by crissly | Mar 19, 2023 | Uncategorized
The Xperia 1 III costs way too much at MSRP, but its price has since come down. It’s just about the only phone around with a 4K OLED 120-Hz screen, which makes it fantastic for watching movies (as fantastic as a tiny phone screen can be). It has great-sounding front-facing stereo speakers and a headphone jack when you want to plug it in. Its camera system isn’t quite the best, but it encourages you to tweak photo and video settings so you can have more control over the results. If you’re a photo tinkerer, this is for you. You can find pretty much any feature that’s available in a high-end phone here, including wireless charging.
However, 5G is limited to sub-6 5G (the slower kind), and it’s only available on Verizon and T-Mobile—sorry, AT&T subscribers, you’re stuck on 4G LTE. The 4,500-mAh battery isn’t a standout either. It lasts just a day, sometimes less if you use it a lot. It also will only get one more year of updates.
What about the Xperia 1 IV? Yes, Sony has a new version. Unfortunately, the Xperia 1 IV (6/10, WIRED Review) costs an absurd $1,598, though it frequently dips to $1,398. The 4K OLED screen gets plenty bright, fixing one of the qualms I had with the Xperia 1 III, and the battery now easily lasts a full day too. The cameras are better and share many of the same features, so they’re consistent, but the imaging quality still isn’t up to par with competitors. It doesn’t help that Sony still isn’t committing to more than two years of software support.
by crissly | Mar 16, 2023 | Uncategorized
You know what’s the least important part of taking a great photo? Gear. The vision you have and the work you put into realizing it are far more critical.
That’s not to say gear doesn’t matter, just that it’s best used in service of something larger. That’s why this guide doesn’t get too deep into the weeds of megapixel counts, sensor sizes, and pixel peeping. All these cameras are capable of producing amazing images. Which one is right for you depends more on your needs than on the size of the sensor.
Still, choosing the right one can be confusing. I’ve spent years testing dozens of cameras in all kinds of shooting scenarios to come up with what I think are the best choices for different types of photographers.
Be sure to check out our many other buying guides, like the Best Compact Cameras, Best Camera Bags, and Best Action Cameras.
Updated March 2023: We added the Fujifilm X-T5, the new Sony A7RV, some notes on the Panasonic S5II and the Nikon Z5, and swapped the sold-out Fujifilm X-E4 for the X100V.
Special offer for Gear readers: Get a 1-year subscription to WIRED for $5 ($25 off). This includes unlimited access to WIRED.com and our print magazine (if you’d like). Subscriptions help fund the work we do every day.
by crissly | Mar 12, 2023 | Uncategorized
Our list consists mostly of conical-burr grinders. In a conical grinder, coffee beans are crushed and ground between two rings of burrs. They deliver a finer, much more consistent grind than you’d get with a traditional blade grinder, even the nicest ones.
Flat-burr grinders are similar, but they’re typically more expensive. In these, the burrs are laid on top of each other, and the beans pass through them as they grind. The grinder action pushes the grounds out of one end, instead of relying on gravity like a conical-burr grinder, and the beans spend more time in contact with the burrs. This results in a more consistent grind, but for home brewers, conical-burr grinders are just as good—even if they require more maintenance and don’t result in consistent-down-to-the-micron-scale grounds.
Blade grinders have a chopping blade that spins around like a food processor. But blades don’t produce even results. Some of your coffee will be fine powder at the bottom, and at the top you’ll have bits too large for even French press. The result is an inconsistent, unpredictable brew. These grinders are cheap, and yes, using fresh beans in a blade grinder is far better than buying ground coffee. (You can learn how to shake the beans to even your grind just a little. See world barista champion James Hoffmann’s video for some more blade grinder hacks.)
If you can afford it, we highly recommend going with one of the burr grinders we’ve listed. There’s a reason why they cost a little more than a budget burr grinder. The machinery in a high-quality burr grinder is a bit more complicated, and it’s built to withstand greater wear and tear. In cheap burr grinders, the burrs will typically get blunt from regular use, and the flimsier motors may burn out with regular use in a matter of months.
PSA: Do not put preground coffee into a burr grinder. Logically, it makes sense. It’s too coarse, so you put it through again, right? No! With a burr grinder, the preground coffee gets stuck inside the burrs, and you”ll have to do some disassembly to set them to rights again.
by crissly | Feb 26, 2023 | Uncategorized
You’re going to sleep on mattresses for roughly 23 solid years of your life (on average), so it makes sense to give some careful thought to what you’re lying on. Unfortunately, mattresses often have questionable materials in them. Everything from formaldehyde to TCEP (a flame retardant) to phthalates can end up in nonorganic mattresses. How much these substances impact you isn’t scientifically settled, but one way to avoid harm is to get a mattress made from natural, organic materials. As a bonus, these mattresses are usually less ecologically harmful. Most eco-friendly mattresses are made of a combination of wool, natural latex, and cotton. The construction is similar to conventional mattresses, but without the chemicals.
