823: The 2025 Holiday Gift Guide

Hello and welcome to the Mac Power Users. I'm David Sparks and I'm joined as always by your friend and mine, Mr. Stephen Hackett. How are you today, Stephen? I'm good, David. How are you? I'm excited, man. It's time to talk about gift guides. We get to do this once a year. Throughout the year, I'm writing things down that I want to put on this list. And today we get to unload on the audience. So gang, hold on to your wallets, strap in. Let's do the 2025 MPU holiday gift guide.

Yeah, it's always an exciting episode and a real stamp of how fast the year passes. Yes, it is, isn't it? We just did this. Speaking of the end of the year, though.

Got a little announcement on the Relay side. So each year at Relay, we do a sale on our annual membership plans. So that's going on right now. It's going to run through the end of the year this time. So if you go to GiveRelay.com, there's a link in the show notes, you can get 20% off any of our annual plans.

for yourself, or you can gift it to somebody else. So this is the gift guide episode. This is a great gift for somebody nerdy in your life. And what we do here on Mac power users is an ad free longer version. of the show. So we do the regular show and then we have a topic at the end. This week, I'm going to kind of do an update on my smart home stuff since I moved and I took the opportunity to kind of redo what I had been doing previously.

So that'll be at the end of the show for members, but it's a great time to support us directly. You get the show. You also get a bunch of cool perks from Relay. There's a newsletter, a couple of member-only podcasts, a Discord server. It's a great time, so I'd recommend go checking it out. Give the gift of Relay. That's right. You know, I know there's a lot of people in our audience that are the people that folks have trouble buying gifts for.

Why not give a year of more power users? It's a great gift. Speaking of more power users, like you said, we're going to be talking about your home automation stuff. And on the list, you wrote water sensors. I want to talk about that so much. So I can't wait for that part. Great. That's actually what kicked this off as an idea for more power users. As I was setting them up, I was like, we should talk about this. So yeah, we'll do that at the end.

Man, that's the kind of nerd stuff that pushes my buttons. Yeah. All right. We have a big list, though. And it's always fun to talk about this stuff. How do we come into this? I always think when I'm preparing the list. We're talking about gifts that you can give to nerdy friends. We're, of course, Mac power users. So we're also talking about gifts you may want to put on your list. It's a weird kind of mix here, right? Like we're not going to be talking about.

stuff to give for your non-nerd friends here so much. But we've got a couple categories that might work for that too. But let's start straight in with the tech, Stephen. Yeah, tech stuff. I'm going to start with a piece of tech that...

I don't really think about as tech, but it definitely is. And it's something I did in the last year, which is a dash cam setup. So I set this up in my truck and my wife's van. We're using the Garmin Dashcam Mini 3. It's a mouthful. Here's the deal with dashcams. I did a bunch of research. They're all kind of fine. Like, I don't think there's a single brain out there that's like amazing or more better than any of the others, right? They all kind of do 1080p. Some do 4K.

What you want, though, is, or what I wanted at least, was something that records onto an SD card. But one reason I chose the Garmin is that it has an accompanying iPhone app. And so... I don't have to take the SD card out of the camera or the camera out of the vehicle to pull footage. So here's an example. Over the summer...

And I'm sitting at home. It's, you know, kind of early evening. And my wife, Mary, calls me. And she's very worked up. And I was like, oh my gosh, like, you know, are you okay? Like, what's going on? And as she was driving home from the gym, she saw someone, and I promise this is true, walking a llama on a leash.

It's true. I promise. I'm going to have a link in the show notes to a Reddit post about this because this was just like a total thing in Memphis for a little while. And she's like, oh my gosh, I saw it. I saw it. And then I went back. So she got home. I jumped in the van with my phone, connected to the camera, and I pulled the footage for her. And so she now has a video clip in her photo library as she was driving by this dude.

walking a llama down the street. It was just incredible. Obviously, there's more important uses for a dash cam, right? If you're in an accident or something happens. But I like the dash cam mini three because it... It's USB-C powered. It's really small. And it has that iPhone compatibility. So again, go do your research. I think even this has been updated since the time I bought it. But a dash cam can be...

can be really useful if, if, you know, something bad happens. Yeah. And, and it's always there in case you see a llama. That's right.

Yeah. My first tech one I'm going to recommend, I think this is the most expensive one I'm going to recommend all day, gang. So let's just get it out. I think a great gift for people. from the Apple lineup is the iPad Mini. We recently got the updates to the iPad Pro, and that's a great device for a very limited number of people. But the iPad Mini...

has really kind of come into its own. I gave one to my daughter and got it back, you know, when she didn't need it anymore. And it's just so useful if you're not going to like be a pro iPad person. Like there's a lot of folks. in your life this is like a good one for a spouse who uses a computer during the day and they're not going to become a power user on an ipad but an ipad mini it'll fit in a purse

It's a great book reader. It's a great note taker. It's a great thing to just, you know, surf the web on. And they've got so good with the recent releases of the iPad mini. I think if there was one thing I was going to buy for a non-nerd friend from the Apple store these days, it would probably be the iPad mini. It's really good.

The new design, I guess it's not that new anymore, but it picked up the flat sides, it picked up Touch ID, it picked up USB-C. It is a modern iPad in a lot of ways, and it's just that perfect size. it's basically the size of like a notebook and you know you can stick it in a bag carry it with you supports the apple like it's so good i mean i'm currently on an 11 inch ipad pro but

I miss the iPad mini. Historically, I kind of go back and forth. I had an iPad mini. My kid needed an iPad because I don't even know how old the iPad was that my youngest son was using. But I was like, okay, this thing is really old.

And I gave him my iPad mini and I kind of miss it. I'm going to stick with the mini theme here. All right. And the Apple theme. I'm going to say the HomePod mini. And as we record this, it's rumored that they're going to be replaced or updated at any time. Who knows? I don't know. Maybe that's happened by the time this comes out. Yeah, exactly. But, man, it's...

The HomePod Mini, it's small. It's $99. Very often you can find them on sale. I kind of have this rule like you never pay full price for a HomePod or an AirTag. They're always on sale somewhere. They come in a bunch of fun colors. And, you know, after we moved, like again, re-evaluating my smart home stuff, I picked up a couple of extra HomePod minis. Each of the kids have one in their rooms, like they can listen to music.

but they're all in HomeKit, so I can also do the, I don't do it very often, but I can do like the push the button and use it as an intercom, which is kind of funny. And they sound pretty good. I mean, they're not incredible, but they're a hundred bucks. And if you do a pair like I have in my office, just for music in the office, the pair sounds actually pretty good. I even put one in my garage. And, you know, it's just great. You can talk to Siri. You can AirPlay really easily. They're cheap.

I'm a fan. I don't have any full-size HomePods. All of mine died. But I got a bunch of HomePod minis, and they don't disappoint. Yeah, solid.

I think one of my favorite purchases this year, so this is more of a selfish one that I think a lot of Mac power users may like, is on a Lark, I bought a set of microphones, a wireless microphone for my Mac. It's made by Hollyland. It's called the Hollyland Mark II, and it's just a little black case. It's got a USB-C charger on the back, and it's got two microphones, and they just clip onto your shirt.

So if you stick it on your shirt, it's a wireless mic. Well, with the rise of voice-to-text dictation and how it's gotten so good now, having a nice little wireless mic. to your mac at any time i have found so useful and i've got a really fancy podcast mic i can sit here and pull in anytime i want but the um but i like to kind of like pace around the room and dictate and talk to my computer

And this set of mics, I think it was about $150. I got the lowest in one because all I needed was it has a little USB-C dongle that you plug into your Mac, and then the microphones just connect to it. There's nothing hard about it.

