JW5150 – Things I've Been Working On

Gift Guide 2026!

Being the family CTO I get all the questions like: “What phone should I buy?” or “My nephew wants video games, is GTA ok for an 8 year old?” I found it was easier to save all this stuff to one page and now I just send around a link. Good luck with your holidays! If you are giving or getting anything cool please tell me!

Home Theater

Such a fun project if you watch movies and have the space for a screen. This has a whole page dedicated to it: Check out the version 2 update!

I like to watch movies on Blu-ray, I think it’s more fun. Here’s a whole page on why Blu-ray is the new vinyl.

Books

Solve for Happy is a fantastic book that I would recommend for everyone. If you’re a reader please connect with me on GoodReads!

Runners need to read Born to Run and ChiRunning.

Phones

I’ve had my family on Apple for so long now that it’s not worth considering anything else (running Boomer Anti-virus made me Apple 4 life/sanity).

People I’ve talked to with an iPhone Duo say it’s not worth the $2,000+ price tag.

I try to go magsafe as much as possible just because nobody in the family does cord management well enough for my OCD. Nice upgrade to the MagSafe Popsocket this year. I also have a few Magsafe Batteries charged and by the door. This one from Anker is not their fastest but $40 is a great price point. This one is expensive at $80 but has two cables and can also charge Apple Watch so it’s a nice emergency kit to have.

Headphones and Earbuds

Not a lot of changes in the last few years here. If you like AirPods that is an easy way to go. Beats Fit Pro are still my earbud champions but have been upgraded to the Powerbeats Fit. Beats uses Apple hardware so all of the easy, rock solid connection that AirPods have.

One trick here – if your kids are like mine and lose/destroy earbuds on a regular basis, check out Unclaimed Baggage. I have a pile of Jabra 75t and just keep buying single left ear replacements on eBay. They get great sound and I’m not losing my mind at $30 a set.

If you’re the kind of person who doesn’t lose earbuds and wants amazing sound I can vouch for the Status X as a good set.

The short story with headphones is you have to try them. It doesn’t matter what they cost if they hurt your head after 10 minutes. Of course that makes it much more difficult to buy a gift so at least make sure you’ve got return options. Bose is great if you want to support Boston and noise cancelling is your number one priority. Or Sony has a long history of excellence with these.

Speakers

This is a topic with a big learning curve. All I want is good music in the house. It’s based in the kitchen because I love to listen while I cook.

Every holiday season our warehouse club has a crazy deal on a larger bluetooth speaker. Two years ago it was a Klipsch One, last year a Harmon Kardon Onyx. These kinds of speakers are great for simplicity. Also, if you can wait until after the holidays they keep marking them down until they are gone and those can be savings you’ll never find anywhere else on new, or not stolen gear. I’ll update this when I find out what this year’s is.

In general, my experience with smart speakers is that they are not that smart. Last time I was shopping customers were in an uproar about a Sonos software upgrade that broke a lot of things so I tried Amazon’s offerings. Connection problems, drops, just all kinds of headaches. From there I ran a pair of Klipsch The Sevens, which are dumb speakers but have an amp so you can use normal stereo gear, or bluetooth. They ran $700 and were great for a year until the amp inside of them died. Klipsch just sent me a new amp when I told them I can do basic repairs but I fixed them and flipped on eBay because I didn’t feel like rolling the dice on them dying again in one year. Klipsch drove that home at the same time announcing that the next generation of that speaker would have an amp built by Onkyo, and would cost 2x the previous model.

At this point I went to the Wirecutter and they said the Victrola Tempo is the best bookshelf speaker and at $250 I thought it was worth a shot.

They do sound great, and it helps that I still have a Klipsch Subwoofer that I bought off eBay for under $200 for The Sevens. It’s not cheap but if you want music that shakes the house, you’ll get it. And because I can’t avoid still trying to get the smart speaker thing to work I’ve added a WiiM Mini which connects the speakers to Wifi so it can work with smart home things. The single best use of this is I can fire up a Spotify playlist from my phone, but it will be running on the WiiM so if I leave the music keeps going and it’s not like Bluetooth where if I get a text or start playing a video, the music is disrupted for everyone.

Music

Nothing new this year, I continue to be all in on Spotify which has just added both lossless files, and the ability to mix. Spotify – please add me, I’ve got a bunch of holiday and other playlists, feel free to send me your info. Carin loves Spotify on CarPlay.

Video Games

My son and I play Fortnite regularly because we have lots of friends who do. My screenname is Phildunphey247 if you are over there. H has also been impressed with James Bond First Light so that’s worth checking out.

Car

CarPlay is required for me, we have some older vehicles and for $140 Carpuride is an easy solution. If you’re not afraid of doing some auto wiring it’s an easy way to add a backup camera for vehicles that don’t have one.

Our town has a bunch of deer and bear you’ll come across on the road at night. Also a lot of rural streets with no shoulders so I’m a big fan of switching fog lights to LED for better visibility (same with backup lamps). I would upgrade the headlights but it’s not legal to put an LED bulb in a housing made for halogen. Burning out the eyes of oncoming drivers is bad for everyone so do the homework to see what’s legal.

For the Home

Monitors

Ratings from Wirecutter

Aura frames are the best digital picture frames. The app is easy enough that all my family can use it.

Kitchen/Cooking/Food

As someone who does a show called Marketing Over Coffee, I have an Owala custom mug for my morning iced, which is a quad espresso over ice that I make in a Bialetta Moka Induction. I brew Cafe Bustelo unless I want to splurge and get Blue Velvet from No. 6 Depot.

I enjoy cutting veggies with my Milk St. Nakiri.

The coolest thing I got in 2025 was an upgrade to an induction range, it beats gas and electric. Our fridge also died and the new one makes craft ice, which I consider hipster DB, but would now not give up.

Apple Watch

Get a better band: Their Shark Clip band can get wet, easily adjusts to any size and comes in a bunch of crazy colors if you want more than their basic black (which also looks great.) The Shark Leash double velcro closure is also perfect fit but I don’t recommend it if you live in a cold climate where you’ll be wearing sweaters or jackets that will catch the velcro. The Spidel is for dressing up, but for comfort and swimming/sauna, Shark Clip is my daily go to.

Sports

I’ve always run with a watch. After I was let down by my Apple Watch screwing up me running the Falmouth Road Race because of weak GPS I upgraded to a dual GPS watch by Coros. My Coros Pace 3 is mostly sold out but check out the Coros Pace 4.

Strava is the social media app for Biking, Running and a bunch of other sports. I really love how you can support the people you know in their workouts instead of doomscrolling other social networks. Meet me over there!

Indoor Bicycle Racking Simulator – Zwift. Last year I could no longer stomach the idea of another half hour on a treadmill or my Miami Vice era Cross Country Ski Nordic Track. The answer was an excercise bike (Schwinn IC4) which connects to Apple TV. Using the movie room projector mentioned above I now race through the virtual alps againts riders from all over the world. I will probably do an entire post about it, but tell me if you have questions and check out Zwift.

