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Week 08

February 23, 2020

(actually posted 24/03/2020, post coronavirus, how the world has changed!)

Need to make up a week and Storythings were talking about formats in their newsletter so let’s pretend I’m an important tech person and see:

What’s In My Bag

Tom Bihn Synapse 19 Rucksack

A pretty much perfect medium sized rucksack. Lots of pockets and compartments, you can add a laptop pouch, and it's very well made - it's pretty much as good as when I bought it 5 years ago. Definitely hits the sweet spot on the price/value for money graph diagram, I'd rather spend a bit more on a bag instead of buying a new one every year.

MacBook Pro 15”

Not shown as it’s not always in my bag, my work machine. It’s a beast, i9, 32Gb (work does not skimp on dev machines) but the battery suffers from all that power, oh well - it’s always tradeoffs.

iPad Pro

This is always in my bag, old design, has a ‘paper like’ screen protector, which I was dubious about but really does make writing/drawing better. Has good big screen for reading documents, comics, tech docs, etc. It can handle image editing and drawing with 1st gen Apple Pencil. The large screen is perfect for films and tv on the daily commute. The new ones are even better but in general I'm going to try and just use tech until it’s dead now, consume less, save the planet, etc.

Main iPad apps

  • Documents - handles PDFs and anything else you want to throw at it really well, also does images, audio etc. Essential
  • Procreate - Photoshop for iPad but it costs £10 instead of £120 a year - the brush engine in Adobe Fresco is a bit better but not £120 a year better.
  • Kindle - I prefer PDFs but sometimes it’s hard to avoid putting money in Bezos’ pocket.
  • Comixology & Marvel Unlimited - comics!
  • Netflix/Prime Video/Apple TV+/NowTV/etc. - whichever I’m subscribed to at the moment as I tend to jump in and out of the different services, lots of binging, all have offline downloads now which is great for commuting
  • Beat Maker 3 - a hybrid of Ableton Live and a DAW for iOS, only just splashed out on this, the UI seems a bit impenetrable at first but once you get used to it it’s really well thought out and pretty powerful

Microfibre cloth and screen cleaner

Can’t watch a cinematic masterpiece on a dirty screen can we.

Tin HIFI T3 Headphones

For when the batteries run out on the Airpods, some great stuff coming out of ChiFi, very good for the price

Small Anker Battery

is is a decent size but I alternate with a massive one depending on where I’m going, all the Anker stuff is solid and good value, see below.

Anker Powerline Plus 2

Anker make best lightning cables, as tested to non-destruction by my teenage daughter

Anker 3-in-1 Cable

Lightning, micro usb and USB C in one cable, extremely useful.

Codeine and Ibuprofen

If you need a painkiller, go straight to the king

Zojirushi Thermos Mug

Almost too good at keeping stuff hot, drinks will still be scalding several hours after you've made them!

A4 notepad

It’s one of the Moleskine ones with a cardboard cover, lately I’ve given up on expensive notebooks but I'm using all the ones I’ve got left, they are counterproductive as feel bad spoiling them by writing in them which is nuts. Cheap jotters from the supermarket from now on.