It's just so good if you want to do dictation. And I really recommend this. When I went on vacation this year, because I do a little podcast for the Max Barkey Labs called the... the lab report every friday where i like i tried to summarize the apple news in 10 minutes well that's the one thing i do that is time sensitive so i wanted to to get it out when i was on my vacation so i i bought a fancy usbc mic

And I used this one and I did a blind test. I sent it to you and Jim and a couple people in my life that know this stuff. And everybody picked these wireless Hollywood mics as the best mic. So I sent the USB-C one back. And just use these things now as my remote mics too. Yeah. And they're not that expensive. But I talked about in the labs and a bunch of labs members bought them and they all love them too. It's just a simple little mic that goes on your shirt.

Like I said, because talking to your computer now is such a thing and it's only going to become more of a thing, these are really great. Yeah, the use case I think of for a lot of people is if you're on a lot of Zoom calls or WebEx or whatever for work, if you work remotely or something like that, these sound a billion times better than AirPod microphones.

They really do. And you could still use your AirPods to hear the call because not everyone has a big microphone arm and stuff like you and I do. Yeah. It's funny. I'm sure you have this experience as well. But when I get on a meeting, people are like, wow, you sound really good. Or like they see the microphone in the in the shot. Right. It's like, oh, yeah, it's it's because I do this for a living.

If you find yourself on a lot of Zoom calls, something like this can really up your audio and, you know, those things matter. Yeah. Well, I, you know, like I said, I'm... I bought them on a Lark. They're called a Lark. And I really, I think it's one of my favorite purchases this year because I use the things every day. Yeah, that's awesome. One of my favorite.

tech purchases this year and i promise i promise this is true but i just love this little thing is apple's new 40 watt dynamic power adapter So Apple's had a bunch of USB-C adapters. I really like the one with two USB-C ports on it. We have one of those in our kitchen, so two people can plug things in. But this thing is tiny, and it being dynamic...

it can, by default, it does 40 watts, but it can ramp up to 60. What's nice about those numbers is for any mobile device, you know, phone, iPad, or whatever, uh apple watch that's plenty for fast charging and it's even enough to fast charge um or at least charge pretty quickly i don't think it's actually the true fast charge something like a macbook air

This is not going to be able to keep up with your 16-inch M4 Max MacBook Pro. But this thing is so small and so versatile, this is what I am now carrying. in my backpack. I was using something from Spigen, and I got it. I'll just be honest with you. I got it because it was translucent and orange. Sure. Boy, if you want me to buy something, make it translucent.

translucent and orange but this thing is really tiny and i've been really happy with it um i have one in my bag i bought a second one to have at my desk because with my development work i have like I mean, right now I have one, two, three iPhones and an Apple Watch on my desk. It's like I can just plug whatever in really quickly. It charges it. And it's small, so it doesn't take up a bunch of space in the power strip that I have mounted to the side of my desk.

And again, look, there are lots of third-party chargers out there, right? You can get things from Anchor or Spigen or somebody else. But I've been really happy with this one and its first party, which makes some people feel a lot better. Well, I mean, there's a reason for that. Did you see that Adam Savage thing where they were x-raying power supplies? Yeah. And some of the ones are terrible. The ground wires are not connected inside of it.

And then the Apple ones are very dense and well-engineered. Did you ever read that Apple in China book? I did. I loved it. Yeah, me too. I just read it again because we're doing a book club on it in the labs. It's like one of the things I took from that is like, I really love how.

demanding apple is i mean i i'm really happy i'm not an apple supplier or employee for real and but i'm also really happy that they are so demanding and it makes me feel like more comfortable like buying apple power supply like

yeah, this thing's going to be made right. But give me, because I haven't bought one of these, but you keep tempting me when you talk about it. So real world, like how fast is your phone and your watch charge when you put it on this thing? I mean, my... iphone 17 pro and my new apple watch ultra 3 they're both capable of fast charging and this has enough juice for it so i forget what the iphone 17 is it's like 80 percent in

30 minutes or i think it's even faster than that now uh 50 in 20 minutes according to google's ai search overview the apple watches is also really quick so yeah it's it's and the reason it's in my bag right because like if i We've all been there. We're traveling, which is a long day. And sometimes you may only have a few minutes to try to get a bunch of juice into your iPhone. Yeah. Classic example. You get to the hotel, right? Yes. You want to go to dinner, but your phone's already dead. Yes.

or you bought an iPhone air and it's three o'clock in the afternoon. I'm just kidding. Just kidding. Not completely. This one's going on my list. It's 40 bucks. Can't go wrong.

This is going to be one that I talked about in prior years, but it has improved so much. I want to mention it is the Elgato teleprompter. Yeah. First came out. I was a little rough with it because I felt like. the software was very kind of inconsistent, which Elgato usually makes good software, but...

For whatever reason, the app would kind of die on me, and I'd have to reboot it. It just was frustrating. I ended up putting it in a drawer. But recently, I've started using it again, and the software, I think, is at version 2.2 now, and I haven't had any problems. And I just really find it really useful now. And this actually would pair really well with the Holly Lynn mark, Holly Lynn.

lark mics if you're doing zoom calls because what it allows you to do is put the zoom window right in front of your camera so you're actually looking at the camera when you talk to people so it's just a nice little upgrade If you're doing a lot of Zoom meetings, of course, if you're a creator, I don't need to tell you the reasons why it's good. But the Elgato teleprompter, if you were holding back because I originally said I wasn't that happy with it.

I feel like they've come a long way and it's a good product now. Yeah. One really nice thing about it, I was looking through their webpage. They have a whole page about what cameras work with it.

Don't think like, oh gosh, I need some nice mirrorless camera to mount back here. It's like, no, I mean, it works with a bunch of smartphones. It works with a bunch of different... size lenses it even works with the webcam i'm using the insta 360 link um because it comes with a with a bunch of back plates that you can change out and it's really adjustable so what i think is really cool about this

Like so many things this company makes is this used to be a high-end, really professional tool, right? That was out of reach of most of us. They democratize this sort of technology, right? Same thing with their lights and their microphone mounts. They make a lot of great stuff that is really pretty competitive price-wise compared to where this stuff was.

pre-COVID. Yeah, and I'll add on to that since I'm talking Elgato. Stream decks are always good. Yes. And their software, again, has made big jumps this year. So the Elgato corner, we'll call that. How many stream decks do you have right now? Three. I've backed up a little bit, but I still have. That's toned down. Yeah, I still have quite a few.

I mentioned my webcam and it was on my list. I bought that this year. The Insta360 Link. They say it's AI powered. I don't know what that means in a webcam, except it can follow you if you move. I'm just sitting still, but it's 4K. It looks really good. And the software is pretty good. And even on the Mac, which sometimes these things like the Mac app is a little sketchy. It's one reason Elgato really stands apart, I think.

But this thing's great. You can pan and zoom the camera in software and you can save presets. And so maybe sometimes you're sitting at your desk and maybe sometimes you're standing at a whiteboard behind it and you need both of those things. Well, you can just have them as presets and flip between them. And the camera moves and zooms in or zooms out, whatever it needs to do. I have mine on actually an Elgato stand with a quarter 20 thread on it.

But you can mount it to the top of a display. They have a bunch of options. Jason Snell turned me on to this. It's what he's using. I think he's using actually a slightly nicer version than I have. I've been really pleased with it. I was using just an LG, you know, 4K camera, even with the studio display, because the studio display camera leaves a little bit to be desired. But this thing is fantastic.

I've been happy with it. It's just USB-C, so it just plugs right into my dock. You know, no weirdness there. Um, no, like, Oh, you have to like capture the HDMI or something, you know, like you do with, if you use like a Sony or something as a webcam and this thing looks great.

