added beats meeting notes and latest articles

4 files changed, 481 insertions, 11 deletions

diff --git a/abstraction.txt b/abstraction.txt
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+Historian Oswald Spengler called our age the age of abstraction. Perhaps nowhere is this more apparent than in programming, where abstraction isn't just a conceptual convenience, it's absolutely necessary. Programmers like to talk about their tools as a stack. At the top, the surface most of us encounter first, are simple descriptive languages, HTML being the best known. At the bottom is the "bare metal" of the machine. Thus there is a hierarchy and the further down in the stack you go, the closer you get to the metal.
+
+Except it's not metal. That's just a metaphor. It's sand. Silicon. Impossibly thin layers of silicon dioxide that conduct electrical impulses in ordered patterns we experience as a white rectangle with black text in it, flickering images, and so on. You can see how Spengler, though he died before the age of the digital computer, was on to something when he called our age one of abstraction. 
+
+The danger of living in the age of abstraction is that it's easy to mistake the abstraction for the world as it really is. This, I think, is why programmers often keep diving deeper into the stack as they progress through their careers. We think maybe at the bare metal it will finally be real.
+
+I started like most. At the top of the stack. HTML. 1995. Geocities. Angelfire. Blink tags. Marquee. I'll admit it. I loved me some marquee tag. I loved it so much I ran straight out of HTML to the welcoming arms of Flash. Blame the Matrix website. Coolest animation ever. 
+
+Flash was not really programming. Or, it didn't start that way. It was an animation app, with keyframes and the whole metaphor. An abstraction descended from Loony Toons. But then someone shoehorned a scripting language in there and next thing you know I was writing quadratic easing equations (turns out my high trig teacher was right, I was going to use this stuff one day) rather than playing keyframes. I was drawn to elegance and simplicity of writing code in a text file rather than clicking and dragging things around. I wanted to go lower in the stack. I wanted fewer abstractions.
+
+The true antidote to abstraction is something that gets your hands dirty. Digging in the dirt, machining metal, turning wrenches in your engine. For me, at the time, I escaped the abstract world of programming with a day job running a restaurant kitchen. There's nothing abstract about the Friday night rush in a restaurant kitchen. Kitchens 
diff --git a/beat-meeting-guide-list.txt b/beat-meeting-guide-list.txt
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+# Photography
+
+LIVE
+Best Mirrorless Cameras
+Best Photo Printing Services
+Which GoPro Should You Buy
+Best Action Cameras
+Camera bags and straps (with Julian, Jaina)
+
+IN PROGRESS
+Which Fujifilm Camera Should You Buy
+Which Instax Camera Should You Buy
+How to Shoot Film
+Best Wireless Mics
+How to Buy a Camera: A Step By Step Guide
+360 Camera Guide
+
+Nikon zf
+hasselblad 907X & CFV 100C
+Sony A7R V
+Fujifilm X100VI
+Nikon Z8
+
+
+# Outdoor
+
+LIVE
+Best Merino Wool Clothes (with Adrienne)
+Best Binoculars
+Camping Cookware
+Best Coolers
+Best Tents
+Best Bird Watching Gear: Everything You Need to Start Birding (with Medea)
+Best Sleeping Pads
+Best Grills
+Best Portable Grills
+Best Barefoot Shoes
+
+IN PROGRESS
+
+Best Kettlebells/Home Workout
+Portable Solar Panels
+Birding Running Photography Guide
+Best Hiking Backpacks
+Best Sleeping Bags
+Non Toxic Clothes
+Kit Your Shit
+Non Toxic Clothing
+Best Overlanding Gear (with Martin)
+
+# Networking/Web
+
+Best RSS Readers
+Best Kids Podcasts
+Best VPNs
+How to Backup Your Digital Life
+Best Password Managers
+
+# Laptops
+
+How to Buy the Right Laptop
+Best Laptops for Linux
+Best Laptops
+Best Portable Chargers
+Best Cheap Laptops
+Best Amazon Fire Tablets
+Best Laptops and Tablets for School
+Best Portable Hard Drives
+
+# Kitchen/Home
+
+LIVE
+
+Best Chef Knives
+Best Portable Coffee Makers
+Best Organic Mattresses
+Best Tea Accessories
+
+IN PROGRESS
+Best Meat Sub Boxes
+
+# Random
+Best Paper Notebooks
diff --git a/endoyear.txt b/endoyear.txt
index 32eb464..bc6e1fa 100644
--- a/endoyear.txt
+++ b/endoyear.txt
@@ -1,19 +1,16 @@
 End of the Year
-organic mattresses
-mirrorless cameras
-best cheap laptops
+
+how to buy a laptop
 password managers
-binoculars
+ricoh camera
+
 backup your digital life (for new years)
 
-system76 pangolin
-nikon f
-ricoh camera
+mirrorless cameras
 
-firebox rave
-tactical pants rave
+nikon f
+sony a7c R review
 
-kitchen gift guide
 
 maybes
 chef knives
diff --git a/wired.txt b/wired.txt
index 5b23c10..023dd6c 100644
--- a/wired.txt
+++ b/wired.txt
@@ -1,5 +1,46 @@
 # Scratch
 
