4-EYELET RANGER MOCCASINSThe Maine shoe industry used to be the largest source of industrial jobs in the state. But even though the vast majority of those jobs have moved abroad, there are still a handfull of makers putting together shoes in the traditional, hand-sewn, moccasin construction. These Ranger Mocs ($550) from Rancourt & Co. show what a good shoemaker can do with a wooden last, some great leather, and some cool thinking. By adding a leather sole and using shell cordovan, these go from the traditional casual shoe to a more polished, versatile model--one that can hold its own with dressier looks as well as jeans or khakis. Rancourt & Co. is run by second and third generation shoe makers. But while they're keeping the handmade tradition alive, they're also pushing innovation as well--at their site, you can design your own shoes, choosing from dozens of leathers, soles, stitching colors and styles. It's high tech meets down east, and the results are really, really handsome.--Mark McClusky
Photo: Ariel Zambelich/WIRED
SCANSNAP, EVERNOTE EDITIONEvernote has become my digital junk drawer. Anything that could be of use to me later--from scanned handwritten notes and receipts, to web pages and book excepts--gets sent to the archiving service. While the standalone app and browser-based web clipper take care of a lot of those dispatches, there was one weak point in the system: my unspeakably awful Canon P-215 portable scanner. Seriously, this thing was developed by sadists. Fill it with more than a couple pieces of paper and it would choke; the crappy proprietary software didn't work half the time; and to top it off, I still had to move the scanned items to Evernote afterward. It was so bad I simply resorted to snapping photos of any Evernote-bound papers. Then the ScanSnap Evernote Edition ($495) came into my life. Stuff this Wi-Fi scanner full of all sizes of paper, hit a single button, and seconds later they'll seamlessly appear in Evernote. The scanner is even smart enough to recognize what is probably a receipt (based on paper-size) and then send it off to the appropriately labeled folder. During tax time, this little guy performed like a champ, helping me quickly create digital (and OCRable) copies of home expenses and other relevant docs. For as long as I remain an Evernote user, I will never use another scanner.--Bryan Gardiner
Photo: Ariel Zambelich/WIRED
COLD BRUERDo you feel okay because I feel great right now, I mean, just spectacular, like, really, really good, and I'm having a great day at work and really I feel like I can attribute a lot of it to the two cups of cold-brewed coffee I drank this morning (I mean, in addition to the normal one I drank at home) from this Cold Bruer ($65), which brews 24 ounces of coffee overnight as it sits on your counter--wait, how many ounces are in a cup because I guess I actually technically drank three cups--and like I know you have probably tried other cold brew methods, like the Toddy, but I am here to tell you that this produces a more refined, better brew than the traditional method of soaking grounds in water for 12-24 hours and then straining it off--which is great, don't get me wrong but this is way, way better, and oh my god I feel so good--the Cold Bruer is essentially a one-drop-in / one-drop-out method where as one drip of water lands on two ounces of ground coffee in the middle chamber, a drop of coffee comes out from the bottom into the reservoir below and man is it good, it really brings out the vegetal flavor in coffee and you can taste lots of nuance that you just don't get in the soak it overnight method plus this is beautiful to look at and not just, like, some big old plastic tub on your counter. LA LA LA LA LA LA LA LA! It's $65. LA! I like it.--Mat Honan
Photo: Josh Valcarcel/WIRED
4-EYELET RANGER MOCCASINSThe Maine shoe industry used to be the largest source of industrial jobs in the state. But even though the vast majority of those jobs have moved abroad, there are still a handfull of makers putting together shoes in the traditional, hand-sewn, moccasin construction. These Ranger Mocs ($550) from Rancourt & Co. show what a good shoemaker can do with a wooden last, some great leather, and some cool thinking. By adding a leather sole and using shell cordovan, these go from the traditional casual shoe to a more polished, versatile model--one that can hold its own with dressier looks as well as jeans or khakis. Rancourt & Co. is run by second and third generation shoe makers. But while they're keeping the handmade tradition alive, they're also pushing innovation as well--at their site, you can design your own shoes, choosing from dozens of leathers, soles, stitching colors and styles. It's high tech meets down east, and the results are really, really handsome.--Mark McClusky
Photo: Ariel Zambelich/WIRED
SCANSNAP, EVERNOTE EDITIONEvernote has become my digital junk drawer. Anything that could be of use to me later--from scanned handwritten notes and receipts, to web pages and book excepts--gets sent to the archiving service. While the standalone app and browser-based web clipper take care of a lot of those dispatches, there was one weak point in the system: my unspeakably awful Canon P-215 portable scanner. Seriously, this thing was developed by sadists. Fill it with more than a couple pieces of paper and it would choke; the crappy proprietary software didn't work half the time; and to top it off, I still had to move the scanned items to Evernote afterward. It was so bad I simply resorted to snapping photos of any Evernote-bound papers. Then the ScanSnap Evernote Edition ($495) came into my life. Stuff this Wi-Fi scanner full of all sizes of paper, hit a single button, and seconds later they'll seamlessly appear in Evernote. The scanner is even smart enough to recognize what is probably a receipt (based on paper-size) and then send it off to the appropriately labeled folder. During tax time, this little guy performed like a champ, helping me quickly create digital (and OCRable) copies of home expenses and other relevant docs. For as long as I remain an Evernote user, I will never use another scanner.--Bryan Gardiner
Photo: Ariel Zambelich/WIRED
COLD BRUERDo you feel okay because I feel great right now, I mean, just spectacular, like, really, really good, and I'm having a great day at work and really I feel like I can attribute a lot of it to the two cups of cold-brewed coffee I drank this morning (I mean, in addition to the normal one I drank at home) from this Cold Bruer ($65), which brews 24 ounces of coffee overnight as it sits on your counter--wait, how many ounces are in a cup because I guess I actually technically drank three cups--and like I know you have probably tried other cold brew methods, like the Toddy, but I am here to tell you that this produces a more refined, better brew than the traditional method of soaking grounds in water for 12-24 hours and then straining it off--which is great, don't get me wrong but this is way, way better, and oh my god I feel so good--the Cold Bruer is essentially a one-drop-in / one-drop-out method where as one drip of water lands on two ounces of ground coffee in the middle chamber, a drop of coffee comes out from the bottom into the reservoir below and man is it good, it really brings out the vegetal flavor in coffee and you can taste lots of nuance that you just don't get in the soak it overnight method plus this is beautiful to look at and not just, like, some big old plastic tub on your counter. LA LA LA LA LA LA LA LA! It's $65. LA! I like it.--Mat Honan
Photo: Josh Valcarcel/WIRED
View the gallery in full screen to read more about the things we loved in April.
One of the best parts of our jobs here at WIRED is that we get to test all the new things as soon as they come out. But we often only get a few days to play with something before having to write about it. That can be difficult-getting a clear assessment of an object's worth when you have to crank out a written review in less than a week. Some products only show their true colors after several weeks, months, or years to experience them, live with them, play with them, and wear them. That's what we've rounded up here-things we've been testing and love, or the stuff from our lives that we own and never want to let go. This is the gear we want to take everywhere. This is the stuff we want to cook breakfast for. These are the things we love.
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