And, you know, I did that. I hooked up my Sony to my computer a couple of years ago and I really haven't looked back because it is so much better and I do so much stuff on camera, but I don't think that's really the answer for most people. Something like this is definitely better. I think so. It does feel like the webcams have just got better. The third-party ones have increased the sensor sizes, and they've solved a lot of problems. Oh, absolutely.

I think that's another sort of work from home slash pandemic tech that has just become really available to everybody. Yeah. And on the flip side, I feel like Apple has not evolved fast enough on that. Like it's been several years since COVID. I felt like by now we would have had, and they know how to make good cameras. Like we've got an iPhone with an amazing camera and a tiny package. And it just seems like they just really haven't jumped on that. Yeah.

Something new that's out that I would recommend is my beautiful Logitech MX Master 4. Yes. Absolutely. Totally worth it. I'm not sure if it's worth it if you're coming from a 3S. I mean, I did. So what am I going to say? And I don't know. I just really like it. I saw your review. I guess you don't really care for the touch button.

that gives you the little dial of options. So if you hit your thumb down, you can have a customized set of options and you can set it per application. And like in my video editing software and recording software, I actually find it really useful. I don't know. I just feel like this is the best version of this mouse I've seen. And they took some of the rubber out of it, which I think will keep it cleaner.

Yeah, mine was getting kind of sticky. It was kind of gross. Yeah, I need to revisit the software. Right now I have Thumb Down.

map to mission control because i currently as i'm recording have four spaces plus a full screen app at the end yeah and so i'm in mission control all the time but um but i've been really happy with this i got the mac version so it it pairs with bluetooth so i got a usb port back on the back of my display that's where i had the dongle for the previous one yeah um and it's really great i mean these mice are i have i find to be really comfortable

I went through a lot of my, you know, many years ago trying to find what worked for me. And this is now my third Logitech model. I went from the Performance MX to the Master 3S, now to the 4. And it really works for me. I've been very happy with this thing. I also have a vertical one. My friend Tim Stringer talked me into getting, and I occasionally use that just to mix it up.

But that's the two mice in my rotation at this point. And the main, the new four, I guess I'm in the honeymoon period with it, like the MX Master 4, but I'm really digging it. Me too. You still put the trackpad on the left side? I do, absolutely. Because even with all the buttons, I still find it really helpful to have gestures available to me. Yeah.

I don't do a lot of podcast editing anymore, but when I do, it's very helpful to zoom and pan really quickly across audio files. And so I do keep the trackpad on the left. And yeah, and then now the MX Master 4. The reason I ask is because I do mission control all the time too, but I always do that on the trackpad. I just, for whatever reason, that's my brain. My brain goes to four fingers, swipe up. I was going to say, I'm doing it right now. Four fingers up.

You've got something. You beat me to this on your list, but now I'm going to snipe it from you. Go for it. AirTax. AirTax, baby. They're great stocking stuffers. Here's the trick. You can get a four pack and give, you know, one air tag to four people or two air tags to two people. They're great. I have, I think I was looking as we were preparing. I have eight air tags now. assigned to various things in my life and you can share them. So my wife and I, like we each have one in our cars and, uh,

That's shared, right? So either of us can see them. The ones in our keys we share so we know where they are. But they're just so good. I mean, they run and run.

And you get a notice, like actually the one of my keys, I just put a battery in like two days ago. I just got a notification from Finemont. Like, hey, this battery is... is running low and you know spun it open and put a new cr2032 in it and i mean the air tag on my keys man like do you remember how the old ipods would get beat up in the stainless steel would look like matt because all the scratches yeah

That's what my AirTag on my keys looks like, but it just keeps on trucking. It would belong in the Millennium Falcon. Yes, it would. You're right. Also get a pack of batteries, too, if you give them away. That was an interesting use for an AirTag, though.

keep it in the car statically so you just know where the car is at all points because we just find friends so i'm like oh i can always see where she is and she can always see where i am but it's an interesting idea to just put it in the car i think i may may have to do that yeah My most interesting use case for AirTags is the TV remotes because my kids are animals and they never put them back. So I bought on Amazon just some little rubber.

uh apple tv remote control covers with air tag slots in the back of them and now now i find them it's just like problem solved It's great. There is new AirTags expected. They may come out before the end of the year. We don't know. Apple's kind of secretive. as the rumors are it's going to be the same format but just a little more accurate and less easy to tamper with and uh this is a good gift i guess the other thing i would add on to that is if you're gonna get one for someone special

You can have their initials put on it or an icon put on it. It doesn't cost anymore. And I think if you're going to give them as gifts, that's kind of a nice touch. Yeah. Yeah, I think it is too.

Yeah. The one that I would like to recommend, because I just really continue to feel like I get value out of it, is my set app subscription. We occasionally mention it on the show when we talk about an app that's under set app. There are so many problems with your Mac that you can solve with an app, with a set app subscription, and you don't need to go buy the app. And if you're someone who likes to try new apps out, they're always getting new ones in there.

It's a great Ukrainian company, nice people, and they've really kind of carved out a niche for themselves with this checkout setup and maybe tell a loved one to buy you a year. Yeah. One thing I really like about Setapp is that you, because they have this big library, sometimes you'll come across something and be like, oh.

I didn't really know I needed an app for that, but I want to try this, right? I've definitely had that experience. And I mean, scrolling through here, there are so many apps on this list that I use on a regular. basis and it's just one purchase and it's all managed in one place and you're not running around with serial numbers and different apps renewing at different times. It's pretty awesome.

Yeah, there should be a word for that thing where you go and you buy an app because you think it's really cool, and then you find out that it was already on set app and you didn't need to buy it. Have you had that happen to you yet? Yes. Yeah. In fact, I was looking through here. I was like, huh, I didn't know that was in there. Yeah. Yeah, that's been my experience too. I've got to just build in the habit of every time I find a cool new app.

before i i jump in like oh wait a second go check because you may already have access to this i did a labs video on key cue which is a really cool app and i bought it and then i were like oh wait a second

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Okay, the next section is gifts for makers, people in our lives who are creative and doing cool things. What, you want to start us off? Yeah, I got a new camera this year.

The Insta360 X5. This was the purchase of the year. You know what? You just buy yourself something. Sure. We were going on vacation to Hawaii, and I brought this camera with me. And I got so many great shots with it. So, you know, these 360 cameras have really evolved a lot. And Insta360, I think, is probably one of the better ones.

But you put it on a pole, and the pole doesn't even show up in the footage. So you can carry it around with you, and it almost looks like a drone is following you around. And then at one point, I was out on a sailboat, and we were going over a reef. and you could see there were a bunch of turtles around us. So I had the camera on the pole, and I was just dangling my feet. It's just a little sailboat. I was just dangling my feet over the side, and I just pushed the pole down into the water.

and got 360 footage of these turtles it was amazing oh man and um i just keep finding uses for it and you know they're adding they're adding support for it with my beloved vision pro too. So there's just a lot of reasons for me to want it. But I think if you haven't played with a three 60 camera and you want to get a toy and you have any interest in this stuff.

These things have, it's no longer a toy. It's really, really good. So you should check it out. I watch a lot of car YouTube and this camera is all over the place because you can mount it on a pole and the pole disappears and like. you realize that after watching a bunch of car reviews or people rebuilding cars and like they're driving and like you see these shots like how do they do that it's like they're doing it with this like yeah

They're not being followed by a crane car anymore, right? You don't have to be a Hollywood studio to do this. You can get one of these things. Just yesterday, I was driving in the California freeway. a motorcycle raced past me and it had an insta 360 camera you know on a stick next to it that's awesome yeah they're really fun it's just a very it's not something you can do with an iphone it's just a totally different way to shoot footage and

And it's a fun toy. Yeah. I also have a camera in this section. Mine is kind of broad. So I have... a high school daughter, and maybe you experienced this with yours. I'm not quite sure when this started, but it happened. She came to me and said, dad, I would like a point and shoot camera because the kids are using them again.

