You’re a modern man with a classy wardrobe and a smartly decorated dwelling, but lets face it: you don’t know jack about electronics. And who the hell can keep up with all the 3G, compact flash, LED gadgets on the market? You know you need a GPS for getting to the gym and an MP3 player for jamming out when you’re there, but there’s too much out there to keep up, and frankly its all going to be obsolete next year anyway, so why bother?
No problem, brah. We’ve got you covered with buying guides to help you figure out whats what. Check out a list of our favorite personal tech buying guides after the jump.
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A netbook computer is a weird little beast, like a 250cc sportbike or an electronic dartboard. It gets the job done, sort of, but there are compromises to be made. They’re all basically the same but with a few minor tweaks to keep in mind.
How big is the keyboard?
Netbook keyboards are usually anywhere from 80% to 93% the size of a normal keyboard and the difference can make or break your experience. If you can’t really type on the thing, you’ll never bring it with you anywhere and you’ll just be another dude reading the Times on your iPhone at the coffee house. Look for a bigger keyboard like the on the Samsung NC10 .
How much hard disk space is enough?
It pretty much depends on what you need to do. If you’re like me and you want a netbook to watch movies on a long flight to an exotic country where you’re going to shoot a million super high resolution pictures, the biggest hard drive you can get is the right one. You’ll need space for the movies and for the photos you’re shooting. In this case, your best bet is something with a 250 gb hard drive like an Acer Aspire One.
What about battery life?
Easy — the more battery “cells” the better. A big 6-cell battery, like the one available on the Toshiba Mini, should last 8+ hours on a full charge. Super long battery life is one of those things you never need until you REALLY need it. Do yourself a favor and pony up for a big battery and learn to live with a slightly heavier computer.
Timepieces make you feel like a man. They lend a sense of order and can help you out of a pinch if you’re bartering for your life or trying to win back your money at the poker table. My father is a Tag Heuer man. He’s worn the venerated Swiss luxury brand for as long as I can remember. Dude is a doctor. So for him time is precious. He needs something, weighted, balanced, and something that won’t absorb blood. Needless to say his watchbands are never leather. Dad truly respects the brand. He takes pride in the fact that he owns one. Though once, when he was extolling the virtues of owning a Tag Heuer watch it stopped cold on him. But when it did break, Heuer’s customer service was swift and thorough. Let’s say you don’t have Tag Heuer dough – these badboys start at about a grand.
The Victorinox is much more moderately priced – very few exceeding $1000. Victorinox are also steeped in tradition. The company has been supplying the Swiss Army with precision cutlery for well over 100 years. Though they are late to the game, when it comes to watches, my friends who wear Victorinox watches have nothing but good things to say about this hardy ever-growing brand. For my part, I wear a Rolex – my grandfather’s. Vintage. A rose-faced number from the 1950s. Grandpa was a grifter and a small time Detroit hood. Wearing the timepiece about carries with it a certain degree remembrance of him and his more obvious faults. You could say a lot of bad things about gramps but you couldn’t say the man wasn’t a snazzy dresser.
When I wear cufflinks I often imagine that my man Q has outfitted them with deadly lasers, two-way radios, and poison pills. Cufflinks were after all, the perfect compliment to the Cold War spy. With the terror war, agents I’m sure have ditched the tuxedo and cufflinks but that doesn’t mean you have to follow in lock-step. The right pair of cufflinks says a lot. Namely that you know how to wear these high-end accessories. If you’re not already familiar with how to wear these badboys, a couple rules of the road.
Cufflinks are only to be worn with French Cuff shirts – that is shirts that are not cut in the Oxford style. Meaning that without the cufflinks the sleeves wouldn’t button. Next, cufflinks are generally worn with tuxedos, but this is not a hard and fast rule. If you’re wearing cufflinks without a tux, it projects an air of swagger. If this is the desired effect, then you’re doing great, if not try to keep your choice of links as discreet as possible: your initials, coins, etc. But if you’re the type that feels compelled to be a conversation piece at client meetings, let loose my friend and find the best fits your boardroom rock n rolla persona.
Makin’ Coffee: go for the stove-top.
I am a guy who appreciates the old school. When I was making my coffee the other day I realized how awesome it is to make it the old fashion way. No, I don’t harvest the beans myself and then grind them with a stone, but I do love to make a cup o Joe with my stove-top Bialetti coffee maker. The coffee is “strong like bull” and I doubt if you’ll need another cup, like you do when you’re drinking drip. Bialetti’s boil water in a lower chamber forcing hot vapor filtering through grounds and into the upper chamber through a flute, delivering a delicious old school brew. Though you can get Bialettis in single serve form I’ve seen whoppers that serve 6. Grab one. Change it up.
