#like honestly it’s probably good that my laptop battery life isn’t long enough to let me do that

[dollhousemary]

chanting to myself “it’s good to take breaks while editing it’s good to take breaks while editing it’s good to take breaks while editing”

[officerjennie]

May I ask for some Jaskier/Your Choice for 05. online lingerie shopping together with partner? Please.

I think this prompt is so cute! Went with Geraskier because I’ve been thinking about them a lot today ^^

CW: lingerie, porn mentioned (this story ain’t horny tho)

--

Wiggling about in the pillows that he’d arranged as a back rest against the headboard, Jaskier made himself quite comfortable, tugging up one of the many blankets to get cozy. His laptop ended up propped up on a pillow in his lap, forever attached to the wall since the built-in battery had given up on life roughly two weeks after he’d gotten it. By the time the bedroom door got pushed open Jaskier had already opened up several different tabs, perusing without his husband.

“Just set it on the table, dear, it’s too hot right now.” He looked up to beam up at Geralt, who had been ever such a dear and made him some chamomile tea - just the right sort of relaxing thing to help clear his mind after work. Geralt even did as he asked, drink coaster included since he’d learned after he’d placed a glass directly onto the wooden bedside table once before - Jaskier had practically wept at the thought of his grandmum’s heirloom staining with a water ring.

With a rather wry look, Geralt had reminded him that his ‘grandmum’s heirloom’ had been bought straight off amazon, and Jaskier hadn’t talked to him the rest of that night.

So, thankfully for both of them, he’d remembered both coasters this time, and even remembered to bring Jaskier something to nibble on. It earned him a firm smooch to his cheek as he made room for himself on the bed, reaching an arm around Jaskier to tug him close and rub affectionate little circles onto his hip with his thumb.

“..what are you looking at?”

Oh, right. Jaskier blinked, turning back to his laptop. “Right, yes. I had actually been thinking-”

“This is the most boring porn you’ve ever pulled up.”

“It’s not porn, Geralt, honestly! You know I talked to you about that- hey.” He pouted when he saw the hint of a smirk on Geralt’s lips. The bastard was teasing him. That earned him a light swat to one of his lovely thick thighs. “I was thinking about spicing up our love life in a different way, and wanted your opinion on it. Didn’t know what you liked. Well, if I’m honest, I’m not entirely sure what I like yet. There are so many options!”

“You don’t have the tits for that one,” Geralt drawled, nodding towards the lovely leather piece Jaskier had pulled up. It had been complete with crisscrossing leather straps (and had a lovely picture with other leathery suggestions in it, though it might be a bit too daring of them to jump that far into spiciness without testing the waters a bit first).

He pretended to be offended by that, gasping and putting one hand on his chest. “I’m wounded, Geralt, how could you?” After a second of staring at him blandly, Geralt leaned forward just long enough to peck the tip of his nose, making Jaskier scrunch it up and lose his faux offended expression. “Well...you’re not wrong. You do though.”

“No.”

“You’re no fun.” He stuck his tongue out just a little, but he knew better than to leave it out. Not if he wanted a productive conversation - Geralt was known to bite.

“But, you are right. I’m not actually too fond of the thought of a brazier; they look wonderful on some but I’m not sure they would on me. Shame most of the pieces are made for more feminine bodies...” A real shame, really, though at least there were more options for him nowadays than there used to be. Most places even let you custom order as the norm instead of paying a shit ton extra for it.

He flipped through some of the tabs, watching Geralt through his periphery as he went through a few more options. Lots with crisscrossing straps, some with a delicious amount of lace (something Jaskier loves in theory more than in practice; it itched his skin something fierce), a lovely array of colors ranging from teal to red to a blue that Geralt even pointed out reminded him of Jaskier’s eyes, to the ever safe and secure black that would look good on anyone.

Not that Jaskier wanted something black. He might look good in it, but he yearned for colors. Let his dearest husband be the one who stuck to a monochrome closet, he would be a rainbow of fashion until his dying breath.

“Oh, but what about this one?” He pulled up an image of a cute piece in the google search, grinning at the aptly named ‘homosexual lingerie queer men’ piece. “Pink ribbon! You could untie me with your teeth instead of just ripping my pants off for once.”

Geralt gave one of his unimpressed hmms but his eyes darkened a little with interest, which made Jaskier quickly mark this particular pieces as a definite ‘Maybe’. Plus it would make his butt looks very cute and fuckable, with the ribbons tying around his plump little cheeks. Oof, what a confidence boost that would be.