+## Tuxedo InfinityBook Pro 14 - Gen8
+
+These days mainstream PC makers like Dell and Lenovo offer laptops with Linux pre-installed. In most cases they're great laptops, but I've found that smaller manufacturers dedicated to creating hardware optimized for Linux often provide a better experience, especially if you run into issues with their machines. 
+
+Perhaps the best example of this is System76 machines, which have consistently been among the best Linux laptops we've tested.
+
+Tuxedo, out of Germany, is something like a European System76. The company makes a variety of laptops, but the one on that caught my eye was the InfinityBook Pro 14, which looks somewhat like a Macbook or Dell XPS and delivers an excellent Linux experience made all the better by some of the custom tools Tuxedo has developed.
+
+## Hardware
+
+The InfinityBook Pro 14 is a sleek, slim 14-inch laptop. At 17mm thick, it's not quite as thin as something like the Dell XPS 13, but it's not bulky by any means. It's reasonably small too at 12.2 inches by 8.2 inches (31 cm by 21.5 cm). I carried it around comfortably in my Mountainsmith shoulder bag.
+
+Two things immediately jumped out at me the first time I started up the InfinityBook. First the 2.8K screen is gorgeous. It's a 14-inch matte LCD with a 2880 by 1800 pixel resolution and it looks frankly amazing. The brightness can be cranked all the way to 400 nits and it supports the full sRGB color gamut, but it's really the matte part that got me. It's hard to find a matte display at this resolution and this one is the best I've seen lately.
+
+The other thing I immediately noticed is the European-centric keyboard. Tuxedo sent me a German keyboard, which is fine, I touch type anyway so once I set the layout to US in the settings, the keyboard was mostly fine. Except for the Enter key. Most US keyboards use what's known as a ANSI design, which features a long thin Enter key. Tuxedo uses an ISO format keyboard, which has a taller Enter key and adds another key just to the left of it. This is helpful for European users because it provides another accent key, but it's definitely something that will trip you up if you're used to the ANSI format keyboard. I got around this by remapping the extra accent key to Enter (using [Input Remapper](https://github.com/sezanzeb/input-remapper)) so that even if I mistyped I got the result I intended. 
+
+I should note that otherwise the keyboard was quite nice. The keys are on the tall side for a chiclet-style keyboard and have a satisfying amount of travel. I was able to type just as fast as I do on my Thinkpad T14 (and the screen was much nicer than mine, did I mention that?)
+
+Tuxedo also offers a wealth of [keyboard customization options](https://www.tuxedocomputers.com/en/Individual-Keyboards.tuxedo). You can put pretty much anything you want on the keyboard, including nothing. You can also have your custom logo etched in the lid.
+
+The InfinityBook Pro is built around an Intel Core i7-13700H. The model I tested had integrated graphics, but there is an option to configure your InfinityBook Pro with an Nvidia GeForce RTX 3050 graphics card. I never felt the need for it, but if you plan to do anything more than light gaming, that's probably the way to go (although the screen refresh tops out at 90Hz). I did a good bit of video editing on this machine and while that did get the fan spinning, it was still plenty fast enough for my needs.
+
+Speaking of fans, the InfinityBook Pro 14 is equipped with a dual-fan cooling system, which is basically double what you'll get in most thin laptops of this design. It works well too, even crunching 5.2K footage it was never too hot to have in my lap.
+
+As with most Linux laptops, battery life is good, but not great. Doing our usual battery drain test (looping a 1080p video at 75 percent brightness) the InfinityBook Pro managed 6.5 hours. That said, this test was not very representative of the experience of actually using the laptop. In the months I spent testing, I never once felt constrained by battery life. The display is plenty bright for web browsing and document work at about 40 percent, so that's generally where I left it unless I was editing photos or video. Average use, at 40 percent brightness, generally got me between 9 and 10 hours. A full day's work and some change. 
+
+talk about ports and USB-C charging.
+
+## Software
+
+Like System76, Tuxedo laptops ship with a customized OS based on Ubuntu Linux, though they will run just about any Linux distribution (I tested Fedora to see if it worked and Arch because that's what I use most of the time). Tuxedo OS, which is built around the KDE desktop, provides a good, beginner-friendly experience.  
+
+In addition to the Tuxedo-themed KDE, there are some custom apps, including 
+
+
+## Notes
+
+Unless you have the ability (and money) to shoot like Garry Winogrand, who exposed film with an utter disregard for the economy of the medium, sometimes, according to an interview in the 1970s, shot 600 rolls a year and leaving thousands of undeveloped rolls behind when he died. While all of Instagram does its best to imitate Winogrand's productivity (not, alas, his talent), most of us aren't going to be able to afford to do that shooting on film.
+
+The first rule of film is still Cartier Bresson's famous dictum: find the decisive moment. Such moments always feel obvious when we see them in photographs. Think of any iconic photo and you'll find yourself thinking, well of course that's when you should make the image. But if you were there would you have caught it?
+
 
 - mountainsmith fanny like an evening clutch for hiking. too small for a book, (rounded bottom makes it tough, fits a kindle though) works well for keys, wallet, stuff like that but that's it. comfortable as a sling, wide strap.
 