No one makes point and shoot cameras anymore that are any good. I found a Canon something or other on eBay for her and I bought a new battery for it and she's using that. I was like, your iPhone takes better pictures than this thing. I need you to know that. If it matters, use your iPhone. But it did get me thinking about people who say that she wants to kind of move up in the camera world a little bit.

I'm a huge fan. We've talked about it on the show before. I'm a huge fan of the Sony, like the RX100 series, Sony RX series. there was the rx0 and then two and then one and now they're on the the 100 mark eight i think there's a lot of these cameras which was that one tyler was talking about was it the fuji right yeah yeah yeah um

But what I like about the Sony is that it's a little bit easier to manage than some of those cameras and usually less expensive. And there's a lot of used ones. So if you've got somebody who is interested in this and kind of wants to... step up a little bit a camera like this can be a really sort of

good entryway into it same thing with like the sony like the a i don't know what the current number is i have an a6400 that is on my overhead table like you don't have to go full dslr like full fancy camera to get somebody in the door and thinking about just, I had this experience with my daughter and, you know, she's interested in photography. It's like, well, what would the next step be for her? It's something like this. I'm not going to go buy her.

a sony a74 right like it's way overkill for a teenager way way too expensive and honestly way too complicated and so there's there's lots of these sort of middle ground cameras i'm a sony guy so that's what i'm going to recommend But there are others that can get somebody a little bit further down the road in photography. And that's a great gift, I think, if someone who's interested in this because it gives them potentially years of use.

Yeah, excellent. I will once again make the case for the 3D printer. I think this is a holiday season. Why not? I use this thing, Stephen. This was not a... This was not just a flash in the pan for me. I use this 3D printer all the time. We talked about it a lot when I first bought it, but this thing is just constantly printing stuff for me.

Just recently, I found rust in one of my drawers with my hand planes, which is like, that is not good. So I went nuclear on it. One of the things I needed is a way to store unused hand plane blades. And I could have made something out of wood, but I also just mocked up something in Shaper 3D and had it printed that evening with my 3D printer. It's just always something I can fix with my 3D printer. It's always going. My daughter taught a blind kid.

art history which is you know that's not easy so we printed out you know just a bunch of famous artworks so he could at least feel them and then like I found some software where we could render like the Mona Lisa kind of in 3D like he could feel it and like just there's so many uses for this thing and I

if you're on the fence on 3d printers the one they sell now is better than the one i bought a couple years ago and they they get better every year that's true but but i'm very happy being in the bamboo family you know and i i buy their filament and This thing just goes and goes. Yeah, and I think if you're going to get started with a budget, because you can get, and I did this when I first started with 3D printing, I got a cheap 3D printer on Amazon.

and it was good to learn on and then it exploded and i think if you're gonna upgrade or you want to get in and get something nice off the bat bamboo is where i would start i'm running a prusa mark 4.

I have all the parts to upgrade it to a 4S and I need to finish that. But I'm running the Prusa Mark IV and it's great, but it is not as consumery or as like... kind of easy to use is the bamboo the prusa kind of assumes that you know what you're doing from day one and i didn't and you know i've learned on it and i've done a lot with it and it's great like i'm not i'm not saying it's a bad product

But I think if you are, like in this context of like a gift for yourself or somebody else, I think bamboo is probably the way to go. And I don't regret my purchase of the Prusa, but sometimes I look over in the bamboo land and I'm like, hmm. That would be pretty nice. Bamboo is a buy once, cry once purchase. It's not cheap, but it just works.

Like I said, I don't spend hardly any time managing it. I did wreck a nozzle once because I used third-party filament. I didn't configure it right. And I got on the Bamboo website. spent like 14 bucks they sent me a new one i swapped it out and i was back in you know back in business yeah so they do have replacement parts so you can fix it but but in large part

If you use their material and stuff, it just works. The filaments have a QR code or something on the side where it automatically tells it how hot to get the nozzle and how fast to feed it and everything based on what you're using. Yeah. Great purchase. I love doing maker stuff, and this is definitely part of the system for me. Did you see Eufy came out now with like a laminate printer? I did, yeah.

oh man that is so tempting to me i don't have i can't afford it it's like two grand but but uh yeah it's like i would find use for that yeah it's pretty sweet hopefully those get better and cheaper yeah in a couple years that'll be one of my picks Yeah. And there's a lot of stuff. I mean, you can do resin. Like, there's a bunch of materials out there. I mean, the 3D printers we're talking about, you know, you're heating up plastic through a nozzle. Yeah.

letting it cool just right. And you build things out of it, which is great. But yeah, it's a whole world that is expanding for sure. Okay, let's talk about some analog tools. We both had a couple of things in here.

You want to start with our favorite Pennsylvania-based analog brand? Is that Ugmonk? Yeah. I didn't know they were Pennsylvania-based. I think he's in Pennsylvania. Yep. Pennsylvania. I scrolled way to the bottom of his website. I remember that because in a video for a product, he was like, you know, like we worked with the best makers like in Pennsylvania. I was like, that's very specific. And then I learned that's where he is.

We actually had Jeff Sheldon on the Focus podcast at least once. He's a really nice guy. So, of course, I'm a fan of their products, but he also makes really good stuff. The thing he made this year... I bought two things from him this year, actually. I bought a shelf for my desk.

which is silly. I've got a wood shop. I could have made a shelf out of a piece of walnut and been perfectly happy. But the thing about the Uggmunk shelf is it's all metal. So now the stuff I attach to it, I can put magnets in and then they don't move. And I really like that. So I actually spent money and bought Jeff's shelf. I've been very happy with that. I got the black and walnut one. And then he came out with a new product this year called Capture Cards.

which are like double the size of an index card, and they're really thick paper. And I just keep a stack of them on my desk, and I find myself pulling them down constantly. It's a nice addition. Yeah, totally cool. Everything that comes out of Agmok is made with the attention to detail and care that the people like you and I really appreciate. Like I said, you could have built a shelf. Like you can go buy index cards at Office Depot and like tape two of them together.

But what Jeff does is really think about these things kind of all the way through. And it really sets them apart, I think. Yeah, agreed.

So for me, I mean, every year we do this, I'm gonna do it again. I'm a huge Field Notes notebook user. I've got one on my desk right here. But something I've done this year is I've added a second notebook to my... regular usage that lives in my backpack and it's the studio neat keep book, uh, and dot grid. Cause that's the only way you should use a notebook in my opinion, uh, 25 bucks, which is pretty sweet.

I would have recommended the Cortex Subtle notebook, but they quit making them. So, sorry, Mike and Gray. I'm using the Studio Neat one now. And this notebook is something that I use. It's just for a certain role that I have in my life that's not work. It is only in this other part of my life that I use this notebook. It stays in my backpack. It goes to these meetings and these events.

And everything about that is in one place. And because it's, I burn through a field note every month pretty easily. And the keep book or a notebook like this size. for me at least, will last usually a semester. And so I have a bit more history there with it. And I've been really happy with it. One reason I like the Keep book in particular is that it lays flat.

