The tech I loved in 2022
The tech I loved in 2022
Plus: A stolen phone follow-up, an underrated email trick, and a whole bunch of iPad deals
Hey folks! Instead of the usual quick tip this week, I’m passing along the full issue of Advisorator, including my feature column, news roundups, and deals. If you enjoy it, please consider a paid subscription!
This is the time of year that inspires warm and cozy thoughts, so naturally I’m thinking about the gadgets and tech tools I’ve been enjoying the most.
Thus, for the fifth year in a row, these are a few of my favorite tech things.
Not all of them are new, mind you, but I either started using or gained a newfound appreciation for them this year, and I expect to keep using them in 2023 and beyond.
Gadgets
Steam Deck: My gadget of the year by a wide margin. I’ve had a blast playing proper PC games on Valve’s handheld system, but I’ve been just as impressed with the ethos behind it. Unlike most gaming systems—and the iPhone, for that matter—the Steam Deck doesn’t lock you into its own storefront. It also offers a Linux-based desktop mode through which you can install pretty much anything, from web browsers and classic game emulators to alternative game stores from rival companies. Discovering what’s possible with the Steam Deck has been almost as much fun as actually playing games on it.
Eero: I wrote pretty recently about how Eero fixed my Wi-Fi problems, so no need to do a full rehash here, but I continue to be impressed by how little I have to think about Wi-Fi anymore. Mesh networking is an upgrade I should have made a lot sooner sooner.
Mac Mini media server: About a year ago, I moved my Plex music and Channels DVR servers from an Nvidia Shield TV streaming box to the M1 Mac Mini in my office. The Shield was having reliability issues, and it doesn’t support Plexamp’s Sonic Adventure features, which uses sonic analysis to provide better music recommendations. While the migration itself was tedious, the Mac has been rock solid for streaming media both at home and remotely, and I’m loving the mixtapes that Plex has been coming up with. As a bonus, I can use Chrome Remote Desktop to troubleshoot the Mac from afar in the rare case that something goes wrong.
USB switcher: Every year I seem to find one little gadget that makes a big difference. This time it’s a $19 USB hub and switcher, which lets you switch up to four USB devices between computers with the press of a button. I use it to toggle my keyboard, mouse, and webcam between between my Windows desktop and the aforementioned Mac Mini, and it works exactly as advertised. (You can also get a version with HDMI switching, but I’m just using my monitor’s input button for that.)
Samsung Galaxy Z Fold4: Okay, I don’t actually own one of these foldable phones, but reviewing it for Fast Company left me excited about where the category is headed. Samsung finally made a foldable that doesn’t have major battery life or camera compromises, and being able to conjure a tablet-sized screen from my pocket often like a superpower. I’m due for an upgrade in two years, and it’s hard to imagine my next phone not being a foldable at that point.
Software
Ambie: I’m so glad to have discovered this free ambient noise app for Windows, which lets you create your own custom sound mixes for focus or relaxation. In tandem with the timer app Hourglass, it’s my favorite way to get into writing mode.
AirPlay audio: Apple’s media casting protocol is not new, but it’s won me over as I’ve gradually amassed more AirPlay-compatible speakers. Using my iPhone, I can stream music from any app to my Sonos Beam soundbar and Move speaker, Apple’s own HomePod Mini, and even the Mac Mini hooked up to my desktop speakers and subwoofer. As such, it’s become the primary way for me to play music throughout the house.
TextKiller: By tapping into the iPhone’s oft-overlooked text filtering system, TextKiller blocks known sources of text spam and lets you set up custom keyword filters as well. The result has been a steadily-growing “Junk” folder in the Messages app, full of scam messages that I’m glad to have missed.
EZgif: If you’ve ever noticed an animated GIF in this newsletter and wondered how I make them, EZgif is the answer. It’s a free website where you can upload a video, crop it down, then convert it into the GIF format, with an array of options for reducing the file size. The interface is a bit crude, but I’ve yet to find another free tool that’s this straightforward and comprehensive.
Dynamic wallpapers: Earlier this year, I wrote about how you can use Plash for Mac or Lively Wallpaper for Windows to set a live view of any website as your desktop wallpaper. Since then, I’ve been running the website Window Swap on my second monitor, so whenever there’s nothing else on screen, I get scenic video from around the world as my backdrop. While there’s admittedly no practical upside for this, it just makes my daily computing life a lot more pleasant.
Need to know
A stolen phone follow-up: Relevant to last week’s newsletter, here’s a great thread on Mastodon about how a stolen phone can lead to phishing schemes.