@@ -14,7 +55,11 @@ t-shirts
     bird nerd
     birds don't exist
 
-## Zenbivy Rave
+
+Top Priority:
+Best Fire tablets (June, September)
+
+
 
 # Guides Existing 
 
@@ -1448,6 +1493,284 @@ contain microfibers: http://guppyfriend.com/en/
 
 # Reviews 
 
+## Ecoflow Glacier Refrigerator Review
+
+When I first saw the Ecoflow Glacier, which was announced at last year's CES, my initial thought was, no one needs this. Well, not no one. I need it. But I live full time in a vintage RV. I am an outlier. Hardly anyone needs a portable, battery powered cooler. Or so I thought.
+
+Not long after that I was at the beach in Florida when I saw two college age men lugging a massive ice maker, semi-portable fridge, and gas powered generator over the Florida dunes. I am wrong I thought. People do need the Ecoflow Glacier. It's not just me. The Ecoflow Glacier would have removed all the humor from the scene, but it always would have probably made this group's spring break a bit easier.
+
+With an impressively large storage area, built-in ice makers, descent set of wheels, and an optional battery, the Ecoflow Glacier is everything you need to keep your food and drinks cool on a hot day at the beach, or a weekend in the wood. It probably still won't roll over sand dunes, but it's not that hard to carry.
+
+### Features
+
+EcoFlow targets the Glacier at full time RVers, vanlifers, and boat owners, but if you've got the space and money, it's a great replacement for an ice chest no matter where you live. It's a great option for weekend trips if you pick up the battery (sold separately), which will allow you to be off grid for up to 40 hours (less when ambient temps are higher). Throw in 200 watts of solar panels and you'll be able to have refrigeration nearly indefinitely so long as the sun is shining.
+
+That said, out of the box the Ecoflow Glacier can't charge off solar, nor do you get the battery. It's still a fine fridge, and the price is competitive at $1,000 for the fridge. That gets you the unit itself, 12V and 120V chargers, a basket, and a divider. The divider allows you to split the main compartment into fridge and freezer sections. What's really nice is that when you're not using it the divider tucks neatly up into the lid, out of the way.
+
+Everything about the Glacier is incredibly well designed. The seals are tight, but it's easy to open. It's light enough that I could carry it around easily enough with the included handles (it's 51 pounds empty). Once you load it up with food it gets harder, but two strong people can manage it. 
+
+The control panel is well laid out and simple to use. I never had to read the manual. Speaking of which you don't get a manual, which I find disappointing, especially in a product aimed at people going off-grid. You can download the manual from Ecoflow, but I would have preferred paper.
+
+The Glacier has a 38-liter capacity. For reference, that's about 60 12-ounce cans. You can use it as either a refrigerator or freezer, setting the temp to anywhere between 50°F to 32°F (10°C to 0°C) for the fridge mode, and 32° to -13°F (0°C -25°C) for the freezer mode. If you use the divider you end up with once section that's 23 liters and one that's 15. You can then set the temp independently, with either side as a freezer. The Glacier detects when the divider is in place, and automatically offers two temp settings on the screen, which is pretty slick. 
+
+There is one catch to the divider. The left side can be as much as 77°F higher than the right, but the right side can only be 59°F higher than the left. This slightly strange limitation probably won't come up for most people since it's hard to come up with a scenario where you'd want that big of temperature difference. 
+
+Temperature, along with everything else about the Glacier, can be controlled either through the app via Bluetooth, or you can add the unit to your Wi-Fi network. If you don't want to use the app you can always use the settings panel on the Glacier. There are nice big plus and minus buttons that make it really easy to control everything right at the unit. The app is excellent though and makes a nice option if you're planning to put it in a drawer in a van or RV.
+
+There are some limitations to be aware of with the Glacier. It can't run directly off solar panels without the battery. You're not actually powering the Glacier, you're charging the batteries. Similarly you can't make ice off the 12V power supply. You have to have the battery (or be plugged into the wall). For these reasons I highly suggest you buy the battery. The battery also gives you a bidirectional 100W USB-C PD port, so you can charge your gadgets while also powering the fridge (powering both off solar if you have the panels).
+
+### Testing
+
+I tested the Ecoflow Glacier for over six months and found it delivers on all of Ecoflow's claims. It cools the fastest of any portable fridge I've ever tried, shockingly well in fact, and it held its internal temp in everything summer threw at it. 
+
+For some context, I live full time on 12V refrigeration powered by solar panels. I have a [Vitrifrigo refrigerator](https://www.vitrifrigo.com/ww/en/) (which I don't recommend) and [an Engle freezer](https://engelcoolers.com/collections/powered-fridge-freezers/products/35-platinum-portable-car-fridge) (which I love, although it could be quieter). 
+
+For most of last summer I swapped out the Engle with the Ecoflow Glacier. 
+
+Inside the RV the Glacier very nearly reached it's efficiency claims of 40 hours off the 298 watt-hour battery. In ambient temps ranging from 75-85 Fahrenheit the Glacier's battery held up for 38 hours, which is impressive. 
+
+When I put the Glacier outside in the direct sun in 90 degree ambient temps the battery was done after 36 hours. Still pretty impressive and even better it managed to hold its internal temps. I suppose you could call it toss up since the end result is possibly the same, but I'd rather have a dead battery than meat getting warmer without my realizing it. 
+
+The thing that impressed me most about the Glacier is how fast it could cool down. I turned it off, left it in the sun on a 90 degree day, and then cranked it back on mid-afternoon. In 33 minutes the reading on the fridge said it was down to 40 degrees. A digital thermometer at the bottom inside didn't match that reading for another ten minutes, but either way that's very fast.
+
+Then there's a ice maker. Frankly, I wish it wasn't there. I'd rather have a larger fridge space. That said, it was very fast, cranking out ice in around 15 minutes. It was a fun novelty, but you can't make enough fast enough to really justify the space it takes up. 
+
+My main gripe about the Glacier is that the battery is Nickel Cobalt Manganese NCM, instead of a longer lasting chemistry like Lithium Iron Phosphate (LiFePO4). The NCM battery is much lighter, which is probably why Ecoflow used it, but it won't last nearly as long (typically NCM batteries start to degrade after 500-800 charge cycles. LiFePO4 batteries usually run more like 1000-1200 cycles). I do like that the battery is easily replaceable down the line should it stop holding a full charge, but it will cost you $300.
+
+That's the main problem with the Glacier ecosystem, the costs add up. The basic Glacier is $999. The battery will set you back another $300. Wheels and rolling handle go for another $100. Throw in Ecoflow's 220 watt solar panel for around $500 and you're looking at $1,900. I've seen the Glacier and battery combo drop to around $1,000 so you can save a few hundred, but you're still looking at over $1,500 for that dream of off grid refrigeration. 
+
+If you've got the money, the Ecoflow is 100 percent worth it. If you're living the van life with existing solar power this is by the far the most energy efficient cooler I've used. You get more refrigeration for less energy, which translates to more time off grid. Assuming the capacity meets your needs, this is the most energy efficient solution I've seen. 
