Moto E Need a spare smartphone? This one's just $129 off-contract. The new Moto-E from Motorola comes with a nearly unblemished version of Kit Kat, a dual core processor, and a high resolution 4.3-inch display with Gorilla Glass. It's also damn near indestructible. It's water resistant, which is great, and you can literally throw this thing on the floor without breaking it (we did). Motorola also offers a variety of custom colored backs to trick it out. But look, while the specs are okay, the thing we love about this phone is that it's cheap. Cheap smartphones are the most exciting thing going right now. They're the future. They're going to bring the world online. And they also even can serve as a decent backup device in case you lose or break that flagship.-Mat Honan
Photo: Ariel Zambelich/WIRED
Schiit Magni + Modi When it comes to hi-fi audio outfits, Schiit (pronounced like you think it is) is refreshing for a number of reasons. For one thing, the California-based company makes extremely affordable, high-quality headphone amps and discrete DACs-those things that convert your music's raw digital bits into an analog audio signal. The two guys running things, Jason Stoddard and Mike Moffat, also happen to be hilarious. Seriously, read any of the product descriptions or FAQs on their site and try not to laugh. I've owned the Modi ($99) USB DAC and Magni ($99) headphone amp for close to a year now, and they've become an indispensable part of the daily routine. Named after Thor's two sons (Schiit has a thing for using Norse mythology naming conventions), both are small enough to keep on my desk here at work. I connect the Modi to my laptop, plug some nice cans into the Magni and bask in the beautiful sound they produce. The Magni delivers 1.2 watts of power into 32 ohms, which mean it'll drive just about any headphone.-Bryan Gardiner
Photo: Ariel Zambelich/WIRED
Metal Cats I am eternal. I walk the night. I am the reaper of souls and the keeper of...tiny widdle kitty cats? Maybe it's black magic, but something undeniably special happens when you take musicians from bands like Cattle Decapitation and Abcess and photograph them with their feline friends. Oakland-based musician, jewelry maker, and photographer Alexandra Crockett did just that for her new book, the appropriately titledMetal Cats ($13). Inside, you'll find fuzzy fellows like Fatneck, Prickily Pear, Gozer, and Keekeebutt-all being snuggled by their Metal scene masters. The photos range from candid to hilariously staged, and once you start paging through the book, it's nearly impossible to put down. Even better, a portion of all sales goes to no-kill shelters around the West Coast. So pick up a copy yourself. Satan commands you!-Bryan Gardiner
Photo: Ariel Zambelich/WIRED
Une BobineThe 24-inch Une Bobine iPhone charging cable ($35) is a Silicon Valley reimagining of The Indian Rope Trick. It hovers straight up in the air-Newton be damned!-like a metallic serpent. And once you place your iPhone on top, there it will stay without toppling over. As it turns out, having your iPhone floating at eye-level is great for a number of things: hands-free FaceTiming, hands-free video-recording, and hands-free book-reading, to name a few. And if you connect the other end to your computer's USB port, the magical Une Bobine will also charge and sync your phone. You can even buy it with an optional Car Kit ($5 more), which lets you hook it up to your windshield or dashboard to hold your phone in place for long, GPS-assisted drives.-Pranav Dixit
Photo: Ariel Zambelich/WIRED
Mission Workshop Stahl Short I've made no secret about my love for Mission Workshop's bags. Even before I lived in the Bay Area, the San Francisco company impressed me with packs and sacks that anticipated the needs of urban cyclists. Then I tried their shorts ($139) and realized that I'd been the one selling them short. Turns out that their bags are just the beginning. Point blank: I've never worn shorts that felt this good on the bike and looked this good on my legs. The fit is perfect; trim without looking skinny, with an inseam that's neither frat-boy long nor hipster-doofus short. The fabric stretches amply to handle riding stance without feeling even remotely spandex-y. There are just enough pockets to feel capacious while remaining streamlined. Are they cheap? Not unless you're the type who regularly drops four figures on dress shoes. But wearing them every morning on my commute-and keeping my actual pants fresh for work-turns them from an extravagance to a godsend.-Peter Rubin
Photo: Ariel Zambelich/WIRED
Photo: Ariel Zambelich/WIRED
Photo: Ariel Zambelich/WIRED
Photo: Ariel Zambelich/WIRED
Photo: Ariel Zambelich/WIRED
Photo: Ariel Zambelich/WIRED
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 gathered 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.
No comments:
Post a Comment