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Review: Twelve South Airfly Drive

Posted in Products with tags on October 31, 2026 by itnerd

As many of you know, I have a 2016 Hyundai Tucson. And my wife and I have been on the Apple CarPlay bandwagon for a while. In fact, if we were to replace the Tucson with an EV which is the likely choice, we would not consider a non Apple CarPlay vehicle. Recently we’ve jumped onto the wireless CarPlay train as the use case is mostly compelling. I will get to the “mostly” part in a second. But that train that I spoke of starts with this device:

Meet the Twelve South Airfly Drive. This is a super tiny USB based add on that turns wired Apple CarPlay or Android Auto to wireless. Did I mention it was super tiny? It is so tiny that it in the Tucson blends in with its surroundings and is hardly noticeable as evidenced by this picture:

Look for the blue dot or the words “Airfly Drive” and you will see it. That’s a win as most devices of this type tend not to be this small and/or tend not to blend in to their surroundings as much as possible. The only catch might be that there’s a USB-A to USB-C adapter in the box as the device is natively USB-A. That adapter may make it stick out which takes away from its ability to blend with its surroundings. Thus my advice is that if you can use of USB-A, you should do it.

Oh yeah, there’s a white version if you have a white interior. Or you want it to stand out for whatever reason.

The Airfly Drive is made of plastic and aluminium. And that is likely functional as the device gets warm to the touch. The aluminium is clearly there to dissipate the heat making the Airfly Drive less warm. The way it works is that it broadcasts a Bluetooth and WiFi channel to get Apple CarPlay and Android Auto to work. And the workflow goes like this:

  1. You plug in the Airfly Drive into the USB port and turn on the car.
  2. You open your phone and choose Bluetooth and pick the Airfly option inside of Bluetooth.
  3. You walk through the options to enable Android Auto and Apple CarPlay.
  4. The Airfly Drive then moves all communication to the WiFi channel for speed.
  5. Either Apple CarPlay or Android Auto pops up or you have to navigate to it.
  6. Done. Declare victory and have a beer. Well maybe not a beer as driving is involved.

There’s also a less detailed series of pictograms displayed on the infotainment screen that will walk you through some of this as well.

The Airfly Drive supports two phones. So to get the second phone live you hit the button on the front of the Airfly Drive and repeat the above process. You only have to do it once and at most, you have to hit the button on the front of the Airfly Drive to get yourself connected.

The device works well as I was at best able to just get into the Tucson and CarPlay was live in two minutes or less which was the same as having things wired. At worst, I would have to hit a button on the Airfly Drive first to get my phone online. But either was I was live. Navigation was mostly fluid and mostly smooth. I say that because there is a tiny bit of lag in this setup versus a wired connection. I noticed the same thing during a voice conversation via Zoom where I quickly had to adapt to a bit of a lag between myself and the other party. That’s because wired anything beats wireless anything every time from a lag perspective. Having said that, most people may not notice this lag depending on their use case.

That was a third of the “mostly” part that I experienced. The send third of this was the fact that battery drain was a thing. In a 30km drive, I went from 100% battery life to 89% battery life using Apple Maps. But I should note that this battery drain was on an iPhone 14 Pro with 83% battery health which is going to be replaced. While your mileage may vary, I would suggest that you have the phone plugged in or go for wired Apple CarPlay or Android Auto if you do a road trip.

The final third of this was that the range appears to be limited. The Tucson is a compact SUV and CarPlay disconnected from the head unit when I stepped outside and walked about three feet away. Now that may be expected or that may be somewhat unexpected. I am not sure. But I thought I would point that out so that you know that this is the case.

All things considered the use case is compelling. You keep your phone in your pocket or purse, get into your car, start it and drive away once it connects to Apple CarPlay or Android Auto. You keep your phone on your person and out of sight which has to make you safer in my opinion. Plus you are in and out of the car faster which also makes you safer I think. And it really cleans up the center console as there are no wires cluttering it. That’s a win for me.

The Twelve South Airfly Drive is $39 USD. If you want to go wireless Apple CarPlay or Android Auto, this is the adapter to get as it does what it says and does it well.

