Jon Westfall and I are joined by guest panelists Frank McPherson, Steven Hughes, Sven Johannsen, and Jack Cook for this podcast. We discuss the best tech that we’ve bought over the past year.

Todd:
Good year for hardware upgrades: Pixel 3a, iPad mini 5, & Acer Chromebook Spin 13.
Doodling using an Acer Chromebook Spin 13 and Infinite Painter

Frank:

iPad mini 5
Google Titan security key

Jack
Samsung Galaxy Note 9
Power Juice

Steve:
Hardware:
Kokoon Headphones
https://kokoon.io/

Yubico Security Key NFC – have 3 – one on me, one in my Firesafe and another in a secure location.
https://www.yubico.com/products/security-key-3/
Software:
1.1.1.1 / Cloudflare Warp Free DNS VPN makes your internet faster.
Warp + VPN and Speed boost coming soon..or any other paid VPN service is now a must have-recommend Nord and Express VPN- Jon uses Private Internet Access make sure there is third party auditing done

Another must have is Password minder I use LastPass works with Yubico.

Brave browser – https://brave.com/ free secure alternative supports content via Brave rewards
Next:
New iPhone 11 -XR (whatever they call it) if technology is worth the squeeze OR
New Sony Axxxx small mirrorless camera – rumored announcement coming 8/29.
New MacBook Air/Pro – don’t need it yet because there is no “need” kinda done with PCs and Chromebooks and Apple surprisingly supports their hardware for
quite a long time you can get a “used” MacBook Air / Pro for $200-$300.

Sven:
Not much new big tech. Happy with 2015 MacBook, Surface 5, iPhone X, Pixel 3. Not helping the tech companies all that much.
Have picked up new AirPods in Qi case, PowerBeats3, Uni USB-C hub (dock/port replicator)(https://uniaccessories.io/collections/latest-innovation/products/usb-c_8in1_hub)
Signed up for Remote PC (https://www.remotepc.com/index.html) $6.95 first year for 10 PCs [code Leo]
Nice accessories
Hard Cider Slice, two phones plus Apple watch
https://hardciderlabs.com/collections/test/products/slicecharge-3in1-wireless-charger
Native Union Smart Hub Bridge (Power) 8′ cord, 2 AC, 3 USB-A, 1 USB-C
All Products
Peak Designs Tech Pouch
Tech Pouch
Color Laser printers are dirt cheap…toner cartridges are not 😉
(https://www.bestbuy.com/site/brother-hl-l3270cdw-wireless-color-printer-white/6265819.p?skuId=6265819)
Google pissed me off. Credit card hold for replacement Pixel 3…$899. New one is $599 and they were sending a refurbished unit. Really? Seems evil.

Jon:
iPad Pro 11 inch amazes me how indispensable it is.
Purchased a Sony DSC-HX99
Slowly slipped back into the Apple Ecosystem after being split Windows/Mac for a few years. Why? Integration.
2FA is done effectively through Apple Watch pushed challenges (Duo and MS Authenticator).
However, in the MS ecosystem for office / most email / productivity. And it’s integration with iOS (And Android for that matter) is really much tighter than I think we ever would have expected years ago.
Little things taken for granted: QNAP Nas home server with multiple VMs running and internal networking (has 4 NIC ports, supports link aggregation). Fun setup to play with and work through.

Available via Google Music Podcasts and Apple iTunes.