ZD 25.27: Gear Up For Summer
Some things worth adding to the collection, summer edition.
Happy fourth! Get your summer gear on! Or head directly to the Distilled Spirit if links are your thing. Don’t miss our southern rock anthem musical coda.
Summer Shopping Season Starts Now
Nothing says happy birthday America like a Prime Day shopping spree. I have no idea what is going on sale. If you are looking for a prime day list check this one out for a good start. Here are a few things I think are worth a look no matter what the price.
For The Office
ICYMI I have been doing a bit of writing of late, and the time at the desk has helped me focus on better office gear.
💻 A Cool USB-C Hub & Mini-Monitor
When I walk around CES every year, I always see a bunch of little Chinese companies you have never heard of making weird little combo devices that you probably don’t need. It is one of the most fun parts of my annual pilgrimage because, occasionally, one of them gets it right and makes something that actually differentiates the company. This is one of those times. You never would think you would need a 3.5-inch monitor and USB-C hub in the shape of a retro PC but you really do. Check out Hagbis’ invention today.
🎬 Teleprompter For Anything
Elgato has been killing it on the content creation front of late. The Streamdeck is an amazing device I love. Recently, they introduced The Prompter — your solo-scale teleprompter in a box. And it is amazing as that sounds. It acts as a case and mount for your existing camera setup, integrating with your screens. It is small enough to fit in your existing desk and content creation situation. Elgato applied their usual touches; the software works well, the adapters are plentiful, and the price is right. If you want to make your presentations and virtual meeting presence much better this is the tool for you.
🔨 A Proper Keyboard
I grew up on IBM Model 30s but I lost the feel for mechanical keyboards along the way. I started to get back into it during the pandemic. I recently picked up a Keychron and — wow. The tactile feedback, the build quality, the typing satisfaction? Impeccable. So good I bought a second one for the home setup. If you write a lot, this will pay for itself in satisfaction per keystroke very quickly.
🎙 AI Note Taker
AI meeting assistants are great — until you’re offline. That’s where the Plaud Note comes in. This tiny gadget records and transcribes meetings without tying up your phone. It works with in-person and phone conversations. Skip their “Pin” model, though — that one’s a dud. Free yourself from manual transcription today.
For The Road
Summer time means road trips. Here are a few things I am loving when I am on the road.
💼 Halfday Garment Duffel
I have had a lot of trouble finding a good new garment bag, and then I found Halfday. They make a duffel bag that unfurls to let it be a garment bag. It is perfect for an overnight business trip where you need to keep the suit flat. The rest of the bag is well thought out — it includes a legitimate laptop pocket and lots of little nooks to stash things. It is a great bag for the right trip.
☕ Type From Anywhere
Modern work follows you wherever you go. You don’t have to work on a cramped laptop keyboard when crisis strikes during your vacation. The ProtoArc XKM01 is a handy foldable wireless keyboard that feels great. The combo kit comes in an attractive case and incudes a mouse and a laptop stand. Don’t let beach house work ruin your posture.
👓 Extend Reality and Giant Screens
Extended reality is coming fast. 2026 is going to be a big year, but you can start to dabble today. The XREAL One Pro is the best headset on the market today. It works with lots of devices and will enable you to enjoy 135 inch screens to yourself when sharing crowded family vacation houses. Great for work or play.
What’s Your Fancy?
The right tools won’t fix everything, but they can make things smoother, more enjoyable, and even a little fun. These are a few upgrades that have made a difference for me lately — from my desk setup to my travel bag.
What else are you looking to upgrade? I’m always curious what others are loving — drop me a note or a link if you’ve found something great.
Musical Coda
The Distilled Spirit
America at 249
Some thoughts about America and American culture as we celebrate the country’s 249th birthday.
🕯 Life is a lot better in 2025 ()
Life in 1776 was dark, cold and boring. Thomas Jefferson did not write in the winter because his ink froze.
🤵 The New Counterculture ()
Gentlemen are discovering a new style for the new era. Suits are back.
🐴 One Day In Kentucky ()
A swede took a road trip through Kentucky and learned how great America truly is.
Artificial Culture Implosion
Is AI causing a cultural implosion or a cultural and creative explosion?
🎸 An AI Band Went Viral. So What? ()
AI is just a new music technology folks.
🔊 AI Makes Us All Speak American ()
Dialects are struggling in the age of AI.
👓 Real Life Ad Blocker (Futurism)
Someone has built real-world ad blockers in smart glasses.
🦀 The Carcinization of Content ()
Short form video won the war; everything is destined to become TikTok.
Abundant Thoughts
A few thoughts around Abundance and how to get there.
🔥 Natural Gas → Renewables ()
You need to burn natural gas to get to grid-replacement-scale renewable energy.
🥠 Reading Abundance in Mandarin ()
Abundance is a very American book about very American problems; looking at it through different eyes is very enlightening.
Business Strategy
Measuring lies per second and how work is changing while worshipping F1.
📈 Lies per Second and Other Important Metrics ()
Meetings per decision is another key one to watch, check out the list here.
💔 8 Big Shifts Redefining Business ()
How work is becoming more fluid, less siloed and more connected today.
📷 Don’t Be Kodak ()
Investors look at growth and fail to see disruption coming to their peril.
🏎 F1 as a Business ()
F1 is amazing. Here is how it runs as a business.
💪 Sustainable High Performance Through Growth ()
Rest and recovery don’t solve burnout in the way growth can for high performers.
Context Engineers Stand Up
Context engineering — the art of managing your LLM’s context — is the new, hot term of art in AI.
🚂 The Art and Science of Context Engineering (Langchain)
Langchain explains the concept of context engineering and some of the common strategies used to effect the practice.
🕵️♀️ Stop Building Agents ()
Agents are not the place to start your AI systems. They are often overkill and introduce more complexity than they solve for.
🛠 Software Engineering with LLMs in 2025 ()
How LLMs have — and have not — changed software engineering in 2025.
🔎 Bot Or Not (Sinja.io)
If you are context engineering you are writing a bot. You will need to understand the mechanics and this is a great place to start.
📖 How Reddit Works ()
All the basics around queue and database management still apply.
How To AI Today
Some tips on how to effectively use AI today.
🏫 Learn to Prompt in 2025 ()
A long, in depth, non-LLM specific guide to how to prompt successfully.
♻ Recursive Prompting FTW ()
Using AI to bootstrap your prompts is an amazing trick.
🤖 MCP Makes Magic Tools ()
Wyndo explains how he uses Claude and MCP to build an end to end personal operating system for work. We are getting very close to an era of AI assistants for all.
Fun Stuff
Fun stuff in my zeitgeist this week.
🚗 Iconic $50k Cars ()
You can get into some very iconic cars for $50k.
☮ The Grateful Dead were Internet Pioneers (BBC)
The Dead invented lots of things, including the proto-internet social media world.
⚽ When Cinderella is a Millionaire ()
Al Hilal’s win over Manchester City felt like a Cinderella moment until you look at the numbers.
The Look
This has been a wild investing year on top of wild investing years.
has a great 1st half recap to help make sense of it.
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Loved this roundup - full of gems! Also spotted my Recursive Prompting piece in there, thanks for the shoutout