{"id":6273,"date":"2023-12-19T16:42:43","date_gmt":"2023-12-19T16:42:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/advisorator.com\/members\/?p=6273"},"modified":"2023-12-21T16:33:19","modified_gmt":"2023-12-21T16:33:19","slug":"12-19-2023-my-favorite-tech-things-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/advisorator.com\/members\/2023\/12\/19\/12-19-2023-my-favorite-tech-things-2\/","title":{"rendered":"12\/19\/2023: My favorite tech things"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Jared’s favorite tech things: 2023 edition<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Plus: The impending Apple Watch ban, a great use for AI, and a Spotify hack for parents<\/h3>\n\n\n
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Jared Newman<\/div>
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December 19, 2023<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n
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Hey folks! I’m unlocking this week’s full issue of Advisorator for everyone. Enjoy, and consider upgrading your subscription<\/a> to support my work and get exclusive feature columns every Tuesday. I’ve also extended the free trial period to four weeks for a limited time if you want to check it out<\/a>!<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A little over five years ago on the morning of Christmas Eve, I found myself holed up in a hotel Starbucks, trying to figure out how to close out my first half-year of writing this newsletter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then it hit me: I should look back on the tech that made the biggest impact on me throughout the year. “Jared’s favorite tech things<\/a>” was born, and I’ve enjoyed making a cozy little tradition of it for my last regular newsletter of every year since.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2023, my favorite tech things brought some big changes to my computing, writing, and gaming setups, along with a prolonged return to the land of Android. Here’s a roundup in no particular order:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cheap mini PCs<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Back in March, I wrote about my experience with the Beelink SER5<\/a> (pictured above), a tiny desktop computer that costs less than $300. It still serves as my daily driver, with its mid-range AMD processor and 16 GB of RAM capably handling my productivity demands, 1080p PlayOn recordings<\/a>, and even some light gaming. I’ll probably never return to big desktop tower PCs; my existing one now enjoys a second life as a basement gaming rig<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ultrawide monitors<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
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The other big computing change I made this year involved swapping out my two desktop monitors for a single ultrawide one, LG’s 35WN65C-B<\/a>. Going ultrawide took some adjustment<\/a>, but my neck appreciates the change, and it’s helped me focus more on single tasks while still having adequate space for split-screen windowing as needed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nvidia GeForce Now<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Without any gaming hardware in my office, I decided to try Nvidia’s GeForce Now service<\/a>, which streams games from remote server PCs equipped with its own graphics cards.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It’s been a revelation<\/a>. While I’ve been skeptical of cloud gaming in the past, Nvidia has made big strides in minimizing input lag, and the Ultimate tier supports ultrawide monitors at up to 4K resolution. That tier’s $20 per month asking price seems like a lot, but comparable gaming PCs cost upwards of $2,500, and I’d never even consider spending that kind of money on a gaming rig to begin with.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pairdrop<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
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Of all the ways you can send files to yourself<\/a>, Pairdrop has quickly become my favorite option that doesn’t involve cloud storage. Just visit pairdrop.net<\/a> from any two devices on the same Wi-Fi network, and you can drag and drop files (or, alternatively, snippets of text) between them. It’s fast, simple, and\u2014unlike Apple’s AirDrop\u2014doesn’t have any obnoxious ecosystem boundaries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Modular smartphone accessories<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
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I’m still formulating some thoughts on the Samsung Galaxy Fold5 that I acquired in October, but for now what stands out more than the phone itself is the suite of accessories I’ve been using with it:<\/p>\n\n\n\n