Everyday tech, tested the way you'll actually use it.

The $12 power bank that outlived two premium ones

Three years ago we bought a no-name 10,000 mAh power bank as a control in a comparison test. The two premium units from that test are both dead — swollen and recycled, respectively. The cheap one charged a phone on Tuesday.

We're not concluding that cheap is always better; we're concluding that battery chemistry and honest capacity ratings matter far more than aluminum enclosures, and that our four-year spreadsheet of power bank survival rates says the middle of the price curve is the sweet spot.

The cable drawer audit: 14 cables, 4 worth keeping

We emptied the office cable drawer — fourteen cables of assorted vintage — and tested each for actual charge rate and data transfer. Four met their original spec. Six had degraded to "charges a phone overnight, eventually." Four were, electromagnetically speaking, decorative.

Cables wear at the strain relief, not the connector. A gentle loop habit doubles their life. That, and buying the boring brand with a stated wire gauge, is the entire secret.

Eight months with a $45 mechanical keyboard

The entry-level mechanical keyboard has quietly become one of the best value propositions in consumer tech. Eight months of daily writing later: no key chatter, no wobbling spacebar, and the keycaps show shine on exactly the keys a typist expects.

The upgrade path — fancy switches, brass plates, artisan caps — is a hobby, not an improvement. The $45 board gets you 95% of the experience, and this blog exists for that last 5% of your budget, not the other way around.

Battery replacement is still the best upgrade you can buy

A phone that's three years old with a fresh battery feels newer than a two-year-old phone on its original chemistry. We keep a running log of before/after battery swaps across nine devices: average perceived-speed improvement, "like a new phone" in six of nine cases. Cost: a fraction of any upgrade.