+
+If your primary use case for the Glacier is two to three day trips, cost-wise you're probably better off with a [great cooler]() like a Yeti. The Glacier is nice in these scenarios, but bring refrigeration into the great outdoors is going to cost you.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+Let's be realistic here. 40 hours of claimed runtime from a 300Wh battery? As amazingly efficient as the Glacier is (in fact, it's one of the most efficient I have tested), the manufacturer's claim of 40 hours is a bit lofty. Is it achievable? Absolutely. In cooler, ambient temperatures/weather. Will it last that long in the hot, summer heat or in your car? In my tests, no. The most I was able to get was about 30 hours in 90F ambient weather, or about 23 hours when left in the car's trunk.
+
+At about $1/Watt-hour, this battery is priced about right. It charges rapidly -- in about 3-4 hours -- with a USB-C PD 100W wall charger (I use Goal Zero's Sherpa 100 for portable charging, though I'd only be able to get this EF battery recharged by only about 33% with the Sherpa). Like many chargers, they start off fast and slow down as they reach about 80% so not to overcharge and overheat. I applaud EcoFlow in that they allow the extra battery to be recharged with a standard USB-C PD interface unlike some others who require the purchase of an expensive, proprietary wall charger to do so.
+
+The battery could also be used as a standalone power bank to charge mobile devices with via the same USB-C PD port, including a laptop. However, I would not use the battery for that purpose as there are cheaper power banks you can use. I would reserve this EF battery for powering the EF Glacier it was designed for. Why? There is a limited lifetime on how long these batteries will last. See my next point.
+
+Notable is that the battery uses Lithium-ion NMC and not Lithium-ion LiFePO4. This is an important distinction because EcoFlow's Delta power stations all use LiFePO4 for a variety of reasons.
+
+Lithium-ion NMC batteries are lighter and smaller, but more volatile and pricier, less usable in extreme temperatures, and have a lower charge cycle count (battery lifetime) than LiFePO4.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+Importantly, the Glacier cools down fast. EcoFlow claims it will drop the temperature from 86 degrees Fahrenheit (30 degrees Celsius) to 32 degrees Fahrenheit (0 degrees Celsius) in 15 minutes. In my battery test at home in a room measuring 64 degrees Fahrenheit (18 degrees Celsius), it took 17 minutes for the Glacier to cool down to my desired dual-zone temperatures of 42.8 degrees Fahrenheit (6 degrees Celsius) for the fridge and 14 degrees Fahrenheit (negative 10 degrees Celsius) for the freezer. The reported temperature on the built-in display and EcoFlow’s app aligned closely with my own thermometer, which measured 6 degrees Celsius and negative 9 degrees Celsius on the two sides. On the fridge side, I packed a jug of prechilled milk alongside bottles of room temperature tonic water, and in the freezer, I placed two bags of ice and half a loaf of bread. 
+
+or anyone looking to bring modern luxuries into the great outdoors. Its list price starts at $1,099 / €1,199, but that’s before adding extras like a 297Wh battery for a day away from the grid, wheels and telescoping handle to make the 50.7-pound (23kg) unit more portable when its 38-liter (40-quart) capacity is maxed out with food and drinks, and up to 240W of solar panels to keep that beach party bumpin’ for as long as the sun will shine. 
+
+## Zenbivy 25 Degree Original Bed 
+
+The best days in life seem to start in a sleeping bag. Sure, you wake up sheathed in the annoying slickness of nylon, staring up at a wall of nylon, but once you free yourself from all that nylon, you're usually somewhere pretty awesome—the High Sierra, lakeside on Superior, in a tree house in Laos. Good things happen when you wake up in a sleeping bag.
+
+I've never been fond of the sleeping bag part though. Who wants to sleep in something actually marketed under the name "mummy bag?"  
+
+Fortunately I am not the only person who feels this way. The designers behind the Zenbivy sleep system came up with a solution—a modular sleeping system that's one part sleeping bag, one part Grandma's quilt, and very nearly the perfect way to sleep outdoors.
+
+### It's Really That Good
+
+The internet is filled with superlative reviews of the Zenbivy. It's almost universally praised as the "the best sleep I've ever had in the backcountry" and the like. I'll confess this made me skeptical. At this point in the life of the internet whenever I see something universally praised I assume that praise is being paid for by buying influencers. 
+
+Except that with Zenbivy it's not influencers praising it, it's actual users on Reddit and reviewers I trust. Now, having spent a few weeks in the Zenbivy, I am here to join them. The 25 degree version of the Zenbivy original bed is the best sleep I've had in the backcountry, in a tent, and possibly just anywhere. 
+
+I'm pretty sure if I'd spent anymore nights in the Zenbivy while leaving my wife and kids in typical mummy-style bags I'd be divorced and disowned. Fortunately I sent it back to Zenbivy in time to avert any drama. But I miss it. I want one. I may never go backpacking without one again.
+
+Let's start with what makes the Zenbivy system so great: it's a sleeping bag, it's a quilt, it's a sheet, and thanks to its modularity it's several things in between as well. 
+
+There are a few different Zenbivy systems, I tested the complete Zenbivy Bed, which uses the 2-piece quilt and sheet design common to all their systems, but also includes a sleeping pad, pillow and dry bag with compression straps. While the extras are nice to have, the core genius of the system is the fitted sheet and zippered quilt combo.
+
+The Zenbivy system works by wrapping a fitted sheet over your sleeping pad. The sheet also has the hood portion of the sleeping bag attached to it. Then you lay the top quilt over that. This is the coolest, loosest way to use the system and how I did most of my testing since I sleep rather warm. However, should the temperature drop you can zip the quilt footbox up into a mummy bag configuration, and zip the upper sides to the bottom sheet. I did this on a couple of cooler nights in the Keewenaww peninsula, when the temp got close to freezing.
+
+Most of the time though, I slept in quilt mode. Because the hood of the bag is part of the bottom sheet, you can keep quite warm even if you don't zip up the bag. It also eliminates the need to sleep in a hat, which I've never liked. 
+
+As any ultralight hiker will tell you, quilts are nothing new. There are two things I think that make the Zenbivy special. The first and foremost is the sheet and fabric. The fabric on the sheet is a polyester 50D microfiber Pongee, which somehow manages to feel very close to regular sheets. Now, take that with some degree of salt. The fabric feels like home in the same sense that some food you wouldn't touch at home becomes pretty tasty when eaten fireside while you watch the reflection of alpenglow on peaks shimmer in an alpine lake.
+
+Which is to say it's damn comfortable in the backcountry. 
+
+What I didn't like as much was the sleeping pad that comes with the full Zenbivy bed. It's plenty comfortable, but it's also very heavy for what it is. I used it for a few car camping trips, but if you're primarily interested for backpacking I suggest skipping it in favor of something lighter. The sheet fit well on the Nemo Tensor, our [top pick ultralight pad](https://www.wired.com/story/best-sleeping-pads/#646e500ec859c4a1cdecc226), as well as a few other pads I was testing at the time. It's worth double checking the dimensions of your pad (if you already have one) against the sheet, but I did not run into any that gave me problems with the sheet.
+