Looking for a new laptop? Get what you NEED. And for the love of Pete get what you can afford. I’ve been through the mill with these digital must-haves. Now, I will admit upfront, I buy Apple. But before you accuse me of being in the tank for Steve Jobs let me just say I’ve tried the full gambit of personal computers and though Apple can sometimes seem like nothing more electronic furniture, I come by my brand loyalty honestly. In the past 10 years I’ve had a Commodore (jigga what?) a Dell, a Toshiba (in college – very solid!), and an Acer – Oh my! I even broke a laptop when I buckled under the stresses of hosting a live TV show for kids. It was the Acer. It was cheap ($300) so I didn’t cry about it. And if you’re gonna be my lappy you better be able to withstand a proper beating. One thing that I’ve learned about laptops is to never cut corners. If you are a writer, a videomaker, or a creative type you need something that doesn’t crap out when you ask it to perform an array of functions.
That’s why my choice is the MacBook – because it’s purdy – and because they have such exceptional customer service. You can even get free how-to classes for all apps at your local Apple store. My laptop is a very simple Macbook. I only need it for writing and to occasionally distract me on transcontinental flights. She’s not light – weighs about 7 pounds and makes me long for a Macbook Air which clocks in at a light-as-gossamer 3 lbs. I detest schlepping my MacBook from coffee shop to library to bookstore and home again. By the end of a long day, it feels like you’re carrying around a bowling ball. For me the intersection of light, durable, and dependable is the way to the go. If you can say all that about your laptop, pull double click.
Call me an alarmist, but when I see a professional grade camera around some random dude’s neck, I change direction. I loathe paparazzi (cause they’re always hounding me and my good lady, you guys – Can we live??). No, to me, bulky SLRs make you look like a total creeper pap or a tursita begging for a mugging. Also, don’t pick the camera endorsed by unrepentant Hollywood douche nozzles. My suggestion: something you can slip into your breast pocket. Something easy. Digital cameras are getting so wonderfully loaded with features – movie mode, black and white, sepia, USB ports. That’s all standard in my black Kodak Easy Share ($70).
I do like to go the beach a lot (seeing the dirt meet the water really blows my hair back). So something like the Canon PowerShot D10 a waterproof number which would be good investment for me. I’m no Bruce Weber, and I’m sure if you’re reading this, you ain’t either. Just get something with a mellow learning curve that won’t get in the way – something that works when you need it to – for instance, if you have a celebrity sighting. The right pic at the right time could fetch a king’s ransom.
According to Japanese folklore, futons were crafted by samurais who were no good at swordplay – those who hadn’t fully honed their craft. The same could be said today. The futon is regarded as a young man or a lazy man’s bed, couch, seat (what-have-you). To me the futon is the province of the young. If I still have one in my 40s and it’s not in at the rumpus room of my Westchester pile, I know I will have blown it somewhere in life.
That said, if you are young and still figuring it out, you probably already know to buy one of these guys. What you might not know is that you can also do it with a bit of style. If I can steal from Japanese lore, and invoke the spirit of the ninja now, I would recommend selecting a futon that doesn’t look like a futon at first glance – a convertible. They look a bit more grown up and won’t scare off the fairer sex. These days the style of the western futon is evolving at a surprising rate. Choose wisely grasshopper and you can find something both stylish and functional.
Baseball cards, red wine, and blue jeans all get better with time (provided you find the right pair of jeans). I have but one rule of thumb when it comes to blues. Buy something that you can actually sprint in without looking like we’ve caught you answering your phone mid-dump. Trust, most women like to see what your ass looks like in the jeans. You’re not helping that much if you’re one of those men with their “pants on the ground.” These days I rock a dark wash. It’s a versatile look and the color holds up over a number of years.
Though it truly is a question of personal taste, I find garish over-sized fancy back pockets compliment no one. Keep it simple peacock. Go basic. Go classic and you won’t go wrong. Also, do not fold the cuffs (unless you’re a in a Vespa gang) and go with a basic leather belt. Anything beyond this is flair and costume. You come off looking like an insecure douche playing dress-up. I alternate between my Mined Rd’s – a soft but durable Swedish brand (they’ll set you back about $100 at Barney’s Co-op) and a pair of straight leg beaters from Old Navy that just won’t quit. Jeans, find the right pair and it’s one less thing to worry about.
Proceed with extreme caution as leather sofas are often found on porno sets. No need to freak out your valentine when you bring her over with something that looks like it was used in Boob Lovers 9. Steer clear of the infamous black leather sofa. It screams Florida Panhandle and college! Keep it simple. For the best type of leather couches look no further than styles that date from Victorian era straight through to the roaring 20s. This window ranks as my favorite. It harkens back to the days of college eating clubs, football scrums, and afterparties that would make Jay Gatsby green with envy.
This modern-yet-classic piece from Design Within Reach will cost you a pretty penny, but just picture a pretty Penny sipping a dark and stormy with you while Miles Davis plays you into the morning.
There’s something about a gamine in a party dress draped over the arm of a leather couch that makes life worth the living. I also wouldn’t rule out a Mid-Century number (something from the 50s to early 60s), like the kind you’ll find in Don Draper’s office. Now that guy knows something about style.
