively thin but strong, with a small ring that unfolds for extra grip and rotates to serve as a kickstand in either landscape or portrait orientations. The real win is that you can both do MagSafe charging through the ring and it features extra strong magnets that allow you to attach your phone to any sufficiently metallic surface. I’ve attached mine to the fridge while cooking, to the squat rack while working out, and to an airport rail while waiting for a flight.
• 📆 Up Ahead App - With Apple’s World Wide Developer Conference coming up next week (aka Nerd Christmas), I was reminded of how much I like and appreciate this little iOS app that lets you see how many days remain until dates/times of your choosing. I have it set up to show how many days until WWDC, key family birthdays, major holidays, etc. Is this essential information? No, but it’s fun to see, and the fun design of the app makes it enjoyable to check via widgets on my home screen or in the app itself.
• 🚀 The Lunacy of Artemis - Maciej Cegłowski writes a lot (his site’s tagline is “brevity is for the weak”), and he often goes DEEP on what should be very dull topics like infrastructure. Somehow, instead of being dry academic treatises, he makes the subjects fun to read about. This past month, he turned his sights on NASA’s Artemis program to return American astronauts to the Moon. While an analysis of government contracting failures and budgetary bureaucracy should be a snooze fest, I was laughing (and, at times, ruefully sobbing) through this epic ~8,000-word essay.
• 💮 Portland Stamp Company - With a grandiose sweep of the hat to Ben Brown over on Mastodon for surfacing this, I fell in love this week with the idea of getting vintage poster stamps made. These stamps have no financial or postal value whatsoever, but they are a beautiful vintage throwback and would be super fun to throw onto letters just to confuse the postman.

• ⌨️ The Lost Typeface That Was Thrown in the Thames River - This is a fascinating bit of history. In 1917, two type foundry founders had a falling out, leading one to dump their signature metal typefaces into the Thames. A century later, someone found all the metal type pieces, uncovered their history, and digitized them to create a usable digital typeface that you can buy and use today.
• 🌲 AllTrails - This app is a suburban hiker’s dream, akin to Google Maps for local hikes and trails. It lets you quickly see all the trails around you, their lengths, difficulty levels, reviews from other hikers, and pictures of the sights along the trail. It’s pretty handy for discovering new outdoor adventures nearby.
• ⏲️ Due - I use this app constantly. It’s a countdown timer app on steroids. Yes, iOS has a built-in one, but this is so much better. It lets you use natural language input to set a named reminder for a specific date/time, and then it will politely alert you at the appointed time. If you ignore it or dismiss the reminder without marking it “Done,” it will remind you every minute until you do the task or hit a time-specific snooze button (“Snooze for 1 hour,” “Snooze for 1 day,” etc.). It’s fantastic for things you absolutely cannot forget. I have automatic recurring weekly and monthly reminders to take the trash to the curb, do my timesheets, pay my credit card bills, and more. It just hounds me relentlessly until I do them—exactly what I need.
• 👺 Mike Mignola's Humble Bundle - The folks at Humble Bundle launched an amazing “pay what you want” charity bundle this week in partnership with one of my favorite comic book authors, Mike Mignola. If you’re interested in noir detective stories, occult mysteries, folk tales, and the like, I highly recommend checking it out. You can get more than a dozen B.P.R.D. (Bureau for Paranormal Research and Defense) volumes for $1, or for $30, you can get around 60 books, including all the Hellboy comics.
• ☕️ Explorer Cold Brew - I’ve been trying to cut back my caffeine intake over the last year, which has been challenging because I love the ritual of making and drinking coffee. As summer heats up, I started looking for low-caffeine cold brew and nitro cold brew options that would let me get my fix without making me a jittery, anxious mess. After some research, I found Explorer’s half-caff cold brew concentrate. Just add an ounce or two to 6-8 oz of water and/or milk, and you’ve got a tasty, lightly caffeinated coffee drink without the panic attacks.

That’s it for this week! But if you’ll allow me “one more thing,” next week’s issue will mark the one-year anniversary of this little weekly report. I’ve got some ideas in store, but if you have any recommendations for fun ways to commemorate the occasion, I’d love to hear them.