+The Zenbivy quilt and hood are 700 fill-power Hyperdry down, which uses a wax-based compound to achieve water resistants. That means there's no fluorocarbons, and Zenbivy meets the [Responsible Down Standard](https://textileexchange.org/responsible-down-standard/), so as far as possible the down is harvested in cruelty-free ways. I found the temp rating to be reasonably accurate, though I never experienced temps all the way down to 25 degrees. I also sleep very warm, so if you sleep cold, go with the 10 degree bag for three-season use.
+
+Much as I love this system, I probably would not use it for winter or high altitude, severe weather trips. That's when you suck it up, crawl in the -40 mummy bag and console yourself with the thought of how good the world will look in the morning. 
+
+The quilt portion of the Zenbivy bed uses very short baffles, which the company claims maximizes thermal efficiency by minimizing down-shift. I can vouch for the fact that the down doesn't shift around in use. The design uses vertical baffles around the upper body, which stops down from sliding off your shoulders in the night. From the waist down the quilt has horizontal baffles. As noted above, the foot box area, to just below the waist, can be zipped up, then drawn together with a drawstring and snapped in place to become the equivalent of a mummy bag foot box. The upper portion of the quilt zips to the bottom sheet for cooler nights. There's even an optional pillow that's quite comfortable and fits into the bottom sheet's hood.
+
+The 25 degree bed in size large—which is what I tested and found fit my 5'10" frame well—weighs 2 pounds 14 ounces. The 10 degree bed size large (not tested) weighs 3 pounds 15 ounces. Neither will get an ultralight hikers excited, but I think both are acceptable considering how well I slept. Seriously, I have never slept even close to this well in the backcountry. 
+
+I know what you're thinking, there must be something wrong with the Zenbivy? 
+
+I thought the same thing. Then I spent pretty much the whole summer sleeping in it... and I really have nothing aside from the weight. My only other hesitation would be temperature, but that's easily dealt with by getting the warmer bag.
+
+Even the price isn't bad compared the competition. At $329 for the sheet and large quilt (all you really need), that's actually less than most other backcountry quilts I've tested. Even throwing the pillow, and a compression dry bag only brings the total to $425—not cheap, but not any more than a good mummy bag.
+
+If you hate sleeping bags, but want to spend more nights in the backcountry, this is the sleeping system you want.
+
+
+
+
+## Insta360 Ace Pro Review
+
+Just before the holidays Insta360 managed to sneak out two new action cameras that seem to have flown under the radar. The Ace and the Ace Pro are single lens action cameras along the lines of the GoPro Hero 12 and DJI Action 4. They sit in the middle of Insta360's tiny camera lineup, a little below the top end One RS with Leica mod, but above the tiny Go 3.
+
+Unlike some hybrids, the Ace Pro is mostly the best of both worlds. For the right kind of videographer—think the action-oriented vlogging—this is the perfect camera.
+
+### The Middle Way
+
+The Ace Pro doesn't seem to be replacing Insta360's previous action cam, the One RS ([8/10, WIRED Recommends](https://www.wired.com/review/insta360-one-rs-action-and-360-camera/)), which offers multiple lenses, making it both action camera and 360 camera. Instead the Ace Pro combines some elements from the One RS, along with some from the Go 3, to create what Insta360 seems preternaturally good creating: a hybrid camera that's functional, fun, and often better than the competition.
+
+The Leica lens on the Ace Pro is reminiscent of the Leica "mod" for the One RS, though the Ace Pro lacks the 1-inch sensor found in One RS Leica mod. Instead there's a 1/1.3-inch sensor (more on that in a moment), which is paired with one of the best features from the Go 3, the flip up screen.
+
+I will confess that I love my GoPro Hero 12. If I am shooting video, most of the time that's what I grab. It just works. I press a single button and get results I like. That said, ever since I used the Go 3 I've found myself drawn back to it. It is similarly simple and dependable, alas, it lacks 4K video. If only there were a Go 3 with 4K video.
+
+In many ways the Ace Pro is that camera: it has 4K video—up to 8K in fact, but limited to 24 fps at that resolution—and it has the flip up screen in a waterproof, action camera body. It lacks the detachable camera-only unit of the Go 3, but for me the Leica lens and all the other features you'd expect from a rugged camera are more important than the tiny form factor.
+
+The question then becomes, how well does the Ace Pro stack up against the GoPro Hero 12 or the DJI Action 4 ([8/10, WIRED Recommends](https://www.wired.com/review/dji-osmo-action-4-camera/))? The answer is complicated. The good news is that you really can't go wrong with any of them. To figure out which is best for you, read on.
+
+The standout features of the Ace Pro and the reason I would recommend it over the cheaper Ace camera is the Leica lens. It's a 16mm (full frame equivalent) wide-angle f/2.6 lens co-developed with Leica. Keep in mind that while Leica was involved, this is still very small lens. It's not a Noctilux. That said, in my experience testing this camera over the course of six weeks, the lens is every bit as good and very often superior to what you get with either the GoPro Hero 12 or the DJI Action 4. 
+
+The Ace Pro uses a 1/1.3-inch sensor, which is what the Osmo Action 4 uses as well. I was unable to confirm whether these are the exact same sensor, but they're equal in size anyway. Whatever the case that's almost 50 percent larger than the GoPro Hero 12's sensor, but somewhat smaller than the 1-inch sensor of the One RS. 
+
+As with the lens, the larger sensor, while larger, is still pretty small and the differences in image quality between any of these cameras is going to depend more on the exact shooting modes, lighting conditions, and other variables than sensor size. That said, shooting the Insta360 One RS, Ace Pro, and GoPro Hero 12 side-by-side did reveal how much more detail the One RS is capable of, despite being considerable older. If the highest video quality is what you're after, the One RS Leica mod remains the action cam to beat.
+
+Sometimes you have to zoom in to see the difference though. What you see with the GoPro, Action 4, and One RS are more sharpening artifacts, which aren't there in the One RS footage.
+
+How much this matter depends on what you do with your video.
+
+If you're recording video that's primarily intended for Tikthk or Instagram this is all a moot point. The quality of video either of those services streams could be replicated with a pinhole camera. If that's your audience, get whatever camera is cheap and trending this week.
+
+I found the footage from the Ace Pro to be largely indistinguishable from my GoPro Hero 12. Each has its strengths, the GoPro seems to handle extreme vibration and windy audio much better, while the Ace Pro had the edge in well-lit outdoor scenarios, thanks to excellent color rendition.
+
+I almost never shoot anything but Log footage with my GoPro and do all my coloring in post production because I don't like the GoPro's color rendition defaults. With the Ace Pro I was pleasantly surprised to find the colors are quite good. They pop without appearing over saturated and skin tones of all shades rendered with true-to-life color. 
+
+I should note though that there is no option to record log video on the Ace Pro, so if you don't like the color renditions there aren't a lot of ways around it.
+
+Video resolution goes to 8K at 24 frames per second, which no other action cam can match. It's impressive on paper, and if you need to crop to 4K it might be handy, but the world is not currently set up for 8K footage. Go shoot 10 minutes worth and try opening it in Premiere or Final Cut if you don't believe me. There are also very few 8K monitors out there, and none that are affordable. Still, if you need 8K in an action cam, the Ace Pro is your only option.