A lot of notebooks, including the field notes, don't really lay flat unless you kind of overstretch the binding or kind of force it to. And if you're writing a lot or on both sides of the page... that can be a bit annoying when the book kind of wants to, you know, the pages kind of want to come over your hand or, or crawl back up. So I've been really happy with this, uh, from the boys at Studio Neat and, um, it comes in a hard.

like cover box and they call it a keep book because the idea is that you're going to keep you're going to keep it you're going to put it in your archives your library when you're done and so the the the slip cover the slip case that it comes with has on its spine a place for you to um to write if you want to so you could write like

the semester or the year or the project or something that was on it. So when it's on a bookcase and if you ever needed to reference it or you're like me, you just like having them. I save all my field notes. I've got a whole... like shelve in my bookcase full of them filled ones from the past like 12 years but i don't know what's in which one unless i crack them open and find the date or something so the keep book is a little more organizationally flexible i think

And I've been really happy with it. Yeah, I actually have a couple of these. And I feel like Studio Needs stuff is just kind of another example. Like Ugmonk, just thoughtfully designed. Like you can get it in DocGrid or Ruled.

you get 160 pages but if you want to use it for art they have blank ones but it's only 60 pages but they're super thick so you could use you know inks on them and things and it wouldn't bleed through like they've thought through well what would that customer want versus this customer and that slip cover they have on it is like the nicest made slip cover i've ever seen yeah you know it's got a ribbon in it it's like it's just like

when you get it it doesn't feel like a piece of junk that you just picked up at the bookstore you know it's really nice i was curious though steven because like you've got ipads you know apple notes you've got all this tech why is it that you feel like you want to do this thing through a notebook as opposed to some of your tech? There's a lot of times where having a piece of tech out like on the table or in a meeting or something can be...

Not only distracting to me, right? Like taking notes on an iPad and then FaceTime with David Sparks, who's excited about something that he built in his garage comes in. But sometimes that's not something that I want. I want it. take notes just in a notebook, be more present with the people I'm with. And the fill notes in particular are really like, I'm not precious about them at all. And so...

it was like looking through the last few pages in mind, like it's notes from a phone call. It's like, you know, um, A couple of things I was thinking about for Pedometer++ update, like working on some text, like a grocery list. Yeah, quick capture. It's kind of a mishmash of stuff. And sometimes those things end up living somewhere else.

But also sometimes they're temporary, right? It's like not something that I need, you know, not that an Apple note isn't temporary, but it's like, I'm just jotting something down real quick and I don't need my phone or iPad to do that all the time. I have really kind of dove in on Field Notes again this year. We talked about Ugmonk, and they have those cards, the daily cards, and I've been using those for a while. But then...

I don't know, two or three months ago, I started using my field notes for that. So each note is like a day. I can just keep track, and I can see the future days. And I really think that. This seems to be aligning with me. And the other thing I like about it is I can always keep it with me wherever I go.

I mean, I still think that a big boy task manager is important, that he's software for all that stuff. Yeah. But just the daily list stuff I keep in field notes. Yeah. And it is kind of nice, like, if you're out and about. Somebody asks you a question, you can write something out, you can tear the page out and give it to them. Just, you know, it's kind of nice of that. And I have to ask you, what is your favorite Field Notes cover? Ever?

Yeah. I'm going to answer this right off the bat. It's the American Tradesman. It was from, I think, 2013. And it's been out of stock. Actually, it was 2011. Jeez. So it was blue, but the cover was slightly ribbed, and I just really liked how it felt. The inside cover was printed in red. And it just, it's kind of spoke to me and I had, I've said this before, maybe it was in a story or something I wrote and someone sent me one that they had because here's the, okay.

A three-pack of Fields Notes is not very much money. You can get nicer notebooks that are more expensive, but you can also get cheaper ones. But because they're limited run and because there are... crowd favorites. Some of them are really expensive. Like right now, I just searched on eBay for American tradesman field notes. There's a new but unsealed three pack on eBay for $200.

Yikes. What are we doing? You know, it's nuts. And so I think I have one left and I don't know when I'll use it. I'll need to pick a, maybe like in the new year, maybe. Cause again, I'm not precious about them. Like. I've had one get through the washing machine. That kind of sucked because I needed what was written in it, but it's fine. They get banged up, and I'll cut a page out or tear a page out for something. Not a big deal.

But the American Tradesman, you know, 2011 is also about when I started using Field Notes, and so maybe it was an early one that I got, and so it kind of stuck with me. Yeah. For me, the answer is also really easy. It's the National Park Series. Oh, they're so good. I love the National Park Series.

I finished them. I bought a full set of them. Because I was a subscriber, but I wasn't using them fast enough. But when National Parks came out, I bought the box of them. And I started using the last one. just recently and I went on the website and found that you can still order them. Yep. So I bought another box of them and I was thinking after I bought it, maybe I should have bought two boxes because I, if I'm using these for the next 15 years, I'm okay.

Yeah. The one, one of my favorite things about field notes is about this in a lot of ways. I love creative projects with really strict constraints and a three and a half by five inch paper notebook. is really constrained but these folks at field notes and draplin design company like they have

made so many variations of this thing over the years and not all of them are winners. Like I'm not a subscriber because usually there's one or two a year that I don't really like the design of. Also, I don't need, like I have a whole box of unused ones. It's out of control. But the National Parks one and others, they go work with artists. And so there are a bunch of illustrations and art on, especially the National Parks, but on a bunch of others.

That are just incredible. I love the National Parks ones. I got the whole set as well when they came out. And my wife uses them as well. Now she's a left-handed person. So she uses, they actually have a left-handed version of. the regular field notes notebook. Um, but she really loves the national parks ones. And so she's been working through that, uh, that box as well. All right. Good pick Steven. Yeah. I have one more analog pick. Okay.

you know you guys know i like to do stuff on the shop and i wanted to share a shop pick this year but i wasn't sure what to do i mean i'm not going to tell y'all to go buy a bandsaw but the uh but there's a there's a kit um one of my favorite Woodworking vendors is Lee Valley, a Canadian company that does just really, they make their own versions of classic tools and they are.

They're just the top notch. I have spent way too much money with them over the years. But they make kits usually every year around the holidays. And this year, they have a new one called the Beavercraft Ladle Carving Kit. And we all need a ladle in your kitchen. And if you buy this kit, it's not too much money. Let's see here. It is $60, $62. But they give you.

everything they need they give you the knife they give you the linseed oil they give you the the woodstock sandpaper like you have everything you need to build this thing even to sharpen your knife and it's a fun project right what if you could make your own ladle you know yeah and uh yeah i don't know i thought that would be a fun gift or uh or a little project for uh for listeners to try this year and they've got a bunch

I've been to the Lee Valley website because sometimes you'll send me a link to something that you've gotten or you're looking at. I didn't come across the kits, but there's also a spoon kit and there's a bunch of different ones on here. I think this is really cool. Yeah, just, I mean, they have a bunch of kits, right? Like, if you'd like to do a little crafty thing, go check it out, because they have a bunch of different ones.

The thing they do is they give you the whole thing. They have a make-it-yourself box. So if you want to make a little jewelry box for your sweetheart, you could do that or whatever. They also have leatherworking stuff. If you want to make your own wallet, they give you...

The thread, the wallets, the leather's pre-cut. You just sew it together and then get your own wallet. Very cool. This episode of Mac Power Users is brought to you by Solver. Solver is a natural language notepad calculator app for the Mac, iPad, and iPhone. It's a better way to work things out than a traditional calculator, and a more lightweight tool for working through problems than a spreadsheet.

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My thanks to Solver for their support of this show, my work, and all of Relay. Okay, new category-ish. You and I are both fans of Everyday Carry. And I think as I get older, I just get more into it, Stephen. Yeah. So we're going to go through this year and talk about Everyday Carry. What's the good stuff that's in your pocket right now that would make a great gift? I crossed a threshold.