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Review: Ekster Cardholder Pro For MagSafe & Ekster Tracker Card for MagSafe

Posted in Products with tags on October 17, 2026 by itnerd

I am a sucker for Ekster products. Quite simply they work and I will either default to them or come back to them when I have tried other options. An example is this:

This is the Ekster Cardholder Pro for MagSafe. And its reason for existence is to act as a wallet that I can slap onto my iPhone and take it with me on a bike ride or a cross country ski. It’s a pretty simile device that claims to hold 7 cards. Though through an add on that Ekster also sells it can be expanded to 17 cards. Frankly I have to assume that they mean 7 un-embossed cards as I have an embossed card (aka raised letters or numbers) which limited me to five cards. Since five cards was what I needed, it was fine for me. But it may not be fine for you. So buyer beware.

It has MagSafe magnets on both sides. But only one side can be used to attach the wallet to the phone as the magnets have different polarities. That I have to assume is for any accessories like a tracking card not to mention anything like cash clips or ten card expansions. It it made of 100% recycled aluminum and the mechanism that ejects the cards like this….:

…Can be cleaned and repaired. Those are quality of life things that matter to me. I got it in matte black because matte black is my thing. But it comes in many other colours.

As an aside, this works for Android users as well as Ekster also has stickers for Android as well as a tracking card for Android.

Now for the magnets. It was decently strong when used with my case. But it was a tad stronger with a naked iPhone. That means that your mileage may vary when it comes to magnet strength.

Now over the second half of this review which is the Ekster Tracker Card for MagSafe.

This is a thin tracker card that has Apple Find My compatibility via Bluetooth. Or put another way, if you want to treat it like an AirTag which means that you are using the Ultra Wideband functionality, this card won’t do it. But in my experiments, I found that the best shot of finding the card was if it was stationary. It can’t be constantly tracked if it is moving. But it is still trackable. It’s not a loud when it comes to generating an audible signal versus some other cards that I tried which are louder, but I had no issue hearing it. That said, I do wish it was louder so that there were no issues hearing it. Also, it only comes in black FYI.

When it comes to the MagSafe part, this is where it shines. The MagSafe connection to the Ekster wallet was extremely strong and wasn’t coming off unless you wanted to take it off. Or put another way, it would not come off in causal contact. It clearly was designed to not be flush with the Ekster wallet so that removal is easier. But part of me would have liked to see it flush to make it even harder to remove than it already is. But I can see why Ekster did that. Thus I am fine with it. And it fits my use case perfectly. Which is to toss it into my cycling jersey and go with my iPhone. Or to keep it in my pants pocket separate from my iPhone. Another thing to note is that there are MagSafe magnets on only one side which is the side that doesn’t say “Ekster.”

One thing that really needs to happen is that some sort of instructions need to be placed in the box. I say that because finding out how this card was charged required a search of the Internet which is a #fail. For the record, if you are using a MagSafe charger you put the side that says “Ekster” on the charger until it magnetically connects. You should see a really small white light start to blink. It is charged when the light goes to steady. All of this assumes that the card is paired with an iPhone. A charge lasts about five months which I have not tested, but I have not seen anything to the contrary. And I would suggest charging it before the first use to get the best results with it.

The only downside to this combo is the price. The wallet was $159 CDN which is far from cheap. And it is $79 CDN for the tracking card which is also far from cheap. But having used Ekster products in the past, they do last so you only buy this cardholder once. That is a very big win as far as I am concerned.

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Review: Apple Watch Ultra 4

Posted in Products with tags on October 10, 2026 by itnerd

On Halloween of 2022 I posted a review of the Apple Watch Ultra which was at the time a brand new product category for Apple. Which to be clear was to play in the watch space that was occupied by Garmin, Coros, and the like. Now the Apple Watch Ultra is in its fourth generation and I have decided to upgrade.