+
+What's slightly confusing to me is that the Ace Pro doesn't have a 5.3K or 6K setting like the non-Pro Ace camera. I'd love to see Insta360 add this down the road with a firmware update or the like. It's worth noting that Insta360 has a great track record of adding new features via firmware updates.
+
+I did notice some softness in the corners of the Ace Pro footage at times when shooting in 4K. It's not particularly noticeable, in fact I would never have seen it were it not for some comments on Reddit talking about it. When I went back and looked, especially at footage in lower-light scenarios, like shooting indoors on a cloudy day, I did see it. I suspect this is not so much the lens as some of the in-camera processing, but I don't know for sure. Either way I would not call it a deal breaker unless you are a professional filmmaker.
+
+Video stabilization in the Ace Pro likewise on par with it's rivals—better in some situations, not as good in others. For the most part, I was very happy with the Ace Pro's stabilization. It uses Insta360's FlowState formula which is also in the Go 3 and other Insta360 cameras. 
+
+The fact is, it's a good time to be an action camera user because whether you buy and Ace Pro, Action 4, or GoPro Hero 12 you're going to have a camera that's capable of delivery excellent footage.
+
+Overall I found audio in the Ace Pro to be the weakest link. It was entirely passable, especially for the vlogging use case, but it would very much benefit from an external microphone (as does any action camera, see our [guide the action cameras](https://www.wired.com/gallery/best-action-cameras/) for some mic suggestions).
+
+As I mentioned above though, the Ace Pro's flip out screen makes it much better for filming yourself. Yes the GoPro has a front screen, but it's tiny and nearly impossible to accurately frame with when you're staring into the sun. The Ace Pro's flip up screen is big, bright, and perfect for framing shots of yourself, which even I, much to my chagrin, find myself doing more and more these days. 
+
+The flip screen also makes it easier to shoot from the waist. Naturally you can do this with any camera, but the ability to monitor it and see the results thanks to the screen, made me shoot this way more frequently. 
+
+The Ace Pro does have a front screen, but it's just black-and-white, showing settings data, reminiscent of the GoPro Hero 9. Still in some ways this gives you the best of both worlds—you can see yourself in the big flip up, and see what all the video recording data as well. 
+
+Insta360 is right to tout the Ace Pro's appeal to vloggers, this is by far the best action cam for vlogging. What I was less fond of is the way this shows in some of the settings. Out of the box the Ace Pro has the sharpening set to what I thought was 11, but turned out to not even be the highest setting. Footage sharpened to this degree looks fine on a mobile device, and presumably on Instagram and Tiktok, but if you want to do anything else with your video it looks like hot garbage. I strongly suggest dialing the sharpening back to medium or even low for all but the social video use case.
+
+Battery life on the Ace Pro is good. I got 82 minutes recording 4K 30 footage, which isn't quite the 100 minutes Insta360 claims, but it's good enough to match the GoPro Hero 12 and DJI Action 4 (though the latter did manage a slightly better 98 minutes that resolution). Like the Action 4 the Ace Pro can juice back up in a hurry, grabbing an 80 percent charge in just 22 minutes. As with any action camera I suggest picking up an extra battery.
+
+The one thing I don't like about the Ace Pro is that it's rather heavy at 6.3 ounces (180 grams). The Hero 12 Black weighs 5.4 ounces and the Action 4 is just 5.1 ounces. That might not sound like much, but it's noticeable when you hold them together and it's definitely going to be noticeable mounted to a helmet.
+
+The final thing to weigh is the price. At $450, the Ace Pro is $50 more than a GoPro or Action 4. Whether the higher price is justified depends a lot on your use case. If you're primarily interested in a vanilla action cam, I would argue it's not worth the extra money. However, if you're looking for a hybrid camera that can handle some action sequences, some selfie video, and offers great color out of the box, then the extra $50 is well worth it. 
+
+
+
+
+
+---
+
+
+
+
+
+## Sony A7C R Review
+
+Sony is no stranger to producing impressively small full-frame cameras. The original A7C took the innards of the larger A7 series and stuffed them in a more compact body. The tiny ZV-E1 went further, with a tiny body that looks positively comically attached to long lenses.
+
+These smaller bodies always involve feature compromises. No one wants a heavy camera, but some features mean physical limitations. While the sensors may be the same, the viewfinders are smaller, and other features were sometimes absent. 
+
+Enter the new Sony A7C R, which in my experience testing it for several weeks in North Carolina's Outer Banks, comes closest to providing everything you need in a camera and nothing you don't. The impressively small body is nevertheless comfortable to hold and carry around all day and has most of the features even a pro would want.
+
+### All Things Great and Small
+
+Two years ago I tested the original Sony A7C and found that, while the compact, rangefinder-style body was perfect for traveling, the viewfinder was too small and the tk sensor was a step back from the 40MP sensor in my Sony A7RII. It was tantalizingly close to everything I wanted, but not quite there.
+
+The A7C R solves at least the sensor problem, and gets much closer to the ideal travel camera. It's still plenty small at 4.9 inches wide, 2.8 inches tall, and 2.5 inches deep. It weighs just under a pound at 15.2 ounces (430 grams) for the body. With the FE 28-60mm F4-5.6 lens Sony sent along for testing the total weight came to 21.1 ounces.
+
+The 61 megapixel CMOS sensor in the new A7C R is the same sensor you'll find in Sony's A7R V, released a few months before the A7C R. It's one of the best sensor's I've tested, capable of excellent detail, with great dynamic range. The low light performance is impressive as well, with very little noise even well up into the 5 digit ISO options (the A7C R can shoot all the way up to ISO 102,400, but as you would expect, those images are very noisy). 
+
+There's nothing about this sensor that I can think of complaining about. It's fantastic. The resulting RAW files are large—around 65 MB per image in my testing, with low light images being the largest. You can get this down to around 45 MB per image if you opt for compressed RAW, but at the time I was testing no software could open these files (Lightroom and others have since added support).
+
+Along with the impressive sensor comes the same processing engine you'll find in the A7R V, which means improved subject detection, including human body, face, eye detection, along with body and eye for animals, and then general recognition of insects, vehicles, and aircraft. While all that this is useful for photography, where it really shines is in video. The A7C R very rarely missed focus in video and offers (along with the A7R V) some of the best video autofocus currently on the market.
+
+While there are some similarities to the A7R V, they're not the same camera by any means. The A7C R isn't nearly as capable at video. The A7CR can shoot up to 4K/60p with a roughly 1.2x crop, but that's as high as the resolution gets. That's pretty good for such a compact body, but it will be noiser footage than you'd get from the oversampled footage of Sony's larger cameras like the A7R V and A9. 
+
+Suffice to say that if you are looking for primarily a video camera, you're better off with the A7R V. The size trade off isn't worth losing the sharper, higher quality oversampled video that camera offers.