With this this year that I'm not sure was healthy. Okay. I, for the first time, custom ordered a knife. All right. So I traditionally and still am a big fan of the James brand of knives. I've got a couple of knives from them. One really small, like a key chain knife.

uh, one pocket knife that they did with Aaron Draplin. Um, and they make all sorts of other things, but I've, I've been a big fan in general of this company, like these other companies you talked about, like they care about what they make. Um, but. About a year ago, actually, I was hanging out with some friends and someone pulled out a pocket knife to do something and...

It kind of caught my eye because it was a little bit unusual looking, some of the colors on it. And this buddy Caleb of mine was telling me that about... Benchmade, which I'd come across that brand before, but I never looked into them. They make a bunch of other stuff, but they have a knife customization program on their website. So I went with the custom.

bug out knife. They've got a bunch of different ones. You can go look at them. It kind of was the right size for me. And it's actually what my buddy had the, what he had gotten. And he was really happy with this. Okay. Well, like, you know. That works for me. And so I custom ordered a bug out knife from Benchmade. And you have a bunch of options of the type of steel and the blade.

the color of the hardware, the type of material used in the handle. Mine looks just like my James knife, that it's orange and stainless steel. Actually, it went with satin steel on this knife. But I love orange. I think orange is a good pocket knife color. And they made it and they shipped it to me. And it comes with lifetime sharpening and repair. Now, I know how to sharpen.

A knife, I have the right stuff to do it. Some people don't, but I really like the repair angle to this because a lot of times with a lot of knives, and look, this knife's expensive. This is not something you're going to walk into a... you know, uh, uh, like an outdoor store and buy from Iraq. Like, you know, it's not, it's not a $75 knife. It's, I think mine ended up being like 225 bucks by the time I was done. But if it gets

damaged or needs repair, they will take care of it. And something you carry, something you use is going to have wear and tear. And I do not mind patina on my things. It's fine. But if you broke the handle or the lock was acting up or you tipped the blade, that would really stink, especially on something that you customize and is pricey.

They stand behind their products, which I like. And so, yeah, I've got this knife and it's like exactly suited the way that I wanted. And they make a ton of stuff. I mean, lots of, honestly. there was a little overwhelming they have a lot of knives and until you really do your research it's like what's the difference between this one and that one um but i'm super thrilled with it and it's really at least the spec that i did is really lightweight and the

I did a pocket clip on it. And one thing great about their pocket clip is it's J or like U shaped. And so the knife sits low in your pocket. And so you can't see. my bright orange knife if i'm carrying it you can't see it like sticking out of my pocket you just see the black pocket clip and one complaint i had about the james brand knife that i had is that you see

Like the top of the knife pokes out of the pocket a little bit. I don't like that. I like it being sitting further in the pocket. It's more comfortable. You're also less likely to like catch it on stuff, pulling in and out of your pocket. So I've been very happy with it. I don't carry it every single day, but it's either usually on me or in my backpack, unless I'm traveling. Yeah, I have heard...

Nothing but good things about Benchmade knives. A lot of friends of mine and people that I read about this stuff swear by the Benchmade brand. I don't own any of them.

and the reason i don't own any of them is my pick it's the leatherman arc i i think it's three years old now yeah and it's just so useful i carry it it's in my pocket right now i carry it every day except when i'm

going in Disneyland or on an airplane. Because it's got a really good blade on it. I suspect my blade is not as good as what your Benchmade knife has. But the blade that's on it, I've sharpened it a few times. It's great. But it's got just... everything you know pliers scissors the whole thing my daughter's birthday she wanted to go to lobster right i mean i'm my kids are fancy steven i never had lobster when i was growing up right you know

Took her out, but the place, they didn't have the little things you crack the lobster with. Sure. And so I gave her my Leatherman arc in plier mode. And at first she laughed, but then she used it because it's like, it works. I don't know. Leatherman, I just really become a fan of that brand. When I grew up, it was always Swiss Army Knife. That's the one that we always had, right? Yeah, yeah, yeah.

But somewhere along the line, I became a Leatherman devotee. And this arc, I'm hoping this is my duration Leatherman. I don't have to buy another one because it just does everything I want. There's a whole thing of accessories for it. You can buy different bits for it and things if you want to really go down the rabbit hole. But it is a one-and-done pocket tool. Sure.

Yeah. I think we've talked about this in the past. I have the Wave, I think is the Leatherman I have, and it lives in my truck. So it's too bulky for me to want to carry every day. 98% of the time, my truck is where I am, right? I'm either at home or I'm out. And I find it very useful to have a multi-tool in my vehicle for things.

And Leatherman brand is great, right? They've been around forever. And their products are, I mean, they, like I bought mine in REI. Like they sell through retail channels. You can get support for them. They're customizable. Yeah, mine has the little screwdriver thing, and you can change the bits out. It's great. They're great. You get what you pay for when it comes to everyday carry.

stuff. Not, not all brands are a good deal. Like don't hear what I'm not saying. There's definitely some everyday carrier brands are like charging you for the brand. But Leatherman is one of those things. Like if I were on a desert Island, I would feel a lot better with my Leatherman in my back. Yeah, mine is custom, too, because they did a thing where you could get it engraved. So mine says Go Sparky on it with a little Mac Sparky logo. That's awesome.

And I don't know. I just like it. It makes me smile when I see it. But it's nice. Someday I'm going to get a nice pocket knife. Just to get, you know.

emotional from it my dad's pocket knife i still carry oh man you know and i i don't wanna i'm just terrified i'd lose it you know so that's my pocket knife and it's just an old buck it's been sharpened many many times uh but i i was just thinking about the other day i'm like i'm gonna start keeping it in the shop so i can just use it there and i'll never get lost yeah i'll still use it frequently you know

Yeah, that sounds like, yeah, that'd be heartbreaking if something happened to it. But you want it around, like you want it to be part of your life. I totally get that. Yeah. In my garage, I have a square that was my grandfather's. He built houses after World War II. My dad built houses his entire career, and you can't read the marks on it. It is totally worn down, and it's not the one that I use. If I'm working on something around the house, I have a square that...

I can actually read the markings on it, but that thing's really important to me. Right. And it's like, he bought it for probably, I mean, who knows in the 1950s, how much it cost him at the hardware store, but. It's now been around, and that's what makes it special, right? There's thousands of those things. There's thousands of knives like the one you've got, but it's whose it was. It's the history of it that's important to us. Got some of my grandfather's hand tools, and it's...

But I'm pushing it across a piece of wood to think that his hands did that 60, 70 years ago. Yeah. That's special. It is. All right, we're getting all emotional here. That's what my kids are going to think about. This is my dad's MacBook Pro. They're not going to care. You have something on here that...

I have never considered for myself, you have handkerchiefs. How do you say it? Handkerchiefs. That's how I say it. Handkerchief. I don't know. Maybe that's a Southern California pronunciation. Maybe. Handkerchiefs. Like you, I like everyday carry. I'm always carrying a flashlight, a Leatherman. I've got a couple things that are just generally with me. People around me kind of depend on it.

Like package comes in, Daisy says, hey, I need your knife, right? But I added to it this year, handkerchiefs. And I was out somewhere and saw somebody. spill something on the table in a restaurant. And he pulled a handkerchief out of his pocket and he wiped it up before the waiter got there. And I saw that and I went, yes, I need that. And when I was a kid.

a gentleman carried handkerchiefs i remember like that was something you'd expect from your dad to have a handkerchief on him and somewhere along the line we lost the thread so i i ordered some nice um uh cotton handkerchiefs uh like six months ago and they're just nice little things and i don't use them to blow my nose on i think people like oh is that your tissue i'm like no you don't blow your nose on something and stick it back in your pocket yeah

But like a gentleman, I have a handkerchief. And if a need arises to have a little piece of cloth to clean your glasses or wipe up a spill or whatever, I have it. And I have a pack of them, and I just throw them in the laundry as needed. It's been a nice addition this year. If you want to, if you've got someone in your life that you would like to up their EDC.