Running: I tried all kinds of arm and wrist straps and then realized the best way to carry your phone (and a bunch of other stuff) is with a FlipBelt. Works great for travel too.

I like Maui Jim sunglasses for the beach/running and they are great for boating/fishing. They now come in readers.

Make ski goggles (or any other glasses) bifocals for less than $25.

Runners need to read Born to Run and ChiRunning.

Shaving, Bathroom, Personal Care

As an old man I’ve spent years on the quest for the perfect shave. Turns out it doesn’t exist. Like most things in life there are trade offs. I’ve settled on Gilette Labs, it’s not just that they are from Boston, their tagline is no lie, it is the best shave a man can get. If you are willing to give up being super smooth a Henson Safety Razor is much better for the environment.

This razor travel case is fantastic.

In Italy I discovered La Roche Posay Sunblock. What we get in the US is not as good as what they have in Europe but it’s still fantastic.

I’m addicted to sauna, that’s another post, but the Sauna / beach bags by SeaBags of Maine are made from recycled sails and look fantastic.

Happy Po. Toilet paper is poor use of resources.

Good for Anyone

My life runs on Apple AirTags. Where’s my wife? Where’re the kids? Where’s the car? Where’s the keys? Where’s the remote?

Make the AirTag a 10 year tag.

One screwdriver to rule them all.

My other easy suggestion here is a gift certificate to a favorite restaurant or business. Support your local community and send one less thing to the landfill.

If nothing has helped here and you need more ideas, check out last year’s gift guide.

Good luck this holiday season!!

Tags Holiday Gifts, Nerd Gifts, Tech Gifts

Geek Stuff Productivity Buster

Blu-ray is the New Vinyl

I thought the era of me having physical copies of movies in the house was over. I really liked the idea of all my digital copies accessible through AppleTV, and being able to access it all remotely from my laptop. I mean how cool is it to be able to go on vacation and just bring an HDMI cable, plug my laptop into any TV and have the equivalent of my old movie stack at home?

If you’re nerdy enough to be here you’ve heard all the arguements already about how streaming music is not like owning CDs and records. It’s the same with movies, with all of overcomplicated legal rights there’s always the chance that something will just vanish from the library.

With audio there’s been a resurgence of people buying turntables and vinyl records. Now there are daily online fistfights about sound quality and I’ve done some blind tests and I appreciate that some people feel vinyl sounds better, or that the click and hiss are part of making it “warmer” or “less digital” and if you want to throw your money that way, I’m happy for you having some fun.

One point here that doesn’t get enough credit is that I think the tactile experience is not talked about enough. Searching for a song on Spotify is convenient and the library is massive, but it’s nothing like going to some store or crazy flea market and digging around in crates to see what you can find. Negotiating with a seller, talking with other fans, looking at the giant dust jacket with art and liner notes on it. All of this is part of a hobby that people love. It’s cool to chase things and fun to take some time to sit down at home and experience listening to music.

Ultimately for me though, I don’t consider the actual sound much different with vinyl vs. CD vs. streaming. This is heresy to many, but it’s where blind testing has led me. Most people don’t care that much, and an even smaller group is willing and able to hear the differences.

Ok, all this setup to land on a day about a year ago where I was watching a Peter Gabriel concert in “4k” from a streaming service and thought “I remember this looking better? Why is this so crappy?” I dug around in the closet and found a Blu-ray disc of the show and it was eye opening. Both the sound and the audio were way better than what I was streaming. Sharper, more color, more bass, more detail. More everything.

And with this I fell into the rabbit hole… When 4k streaming arrived on Apple TV I thought “I can finally ditch all these DVDs and Blu-ray discs! The future is good!” So why did streaming look like trash?

4k means the image size is 3840 × 2160 (highest resoultion currently streaming, or 4k Blu-ray disks)

Blu-Ray is 1920 x 1080 so that’s only 1/4 of the pixels of 4k so it must look worse right? DVD at 720 x 480 is rubbish.

But there are a bunch of other factors that affect picture quality besides just the number of pixels. Without getting into a huge discussion about file compression, color, and the audio spectrum, the short version is that movies are a lot of data. A blu-ray of a 2 hour movie can be 60GB of data. Streaming companies are paying to push that data, so any way they can compress the file so that there’s less data to send, the more money they get to keep.

The other thing is that the image quality is also a factor of how big your screen is and how far you are sitting away from it. If you are very close then more pixels is always good, more pixels packed into the same space, the less “jagged” it looks. But the smaller the screen, the less the resolution makes a difference. Carlton Bale is the guy who publishes a graphic on this that you can check out if you want details. The takeaway for me was that on a screen under 100 inches diagonal, that you are 12 feet away from, there’s not a lot of difference between 4k and 1080p.

Now when the streaming service compresses the file it reduces the color and detail. And since very few listeners are on systems with a subwoofer they can cut off all of the low end bass (listening to explosions and action films on streaming takes all of the action out of it.)

So I started collecting blu-ray again. And I kept reading. If you get hooked you’ll start checking out thrift stores, antique stores and yard sales. There’s an interesting thing with this – many blu-ray discs come with a digital code so you can add the digital copy to your library, but there’s a chance the previous owner has already redeemed it or it has expired. It becomes chasing lottery tickets. My local antique store sells discs for anywhere from $2-10. There have been many times I was able to redeem a digital copy of a movie that is still selling online for $15 or more.

If you are having trouble filling in your collection I’ve become a big fan of DeepDiscount and Gruv. They have great selection and run sales all the time. They also email weekly about new releases and reissues as they come out. Walmart still carries discs and new releases drop on Tuesdays.

Ok, now to get even geekier: Blu-ray vs. 4k discs. I stick to blu-ray for a couple of reasons. First is that in the Bale chart above, 4k is not a huge improvement for my situation. Second is that there’s a whole lot of things going on as far as video formats such as Dolby Vision and others that could affect your out of the box experience. 4k may look no better or even worse than blu-ray depending on the player and how your TV is set up. Third is that there are a ton of cheap and inexpensive blu-ray players out there but 4k players are pretty niche. This along with the announcement that Sony is not going to do a physical drive on the next Playstation makes me feel that it might be more difficult to find inexpensive 4k players 5 years from now, and I’m happy with blu-ray that’s cheaper and has a larger secondary market.

There’s also another entire level of geekery around how the original film or digital copy is transferred to blu-ray or 4k. Every movie is different and you can lose way too many hours reading about transfers. The sounce for this is Blu-Ray.com. If you want taste the insanity check out the 15 different versions of The Terminator. The TL/DR – the intial release of movies around 2000-2010(ish) are not as good as when the technology improved so versions around 2010-2015) look and sound better.