And the ribbons around the front were an even better bonus. The thought of wearing it under his clothes out in public, for only him and Geralt to know, made him squirm a little - better to think about that later, after they’d decided on a piece or two.

“Not getting it?”

“I want options, dear heart, have you ever known me to only get one?” Plus that one, as beautiful as it was, was also 90% lace. He needed a non-lacey option.

Geralt pushed him forward a little, helping him rearrange as he moved behind him, propping his chin on Jaskier’s shoulder to peer over it while he held him. Jaskier leaned back into him and tilted his head to let Geralt get cozy, sighing as Geralt left a few very soft, unassuming kisses to his jawline and neck.

“Oh I just love the name of some of these.” Some of them were quite...cringy, borderline uncomfortably so, with the way they were named. But it didn’t stop him from checking out some of them, and one in particular really grabbed his interests. “Geralt! The sleeves! Oh I just love them, isn’t this such a unique piece?”

This one, Jaskier was simply in love with. Red velvet, a cute tummy piece that had velvet ties attaching it to some lacy straps that wound around the upper thighs. He clicked through the pictures, even adoring the small, velvety bra piece, the cute bow in front absolutely tickling his interest. But the upper body piece is what really drew him in, the puffy shoulder pieces and the short sleeves and the tight collar, a zip up back and the open chest part - the style really was unique when weighed against all the others they’d flipped through, and really, the bow that went right above the thong like straps for the bottom sold it for him.

“Do you like it?” He wiggled his hips as he tilted his head to look at Geralt, a hopeful sort of pout on his lips. “Oh, tell me you love it, I know you love red on me.”

“Looks good on you,” Geralt agreed, squeezing him all tight just because he could, really looking at the lingerie piece, studying it with a thoughtful frown. “Not bad. Probably feels nice.”

“Much nicer than the full lace pieces for sure, though the lacy edges might still itch. Lots of things to untie, a few clasps, even a zipper - would make stripping more interesting.”

“Slower.”

“That’s why it’s called teasing, love, it’s supposed to be slow. Achingly so.”

Geralt nipped his neck, his eyes still on the laptop screen. “It...would suit you.”

“Really? You really think so?” He didn’t hide his giddy grin, not bothering saving this one for later, immediately adding it to his cart and checking out - Geralt had to rattle off their card information for him after he gave him a pitiful pout, whining over the thought of getting up and not being good enough with numbers to remember it all on his own.

With the order settled away, all Jaskier had left to do was pout over how long it would take to get there. Two to three weeks was entirely unfair and too far away. Geralt held him in his mourning, the laptop forgotten and tossed across the bed, Jaskier’s cheek squished against his husband’s glorious chest, their bed an absolute mess with the pillows crowded in their corner and the blanket almost pushed entirely off with how Jaskier was splayed across it. 

“It’s not fair,” he whined, just to feel Geralt’s fingers work their way through his hair.

“You’re a mess,” was his husband’s only response, but as Jaskier looked up at him with forced tears in his eyes he knew what Geralt had really meant: he was his mess.

[dramionecommentfest]

Reader Profile: Kiwi05622

The Dramione Comment Fest is the fest where readers take center stage! We’re excited to feature profiles of some of our readers throughout the course of the fest. First up, we have the most delightful and lovely @kiwi05622​!

Location: Middle East Hogwarts House: Slytherin Pronouns: she/her When did you start reading Dramione? How did you originally find fics to read?  I started reading in 2017… I think. Or was it 18? I'm not sure anymore. But one of those years lol! So yes, I'm still relatively new to the fandom. But I have devoured so much that it's come to the point where all the stories I've read have started to mingle with each other, and I can't tell you which story is which unless it had a massive impression on me and stood out. How did I find fics? I had this friend of mine, who was a closeted fic reader (I will never forgive her for not introducing me to this world sooner) that kept on dropping these obscure hints my way whenever Harry Potter would come up in our discussions, which was often. She would call me and ask what I'm doing, and my answer would either be, I'm reading HP, or watching one of the movies. She never once judged me or asked me why I'm spending so much time re-reading and rewatching, and I love her for that. One night, she got a little frustrated with me when I whined about NEEDING MORE of it, and she snapped. She was like KIWI JUST GIVE ME TWO CHARACTERS THAT YOU LOVE, and I shyly replied Hermione and Draco? She had the audacity to sigh (she is not a Dramione lover by any means). She sent me a link to Ao3 with a message "Welcome to my life, and I wish you luck stepping foot inside this black hole. Bye.” because I didn't know better. I didn't know what I was getting myself into, I clicked on the FIRST link I found, and this is how Bleak Manor by Pushthebutton became the first story that made me -surprisingly- fall in love with Dramione and fan fiction.  How have you gotten more involved in the Dramione community? What platforms/websites have you participated in, and which do you like? I'm not VERY involved in the fandom, if I'm honest. I'm an introvert by nature. Even though I started reading years ago, I only started joining Facebook groups last year. From there, I stumbled onto Tumblr (which was the weirdest platform I've ever been on, but now I LOVE IT), which then led me to Discord. This is where I'm currently stationed. I'm not as active as I used to be on Facebook. I also reached out to many people on Discord and found friends that I no longer call "internet friends," and I find it easier to communicate to authors over there.