Now if you’re looking for major or minor differences in the watch, you won’t find any. Mostly. It looks the same. The watch, the packaging, everything. So what you will find is this:

This is the new “Health Sensing System” which is Apple’s term for new sensors that allow for sampling heart rate every 5 seconds instead of every 5 minutes, as well as sampling heart rate variability every 5 minutes throughout the day. And Apple has a study that they funded to back up that this is the most accurate sensor of its type. I will link the study here. And I would suggest that you take it with a grain of salt as this is an Apple funded study. Which means that it may not be taken seriously. Having said that, it facilitated a new score called the “Readiness Score” which shows how ready you are to take on the day.

Your readiness score ranges from 0-10:

  • Go for it: 8–10
  • Ready: 5–7
  • Pace Yourself: 2–4
  • Recover: 0–1

And your Activity data, daytime and overnight vitals, and sleep data factor into your overall readiness score.

  • Activity: Activity from both today and your recent history can impact your readiness score. Active calories, workout effort ratings, and Training Load data are all used to calculate the score. Increased activity in general can reduce your score, while steady or reduced activity raises it. Additionally, you might see your score go down during the day after a workout or activity.
  • Vitals: Readiness considers the status of your daytime and overnight metrics from the Vitals app. When your vitals indicate you’re Notably or Slightly off, your score is reduced. When all of your metrics are Typical or Favorable, your score is raised. Higher-than-usual heart rate variability (HRV) can lead to Favorable vitals and a high readiness score.
  • Sleep: Your sleep score from the previous night and your recent history can impact your readiness score. A low sleep score from poor-quality or inconsistent sleep can reduce your readiness score, while a high sleep score, or an improved sleep score, can raise your readiness score.

So ideally you want to be within 5 or up to do any strenuous activity. In my case, I not only used indoor and outdoor cycling as a baseline, but I measured this score against Athlytic which gives me Whoop like functionality from the Apple Watch Ultra. For the most part, they agreed with each other as I felt the way both apps said I would feel. Though I will note an exception or two. They based around Athlytic saying that based on my heart rate variability, I should take a rest. But I got a readiness score of 8. So I pushed myself indoors on the bike that day and I felt fine. So maybe there is something to this score. Apparently Athlytic is still collecting heart rate variability and resting heart rate data. Thus I may revisit this later.

Since the majority of this watch is basically an evolution rather than a revolution. I will cover off the rest of this pretty quickly.

Screen: This watch now does 3000 nits of peak brightness to make it easier to read in bright sunlight. Now I never had any issue reading this watch before. But the extra nits do help. It also has a screen that allow the reading of the watch that from more oblique angles. That on the bike I really appreciated.

Battery: Apple claims 50 hours of normal use from the watch which is just over 2 days. While not Garmin territory as their watches can last for days, I did find this to be better than expected. I charged my watch to 100% on a Sunday at 3 PM and got 28% on a Tuesday at 9:30 PM when the watch told me that I had to charge above 30% to get sleep tracking. That’s 54 hours with lots of room remaining. And I used cellular about 4 or 5 times during that period, and I recorded at least one workout a day. Thus Apple’s claim of 50 hours seems reasonable.

Charging: There is a new 10W charger in the box that allows the Apple Watch Ultra to add 18 hours of life with a 15 minute charge. So what Apple have clearly done is focus on the charging part of the equation by allowing you to charge faster rather than have the watch last longer.

Cellular: Like previous Apple Watches, these support cellular independence. But what is different is that this supports 5G cellular if the carrier supports 5G reduced capacity or RedCap for short. I am on Freedom Mobile so this isn’t supported, but if it were supported, I can expect better battery life and maybe faster speeds.

S11 Chip: Apple has a brand new S11 chip that is a 2 nm chip which promises efficient usage and better battery life. When I moved through the watch, it didn’t seem faster. But I am missing the new Siri functionality which will likely make any differences more noticeable. There is one feature that I will get to that this watch does offer. I come to in a second. Another note is that the Ultra 4 has 64 GB of storage on board. That’s a win. But there’s no easy way that doesn’t involve shoving all your music onto the Apple Watch via adding every playlist that you have on the iPhone unless you have an Apple Music subscription. That is not a win.

Materials: It’s the same titanium case that you got in the original Ultra. So no change there. But this time around I got the Trail Loop. And frankly, this is the most comfortable band that I have ever gotten from Apple. Though if you do any sweaty activities, it will stay wet for a wile.