Another issue with 4k discs is that many of these transfers include digital noise reduction and other tools to “improve” the image quality. Many fans have completely lost their minds and are looking for people to shame for this heresy. For Terminator 2 fans it’s generally agreed that you should get the newer blu-rays and skip the 4k. There are a lot of comparison shots on YouTube you can check out, of course these start fights too with people saying “your monitor is not calibrated correctly, yadda yadda yadda”

Oh, and transfer is just part of it, many versions have “Extras” – alternate endings, director’s cuts, behind the scenes features. 20th anniversary editions may add new interviews and looks back. That gets factored in too, maybe that middle version of T2 has the best picture quality but it has the happy ending people complain about. More stuff for fans to argue about.

And all that to get to: with running around checking bins, having long drawn out discussions about transfers and obscure variants, (limited edition dust covers or metal “Steelbook” cases), Blu-ray really is the new vinyl.

Daily Life Geek Stuff Productivity Booster

Building a Home Theater That’s Better Than The Average Movie Theater

Post author By themshow
Post date September 16, 2026
1 Comment on Building a Home Theater That’s Better Than The Average Movie Theater

Five years ago during covid I did my first home theater post on how to get set up for around the price of a good TV. After three years the sub $100 projector was starting to have some issues and there were other changes we wanted to make in the house so it was time for a nerd power upgrade! Everything execpt the sound system has been kicked up a level and while it’s a lot more expensive than version one, it’s reached the point that unless I am going to drive an hour to see something in IMAX, I’ve got all the local theaters beat.

So why to do this?

It has the same advantages of TV over the movies:

Pause when you want for bathroom or snacks
Watching movies over two nights lets me screen a lot more
Picture is better and as loud or quiet as I want, headphones are also an option
You can stop watching a bad movie whenever and don’t have to feel you wasted a trip for it

Ok, so what’s the latest gear?

The projector: The laser projector is an exponential jump up in brightness, sharpness and detail. It just looks amazing. The Anker Soundcore Cosmos Nebula 4k SE (not the best product name), Amazon currently sells a refurb for $800, you can get new from the Anker site for $1,000. I got it pre-inflation with an upgrade deal for $900 almost 2 years ago, I bit the bullet on the price after making the mistake of trying a projector that still used an old school bulb (last generation tech that wasn’t as good as the budget LED projector it replaced), and a 4k LED from a now discontinued line of Nebula projector. Laser clearly beats LED.

A bunch of the problems of the past like keystoning (the image not being perfectly square) or being out of focus are now all solved and the picture straightens it self out automatically on startup. Simple and looks great.

If you don’t want to pay that much for a projector Yaber still has a great 1080p model for $350.

The screen: This is the other huge leap forward. Our ancient farmhouse has plaster and lathe walls (read “nowhere near smooth”). I also made the mistake of painting it with a semi gloss so there were some hot spots. In moving to the new room (we swapped the Living and Dining rooms), we repaired the new wall with sheetrock so it’s perfectly smooth. I used a flat gray this time and it’s just perfect.

I did not order a special projector paint. You can pay anywhere from 70 to hundreds of dollars for paint, some with silver in them. I did a lot of research and results were mixed. Between the price and the odds of having a broken or open container of paint show up at your mailbox, I decided to try a paint that gets a lot of love in the AV Forums that can get made up at any Home Depot.

For $32 I got two quarts and did the whole room: Home Depot Color: 770E-2 | Silver Screen. Ultra Pure White Flat Low Odor Interior Paint & Primer. I ordered the Behr Premium Plus Flat Matte. Maybe some day when I have too much time and money on my hands I’ll try different paint (and the hardcore insist you need to be spraying it on), but I love what I’ve got right now.

The media: AppleTV is still the streaming king. Which might explain why the price hasn’t gone down in five years. I’ve found the picture quality to beat other streaming boxes, and I like that it has a wired internet connection to reduce drops.

Upgrading to a 130 inch screen also showed me new limitations in streaming. I noticed that the “4k” stream didn’t look as good as the same movie that I had as a blu-ray disc. This led me down a rabbit hole that I will write about separately, but the short version is: streaming services have a financial incentive to try and send as little data down the wire to you as they can. They need to compete with the other services, but overall, none of them will push you as much data as you can get off a disc. It’s noticeable in the color and detail, and in the soundtrack (the missing bass is obvious).

That gave me the excuse I needed to buy a Sony PS5. My local warehouse club had a good price and I scrambled to buy one in front of TarriffMania ^tm. It plays Blu-Ray and 4k Blu-Ray. It does have all the streaming services but I found they were not as good as on AppleTV. Note, for reasons beyond the nerd level of this post, it’s not worth the extra money to buy 4k Blu-Ray given my screen size and distance sitting from the screen.

This also opened up all the video game options which are amazing. Fortnite has become a staple for weekend fun, Resident Evil and Spider-man also look incredible. It adds the wrinkle of occasionally having to kick my son off so the rest of us can watch something as he has a TV over in the play room.

Sound: I am still using the Bose TV Speaker. For an 18×18 room it’s enough sound and I got it for less than $150 years ago. Originally I got it because it was cheap and has bluetooth, I am not running any wires for speakers if I can help it. The Bose TV Speaker 2 is now available for $300 if you are looking for a no headache answer. I did level up though by adding a Sony Subwoofer and it’s a complete game changer. Everything booms now. It’s a little wonky though, I had to solder together a cord to connect it to the Bose speaker. They have it set up so that normally you can only connect a Bose subwoofer because the cable is looking for an extra wire carrying power confirm it’s on. After digging around on Reddit I got the specs and made the cord and it’s worked fine for years. I’m happy to help anyone but I will not make them, I’m constantly checking mine to make sure I’m not going to burn down my house.

If I were building from scratch now I’d go to the warehouse club, you can check Wirecutter to verify the brands that are ok but for $200 you can get something that sounds great with a subwoofer and bluetooth if you have the same aversion to wires everywhere that I do.

Remote Control: This is one area that has surprisingly gotten worse. Logitech has end of lifed the Harmony remotes so once I had some buttons fail that was the end of the road. You’ll notice that the $70 Sofa Baton looks like a twin of the last Harmony Remote. Mine works ok but I tend to reach for the Apple Remote or a PS5 controller. This is all currently a sore point as people occasionally get stuck not being able to get something to work. The problem with the sofa baton is you have to choose what remote it is with a click wheel. So I want to move around in AppleTV, click to Apple, push some buttons. Adjust the volume? click to Projector, push some buttons. Forget to click? It’s not going to do what you want. I need to read more about programming the Sofa Baton but that’s maybe item #3,287 on my prioritized to-do list.

Oh, and one more thing: This winter I finally said I am so sick and tired of running on the treadmill that I had to change it up. I got an excercise bike and run Zwift on the AppleTV. Instead of smelling my local gym I am now doing virtual bike racing through Europe for the winter. With the huge screen it’s as good as any video game. I’ll write more on that later too.

Good luck!