+
+If, however, you're primarily wanting to shoot still images, but have solid video capabilities should you need them, the A7C R will get the job done.
+
+The other thing I wanted after using the original A7C is a larger viewfinder and on this score, the A7C R does not really deliver. It's better than its predecessor, which was virtually unusable for me, but it's still cramped and low-resolution (2.36M dots) relative to its competition, both within the Sony lineup and the larger camera market. 
+
+The good news is that the brightness has been cranked up and what you see is clearer than it was in the original, with a slightly higher 0.7x magnification. It's a step up from the original's 0.59x magnification, but I find even the A7C R's viewfinder too small to be comfortable. It works, I can compose well enough, but it's not a joy to use by any means. This is part of the trade off that comes with size, and to be fair, there isn't anything better out there for this size camera. 
+
+The rest of the body is well thought out. The camera is comfortable to hold and operate with one hand. I found it very easy to use and the camera never got in my way when I was shooting. The hand grip matches roughly what you get with the rest of Sony's full frame alpha 7 cameras. There's a mode dial on top, making it simple to move between Manual, Shutter-priority, Aperture-priority, and Program modes, along with three programmable presets. I found I could adjust this dial easily with either forefinger or thumb, but it remains stiff enought that it never changed in my bag. There's dedicated video record button just back from the shutter button and switch that moves between video and still modes.
+
+The rest of the button set is on the back of the body and offers everything you'd expect in the modern mirrorless camera. There's an impressive amount of customization available too so you can set up the buttons pretty much as you want them. There's no AF joystick-type controller like you'll find on some cameras, but you can use the rear touchscreen or directional pad to accomplish the same thing.
+
+The rear screen is fully articulating, meaning you can position it just about anywhere, including my favorite: off, screen facing inward.
+
+Battery life is great, Sony claims 470 image using the LCD and 520 if you stick to the EVF. I found the EVF claim to be accurate, I did not shoot with the LCD enough to test that aspect. Pros will not like that there's only one SD card slot, but I've yet to have an issue with just one card. Pardon me while I knock on wood. The A7C R supports a UHS-II SD card, which you'll need to handle the 4K/60p video.
+
+The Sony A7C R is well balanced with the FE 28-60mm F4-5.6 lens Sony provided. I also shot extensively with my own lenses, mostly legacy Nikon glass which worked great with an adapter. 
+
+I spent two weeks testing the A7C R and found it very capable. There's something a little uninspiring about the design, but that's true of all of Sony's cameras. They're like Lenovo laptops, no one buys them because they're cutting edge, they buy them because they're great devices that have the good sense to get out of your way and let you do what you want to do. 
+
+If you want a lightweight kit and don't need the absolute top of the line features that only pro photographer's really need, the Sony A7C R is a fantastic camera. The viewfinder isn't the best—I'd suggest trying it out in person at your local camera shop to see what you think of it before you invest—but if you can get that past that this is an impressive camera in an impressively tiny package.
+
+
+
+---
+
+
+
+
+## System76 Lemur Pro Review
+
+
+After years of searching for the perfect laptop, including making this search part of my full time job, I have given up. I am sorry to say, there is no such thing as the perfect laptop. There are too many variable at play, to many use cases to handle. All laptops have trade offs.
+
+There are, however, some that come close enough to perfect, and System76's updated Lemur Pro is about as close to the perfect Linux laptop as you're likely to get. Part of that revolves around the simple, clean design, but much of it comes from the customization options available and the work System76 has put into the firmware and software that ships with the Lemur Pro.
+
+### Hardware
+
+System76's Lemur Pro line is the company's thin and light laptop. It's not a gaming rig, nor would it be my top pick for a dedicated video editing station (that said, I edited a ton of video on it, it's certainly capable, if not optimized for video). However, if you need a solid Linux laptop that's light enough to carry with you everywhere you go, offers a ton of expansion possibilities and just works, the Lemur Pro is almost everything I've been looking for in a Linux laptop.
+
+The Lemur Pro is a 14-inch all-around laptop that's thin and lightweight. At just 2.5 pounds (1.15 kg) and .54 inches (1.65 cm) thick, you can slide the Lemur Pro in a small bag and forget you're even carrying it. System76 makes larger, more powerful laptops if you need that (see our guide to Linux laptops for our favorites), the Lemur Pro is the ultraportable in the line up.
+
+The latest iteration of the Lemur Pro arrived earlier this year, with new, 13th generation Intel chips inside. The Lemur Pro starts at $1,150 for an Intel i5 machines with 8 gigabytes of RAM and 256-gigabyte SSD. The model I tested had a 5 GHz Intel Core i7 chip (1355U), 16 gigabytes of RAM, a 250-gigabyte SSD OS drive and a 1-terabyte SSD for storage. That brought the price to $1,474.
+
+The price is reasonable for the hardware, perhaps a tad bit high, but part of what you're paying for is System76's excellent support for Linux, which is going to hard to come by in cheaper options. The Lemur Pro base model is also user upgradeable, so if you already have a couple PCIe SSDs and some RAM lying about you could upgrade the Lemur yourself.
+
+Performance was very good for not having a dedicated graphics card. I happened to also be testing the GoPro Hero 12 (8/10, WIRED Recommends) while I had the Lemur Pro and did most of my video editing using it. While full time video editors would be better off with a dedicated graphics card, I was actually impressed with how well the Lemur Pro performed. I never had any lagging in the playback of 5.3K clips and rendering was quite speedy as well.
+
+Where the Lemur Pro really shines is battery life. System76 claims 14 hours, I managed 11 hours in our battery drain test (looping a 1080p video) and in real world use I frequently eked out over 12 hours. That's off the charts better than any other Linux laptop I've tested recently. 
+
+The Lemur Pro ships with a 65W barrel-type charger, but fortunately is also capable of USB-C charging (65W as well). I primarily charged it using my [Satechi wall charger](https://www.amazon.com/Satechi-108W-USB-C-3-Port-Charger/dp/B09888WNM4). Speaking of ports the Lemur Pro has one USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-A, one USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type-A, one Thunderbolt 4 port, a microSD card reader, and an HDMI port. There's also a 1080p webcam that offered decent video quality on Zoom calls.
+
+### Pop_Os and Firmware
+
+In the interests of testing what new users would get, I stuck with System76's Pop!_OS rather than installing my favorite Linux distro and desktop. I can't stand the Gnome Desktop, which Pop!_OS is based on, but System76 has gone through and customized, changed, and fixed everything that bugs me about Gnome and rendered it a usable experience. It's good enough that I felt no need to change anything (I did customize things to my liking). It's a testament to System76's design chops that they've been able to take something I can't stand and turn it into something I was happy to use. I never did install Arch (though I am sure it would have worked fine).
+
+
+
 ## GoPro Hero 12 Review
 