Tell us about any reading preferences or practices!  Okay, I won't talk about my past habits, because looking back, it was really unhealthy. But I remember I used to read at every waking hour; I would only *sleep* to generate energy to keep ongoing: Goodbye food and social life. However, now, I dedicate time to reading, and it's usually 2 hours before I sleep. So I'll have dinner, and then open up my kindle and read until my eyes can't stay open. My days are usually spent talking to friends and doing many things that need to get done. I started off reading with my laptop until my boyfriend got annoyed by the bright lights emanating from my screen (honestly I didn't even think about reading from my phone). He later suggested reading from the iPad, and I stuck to that for a fair bit, until one night, I ran out of battery, and I couldn’t find the charger, so I reluctantly read from my phone, which I later obviously loved. I could read on the train, while making dinner, taking a walk (because we all need to exercise at some point). Then, after my boyfriend was SURE this wasn't just a phase, and I'll probably be reading for the rest of my life, he surprised me with a kindle, and the rest is history.  

Do you like to leave comments? If so, what is your advice for leaving comments?  If I'm completely honest with you, sometimes. I'm guilty of moving on from a chapter to chapter without taking a moment to comment. Telling myself that I'll go back and let the author know how much I enjoyed this part or that part. But I forget. Once I'm done with a story, I want to MOVE ON to the next one. However, in the past year, I've made an active effort to write down everything I feel on my phone while I read on my kindle, so I can go back and paste my review. That’s the other thing, I read SO much from my kindle, that it makes it so easy to forget to go back online and submit a review. And with Discord, I usually read with my friends, and sometimes the author will be there while we talk, theorise and flail all over their work. It's a much more interactive experience. I think authors would prefer that over a thank you. This isn't to say that a thank you doesn't go a long way or isn't appreciative, but honestly, how many times can an author say you're welcome? Or thank you for reading? This takes me to the second part of your question. The one advice I would give is, don't expect a response back. Do it because you genuinely liked it. Suppose we keep expecting and wanting the author to respond, especially if a chapter gets SO MANY reviews. In that case, it might seem disheartening to the reviewer, and they're left feeling unseen or that their review was lacking, which isn't the case most of the time. Tell them how it made you feel, which parts did you love, which string of emotion was plucked and left vibrating in your chest. Tell them that. But also, saying a simple thank you is enough. Personally, I would go to the last chapter and tell the author how much I've enjoyed their story if it's a story that was posted years or months back. If it's a story published years ago and they seem inactive, I would slide into their DMs and flail all over the story. You'd be surprised how many actually respond.

What is your all-time favorite fic you’ve read?  ALL TIME FAVOURITE is such a difficult question to answer. So I’ll compromise and tell you which one I really really really LOVE but also list a few that I can't be parted with. If my room was caught on fire and I had all these stories in front of me and I had to only choose ONE I would say Risk Reward Ratio by @MissiAmphetamine and its sequel! Okay, I know I cheated, but *sigh* honestly I love it. And I’m not sorry about it either. It's not what you would typically hear because it's not really a fluffy story and there are some questionable actions, plots and let’s not start discussing their relationship. But you see, I enjoy a story that questions my morals sometimes, where I find myself asking “what would I do in this situation?” Plus, as you’ll see below, I have a thing for angst with a happy ending. That being said, I also love love love these stories and they each hold meaning to me, because I've read them at various stages of my life: 

Redemption by @anondracomalfoy (wonderfully written story and very enjoyable!!! It’s a memory trope mixed with some suspense)