Tags Audio, Blu-ray, Home Theater, Movies, Projectors, Video Games

Daily Life

Notes on a First Time Trip to Rome and Florence

Post author By themshow
Post date May 19, 2026
No Comments on Notes on a First Time Trip to Rome and Florence

For April vacation we went to Rome and Florence. I ran into one of my friends in town, and he mentioned he is going to Italy in a couple of weeks so told him that I would write up a few things and send it to him.

My wife and I didn’t do much for our big birthdays that happened during Covid and so at the start of this year she decided that the kids will be off to college soon enough so if we don’t take a trip to Italy now, the odds will keep falling. They have the standard Massachusetts April vacation week, which is right in the middle of normal insanity unlike the summer. But, there’s more and more talk about Italy being completely overrun in July/August so she booked flights and hotels and then I proceeded to do no preparation of any sort.

I haven’t been to Europe since my Dad took me as a kid so here’s a bunch of things I found notable:

Passports – we did well here, we had them before Covid in prep for a trip through Canada, the kids were renewed last year. The EU has a new system where you scan your passport on arrival, getting out of the Rome airport only took about 40 minutes. The most interesting part of this to me was that boarding passes were not required for the Atlanta/Rome leg of our flight, with the passport scan they used facial recognition at the gate. The attendant got a scan as we approached and that was it, no checking in.

The train is right at the airport, like a Boston commuter rail but nicer and it goes straight into the Rome train terminal. It was around $8, and works perfectly. Before leaving I had more than one person tell me to be wary on the train for pickpockets and scams. All I can say is that every train and subway I went on was nicer than the worst trains I’ve been on in America so I never felt concerned and we had no issues. In fact, we took the high speed rail from Rome to Florence and it was better than the Acela.

Get the high speed train app and the regional train app so you can buy your tickets on your phone. There were huge lines at baggage claim (40+ people) which are pointless, if you have already loaded the app and played with it a bit you can buy your tickets as you are walking to the tracks.

Tip: if you are traveling with a family and you buy your tickets through the app, you’ll have a bunch of QR codes on your phone that you could scan multiple times as you feed people into the corral. But, every major station we went to had at least one corral that was manned by a security guard who could check tickets. These are armed guards who have bigger things to worry about than confirming a bunch of QR codes on your phone. I would show them the first ticket and they would just wave us all through.

This was the power adapter we traveled with, I got two 2-packs from Amazon so everybody got their own and it worked perfectly. When I got there I realized that it was kind of stupid of me because I left my laptop at home and I didn’t have any devices that needed to be plugged in. I could have just bought a European charger.

Speaking of things to charge, I was really surprised how phones have taken so much of the headache out of international travel. I had two credit cards on my phone where I could label my travel dates so they would have no issues with suspicious charges. And getting credit card exchange rates are not horrible and it beats having to get Euros and changing them back if they don’t get used.

I did have a bunch of cash I wanted to use (when I was closing out my Dad’s estate a guy paid cash for one of his cars so this was an opportunity to finally get rid of a wad of 100’s I had no use for) and there’s a guy at the Uffizi Gallery who has done currency exchange for decades. He was giving 80 Euro for $100 USD with no additional fees.

My friend Kelsey lives in Europe and gave me a bunch of tips – use booking.com as AirBnB is not the leader there. Also try to avoid Uber which is more expensive than Lyft. Also Lyft is affiliated (or maybe now owns?) Freenow, uses existing taxis/limos.

Between Freenow or Uber when there were no other options, we had no trouble getting around the cities. We did a ton of walking. Averaged over 8 miles a day for the trip.

We arrived in Rome Friday morning and had rented an apartment near Re di Roma, which is only a couple of miles from the Coliseum. The A Line of the subway has all the main tourist points. It was a half block from our apartment and passes Coliseum, Spanish Steps (and Trevi Fountain), and goes west to Vatican City. Tap and pay with your phone removes tickets from the loop and works perfectly.

The A line was packed on the weekend, this wasn’t even the busy season but the tourist volume is crazy. For the Coliseum, Vatican City, and Uffizi Gallery in Florence your best bet is to buy tickets (or tours) weeks in advance. We used Viator for booking, it’s a TripAdvisor company and if you are as ill-prepared as I was you can buy your way into tours on short notice. It gets expensive fast, but as this may be once in a lifetime for me I bit the bullet.

Our family has to eat Gluten Free and we were pleased to find that Find Me GF, the app we use for travel at home was fantastic in both Rome and Florence.

We also did a day trip to Livorno because Carin wanted to see the coast and give the kids a day trip experience. I didn’t realize that Livorno is the easiest cruise ship stop that allows tourists to then hop on the train to do a day trip to Pisa and/or Florence. It’s very nice and has an amazing market but if not for wanting to get to the water I would have taken an extra day in Rome instead.

I was also surprised at how many people wear Oud Rose perfumes, at first I thought that was just the smell of the city.

It was a fantastic trip, I was surprised that it was no more difficult than going to a major city in the US. The hospitality stole my heart, everyone treated us well, language was never a barrier, everything from the restaurants to the shops and museums were fantastic. I’ve been posting some photos on IG, check them out there.

Tags Florence, Italy, Rome, Travel

Geek Stuff Productivity Booster

Tech Gift Guide 2025

Happy Holidays! As Family CTO I’ve been putting this list together every year so when I get tech questions over Thanksgiving I just send this link. Hopefully it helps you too. Feel free to send me any suggestions or questions, I’m johnjwall on Instagram and Threads.

Easy Gifts

Here’s cheap and thoughtful for situations where the phone flashlight is not going to cut it (or you want to be using your phone battery for other things than light.) The Olight Arkfeld Ultra 1300 lumens manages to be both stylish and nerdy at the same time, and comes in a bunch of patterns and colors.

Aura frames are the best digital picture frames I’ve ever used. Their app is so good that everyone in our family can use them and share pictures. It’s wonderful to get all the great stuff off your phone where there are never seen so you can enjoy them. As the curtain falls on the school play you can push photos to your home and grandma over on the other side of the country. The Carver is on sale for $139.

Leatherman multi-tools are a great option for difficult-to-buy-for people. The Skeletool is on their list of gifts under $100 and comes in a variety of colors. A great company out of Oregon, you can learn more about them from my interview here.

UPDATE: Apple Watch bands from Freestyle USA

Their Shark Clip band can get wet, easily adjusts to any size and comes in a bunch of crazy colors if you want more than their basic black (which also looks great.) The Shark Leash double velcro closure is also perfect fit but I don’t recommend it if you live in a cold climate where you’ll be wearing sweaters or jackets that will catch the velcro. I have a bunch of dressier bands (with Spidel being my personal favorite) but for comfort and swimming/sauna, Shark Clip is my daily go to.

My other easy suggestion here is a gift certificate to a favorite restaurant or business. Support your local community and send one less thing to the landfill.

