29SEP2024

Happy Sunday, everyone! It’s been an exciting week in tech with all the new Apple gear arriving, Meta revealing their Orion project, and ChatGPT’s advanced voice mode rolling out more broadly. For my part, I finally caved and ordered a pair of the new transparent Meta x Ray-Bans to try out. I’m unduly excited about the return of transparent tech aesthetic to our modern culture.

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

Alright, on to the good stuff!

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

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