Now comes the tough conversation. There’s two features that the S11 chip facilitates:

  • Live Rewind lets you recall what was just said in the previous 15 seconds of a conversation as a text snippet by double-pressing the Digital Crown.
  • Siri Recap, meanwhile, creates high-level summaries of conversations that you can review later.

They’re part of what Apple calls “Audio Intelligence.” And they are currently not here yet but are coming later this year. Apple has outlined these features via a thorough privacy strategy. The tough conversation starts with this. If you turn these features on, they are always listening. And even though nobody is attributed to anything that it records, I find this problematic. If these features are always listening, then anyone within earshot is being recorded. And they may not have consented to this. And if you add the fact that Apple Watches all look the same as the new Series 12 has these features as well, then that is really problematic as there is no way for you to tell if one Apple Watch has this feature and another doesn’t. To me, it seems one step away from Meta’s glasses which have be caught “up skirting” people and people who own Meta glasses seem to invest a lot of time to turn off any indication that the built in camera might be recording. You have to believe that Apple expects to be questioned if not sued over these features, and I for one will be interested to see how Apple handles this and keeps these features intact.

Another feature is the new Health App which is not out there either. That I am waiting for as the main failing that Apple Watches have is that the current Heath App is more of a dumping ground for data that has no context. What the new Health App will do is wrap some context around that data. I will circle back on that when it officially ships. But it will make a huge difference for non-developers as you will be able to action that data and make it useful for you.

Finally, the Apple Watch Ultra 4 has a price of $1099 CAD as you see it here. That’s a price that probably is hard to justify for 95% of the people out there as a Series 12 has all of these features and 24 hours of battery life at a lower price point. Plus this is also total overkill for 95% of the population from a functionality standpoint. But if you need the battery life (I do) or features like the “Action Button” (I do for about 4 months of the year), this is the Apple Watch to get.

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Review: PuraSIM travel eSIM

Posted in Products with tags on August 22, 2026 by itnerd

Let’s face it, travelling internationally with your cell phone is expensive by Canadian standard. So many Canadians look for a eSIM to supplement their travel activities. Specifically a data eSIM as they want to get to their social media and email while they travel. Which is why I am testing out the PuraSIM over the next few days. In short, it promises “1 minute” activation and data in 218 locations. So, let’s see if that is true.

First I went to PuraSIM.com/en to get my eSIM. I picked North America and 1GB of data as I was only testing the eSIM. But the 1GB would last me 30 days. Thus if I were staying longer, I would have picked a higher data bucket. I then got the cost and paid nothing for the eSIM as PuraSIM provided me the eSIM for free. Then I got a couple of emails:

  1. An email with the invoice. That was ignored.
  2. An email with the QR code to install the eSIM. That was of more interest to me.

I used the second email to scan it with my phone’s camera. It started the wizard on iPhone that installed the eSIM. The website promised “1 minute” activation. It was closer to four. But I won’t hold this against them as I am guessing that this is an iPhone thing.

Curiously, I connected to Rogers Wireless with the PuraSIM:

For me this is an interesting development as I didn’t expect that.

From there, I tested the PuraSIM eSIM. First I tested the signal strength which was easy as both eSIM’s were live in the same phone. The PuraSIM won out as it got 3 bars to the 2 bars that Freedom Mobile got. I also did some tests to make sure that data worked with the PuraSIM which it did. So I decided to do something harder. I streamed BBC World Service from my car. Meaning that constant streaming combined with entering and leaving underground parking would test this eSIM to see if it was better than what Freedom Mobile offers. I literally found no difference between the two which isn’t a bad thing. And my streaming experience wasn’t any different. So I would expect that if you are used to a given carrier – Good or bad – it will be a smilar experience here.

Downsides? Not really. But I did use a SIM (a physical one to be clear) in 2023 which had a local number which was France. That came in handy when I had to make local calls. I would love to see a SIM or eSIM company do that for travellers as that makes life a bit easier. But that’s an industry problem and not a PuraSIM problem.