TV and Home Theater

Everyone here is still in love with the projector setup built during Covid lockdown. That full story is here (but needs updating!) if you want the full nerd story of speakers, streaming devices and disc players.

You can get started with a 1080p projector, one similar to my first is now only $73. This is a great way to figure out if you can make this work without spending a ton.

I upgraded projectors again this year, Cosmos’ 4k SE has an amazing picture that’s brighter and sharper than anything I’ve found under $1,000. Black Friday deal of $845 is less than the early bird upgrade I got it for.

Update (Black Friday): If you aren’t afraid of buying a refurb this projector is on sale and has a $150 coupon for an unbelievable $600

If I can’t sell you on home theater get a TV at your local warehouse store so you can see it and return it easily.

Phones

I recommend Apple because I’d rather pay more and do less user support. I’ve got nothing against Android or PC, but my primary goal is to do as little user support as possible. I’m not recommending the Apple Sock thing (shocker). Not a lot new in phones this year, I’m not sure what to say about the Apple phone holder/sock/whatever-that-is but I’m not buying any.

MagSafe, the iPhone feature where magnets can attach to the phone allowing you to wirelessly charge, mount in the car with no work, or add a PopSocket are all great options (updated for this year.)

If your can handle computer graphics there’s a lot you can do with custom PopSockets, the QR code is my Trust Insights business card so no more wasted paper or running out. I gave Carin one with family photos on it.

I’m loving the iPhone nightstand clock mode and have replaced my alarm clock with a charging station, a great gift under $50

Earbuds

Fit is everything here, if you’re buying for someone make sure you have return options because it doesn’t matter how much you spend, if they are painful to wear it’s a miss.

Beats Fit Pro are still my earbud champions but have just been upgraded to the Powerbeats Fit. I recommend those or AirPods for most because the Apple hardware means a more solid connection, more features, less weirdness. I do have a set of Status Pro X which are the best sounding ones I’ve found if you have an audio fan in your life. After that you can check out Sony, they are always solid.

Bluetooth Speakers

Wonderboom 4 is $60, portable, waterproof, and you can get a second to pair in stereo. For the house Klipsch’s The One sounds wonderful and last year my warehouse club had them for an amazing $149. If you are an audio nut, we spent way too much last year when I got Klipsch’s The Fives and a subwoofer, but I enjoy fantastic sound every night while cooking dinner. The Fives have been discontinued, the best option now are The Sevens.

Podcasting

For podcasting I love my RodecasterProII, but you can now get the Duo which is smaller and has all the features I need so I may do the eBay downgrade at some point to get some desk space back. For microphones I still love the VModa boom best, but with wired headphones slowly vanishing for everyone except hardcore audiophiles, I’ve stopped making Sony 7506 mods and use Beats Fit Pro for day to day, and recommend Shure SM7B for the office/studio.

Music

If you are into DJing or setting up online listening Turntable is back after being gone for nearly a decade. If you want to throw a virtual holiday party this would add the music.

Eyewear

If you have anyone that needs glasses there are two interesting things: I like Maui Jim sunglasses for the beach/running and they are great for boating/fishing. They now come in readers. The other thing is being able to make ski goggles (or any other glasses) bifocals for less than $25. I have just refused to pay the $400+ for prescription goggles because that would just guarantee they would get lost/stolen/broken, nevermind the fact that they get used maybe 5 times a year. Add the lens in the reading zone and boom, I can see my phone again when trying to find my kids.

Organization App

Trello is a great tool for managing your holiday tasks. Create a card for each person or task that you have to take care of, and I have three columns: Parking Lot which is where the cards stay and during the year as I get gift ideas I can add them to the checklist for that person, In Progress for the items that I am currently working on completing, and finally they rest in Done.

Video Games

When I upgraded to a 4K projector it made sense to get a PS5 so I can still play Blu-Ray, and and now 4K Blu-Ray. I need to do an entire other post on this because I’ve really gotten into Blu-Ray since I found out that streaming 4K can be a wide variety of content and some of it looks garbage on a 120 inch projected screen. More on that to follow.

The Nintendo Switch is still strong here, especially with H interested in the latest open world real time combat Pokemon game now out. For more on Switch my previous post on that hasn’t changed. When I don’t know where to look I start at GameSpot.

If you play Fortnite check in with me, PhilDunphey247

Computers

Chargers have changed as we now have more USB-C devices, Apple Watches, and earbuds. My Mophie travel charger was a great price at my warehouse store and Carin commented on how sharp it looks. Unfortunately maybe it was warehouse only because I can’t find it online. The closest I can get is here.

Nothing new this year (blessings to my wallet for a change.) Macs are great for people that don’t know what they are doing, I’m so excited not to be Anti-Virus police for my family. But if you have any gamers or people who want to venture outside the controlled garden, you may be PC shopping.

For better Zoom Calls and Google Meet check out Plexicam. It’s not a true teleprompter, it’s a clear bracket that lets you hang your webcam on the center of your monitor. It’s less expensive than a teleprompter, and is a lot less stuff to be moving around and have on your desk. If you do a lot of web meetings you need this.

Car

Over the past two years I’ve been messing around adding CarPlay to older vehicles. For $115 our crappy Honda Civic can do all the stuff. I’ve had good luck with this one from Carpuride. Adding a backup camera is not a trivial task, or for the weak of heart if ripping your car interor out is not your idea of a fun weekend. But, that said, a 4k backup camera looks amazing.

If you’re even more of a dork, I added a spare tire subwoofer to our Honda CR-V. I need to do a whole post on that, you need to be ok with the fact that if you screw it up your car could be destroyed in a fiery blaze. If you’re that kind of warranty buster I must say that I get a huge stupid smile when the music is bouncing.

Happy Holidays!

The only other thing I can plug is that for home improvements if you can do some light electrical and plumbing, getting a bidet seat is a game changer. Imagine skipping the next toilet paper shortage entirely. Your big box hardware store has them starting around $40 but if you want to get the Ferrari of the toilet world click here.

Ok, I have shopping to do! I’ll update this as things change, and I hope you have a restful holiday!

Tags Holiday Gifts, Nerd Gifts, Tech Gifts

Daily Life

Cars Sold!

Post author By themshow
Post date May 23, 2025
1 Comment on Cars Sold!

It has been a full year since my last post. There has been so much going on that I’ve had no chance to stop and write any of it down here. Overall we’re doing very well, but the past six months have been challenging. My dad got a prognosis of 2-3 years to live 3 years ago. He lived his normal life right up until October. At that point his heart started to fail quickly and he passed away in March at the age of 83.

Update: I’ve had people asking about the estate sale, it will be May 30-June 1. Pictures to the thousands of items at EstateSales.net

Update 2: The estate sale was huge, but there’s still so much stuff! There will be a live action June 28th! The motorcycle and Honda CRV are sold.

Update 3: Everything has sold!

