Hey y’all, it’s Austin in Boston. My recent cross-country move from Los Angeles caused me to reflect on the most essential technology products in my life. But first…
Today’s top tech news:
The indispensable dongle
A few weeks ago, my wife and I relocated from California to Massachusetts. The timing wasn’t ideal, not only because we traded West Coast warmth for New England shivers, but also because we moved amid the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic and supply chain crunch, which inevitably made everything more complicated and expensive.
One unexpected part of the process was how it forced me to consider what tech I could and couldn’t live without. With a truckload of our stuff taking weeks to traverse the U.S., our new home is still virtually empty, save for the limited items we could carry aboard our flight this month. Which, for me, ended up being a triaged selection of vital consumer electronics, including a handful of products I hate feeling so attached to.
To wit: cords and dongles. The checked luggage for my flight was stuffed with endless permutations of plugs I now need for my day-to-day: HDMI cables, device chargers, USB-to-everything adapters and so on. The tangles of wires, which I loathe, took up so much space that I ironically couldn’t fit my wireless Logitech keyboard and mouse, which I love. They’re currently packed in a box inside our movers’ truck, likely being crushed under the weight of my 23-pound Margaritaville frozen-drink maker, which I also unfortunately couldn’t squeeze into my carry-on bag.
The true essentials I both needed and wanted to take myself were mostly predictable: my MacBook Pro, iPad, Amazon Kindle, back-up storage drives from Western Digital and other common mainstays. But we also brought things that likely wouldn’t have been as necessary just a half-decade ago, such as my wife’s hardware crypto wallet or my Google Titan Security Keys. One embarrassing inclusion was my cherished AT&T landline phone, a critical component of a reporter’s life due to the consistent reception. I’m guessing I’m one of the few travelers who has boarded a plane in recent years with a corded handset and 50 feet of telephone wiring.
There were also items I shipped separately so they’d get here faster and more safely, partially because they’d be difficult or costly to replace during the chip shortage. This includes everything from our car to my PC. What if my Dell desktop tower got smashed in transit and I couldn’t find a comparable Nvidia graphics card, which are increasingly scarce in stores? Ditto my Xbox Series X, which was even difficult to insure for shipping. The impossible-to-purchase device retails for $500, but the going rate on secondary markets is roughly double that, a price likely to rise as Cyber Monday stock depletes and the holidays approach.
The thing we’ve found hardest to live without since moving? Surprisingly, our packed-away HP printer, a godsend in the work-from-home era. Inversely, we’re totally fine without our once-beloved set-top boxes from Apple, Amazon and Google gathering dust, now that we’ve bought and received a new LG smart television. With a healthy array of apps and decent WebOS functionality, it’s nice to get rid of the gaggle of devices and remotes that used to clutter our TV stand in LA.
Hopefully the rest of our boxed-up stuff arrives in the next week or two. I can hardly remember what else we packed. — Austin Carr
If you read one thing
China’s tech crackdown continues as regulators have asked Didi to delist from U.S. exchanges, sending shares of the ride-railing giant down. Meituan, meanwhile, posted its widest loss since 2018.
Here’s what you need to know
Elon Musk, whose companies have benefited from government subsidies, tweeted that all subsidies should be eliminated after Tesla indicated it will forgo $1.3 billion of state aid for its new factory in Germany.
Amazon is trying to block India’s richest man from taking over a struggling retail chain in the country.
Paris wants flying air taxis to be ready in time for the Olympics.
"Fun" - Google News
November 29, 2021 at 06:45PM
https://ift.tt/3E73KYl
The Real Must-Have Gadgets Aren't That Fun - Bloomberg
"Fun" - Google News
https://ift.tt/2ZVoWNN
https://ift.tt/3c6iubT
Bagikan Berita Ini
0 Response to "The Real Must-Have Gadgets Aren't That Fun - Bloomberg"
Post a Comment