Don't get the cheap ones. Don't go on Amazon. Look, there's some nice ones out there now. People are rediscovering handkerchiefs. Yeah. You've got something else on your list that I think in our travel MPU episode.

You talked about these and I went and ordered them on the show. Yeah. And I've used them now for a couple of trips and you were totally right. Peak design packing cubes are awesome. Yeah. Yeah, this year, we talked about the Roller Pro. I bought their suitcase this year. But when I bought it, they had a deal where you can get the travel cubes. I already had a couple.

I just feel like travel cubes are very common. It's another thing, a million vendors selling travel cubes. But the peak design, the thoughtful design, the way they compress, I just haven't seen anybody make anything nearly as good. And that's a great gift to give is the travel cubes from Peak Design. Yeah, they come in a bunch of fun colors, which is great. But this is always a point that I make when we talk about bags.

or backpacks like i don't want the inside of my bag to be black if i can help it i want to be able to see what's in my bag right so my tom ben that i'm using has like a bright blue You open this and you're like, why is it so bright? So I can see everything in it because it was brightly colored. So the packing cubes, I ordered their, what do they call it? They call it. Sage. I ordered the raw. So it's pretty light colored.

Um, and they come in four sizes. My favorite of which is medium, because that's a hilarious word to me. Yeah. They're great, man. I resisted the packing cube life for way too long. And you were right. And these things are great. Yeah, you get a couple different colors. And then when you go, you can be like, you know, socks and underwear are in green.

you know shirts are in yeah beige or whatever and then my stuff's in the sage and my wife's is in the the you know the charcoal or whatever like if you're you know going away for a weekend or something yeah yeah that was a um I had packing cubes before I started getting the Peak Design ones. And as soon as I got the Peak Design ones, I just gave away all the old ones I did. I'm like, okay, I can never use those again. Yeah.

Um, my last one here, it's not actually a gift idea, but it's a philosophy that I want to spread. Okay. Okay. I call it, it's not a great name. I call it as few keys as possible. Okay. I get it. The description works. It is what it says on the tin. For a long time in my career... especially in my IT days, you just end up accumulating a lot of keys, right? You have keys to your office. Obviously, you have your keys to your house and your car.

I would have keys, like if I was doing a big project for a client, maybe had a key to their building or a key to their tech closet for a while. I've got keys to some doors at my church. I've got keys to the building my brother's office is in.

These things accumulate. A PO box, two PO box keys. It's too much. It's too much. And what I realized over time is I don't need all of these with me all the time. And especially with... now driving a vehicle that i don't have to put a key in the dash and turn like my truck is push button start yeah lots of people have had that experience relatively new to me um it's like i want to minimize what is in my pocket

key wise. And so I am down to a key to my Tacoma, a house key, key to my bike rack and an air tag. Now I have another key ring. stays in my backpack. That's where the P.O. box keys are. That's where the key is to the building my brother's office is in. Like those keys that I do need in my life, but I don't need them all the time. I don't need them in my pocket.

every single day and there's there are downsides to this lifestyle there have been occasions we're like oh i really need in here and the key is at home because my backpack's not with me you have to plan you got to think ahead a little bit But man, is it great, especially in the summer when you're wearing shorts and stuff flying out of your pockets. To have a minimal key ring is something that I really appreciate. Now, another downside is...

what if all the doors to your house don't take the same key? That kind of stinks. Fortunately, when we moved, I was already going to rekey the house, and so that sort of took care of itself. I actually ended up replacing most of the door locks because a lot of them were in pretty bad shape. But it's awesome, man. And I look at my wife, whom I love. She's my favorite person on the planet. But her keychain is bonkers. It's like, what are you doing? Why do you have so many things?

It's great to be living the as few keys as possible. The AFKAP lifestyle. You ready for me to blow your mind? Yes. I'm living the NK lifestyle. No key lifestyle. No key lifestyle. My car doesn't require a key. I upgraded the door locks with those Eufy fingerprint sensor locks. So I don't need a house key. Okay.

My work is at my house, so I don't need a work key. I live the no-key lifestyle. I have a key for my bike, but I keep it with my bike. And when I ride my bike, then I put it in my pocket. But otherwise... Man. I'm a no-key guy. I was pitching this philosophy, and you're like a grandmaster of it. I'm pro-level, baby. You are? I'm pro-level. That's incredible. We actually had some feedback.

I guess we can probably revisit in the next feedback episode about car key from Apple. There's a lot of, a lot of car companies, you know, like a Tesla, for instance, you can use like a credit card kind of thing or it'll, it'll unlock with your phone. But then car keys like a level on top of it where it integrates more into iOS. It's really cool. I think we'll talk more about that in a future episode. But that is the future for a lot of people, right? That your phone.

We'll do more and more like real life access to things or your Apple watch even. And that's, that'd be awesome. Yeah. I think about the NW lifestyle, the no wallet lifestyle. And I can almost get away with it, but they're always, you know, in California now we have the thing where you can put your driver's license on your phone and it's supposed to be enough.

Just constantly, it's not like, I just did a blog post with Max Bargain about this that should be posted by the time this show goes air. But I was reading about how TSA has to accept the digital one. And so I went through on a flight recently and pulled out my phone and showed them my California digital ID. And the TSA guy was not having it. He's like, no, I need an actual driver's license. This isn't enough. And I know that legally it's supposed to be enough.

But am I going to argue with this guy? So I brought my driver's license with me. So it was just kind of a test. So I don't think we're at the NW lifestyle yet. But hopefully, at least you can reduce the number of cards you carry. But the in-key lifestyle, baby, is here if you're lucky. That's really good. Okay. What about...

around the house. So things for the house, the workshop. We've kind of strayed into this a little bit, but I've got one that it's so dumb, but I love it.

Right. I got this for Christmas last year. I had seen them. It was not on my radar for a gift. I didn't ask anybody for it. But I have, as of Christmas last year. The battery daddy storage system. Yeah. You may have seen these at checkout at Home Depot or Lowe's. You can get them on Amazon. Really what it is is a plastic carrying case with.

a bajillion places to put batteries of different sizes and yes like i want to use rechargeable batteries as much as possible there's a lot of stuff in my house that doesn't take rechargeable batteries right or You know, I need a nine volt for something in the middle of the night. Right. And this thing is awesome. So I've got a bunch of double A's and triple A's in it.

It comes with a battery tester, which is actually really useful. I find myself using that way more often than I thought I would. And it just lives in the pantry. And if someone needs a battery, they can go get it and get the battery they need.

Before this, I was like everybody else. I just had a bunch of batteries in a plastic bin in my laundry room. And like you'd rifle through them like, oh, there's no double A's. And then you have to go to Walgreens. This, I can see how many I have. I have a lot because I went on a battery shopping spree after I got this.

And now it weighs 200 pounds. But it's awesome. It's silly. But it's just fun. Yeah. I actually used my 3D printer to solve that problem. I have a gridfinity and battery storage handled. um so i don't need the battery daddy but but yeah just some sort of organization system especially when you live with other humans yeah that's the trick the only problem is my my family does not understand the concept of stores

Like, I'm like, okay, guys, here they are. If you start getting towards the end, if you're taking one and there's only two or three left, you need to let me know. Yeah. Okay. But they just, they're like animals. They just take them all. They don't tell me. So then I go and it's empty.