In this case, the thief tried sending a message to the phone’s emergency contacts, with a “your phone has been found” message and “view location” link. That link led to a fake “Find My” login page, intended to steal the victim’s password and unlock the phone. (The phone later turned up in China, where it will presumably be scrapped for parts.)
“Be wary of phishing” is common advice after any sort of online security breach. Turns out it extends to offline phone theft as well.
Broken music promises: With 2022 winding down, The Verge’s Chris Welch astutely points out that Apple hasn’t delivered the classical music app it planned to launch this year. While Apple Music has its own classical music catalog, the company had promised a dedicated app to mollify users of Primephonic, the classical streaming service it acquired last year. So far, Apple hasn’t commented on the app’s absence.
Also worth noting: Spotify still isn’t offering lossless audio, despite announcing it nearly two years ago. The company last commented on the matter in January, when it gave no new timeline for the feature’s arrival. By contrast, CD-quality audio is included with Apple Music, Amazon Music Unlimited, and Tidal, per my hi-res music streaming chart.
Tip of the moment
An underrated email trick: For years, I thought of Gmail’s labels as a permanent thing. I had a label for reader mail, a label for noteworthy PR pitches, and a “screened out” folder for filtering certain contacts out of my inbox, among others.
But then I realized the best use for email labels is temporary. Before a trip, for instance, I’ll create a label just for that event and dump all my reservation and confirmation emails into it, so I can find them without digging through my inbox or relying on Gmail’s often-terrible search function. Afterwards, I’ll delete the entire label to avoid cluttering Gmail’s sidebar. (Depending on your email provider, you may have the option for folders instead of labels; Gmail only uses labels, but lets you moved labeled emails out of your inbox.)
So if you’re struggling to find things in your email, perhaps what you need is more temporary folders. It’s the kind of little trick that’s hiding right in plain sight.
Now try this
Games to chill by: Lofi and Games is a brilliant website that mashes up lo-fi radio with casual games such as Solitaire, Snake, and Minesweeper. It’s all free to play with no ads, and makes for quite the cozy diversion amid the winter weather. (Via the Deepculture newsletter.)
Random music generator: If you’re already tired of generating text with ChatGPT, give Riffusion a try. Type the music you want to hear into the prompt, and the site will spit out a looping track to match. As Benj Edwards reports, this works by generating sonograms that look similar to your description, using the same methods as AI art generators such as Stable Diffusion. The initial results can be a little wonky, but they tend to improve after several seconds.
Anyway, with apologies in advance, here’s “psychedelic jazz hip hop with unexpected key changes.”
Around the web
- By me: This Google alternative combines search with an app store.
- Weird fact I just learned: Facebook passwords have wiggle room.
- A new app helps folks with hearing loss hear birdsong again.
- Eufy stops advertising “local only” security cameras after getting caught uploading users’ data.
- Some helpful details on iCloud’s optional end-to-end encryption, which is available now.
- Twitter continues to fly off the rails in slow motion.
Spend wisely
Now’s a good time to buy an iPad, with several models on sale.
On the lower end, the 9th-generation iPad is $50 off at Best Buy, bringing the price to $280 (64 GB) or $430 (256 GB). The 10th-generation model, with a larger screen and new design, is also $50 off, starting at $399. For more power and a better screen, the iPad Air is $100 off, at $500, and the new 11-inch iPad Pro is also $100 off, at $699.
Can’t decide between all those options? That’s what my iPad Decision Flowchart is for.
Other notable deals:
- AirPods Pro (second-gen) return to $200 at major retailers.
- Bose’s QuietComfort Earbuds II hit a new low of $229.
- Don’t mind refurbished earbuds? Get the Pixel Buds Pro for $105.
- Get a LG’s basic 48-inch OLED for $570, with open-box options for less.
- Ready to buy your own cable modem? This one’s on sale for $60.
- Get Samsung’s Galaxy Watch5 for $165 by trading in any working smartwatch.
- Cheap Asus Chromebook deal: 14-inch touchscreen, Intel Core-m3, 8 GB RAM for $179.
- Affinity’s Photoshop, Illustrator, and InDesign clones are 40% off.
Thank you!
If you enjoyed this issue of Advisorator, consider a paid subscription! It’s just $50 per year or $15 per three months to get advice like this every week, and you’ll get a four-week free trial to start.
Either way, thanks for reading! I look forward to exploring more corners of the tech world with you in 2023. Note that this will be the last regular issue of the year, and we’ll be back to the usual publishing schedule on January 3. In the meantime, happy holidays, and have a happy and healthy new year!
Jared