If you knew my dad, you know he loved cars, especially convertibles. As our families are not in a 2-seater phase of life, all the cars are going on the block. Here’s what’s for sale. Keep in mind my dad wasn’t big on preventative maintenance so these are as-is. The convertibles both had new tops put on last year by someone in south county, they look great but need to be garaged as they are not so weatherproof that you can drive around in a storm.

2007 Nissan 350Z – $7,500

76k Miles, V6 3.5L, Automatic

My dad got a deal he couldn’t refuse even though he already had a silver convertible (eyeroll). This runs well and we just put 4 new tires on it. Same deal with the top as the other convertible, it’s new, but not watertight in extreme weather. Low mileage but the previous owner must have had a small dog or something there’s a lot of scratches on the interior plastics (Updated – Andy figured out that the previous owner was a big fan of jewelry, anywhere their hands went there are scratches.) They were also a big audio fan, there’s cutouts in the back passenger side storage box and it’s still wired for an amp. It looks like they took their stuff all out and put the stock stuff back in. They were pretty good about it, one speaker grill is loose but otherwise it all works and still sounds great. Bose 6-CD changer if you can find your CDs in the attic (or I can throw in some vintage from my collection!)

email wallbrothers@gmail.com or text/leave vm at (413) 770-2840 if interested.

~~2000 Honda S2000 – asking $19,750 90k Miles, 4-cyl VTEC 2.0L, Manual 6 Speed~~ SOLD

Literally the stereotypical “little old lady special” that was his favorite car. You can read all about the S2000 here. It doesn’t look like a race car but it’s absurdly fast. It has cult status as it held the crown for power/liter until Ferrari took the title in 2010. I would say it is in average condition, not bad mileage, needs some cleanup, like the Z the top looks great but is not as weathertight as it should be. I just had Carpinello’s give it a look and it’s running well and has a new battery. I’ve cleaned this one up since it came out of storage, but wanted to get these pics up immediately for Memorial Day.

email wallbrothers@gmail.com or text/leave vm at (413) 770-2840 if interested.

~~2013 Honda CR-V – asking $11,500~~ Sold

130k Miles, 5Dr AWD EX-L

Dad was hit by another driver in October and totaled out that car and just bought this CR-V in November 2024. All cleaned up by a dealer in Pittsfield and in great shape except for a tear in the driver seat.

email wallbrothers@gmail.com or text/leave vm at (413) 770-2840 if interested.

~~2012 Honda CBR250 Motorcycle~~ SOLD

4,500 Miles

He bought this in October, a friend of a friend is helping sell it. I’ll see if I can get some pictures if it’s not already gone. Thanks to Scott at Corrupted Concepts for moving it, check out his shop! Stock photo if you’re not familiar with it:

email wallbrothers@gmail.com or text/leave vm at (413) 770-2840 if interested.

Productivity Booster

The Sauna at Sand Springs

I have a neighbor who is living abroad and I keep him up to date with the restaurants and other businesses in town because that’s what we do. I told him I’ve become a sauna regular and he said “The sauna is like the popular new kid in a John Hughes movie, everyone is talking about it!”

For those who are not my townies, Sand Springs in Williamstown is a warm springs that has been used for hundreds of years. The story from my family is that one of my wife’s aunts sang for Tommy Dorsey when he played there in the 1930’s and asked her to go on tour with them. I have no idea if that’s true.

When I was a kid it was a public swimming pool, apparently there were years where it had owners who considered making it a spa but since we moved back it is again a community pool. I’ve always loved that for less than the price of shocking a pool (if I had one), I’m able to get a summer membership and enjoy evenings poolside from June to September.

Executive Director Henry Smith arrived in 2023 and at the end of the swim season announced that they would try running the sauna through the winter. What started in October as a few nights a week became popular enough to get up to 6 days a week, expanded hours, with days of 30-40 people coming in for the sauna.

And please keep in mind I am a random guy who goes there, there is nothing official about this post.

So, questions I’ve been asked:

What’re the rules? You show up and can buy a day pass or a membership. It’s a single sauna that is co-ed, everyone wears clothes. Showering before entering is appreciated. Some days/times are designated quiet hours where conversation is kept to a minimum. There have also been Women Only days, for a Bro-Free experience.

You should ask the crowd before pouring water on the heater to increase the heat/steam. There are two levels of benches, you can sit on either, the higher one is hotter. There are also wooden stools you can use for your head if there are few enough people inside that you can lie down.

You can buy a stylish Sand Springs Sauna Hat (or at least stylish if you are a garden gnome), which keeps your head cool so you can stay in the heat longer. These are not required.

How long do people stay? Do they go in groups? Or just run into people there? There are two general approaches – there are hippies that go with the flow, and performance athletes that probably have at least one time running, but the approach is similar, 10-15 minutes in the heat, and then take a cold plunge in the pool. Repeat around 3 times. There are many variations and a lot of sauna lore, I’m not going to get into that here.

What’s the capacity? With both levels of the benches being used it starts getting crowded with more than 10 people. It’s really a roll of the dice, I’ve had days where I’ve waited in the lobby for seats to open up, and days where I have it to myself.

Are there snacks? Drinks? Do people bring edibles? There’s always Tea and most of the time clementines. Wild Soul River on Cole Ave. got me into Barley Tea which I didn’t know anything about until they stocked the tea station.

A lot of people bring their own water. I bring my stainless steel teacup because I’m psyched to finally have something to use it for. While sauna season has been “adults only” (high school staff are considered adults here as Sand Springs trusts them with the lives of our children during the summer as lifeguards). I’m pretty sure drug use is not allowed at the facility, this is a family kind of place.

Who goes? Why do you go? As one sauna guest said: “It’s the only activity for adults in Williamstown after 6pm that isn’t drinking.” One of the big surprises to me was that it’s been a hit with Williams College athletes. Up until this point I’ve never seen a Williams kid at Sand Springs because it didn’t open until they had gone home for the summer and closed before they came back in the fall. That has been great for me because I don’t work at the college so it’s been fun meeting the athletes from the tennis, lacrosse, soccer, football and hockey teams.

There are summer members who are regulars and follow updates on Facebook. I’ve been surprised that there are people who have found out about the warm spring and drive an hour or more to visit.

When we were living in Boston I would use the steam room at the gym which helped my rickety bones after a workout, and I was up for trying the sauna just because it’s something to do in the winter months and right around the corner. I normally have a lot of problems with my sinuses and allergies year round. My winter kickoff ritual is getting NyQuil to prep for 2-3 winter colds (and I’m talking buying at the warehouse club, not at the drugstore.) This winter I had no sinus problems for the first time in my entire life. I also didn’t have any of the dry skin that I’m normally stealing my wife’s crazy expensive face lotions for. Not getting sick is a huge game changer for me, the sauna will be part of my winter from now on.

What’s next? Sauna season is closed and there is work being done on the clubhouse so they are ready for the upcoming summer season. Henry has mentioned the possibility of a second wood fired sauna outside. The demand is there for more hours, that’s for sure. Given the success of this year hopefully Sand Springs will be open again for the winter!