Members of the WIRED Gear team have been testing mattresses for the past few years, and we have slept on every single mattress on this list. We are always testing more, but these are our favorites right now. As a note, we generally recommend hybrid mattresses with a core of individually wrapped springs because they feel more supportive and have better airflow so they don’t sleep as hot. All of the prices shown are for queen-size models unless specified.
Updated February 2023: We’ve added some notes on organic certifications and noted our ongoing testing of organic bedding to complement your mattress.
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The Avocado Green hybrid mattress is the only mattress my wife and I agree on. She likes a soft mattress, and I prefer a firm one. This model somehow manages to be both without being too much of either. After nearly two years of sleeping on it, there’s zero sagging or other issues. WIRED mattress contributor Jeffrey Van Camp has also tested and liked the Avocado.
If you prefer a soft feel, there’s a pillow-top option, or you can add a mattress topper, like the company’s luxurious (and sustainable) Alpaca fur mattress topper (see below). Avocado also sells a no-spring organic natural latex foam mattress and a vegan hybrid model that uses no wool, but we haven’t tested those models.
The Avocado Green is 11 inches thick and made from organic latex, organic wool, and organic cotton. It’s also not toxic. It contains no polyurethane, fire retardants, memory foam, or chemical adhesives, according to the company. Avocado owns its own sheep farms and latex farm and co-owns an organic latex processing facility, all in India. The mattresses are assembled in California.
There’s a one-year trial, a 25-year warranty, and free shipping available on all Avocado mattresses. Like other mattress-in-a-box options, the Avocado arrives compressed. The company is also a certified B Corporation that’s purchasing enough offsets to be able to say it operates as a carbon-negative business.
A More Affordable Organic Mattress
The Awara Mattress is also made from latex foam, organic wool, and individually wrapped springs. It wasn’t as comfortable as the Birch (see below), but it is significantly more affordable. Awara’s mattress is supportive and bouncy, but the springs can be felt more readily than in other mattresses, while the edges are quite rigid. (A topper could help even things out.)
One win for Awara, according to WIRED reviewer Louryn Strampe: Unwrapping the vacuum-sealed mattress once it arrived resulted in little odor—significantly less than with other brands. There’s not much motion transfer, and the soft mattress fabric didn’t run too hot or too cold. For a hybrid mattress that’s easier on the budget, this is a solid pick.
My whole pursuit of an environmentally friendly mattress started with my kids. I care a lot more about what they’re sleeping on than what I’m sleeping on. Still, as much as I love the Avocado Green mattress, it’s not cheap. For my kids, I bought the more affordable Kiwi Mattress by My Green Mattress. The Kiwi is similar to the Avocado. It’s a hybrid mattress with pocketed springs and natural materials: certified organic cotton, wool, and latex.
One nice twist that makes the Kiwi appealing for kids is the two-sided option. It costs a little more upfront but being able to flip it over extends its life, which is handy if your kids see think beds are actually trampolines in disguise.
by crissly | Feb 25, 2023 | Uncategorized
With a lovely mix of music, stories, and sounds, all available in eight languages, this speaker successfully combines fun and education. It is durable, has its own handle, and is simple enough for toddlers to operate. Timio is for kids aged two years and up. There’s no need for a screen, app, or internet connection, as your child can play content by selecting one of the plastic discs and slotting it on top. You get five discs in the box covering classical music, farm animals, vehicles, lullabies, and bedtime stories. Each disc looks like a clock face with pictures at each hour, and kids simply press the one they want. Additional sets of discs are $22 (£15) and cover all sorts of topics, from dinosaurs to learning colors.
The speaker sounds surprisingly good, and there’s a 3.5-mm audio port for kids’ headphones. Timio is a great way to introduce your kids to other languages or for multilingual households (you can press and hold the language button to switch between English, Spanish, French, German, Dutch, Chinese, Italian, and Portuguese). There’s also a quiz mode, with prompts like find the police car, identify numbers, or select a specific shape. Timio does require three AA batteries, and when you screw open the back panel, you will also find the SD card that holds the content. We recommend rechargeable batteries, as you will change them often if Timio proves popular with your kids. Although they are large and you get a bag to keep them in, there is a risk that discs will go missing.
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