All right, I got one for you. This was one of my favorite purchases this year. If you've got a sparky style nerd in your life and you want to make them happy, buy them a Toyo Toolbox. This is a Japanese steel company that makes these stamped kind of toolboxes. And somehow they've just become a thing online now. You can go and buy them online. And I have two of them.

I have two of the ones with the handles on it, but I've got a bunch of their little ones in the studio where I put things in. They have little stackable ones. I don't know, man. They're so delightful. Have you looked at these things, Stephen? Yeah, these are really cool. The cantilever ones really caught my eye, where it opens up.

I mean, like an old school toolbox, right? So you have some little pockets. Yeah, I don't have one of those. That's the big boy, yeah. Yeah, no, it looks big. They have pictures of a person standing in front of it. You'd kill a man with this thing. But yeah, these look really cool. Yeah, just great little toolboxes to put one in your car or keep it under the sink or whatever. They're just really well-made, kind of old-school steel.

but they have a lot of colors, so you can really get an attractive one. Yeah, that's awesome. I've got one that came out of my real life very recently.

And it is, I'm not gonna put a link in the show notes because you got to do some homework or what you need, but a solid core wheel for your wheelbarrow, your dolly, your two wheeler, whatever it may be. I never thought we'd see solid core wheels on the Mac power users, but hey, man. Here we are. Because look, if you're like me, I don't use my two-wheeler dolly thing very often. But when I need it, it's the only thing for the job.

And I just got tired of that thing always having a flat tire. And it's not a big deal. I've got a bike pump, put air back in it. But it's like, it's super annoying. And these things aren't that expensive. You can get them at your hardware store. You can get them online.

You've got to look at what size. You've got to make sure you order the right thing. But they're solid rubber wheels, which means they'll never go flat. It also means that you can kind of be rough on them because you're not going to cause a leak.

So I've got this on my wheelbarrow now. I've got it on my two-wheel dolly. That's the one that made me think to put this in the show notes because I just swapped those over the summer. And it's great because you just never have to worry about it. And that wheel...

is going to outlast the life of my wheelbarrow. It just will, because it's a solid chunk of rubber on a metal axle. Totally life-changing. I don't know if this is really a gift recommendation, but just wheel upgrades in general is a thing if you're not aware of it. You know, like, you know, the cheap plastic wheels on your desk chair. If you go on Amazon, just get your thread count on your wheels, and you can buy really nice wheels for not much money.

to really improve your life yeah i have what are basically rollerblade wheels on my office chair and it's awesome yeah did the same thing to my desk yeah there's a bunch of those out there yeah

All right. My last around the house one is we actually mentioned this in a show. It was on a feedback show, but it was this year and I want to bring it back. This is a great gift for somebody. It's a compressed air duster. There's a whole group of them now. I got mine on Amazon. I didn't make a specific recommendation for the show because I think they're all about the same. But it's just a little fan.

with a very small nozzle at the end. The idea of compressed air, you'd buy a can and you'd shake it and spray it on your keyboard or whatever. Well, it's just a fan instead of actual compressed air. They all charge on USB-C. And I just find so many uses for this thing around the house to just blow the dust off something. And it got a good reaction. We talked about the show. I wanted to mention again this year. I think this is an outstanding gift for anybody that.

does not want dust in their life and uh and it's much better than getting the cans you know you got to recycle the cans you got to shake them up you never know when they're going to run out of air this is just kind of a an upgrade to that solution

Yeah, I got one when you mentioned it, and it's awesome. I was using the cans, and I never felt good about it. And now this thing, I can just recharge it. And mine came with a bunch of different tips, including one that's like a little brush so you can get into things. It's awesome. And it just lives in a drawer in my office. And if I need it, I go get it. Yeah, it's really cool. I got two more. Look, we named this chapter around the house, but really it's like.

It's kind of the dad chapter. Like, I'm sorry. Yeah. I was looking at it thinking that toolboxes, wheels. Yeah. I mean, you know, you are what you are, Steven. So I got two more. One is a lithium ion jump pack. So I, as a responsible person, carry a set of jumper cables in my truck, but not everybody knows how to use jumper cables. Not everybody wants to carry them around. I actually jumped somebody off two weeks ago.

at a doctor's office I was visiting and like, I just had an appointment and somebody was there and the car was dead. I was like, ah, here you go. Jumped him off. Um, but. Maybe there's people who don't want to manage that or you don't want them managing it. And so Noco is the brand I got. There's lots of other versions of it. And these things are basically giant lithium ion batteries with jumper cables coming out of them.

Now, lithium ion is actually not a great solution for this. Like you basically get one shot at it because it dumps the entire battery's contents basically all at once. But like thinking about... my daughter who will have her driver's license next year, I'm going to get one of these and put it in the back of her car. Right. Um, I'm going to teach her how to jump a battery, but I don't want her to have to rely on that as an, as a new driver. Right. Like.

I don't mind. I've been doing it a long time. I will say anytime I've ever jumped somebody off, it's always been in the pouring rain, including the other day. It's just how it happens. At a degree of difficulty. I walked into this lobby after jumping this person off. I was late to my appointment, but I was fine, whatever. The guy was cool. I was soaking wet. I was like, ah, I'm sorry. But these things are great.

It could be useful to somebody, you know, maybe not the most exciting gift, but it could get them out of a jam. Yeah, and you're doing it right. Like, dads and girls, you need to teach them how to jump a car, how to use a drill. Good job, Steven. Then...

there's the one that I put in here for me. So when I went on sabbatical last year, one of my sort of home projects was I was going to pressure wash everything. Driveway. patio brick walkway. And I did it. It was very enjoyable. I would say that can get unhealthy. Oh yeah. No careful. Look, if, if.

podcasting ever goes away like is there a chance that i just open a pressure washing business uh yes like uh it's great you can get an electric one i have a gas one i don't really recommend that but for uninteresting reasons it's what worked best for me um bonus points you get a skimmer head so instead of using a little wand back and forth you know mine is the head on mine's probably 18 inches across and so you can do bigger

paths of your driveway or whatever, it's awesome. And maybe if you don't want to, I mean, who wouldn't want a pressure washer as a gift? Maybe you have one. Maybe your gift is, hey, mom, I'm going to compressor wash your house in the spring. Also with your gift. There's like YouTube channels of people just pressure washing dirty stuff. Oh, I know. People, oh, you know. I have never gone down that rabbit hole, but one day I saw one where they were washing like a hundred year old carpet.

And damned if I didn't watch the thing from beginning to end. It's like a black and white picture turning into color before your eyes, right? Yeah.

All right. Well, that was the dad corner. We had the EDC corner, the analog corner, we had the tech corner. Pretty good list of gifts there this year, Stephen. I think the one I would always like to add to the end, of course, if someone tells you, I don't need any gifts, I'm good.

You can always make a donation on their behalf at places like St. Jude or your favorite charity. I think that's a great gift to give every year. You can also give them a Mac Power Users thing, but charity is good too. So, yeah. There's always ways to share the love at the holidays. If you've got a favorite gift, put it into the notes. Let us know. We will have a feedback episode. Maybe we'll include a couple extras. You can also...

add them to the notes for this show over in the forums at talk.macpowerusers.com. We'd love to have you add there as well. It's always fun this time of year to see what people are thinking about, and it's always fun to see how all this stuff evolves. We are the Mac Power Users. You can find us over at relay.fm slash MPU for feedback and membership. That's where you can sign up for more Power Users, the ad-free extended version of the show.

Thanks to our friends, Squarespace and Solver, who helped keep the lights on this week. We really appreciate it. For those more Power User subscribers, stick around. We're going to be talking about Steven's smart home update. And otherwise, we'll see you next time.