Revert by SUPRNTRAL LVR (this is when I found out that I can actually cry while reading a story lol) 

Remain Nameless by @heyjude19-writing (I will FOREVER love this story and no one can taint it for me. If you ONLY knew how much this story means to me *cough* I spent every moment I wasn’t reading this making her moodboards that's how much it moved me *cough*)

The Art of Betrayal by @hathawaywrites

Across The Hall by @takingflight48 (this one just hold a special place in my heart)

Thirteenth Night by Nelpher (This is the story that changed my mind about memory loss trope which is my LEAST favourite)

Nightmares and Nocturnes by @olivieblake (one of the most creative and unique war stories ever written)

Hindsight by @floorcoaster (This changed my mind about T rated stories)

Broken by @inadaze22 (this taught me a lesson to READ THE TAGS, but the pain was worth it)

Sugar and Spice by @inlovewithforever (ummmm do I need to say more? This is one of the best triads I've ever read)

Looking Glass by @kyonomiko​ (Every time I'm in a rut I go back to THIS and it never fails to bring me back to life and remind me why I fell in love with these two. It's light hearted, funny and has my second OTP. it's a win-win for me)

Find Your Way Back by @willhavetheirtrinkets​ (Musyc) (I will forever rec this story to everyone)

Pound of Flesh by @pennilynnovus​ (HELLO STRIPPER DRACO! This one tore my heart out, I love it!)

Honestly, the list can go on and on and on. There are just SO many good ones out there that I haven't mentioned yet, but I wanted to list only a few that I will always go back and re-read. Also, just because I haven't mentioned the ones that we keep seeing everywhere, doesn't mean I didn't enjoy them or loved them! 

What fic gave you the most feels? Definitely “Risk Reward Ratio.” It gave me SO much feels. Some were good, and some were pretty bad. It took me on a wild roller coaster ride. I was happy, sad, angry, happy, sad, angry. I laughed hard in some places, I cried even harder in others, I wanted to pull my hair out MOST of the time, and some parts were oh so good the butterflies wouldn't settle the fuck down. But ehh I like what I like, and I'm unapologetic about it. :D

Who is your favorite side character from any Dramione fic? This one is easy! Theo-fucking-Nott! Without a shadow of a doubt. You want to make him the most awesome sidekick character, go right ahead. The best bro, be my guest. The one that has secret feelings for Hermione? GIVE ME THAT TRIAD!!!!! You dare to make him evil? FUCK YES! I'm SO here for it. Even if he is one, I will STILL love him. I always get slightly giddy when Theo makes an appearance, and I tend to enjoy the story that much more. He's an interesting character to me because he's ambiguous. Canon never gave us much about his personality and reading how everyone interprets him makes him one the most versatile characters in my humble opinion. :D

Last question: Do you really like kiwis?? Hahaha!!!! Yes, I really do. This name was given to me by the people who were worried I had a mild obsession with kiwis. You don't have to ask me what I need from the store, because my answer would always be “we've run out of kiwis, BRING ME SOME MORE.” However, let me just make it clear that I'm not a heathen and I don't eat them with their skin on (no judgment if you do).

Thank you so much, Kiwi, for sharing with us! The Dramione community is lucky to have you <3 

Don’t forget, sign ups for the Dramione Comment Fest close February 6, 2021. Check out the rules here and sign up for the fest here.

[lovelyirony]

fic title: I’m falling and the sun is blinding me to your faults

i wanted to do an au of this one, so presenting: tony and rhodey, but make it villainous. i think it’d be fun! 

James Rhodes is two things, first and foremost being that he is a businessman. 

People call him a villain. He doesn’t really think he’s that villainous. 

After all, he only took over New York. He left all the other states alone, so that has to mean something. He was gracious! 

He also wouldn’t consider himself a villain because everyone who works under him gets health insurance. They don’t complain that much, although he’s gotten some about the quality of the buffet on Fridays. 

Catering companies. Hit-or-miss, you know? 

There have been a couple of companies who try to stop him. Rivals that hate that his products are better and employees are happier, for one. Those are easy to dismiss. 

SHIELD is one company who tries, and fails. Repeatedly. It would be embarrassing, but Rhodes has respect for Agents Romanov and Hill, who have been the closest to breaking into his personal office. 

- 

The player that isn’t registering on the field is Tony Stark. Perhaps because he isn’t so much of a player on the field as an existing person who just happens to be on a field. Or a building. However you would like to imagine it. 