What I would do is to go to PuraSIM.com/en to see if your destination is covered and what the cost would be for data would be for the region that you are going to. Chances are it’s going to be cheaper than your cell phone carrier which make this eSIM a total win.

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Review: Apple AirPods Pro 3

Posted in Products with tags on August 5, 2026 by itnerd

Given that my original AirPods Pro were starting to die, I wanted to get a review in of the Apple AirPods Pro 3 before they significantly update them with iOS 27. In short, the Apple AirPods Pro 3 is the most fully formed that the AirPods Pro 3 are at the moment. Which either implies that more features are coming via updates, or a new AirPods are coming.

Anyway, here is a look at the AirPods Pro 3.

If you look at the AirPods Pro 3 on the left, you will see that Apple has changed the shape versus the original AirPods on the right. I find that they fit and stay in the ears better. Even during long sweaty indoor bike rides. One thing that I did note is that I used Comply foam tips to keep the original AirPods Pros in my ears. I don’t have to do that with the AirPods Pro 3 as I use the small hybrid (new for this version) tips that come with the AirPods Pro 3. I should also note that you get four sizes of tips this time around starting with an XS size.

The case is bigger based on the AirPods Pro 3 which gives you eight hours of battery life and the case offers an additional 16 hours, for a total of 24 hours. This is a bit of a drop from the AirPods Pro 2 which offered  24 hours of battery life from the case and six hours from the buds. In other words, it’s a drop from the case perspective. But honestly, I don’t notice the difference because the earbuds last so long. In fact, I run them charging the case to 80% most of the time. Another plus with the case is the the fact that these buds have FIND MY built in that allows for precision finding like an AirTag. Finally, Apple took away the visible light and put it under the white plastic so that you can tell the charge status at any time. Ditto with the external button.

One of the hero features of AirPods Pro 3 is the heart rate sensor. And I am here to say that they work. I tested them with a chest strap and found them to be either on par with that or within one beat per minute. The other thing that they do is to switch between the Apple Watch and the AirPods Pro 3 depending on which is more accurate. It also means you don’t need an Apple Watch to record a workout if you had an iPhone. Could this mean that Apple taking the attitude that you don’t need an Apple Watch to do a workout? Hmmm….

Sound quality is top notch. The AirPods Pro 3 are have more bass. But not overwhelming as they are don’t sound like a Beats product. Which is also an Apple product. In the end, they have the typical Apple sound signature with more bass. I have no issue with them. But Apple is adding an EQ feature in iOS 27 to change that should you want to. In terms of noise cancellation, I don’t know if it is 2x better (relative to the AirPods Pro 2) according to Apple. But it is mostly better. If you have a constant drone that you want to block out, airplane engines for example, then they block that out easily. However I don’t get the same effect with subways trains on Line 1, Line 2 or Line 5 in Toronto. In other words, I would say that your mileage may vary.

Live Translation works surprisingly well. Though not perfect. I tested it with Spanish and Mandarin. The translations are quick enough to keep a conversation flowing, and they feel natural rather than robotic. Even with the slight delay while it waits for context, the results are clear and easy to follow. The feature also works in reverse. When you respond to someone who is speaking another language, your words will appear in the other person’s language on your iPhone screen. It wasn’t perfect as jargon or any sort of colloquial speech can trip it up.

So this sounds close to perfect. What trips it up? Well, it is iPhone only. While you can make it work with an Android phone, I am here to say that you should not bother as it will not work well. While Apple could make this more like a Beats product and make it work with both Android and iOS, it likely will not happen. Apple is also addressing the other issue which is an EQ feature for those who want it. Other than that, I can’t really pick out anything that is wrong with the AirPods Pro 3.

The Apple AirPods Pro 3 are $329 CDN. But if you check Amazon, you can find it cheaper at times. Assuming that you’re part of Team iOS in terms of your phone, these are the best earphones available right now. And they will get a bit better in iOS 27.