• 🎥 The Fall Guy - We were pleasantly surprised to find this available for streaming while still in theaters, so we watched it after putting the kids to bed on Friday night. It’s not high art, but it’s a blast to watch—especially for those of us who grew up on stunt-heavy action movies. Beyond the nostalgia of seeing iconic stunts recreated, there were plenty of laughs. Plus, who doesn't want to stare into Ryan Gosling and Emily Blunt’s eyes for two hours?
• 🎬 Does Hollywood Actually Make More Sequels and Super Hero Movies Than They Used To? - A great research piece by Matt Birchler of the excellent A Better Computer channel. Without spoiling the fun, the answer might surprise you! Just kidding, it’s obviously YES, but it’s interesting to see the data over time.
• 🍎 The Forged Apple Employee Badge - Cabel Sasser, CEO of Panic Software, nearly bought a forgery of Apple’s 8th hire’s employee badge. The bit of internet sleuthing he did to crack the case is impressive and offers a fun dive into tech history.
• 💤 Drømme Calm - N/A Beverage - My brother introduced me to this amazing non-alcoholic, sleepy-time cocktail, and I’m hooked. It tastes like a spice-filled Christmas cocktail with all kinds of natural ingredients to help with sleep, anxiety, and circulation. It’s strong—very spice and ginger-forward—but perfect for winding down at the end of the evening and getting ready for a great night's sleep.
• 📖 Omnivore - Omnivore is one of those quiet hero, open-source apps. It lets you effortlessly collect and save an online reading list. All those articles you encounter during the day but don’t have time to read? Simply use the Share extension to add them to Omnivore on your phone or computer. Later, you can pull them up and read them in a very readable format, free from all the usual modern internet cruft—ads, pop-ups, and auto-loading videos. It can even read articles to you, making it great for listening to long-form journalism or short stories while driving or sweating it out on the rowing machine.

That’s it for this week. Be well, everyone!

ZENITIZER

Perfect meditation timer and tracker.

FITMIND

Wonderful training in several different modalities of mindfulness and meditation, with a heavy emphasis on neuroscience.

THE WAY

A guided course on Zen meditation.

On to the good stuff--

• 💻 Cleanshot X - For someone who is not a professional designer, I still take a crazy amount of screenshots each day. Whether it's capturing a quote from an article, a great piece of design I want to show someone, a screen recording to show a friendly how to do something on the computer, or capture a weird error message I need to share with the IT department, I just wind up having a lot of times I want to share something from my screen with others. Cleanshot X is a little utility that makes it both easier to capture your screen, and makes sure that you screenshots look nice. It supports all kinds of handy little features, like letting you add custom backgrounds behind your screenshots, easy markup to highlight or draw arrows pointing to what you want to call out, or even make little animated GIFs of your screen recording to make the file smaller. It's one of those remarkably well designed apps that just makes little things easier and more delightful.
• 🗣️ OpenAI Chat GPT 4o Demo - I'm as wary as the next guy of all this AI stuff. Not so much the "AI is going to take all our jobs" and "fire ze missiles" wariness (yet), but rather more wary of a bunch of well funded tech bro's with great marketing teams blowing a whole lot of smoke. There are some legitimately cool AI technologies out there, but there are also A LOT of grifters looking to make a quick buck. So it's with that said, I'll note that this week's demo from OpenAI of their new ChatGPT 4o model totally blew my hair back. IF it is as good as it seems (again major caveat emptor), this feels like it could be a massive leap forward for the potential applications of this technology. It's worth watching the short demo to get a sense of some of the possibilities (for good or ill) that this tech can bring. (While the full chat functionality that was demoed won't be out for a few weeks, I've set up my iPhone's action button to open a voice chat with the current generation ChatGPT voice chat, which I'd not really used previously, and have been consistently impressed with it. I'm eager to try out the new version later this month.)
• 🃏Star Wars Unlimited - I linked to an article a few weeks back that listed Star Wars Unlimited as on of the best tabletop and card games of 2024 (so far). My son and I picked it up this week and have been playing a round or two every day since. It's a lot of fun, easy to learn, but also with some interesting strategic possibilities to add some complexity. We just got the starter set that comes with two pre-built decks-- The booster packs filled with additional cards are currently sold out across the US, and can only be bought with major mark-ups on eBay. That said, the starter decks have provided plenty of fun for us so far, and my local game store (shout out, Dragon's Lair!) says that the availability of boosters should normalize by July.
• 🌊 Carryology x Miir Water Bottle - I need another water bottle like I need another gray hair on my head, and yet the fine folks at Carryology's new collaboration with Miir, was just too much for me to resist. What can I say about it other than it looks great, has better proportions and is grippier than my Yeti(s), and so far has managed to keep my cold drinks nice and cold despite the rising temperatures in Austin.
• 🧘🏻‍♂️ The Way App - I've tried a lot of different meditation apps over the years, and almost always tend to favor the ones that just let you sit in silence, only chiming in with pleasant bells when you want a reminder to refocus or when you want to know that it's time to get on with your day. No distracting voice prompts, etc. My favorite of this pleasant style of meditation aid is still Zenitizer. That said, I had heard positive things about The Way app by Zen Master, Henry Shukman, and decided to give it a try. I've been using it daily for about 2 weeks now as a complement to my regular practice, and have really enjoyed it so far. For me, the stand out feature is that there is a set path of sessions for you to follow-- no decision fatigue figuring exactly which type of guided calm or focus you're looking for in the moment. Instead, this app provides a practical guided course in Zen meditation, with a set curriculum of 10 minute guided lessons every day as you make your way through the course. I appreciate that I not only am getting to sit, but am also learning a new modality for meditation practice as I go. Worth checking out if you're at all curious about meditation, mindfulness, or practical Zen, as the first 30 lessons are free and can be repeated forever.