Geek Stuff

Holiday Guide 2023

Back again with the list for all the family CTOs out there. I’ve been putting this list together every year so when I get tech questions from the family over Thanksgiving I can just send them this link. Hopefully it helps you too, feel free to send me any suggestions!

Easy Gifts

I’ve been doing more and more with MagSafe, this is the iPhone feature where magnets can attach to the phone allowing you to wirelessly charge, mount in the car with no work, or add a popsocket.

I’ve also switched to using my phone as my alarm clock so that opens up chargers as gift ideas.

I use this popsocket at events, the QR code is my Trust Insights business card so no more wasted paper or running out.

If you have anyone that needs glasses there are two interesting things: I like Maui Jim sunglasses for the beach/running and they are great for boating/fishing. They now come in readers. The other thing is being able to make ski goggles (or any other glasses) bifocals for less than $25. I have just refused to pay the $400+ for prescription goggles because that would just guarantee they would get lost/stolen/broken, nevermind the fact that they get used maybe 20 times a year. Add the lens in the reading zone and boom, I can see my phone again when trying to find my kids.

Organization

TV and Home Theater

Everyone here is still in love with the projector setup built during Covid lockdown, that full story is here.

It’s interesting, maybe it’s the current chip shortage but the original projector I installed has not dropped in price since last year. It’s 1080p and as of today is $229.

I have a savings account that receives the cash when I sell stuff on eBay and this year for my birthday I decided I was going to try a 4k Projector. I got a good deal on a BenQ TK850 and quickly learned that you should not be looking at anything with an old school light bulb in it. It was nowhere near as bright as my $229 1080p projector but the good news was I was able to flip it on eBay, breaking even after shipping and fees.

Nebula was recently acquired by Anker and I was able to get this Nebula Cosmos Max for under $1,000. My jaw just dropped when I saw that it’s gone up to $1,395. One thing, the first one I got was defective and I had to return it so I was very glad that I bought it from Nebula directly. I also added a subwoofer to the setup, that was a crazy McGuyver job that I won’t go into here but will update my home theater post, or feel free to ask me about it on Threads if you want to nerd out.

The end result is that the picture is much sharper at 4k, it’s worth doing. It’s still not as bright as the 1080p, in mid light scenes but anything outdoor or with special effects looks amazing.

Video Games

The Nintendo Switch still rules the house here, my previous post on that hasn’t changed. H Bomb has been using an old PS4 and playing Spiderman Miles Morales and Star Wars Fallen order, both of which are a ton of gaming for around $20. Sorry, but I’ve got no Xbox or PS5 tips. When I don’t know where to look I start at GameSpot.

If you play Fortnite check in with me, PhilDunphey247

Computers

Last year I took the gutpunch of laptop upgrades, this year, thankfully, there will be no hardware under the tree. Just the standard opinion here: Macs are great for people that don’t know what they are doing, I’m so excited not to be Anti-Virus police for my family. But if you have any gamers or people who want to venture outside the controlled garden, you may be PC shopping.

Marketing Over Coffee fan Jennifer N. said she’s getting an Elgato Teleprompter. This reminded me that I’ve played with a couple of them and finally settled on a Plexicam. It’s not a true teleprompter, it’s a clear bracket that lets you hang your webcam on the center of your monitor. It’s less expensive than a teleprompter, and is a lot less stuff to be moving around and have on your desk. If you do a lot of web meetings I can heartily recommend it.

Audio Gear

Beats Fit Pro are still the earbud champions but one interesting note – I have been able to find some Jabra 75T earbuds for less than $30 and I was finally able to side by side test. The Beats are better for sports, better bluetooth connection, better for calls, better noise cancellation BUT even though the Jabra loses in most categories… the music is just a little bit better, and it has an EQ.

Bluetooth Speaker: Bose has killed the Soundlink Mini a couple of times and it just keeps coming back. I drag mine nearly everywhere except for construction sites, where I have an old Jambox that I don’t care if it gets destroyed.

Music

With all of the family building music libraries and having their own playlists I finally buckled and went all in on Spotify – please add me, I’ve got a bunch of holiday and other playlists, feel free to send me your info. The unintended consequence is that it I didn’t realize how bad Amazon Music in CarPlay was until we switched. The lovely Carin is thrilled that she can easily fire up playlists in the car now.

If you are into DJing or setting up online listening Turntable is back after being gone for nearly a decade. If you want to throw a virtual holiday party this would add the music.

I am thinking about upgrading the PC speakers I use in the kitchen with an Amazon Echo Studio with Subwoofer, I’ll report back if Santa agrees.

Car

I’m messing around with adding CarPlay to our older vehicles. It’s entered the under $200 category and I’m reaching the point where I refuse to have any vehicles without backup cameras. This requires some wiring though so it’s not for the faint of heart. I’ll post more after experiments have run.

Happy Holidays!

I’ll update this as things change, and I hope you have a restful holiday!

Daily Life

2022 in Review

Another year in the rear view mirror. So how did it go? The interesting thing to me is the halo effect – looking back at all 12 months it’s been a great year, but the wonky economy has made Q4 and the Q1 outlook weak, which is disappointing.

As part of the sandwich generation, keeping track of kids and elders went well. The only big miss was not going out to visit my family in Michigan at some point. I had a weird lockdown rebound, I thought that I’d be itching to travel once things were open again, but instead I just wanted to take advantage of everything here and rest. The Berkshires is a tourist destination so I was sold on the idea of a vacation where I didn’t have to spend any time driving. And it was great. We got a family pass to the town pool and I really enjoyed taking a couple hours after the work day to swim and then chat with my neighbors. The kids are both healthy and doing well at school, which is very satisfying, especially with H moving up to Greylock for Grade 7.

There was one home improvement project that we didn’t get done but the scoring on that is a little weird – we thought it was going to be a massive project but it turned out foundation work was not required, so even though it’s not finished we are farther ahead than we thought we’d be at this point without doing much of anything. So with that, just over 80% complete for family stuff.

Given the insanity of the past handful of years I had beefed up the mental health and fitness goals and then got it all done. Some points off for coming up 5 bike rides and 7 yoga classes more than I wanted, but I joined the local gym last winter because I was tired of not running as much in the cold and I more than made up for that excercise, including putting lifting back in the rotation which even with The Ultimate Warrior telling me I had to do, I never got around to it until this year.

I also managed to hit my weight goal as part of Falmouth Road Race training. The race was part of our Cape vacation which looking back was probably our best vacation ever. Bonus for getting to grab ice cream with Sarah, Mike and Lachlan! Concerts, gaming with cousins and skiing were all fantastic last year.

I’m not sure if I’m in for Falmouth again, Michigan may be the big summer trip but we’ll see.

Financial goals also went very well, the wrinkle is that I could have hit the investment goals but I’m keeping the cash on hand with all of the current weirdness.