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Review: ESR AirPods Pro 3 Case

Posted in Products with tags on August 5, 2026 by itnerd

There was zero chance that I was going to use my new AirPods Pro 3 without a case as I will simply end up with scratches on the case. So to solve that problem I got the ESR AirPods Pro 3 case. This is what the case looks like:

This is a rubber case that has a lanyard to keep things secure. Given that this is a rubber case that has a hole that allows you to see the charge status, I would expect that protection will be better than good. That should keep these AirPods Pro 3 safe in any condition. But it has one trick up its sleeve.

There are four metal pieces that are magnetized. This keeps the cover closed so that neither of the AirPods Pro 3 pop out. This is the number one complaint that I have with how AirPods Pros are stored. That’s good. But there’s other party tricks that this case have:

  • MagSafe magnets allow you to use an Apple Watch or iPhone charger to charge the AirPods Pro 3.
  • Speaker Cutouts allow you to hear the FIND MY app sound alerts clearly.

There’s not a lot of bulk that’s not required, and there is a fair amount of texture which will keep the AirPods Pro 3 in your hand. All of this makes this a total win for me. Expect to pay $24 CDN on Amazon. I highly recommend it.

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Review: Sharp Dynabook Portege Z40L-N

Posted in Products with tags on March 18, 2026 by itnerd

This is the second of two Sharp Dynabook laptops that I am reviewing this week. You can read about the firstSharp Dynabook that I reviewed here. And that was a light and reasonably quick laptop. Today I have something that is lighter than that one and faster in a lot of ways. It’s the Portege Z40L-N and it clocks in at a mere 2.11 pounds which is insanely light. In fact, if I needed a notebook to carry on the daily, this would likely be my choice.

But just because it’s light doesn’t mean that you give up anything. I’m going to start with performance based on the following specs:

  • Intel Core Ultra 7 Processor 258V
  • Windows 11 Pro
  • 14.0″ diagonal widescreen
  • 32 GB RAM
  • 512 GB PCIe NVMe SSD
  • Fingerprint reader
  • 2 x USB-C/Thunderbolt 3 ports
  • Intel ARC Graphics
  • WiFi 7, Bluetooth, Ethernet
  • 56 W battery

First let’s start with the CPU and GPU performance. I did my testing using Geekbench 6 and I did one test on battery and one test on AC power as PC laptops can have radically different results in each scenario. Here’s the results:

On battery:

  • Single Core: 2144
  • Multi Core: 9292
  • GPU (OpenCL): 26777

And here’s the results while on AC Power: 

  • Single Core: 2544
  • Multi Core: 9784
  • GPU (OpenCL): 24840

To put that in perspective, my M1 Pro MacBook Pro hit these numbers (both on battery and on AC power) for the CPU:

  • Single Core: 1762
  • Multi Core: 12431

So despite being a small and thin laptop, it put out pretty impressive numbers. And I had to run the GPU test three times to validate the numbers as it was odd that it had a higher score on battery versus on AC power. But the results came out the same every time so I have to assume that this is a legitimate score.

Now onto the disk test. Here’s the results on both AC and battery power:

  • Read: 3420.61 MB/s
  • Write: 2319.43 MB/s

So it’s not the fastest SSD around as my MacBook Pro posted up a score of over 5000 MB/s in both read and write tests. But it’s far from slow.

You also aren’t giving up anything in terms of ports:

The screen itself is very bright and vibrant. Though it does have issues with really bright reflections such as a camera flash. I won’t hold that against Sharp. The keyboard has a nice typing feel to it as well. I wasn’t a fan of the trackpad as using a MacBook Pro as my daily driver, I found getting used to a mechanical trackpad to be a problem as it is a mechanical diving board trackpad. But that’s a me problem. I am pretty sure it will not be a you problem.

On the left side, you get a USB-C/Thunderbolt 3 port for power and data, an HDMI port, a USB-A port, a headphone jack, and a microSD slot.

On the right side you get a USB-A port, a USB-C/Thunderbolt 3 port and an Ethernet jack along with an Kensington lock slot.

In short, This notebook is fully featured and missing nothing. Except maybe for battery life. It’s rated for “up to” 8 hours. I barely got past 5 hours. Your mileage may vary on that front. But given the overall package that’s on offer here, I will give Sharp a free pass on that one. You can pick one up for about $2600. And in my opinion, if you want a light laptop that doesn’t force you to give up on speed or connectivity, it would be money well spent.