That's it for this week, be well everyone!

Let's get to the good stuff--

• 🍲 FoodNoms - I've tried a bunch of different apps for keeping track of my food and nutrient intake, but most of them are either too bloated with monetization schemes or oriented strictly around weight loss. FoodNoms has a clean, minimalist design, and makes it crazy easy to track everything from calories to protein, fiber and caffeine regardless of whether you want to cut some pounds, pack on some extra muscle, or just want to get a sense of what you're eating each day. They recently added some cool, AI-powered features that let you get a rough readout on the macronutrients of a meal simply by taking a photo of it and/or describing it.
• 🔗 Plinky - Plinky is a great, design-forward app that makes it dead simple to keep track of links. Why use Plinky instead of the Bookmarks folder on your browser? Well, for one, it can go with you everywhere, you don't have to worry about copying over bookmarks from your work browser or your personal browser, you can add to it from any app, and it makes it dead simple to search for and organize your links. I've used similar offerings from Delicous, Pinterest, and Raindrop.io in the past, but Plinky definitely has the most fun and simple design.
• 🛑 Stop the Madness Pro - At the other end of the design spectrum, but still also great, is Stop the Madness, a browser plug-in that puts you back in control of your web experience. Some of my favorite things it does: Skips YouTube ads, blocks auto-playing videos on websites, re-enables Copy/Paste on websites that have disabled it for some reason, bypasses URL-based tracking, and more. It's very powerful and totally great despite the 90's Microsoft-aesthetic of its design.
• 👾 GBA Jam 2024 - After taking a 2 year break, GBA Jam is back. This is a cool event where programmers and hackers huddle up and compete to make the best, really fun game or experience for the old GameBoy Advance platform. I'm routinely impressed by what folks can come up with during these jams, but I'm especially looking forward to it this year now that Delta for iOS is out, which should make it much easier for all of us to actually try out these games as they're being developed.
• 🎒 Choosing a travel pack is hard - Christian Selig wrote an epic post detailing his struggles with finding the perfect travel backpack. As someone who tried out several bags last year trying to find the same thing, I really enjoyed reading the details of his much more thorough search. Fun reading for any fellow bag or gear nerds.

That's it for this week, be well everyone!

On to the good stuff!

• 🔍 Raycast “Search Menu” - Longtime readers will note that I've written several times about Raycast on the Hiro Report. It's increasingly become one of my essential MacOS apps, and just gets better every month. I'll spare everyone a repeat of all that this killer launcher/tool does, but I found a new feature this week that I'm loving-- "Search Menu." In short, when you are in an app that has a ton of buried features and capabilities deep in sub menus, you can pull up Raycast, type "Search Menu" and then type the function you're looking for. E.g. In Excel, you can type "Search Menu" and "Remove Duplicates" and it will just do it, rather than you spending 5 minutes searching through every tool bar until you find it under Menu Bar > Data > Table Tools > Remove Duplicates. A great time saver in pro apps like Lightroom, Final Cut Pro, Word, Excel, etc.
• 🎵 Suno.AI - This is a generative AI tool that lets you create music in response to a text prompt. You can opt to have it create just instrumental music or come up with lyrics that fit whatever topic you desire. My (and my kids') favorite feature, however, is describing a genre of music, writing our own lyrics, and then it creates a whole song with vocal melodies singing what we wrote. It's pretty darn fun, and you get up to free 5 song generations a day if you're curious to try it out.
• 🤖 Data Center by Ben Brown - Speaking of AI, Ben Brown wrote this awesome little Sci Fi short story this week. I don't want to say too much so I don't spoil anything, but it is awesome and worth a read. I want a collection of short stories set in this universe, ASAP!
• 🍾 Barrel Aged In A Bottle - I surprised myself this weekend with a small gift I made for myself a few months ago. While digging through a cabinet, I found a bottle of barrel aged Old Fashioned's that I'd batch made last Fall and completely forgotten about. It was a delicious mistake. You can make a gift for your future self too! The trick is to throw one of these little charred spirals of oak into your favorite bottle of mixing bourbon, along with an appropriate amount of simple syrup and bitters, and then let it sit for a few weeks (or months)-- You'll be time traveling in no time.
• ♟️ Best Board Games of 2024 - This is a pretty cool little list of the best new board games this year, I found several I'm eager to try (Star Wars: Unlimited? Spark Riders 3000? AWESOME.)

That's it for this week, be well everyone!