And the financial goals are 99% dependant on the work goals. It was another growth year for MoC listeners but the ad market for Q1 is the shakiest I’ve seen in more than 6 years. Trust Insights breaking growth records solves all ills, as usual for a growing business. Since I decided to take 2022 off from writing there was no miss there. The only problem was that I wanted to do a live event for MoC in 2022 and that was not feasible. I at least finally got back to MarketingProfs B2B Boston in the 4th quarter after missing INBOUND because I did not stop testing positive for Covid early enough.

That makes it an 84% year from the numbers. When the big gaps are because I should have taken one more vacation and save more money (and funny that these are counter to each other) I have to admit that I’m truly fortunate and grateful for all that I have.

So my first wish for 2023 would be that it goes as well as the past year. A book has to go back on this list this year, as well as a Michigan trip. I do need to pick a road race so I don’t get lazy. I’ll spend the rest of the week kicking around some ideas before putting them on paper.

I hope your year went well, and all the best to you in 2023!

Productivity Booster

Holiday Gift Guide 2022

Last year’s post was a big hit. If you are your family’s CTO you know how it goes, this time of year your opinion is valued as everyone is running around trying to figure out what gear to buy. I’ve found that if I take notes on what I’m asked and add it to a post now I can just throw the link around. That way when people ask me questions at Thanksgiving we don’t have to go through the same thing over again two weeks later when they are doing their shopping.

TV and Home Theater

This is the same as last year, the best thing I’ve done on the tech front is switch from a TV to a projector. It was crazy, I’ve been getting Black Friday emails talking about “Saving $1,200 on the latest TVs” which is absurd. For less than $700 you can have a 120 inch screen that is jaw dropping. There hasn’t been any real changes in projectors over the year. The one I have does 1080p and as of today is $229. With an Apple TV and Bose TV speaker that’s around another $400 and it’s bluetooth so you don’t have to run any wires for the speaker. Full story here.

Video Games

I am still a fan of the Nintendo Switch because it’s the only console that also goes portable so your kids will end up logging a million hours a year. Maybe that’s not a positive. On the downside the Joycon controllers are fragile, I just have a drawer filled with replacement parts and screen protectors. It’s worth the $70ish dollars to get the pro controller which is what you’d get from other consoles. Last year’s post has more on the Switch if you are going that route.

GameStop has a Black Friday deal if you buy a Switch get Mario Kart 8 for free

If there’s specific games your recipient is looking for then you may have to get an Xbox or PS5. Both are great, the only new info I learned this year is that if you spend the $20 to join the GameStop thing where you get their magazine you also get emails about members only sales. I was able to score a PS5 for a friend this year, which was pretty cool.

Also, my son and nephews got me into Fortnite this year. We have fun spending time together even though the nephews relocated this year. If you play, ping me at PhilDunphey247

Computers

The only news here is that Apple is having some Black Friday deals, get a $250 gift card if you buy a Macbook (I’m a little sore on that having bought last week.)

Otherwise same story here: Macs are great for people that don’t know what they are doing, I’m so excited not to be Anti-Virus police for my family. But if you have any gamers or people who want to venture outside the controlled garden, you may be PC shopping.

Audio Gear

This year’s most astonishing thing is that I got a pair of Beats Fit Pro earbuds and they are amazing. Up until now if you had told me I would spend my own money on Beats I would have said you were a moron. It’s been kind of a joke that while they are good, the premium pricing is out of hand. I’ve said that their headphones are fantastic $50 headphones, the problem was they charge $299.

Having been acquired by Apple it seems like they are using similar noise reduction as AirPods, and using the M1 chip in the iPhone makes it less wonky than other Bluetooth earbuds I’ve had.

I bought them because the Bose Pulse that I’ve used for running finally died this year after 5 years and they are no longer made. I was not expecting them to be so amazing but there’s a reason why The Wirecutter has them as their number one pick.

Some tips on these – the Apple store has them in Black, White, Gray and Purple. Black isn’t the greatest choice because if you drop them at night or they slip out of your pocket they can be the most difficult to find. If you go to the Beats site they are available in skin tone colors which is fantastic if you’re going to use them for work zoom meetings.

Also, I prefer memory foam tips to the silicone ones they come with, Comply makes a great set here (I cut out the foam screen over the opening because I thought they sound better without it.)

Updated: I’ve written a lot about my favorite Over Ear Headphones for work, the Sony 7506. I haven’t talked about my favorite over ears that I wear for fun: the 1More Triple Driver. It just bumps up the music enough to shine on every front. They may be coming to their end of life because they are on sale now, get a pair before they are gone!

Smart Watch

I’ve resisted these for years. I tried fitness trackers many years ago and after a couple of years said “I sleep ok, my phone gives me alerts and measures steps, I don’t need this.”

Forward to this summer when my earbuds died, I started looking at Apple Watch as a heart rate monitor. Bose stopped making the earbuds that were great for heart rate, and I was not going back to a chest strap. I’ve been pleasantly surprised that the Apple Watch SE is a lot more useful that I thought it would be. It is great for running, I can see my splits and it measures heart rate. It took some fiddling to find the right app but I like how it’s working. The bonus is having another tool in the Apple stack – I can use my watch as a TV remote for the projector that has Apple TV, great for when the kids left the remote someplace weird yet again.

It’s also very cool when using Apple Maps in the car and the watch vibrates when I should be making a turn. I hate the audio voice queues and end up missing turns now and then. This takes care of that. And for true geeks having altitude and bearing with a sweep second hand is satisfying for the watch aficionados.

Smart Home

Nothing new here, I’m still a fan of Philips Hue bulbs which integrate well with Amazon Alexa. Being able to say “Alexa turn off Christmas tree” from upstairs when you forget is very cool.

It’s getting a little weird with my universal remote, the Logitech Harmony, which also integrates with Alexa – “Alexa tell Harmony to turn on Projector” makes all the remote problems go away. The issue is Logitech has stopped making it so I’m not sure where that will go next if something dies. The crazy part is since we use voice control the remote getting lost or destroyed is not a factor.

Phones

Last year was upgrades for everyone so no purchases this year. The big learning though was changing carriers has been life changing. I did not realize how garbage our last carrier was until spending a week with the new one. This is worth checking out if you have a friend on another carrier if you are complaining about dropped calls and poor signal. Another tip – our library lends wifi access points, another way to check another carrier (or for my wife to set up a camera in the barn to keep an eye on horses having babies instead of having to sleep in the barn. This has improved my life considerably.)

Trusted Review Sites

This hasn’t changed from last year. I’m a paying member of Consumer Reports for appliances and cars. The Wirecutter is fantastic for trying hundreds of products and recommending the best (Lauren Dragan on headphones!)

That’s all I’ve got for today, but Thanksgiving isn’t until tomorrow so I’ll have updates over the next week. I hope you enjoy your holiday!