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Review: Sharp Dynabook Tecra A40-M Laptop

Posted in Products with tags on March 16, 2026 by itnerd

Last week I got the chance to review not one, but two laptops from Sharp’s laptop division Dynabook. The first of these two laptops is the Tecra A40-M laptop. The specific variant that I have comes with these specs:

  • Intel Core Ultra 7 Processor 255U
  • Windows 11 Pro
  • 14″ diagonal widescreen that is also a touchscreen
  • 16 GB DDR5 5600
  • 512 GB PCIe NVMe SSD
  • Fingerprint Reader
  • Thunderbolt 4
  • 60Wh battery to give you up to 8 hours of battery life
  • Wi-Fi 6E and Bluetooth 5.2
  • Intel ARC Graphics
  • Weighs 3.18 pounds

These seem like decent specs on paper. And they are as I will highlight in a moment. But what got my attention is the build quality. This laptop felt really solid because of the fact that it is built to MIL STD 810-H. Every part of the laptop that I touched felt like it could take a beating if required. I point that out because a lot of PC laptops that I pick up do not come even close to feeling that way. In fact some laptops from some big name companies feel flimsy at times. Thus I am often concerned about how long they would last during a trip or the like. I would have none of those concerns if I was carrying this laptop.

Speaking of the laptop, you haven’t seen it yet. Here’s a few pictures:

The one thing that stands out to me is this 14″ screen. It’s sharp and clear. The other thing that stands out is the keyboard. I liked the typing feel and touch typists will really love it. I was not as enamoured with the track pad. But that’s like a “me” problem as I am used to Mac trackpads which are not diving board designs like this one. Thus the clicks on those feel consistent unlike this one. Die hard Windows users however will not care because they are used to this sort of feel.

On the left side of the laptop is the Kensington lock slot, a power connector (why isn’t it USB-C/Thunderbolt 4 to make life easier for users who want to go USB-C all the things including chargers), a HDMI port, two USB-C/Thunderbolt 4 ports and a headphone jack.

On the right is an Ethernet jack, USB-A port and an micro SD card slot.

What I was really interested in is how fast is this laptop. To find out I ran Geekbench 6 on it. Now synthetic benchmarks aren’t a definitive measure of how fast a computer is because how fast a computer is or isn’t is dependent on your use case. Having said that, it will give you a pretty good idea of what you can expect. I did two runs of the GPU and CPU tests. Once on power and once on battery as PC laptops perform worse when on battery to save battery. Here’s what I got. First here’s the results while on battery:

  • Single Core: 1750
  • Multi Core: 6928
  • GPU (OpenCL): 16747

And here’s the results while on AC Power:

  • Single Core: 2277
  • Multi Core: 8656
  • GPU (OpenCL): 18893

To put that in perspective, my M1 Pro MacBook Pro hit these numbers (both on battery and on AC power) for the CPU:

  • Single Core: 1762
  • Multi Core: 12431

That makes the Dynabook’s numbers more than respectable. In terms of disk speed, I ran Crystal Disk Mark both on battery and on AC power. Here’s the results that I got in both scenarios:

  • Read: 5280.89 MB/s
  • Write: 3072.29 MB/s

Whatever SSD that was chosen to be used in this Dnynabook, it’s a pretty quick one.

Finally there’s battery life. It’s rated for 8 hours. In testing the best that I did was 6.5 hours. Not bad for a PC laptop. Also give its size, it’s not surprising as you can only shove in so much batter for something thin and light.

Here’s the bottom line. The Dynabook A40-M is a well built reasonably fast laptop that is light and easy to tote around. It will survive your daily activities and come back for more while providing ample amounts of CPU and GPU power. The A40-M starts at around $1800, and in my opinion is well worth the money.

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Review: Targus Voyager EXP Backpack

Posted in Products with tags on December 30, 2025 by itnerd

Chances are that this backpack from Targus is going to my wife after this review. I’ll explain why in a minute. But the backpack in question is the Voyager EXP backpack which is intended for someone who needs to carry their tech as well as a change of clothes. Here’s a look at the backpack:

It’s basic black so it will not attract any unwanted attention. If you look at handle at the bottom, it has some reflective elements on it.