 ***
@@ -4463,6 +4786,24 @@ All the accessories that work with the Hero 9 will also work here (so there's no
 
 # Rants and Raves
 
+***
+## Firebox Stove Rave
+
+The best food I've ever eaten was cooked over a campfire. 
+
+Ever seen people pull up lawn chairs, encircle the gas grill, roast marshmallows, and sing Kumbaya? Didn’t think so.
+
+
+To my great disappointment when I started cooking professionally I started as Garde manger, in charge of the pantry—salads, appetizers, pates and other cold foods. To make it worse, I stood right next to the fish station and got to watch as the my fellow chefs played with fire while I stood shucking oysters and sprinkling bacon on Ceasar salads.
+
+Fortunately that only lasted a few months. Eventually I moved up the kitchen hierarchy until I reached head chef, and there was plenty of fire, and learning to work with fire, along the way. Still, the "fire" here was always carefully regulated gas stoves. The kitchens I worked in never used coals or wood flame.
+
+It wasn't until I started to travel full time in an RV that I started to cook outside, first mainly on a propane stove, then over coals, and eventually learning to cook over open wood fires. 
+
+
+
+
+
 
 ## Radius Outfitters Tool Roll
 
@@ -4715,6 +5056,44 @@ Email is everything social media is not—decentralized, open, tk, and tk.
 
 # Blurbs
 
+Ultrahuman Wants to Track Your Living Space for Better Home Health
+
+
+PR Contact: hisham@ultrahuman.com
+Press kit: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1QaMn1gACrdsdDsYf8RStMxlnJ4YMdTmW
+Link: 
+Embargo: Jan. 8th @ 5AM PT
+
+HP and Dell 
+
+
+Under embargo until Monday, January 8 at 8 a.m. ET/5 a.m. PT
+Consumer:
+HP Series 5 Monitors Nena Farrell
+HP Spectre x360 16-inch 2-in-1 Laptop PC
+HP Spectre x360 14-inch 2-in-1 Laptop PC
+HP 960 Ergonomic Wireless Keyboard
+HP USB-C Travel Hub G3
+HP 690 Rechargeable Wireless Mouse
+HP 430 Programmable Wireless Keypad
+HP 400 Wireless Backlit Keyboard
+Poly Voyager Free 20 Earbuds
+
+## Dell
+
+Dell Updates XPS Laptops to Match Apple
+
+The is the second year Dell has used CES to revamp its XPS laptop line. 2024 sees Dell ditching the touchbar-equipped XPS Plus (which [we thought was okay](https://www.wired.com/review/dell-xps-13-plus/), but not great). The not-Plus 13-inch model will remain, but it's joined by the brand new 14-inch XPS and a 16-inch XPS, the latter of which replaces both the 15-inch and 17-inch models of yore. All three laptops will get the touch bar that previously only graced the XPS 13 Plus. 
+
+This all somehow reminds me of another laptop maker, but I can't quite place it. Oh yes, Apple. If you're a fan of the new 14- and 16-inch MacBooks, but don't want an Apple device, these Dells look like a good approximation. The XPS 14 especially looks like a nice upgrade over the old 13 Plus, with a larger battery (69.5 Watt hours) and an option for an Nvidia GeForce RTX 4050 graphics card. There's also the new Copilot key for activating Copilot in Windows 11 so you can get your LLM/AI on.
+
+The XPS 13 will start at $1,300, the XPS 14 at $1,699, and the XPS 16 at $1,899. Dell has not set a release date yet, but if it's like last year, we expect to see them in the next couple of months.
+
+
+PR Contact: hisham@ultrahuman.com
+Press Kit: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1I9bYG9Jl75OlFqd2qFtSTsG3iVPvJtP_
+EMBARGO: January 4, 2024 at 6 am ET
+
 ## Yeti 1500X
 
 https://www.goalzero.com/products/goal-zero-yeti-1500x-portable-power-station