Linked List: December 31, 2018

Monday, 31 December 2018

The Talk Show: ‘Proprioceptive Lie’ ★

For your holiday party listening enjoyment, Rene Ritchie returns to the show for a year-in-review look back at Apple’s 2018: the Mac, iPad, iPhone, Apple Watch, Siri and services, and more.

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Anker PowerCore II 6700 Portable Battery Pack ★

I’ve long been obsessed by portable battery packs — I’ve bought way more of them than I need over the years, because I’m always looking for one that’s just right. Someone on Twitter just asked what my current favorite is, and I thought it’d be worth sharing: it’s Anker’s PowerCore II 6700 — $24 at Amazon.

I’m only interested in battery packs that are comfortably pocketable. This one is the best balance I’ve found between size/weight, battery capacity, and charging speed (both input and output are at 10W — a lot of smaller battery packs only do 5W). Really good build quality and the round edges make it feel much better in a jeans pocket. Pair it with a short Lightning cable and you’re set.

Biggest downside is that like almost all battery packs, it charges via Micro USB. I get around that by keeping only 3-in-1 (Micro USB/USB-C/Lightning) charging cables in my computer bag.