On the side, there’s an expandable pocket for a water bottle.

On the back, there’s a pair of shoulder straps that are well padded and a strap to slide the backpack through. The back is ventilated and padded.

On one of the shoulder straps there’s a hidden pocket for your ID.

Back to the front. There’s a pocket with a strap for your keys.

There’s a bigger pocket with an RFID protection pocket which protects your passport or credit cards from any nefarious activity. There’s also a hidden pocket for an AirTag which is a welcome addition.

There’s another pocket on the top for your sunglasses. I would make sure that the sunglasses are in a case though.

This compartment allows you to fit a change of clothes along with some toiletries in the mesh section.

You can put up to a 17″ laptop into the upper pocket which is suspended off the ground to protect the laptop. Other bits and bobbles can got in the lower pocket. As you can see, it is designed to fold flat so that you can keep your laptop in the pocket at airport security. I should note that a TSA compliant lock can be used to keep this section locked.

Now let’s get to the part about why this backpack is going to my wife. When she goes into the office, she tends to take her work laptop along with gym clothes for an after work workout. The second that she saw this backpack she wanted it as it fits her use case better than the backpack that she was using. So it’s her’s if she wants it. The Targus Voyager EXP is $120 CAD directly from Targus. If you need a backpack for your tech and is also good for a day or two of travel, or to carry a change of clothes for whatever reason, this is a backpack that you should seriously look at.

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Review: Rosebud

Posted in Products with tags on November 19, 2025 by itnerd

I am not a journaling type of person. Likely because I have not seen the need for doing that. But I may change my mind on that after reviewing Rosebud which is billed as an AI based “interactive journal and self-care companion”. I’ve been using it for the last couple of weeks to journal my daily experiences and thoughts.

For the most part I have been using the Morning Intention and Evening Reflection to get my thoughts, feelings and experiences into the app. You can also see from the screen shot above a prompt for “What small focus can bring you joy today?” Regardless of the section that you enter your thoughts in, you’re prompted  with questions like “What’s your top priority today?” and “What was the highlight of your day?” That helped me get my thoughts into the app easier. The app will prompt you to go deeper to provide it more detail. And when you’re done, the AI will presents its thoughts and insights. This is where I found Rosebud to be really helpful. The AI looked at my first week and found the following insights from their AI:

And on top of that, it give me a look at my wins for the week.

Some of this stuff, specifically that I might benefit from exploring what specifically about my work feels misaligned with my working style, is new to me. It gave me something to think about as maybe my working style isn’t working in my favour.

Now let’s go down the rabbit hole on their AI and your data. Because if you’re typing your thoughts, feelings and experiences into an app, you have to know what is going to happen with all of that. The company’s Privacy Policy does note that it has agreements OpenAI, Anthropic, and Groq to not store your data, and to not pass along personally identifiable information. That’s good. On top of that, have BAAs and Zero Data Retention (ZDR) agreements in place which forces those companies to handle data in compliance with HIPAA standards. Which is also good. The rest of the doesn’t have anything that jumps out at me as being bad or concerning, other than the fact that the company has not conducted third party security risk assessments which I found in section 5 under “Security Audits”. If I could give Rosebud a piece of advice from someone who does IT security among other things for a living, you might want to get third parties looking at your setup and report on what they find and how you remedy any concerns that they find as that will give your users that extra piece of mind. Finally, you can lock down Rosebud using Face ID if you have an iPhone. Meaning that if someone somehow gets physical access to your unlocked iPhone, your private thoughts will stay safe.

Rosebud is free to download. But if you really want the full experience that I had, you can sign up for $12.99 USD a month or $107.99 USD a year. I have to admit that this was an app that was worth it for me to use. And I will continue to use it to see what sort of additional insights about myself that I can gain from from it. If you’re looking for the same thing, I say give it a try.

UPDATE: Rosebud is still free to download, but it retired its free plan on September 30, 2026,
so after the trial: :https://help.rosebud.app/account/changes-to-the-free-plan

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