In other universes, he walks like he owns the world because he could buy up everything and still have money left over to get ice cream at the end of the day. 

In this universe, his father kicked him out of his house for various things, the most prominent being that Tony is rather partial to kissing guys and ladies, and that just simply won’t do. 

(Tony also stole enough money out of his bank account to buy a house and also start his own business without his knowledge, but in the grand scheme of things, that’s just a small drop in the ocean.) 

Tony made his own tech start-up business. He’s invented a few new things that hit the market discreetly, and he’s building up more and more clientele. He’s about to open another shop, and in all honesty he’s not worried about getting noticed. 

This is until Rhodes comes across an employee bragging about a new repair guy who makes computers run twice as fast, charges less than most repair shops, and looks mighty fine in a tank top.

The last reason is reason enough to visit. 

But also, to see who’s been fixing up Rhodes tech and can make it faster. He doesn’t know why he wouldn’t have just applied for a job. 

Tony is not expecting Rhodes to enter into his building. He has people who are walk-ins, but usually you would expect a villain to make an appointment. Or not, they are villains. 

“I heard that you’ve been improving my phones,” James says. He leans into Tony’s space. He smells quite nice, has a well-tailored suit, and Tony is trying very hard not to find him attractive. That’s not the sort of thing you could be focusing on. 

“You gonna sue me or something?” 

“No, I want to hire you.” 

Tony blinks. 

“Oh. No thank you.” 

Rhodes pulls back. 

“Why ‘no’?” 

“I like my shop just fine. And you have things well-handled.” 

“Could I consult you?” 

“You can’t afford me.” 

Rhodes grins. 

“Are you sure about that?” 

“Of course I am. Can I get anything for you today, or did you just want to beg me to come work for you?” 

“Most people would never be this bold.” 

"What would they be? Terrified in your presence?” 

“More or less, yes. It’s what I prefer.” 

"I don’t cater to people’s preferences, it’s a character flaw and strength,” Tony quips. 

Rhodes smiles. 

It’s terrifyingly beautiful, really. Tony is at a loss for words. 

“I think I’m liking you, Stark.” 

“Tony. You don’t call me Stark. I don’t do the last name dynamic.” 

“Sweetheart, then. Not your last name.” 

“Pet names, seriously?” 

“Oh you got it, honey.” 

“Then go on, platypus,” Tony throws back. 

“Platypus? Really?” 

"Pet names are on the menu, honey bunch. Just try me.” 

Rhodes smiles, turning to exit. 

“I’ll be in touch, darling.” 

Tony leans against his desk, legs shaking underneath. 

There are two problems that he’s not sure how to solve. Here they are: 

1.) Rhodes now has Tony on his radar, which is probably bad because Tony will absolutely be used for world domination or whatever. 

2.) Tony doesn’t really mind as long as he gets to see Rhodes because goddamn. That man could get so many things, and he probably has. And Tony wouldn’t mind being one of those things if he played his cards right. 

But for now, Tony just wants to fix computers and maybe just buy a new brand of tea, but he’s honestly not sure. 

- 

Rhodes makes an appointment to meet. 

Of Fucking Course. 

Tony is not impressed, and is also not impressed that he comes in with a very expensive custom-made designer suit, whereas Tony is not sure the last time his pair of jeans got washed, and an old t-shirt that’s advertising an ice cream shop that is closed now. 

“You love to make an entrance all the time?” Tony asks. “What can I legally do for you?” 

“You’re assuming I’m making you do illegal things, babe?” 

“Yes, Rhodey.” 

“It’s Rhodes.” 

“Hm, maybe. But not to me. Rhodey. I wanna ruin your business impression.” 

Pepper snorts besides Rhodes, who is suitably impressed that Tony doesn’t give one flying fuck about the fact that he could destroy him at any point. 

“I’m ordering that on your next business card deal.” 

“I’ll fire you.” 

“You can’t find someone as competent as me, don’t even joke.” 

“I came here for an opportunity for you. You’ve managed to get some people’s computers to speed up so much. And I want you to do it with all of my employee’s computers.” 

“What, you couldn’t reverse-engineer it? See what I did for yourself?” 

Rhodey grins. 

“I never question a handsome man’s work, darling.” 

Tony turns red. 

“You’re really bad with professionalism, honeysop.” 

“What the hell is that?” 

“What, never heard about romance in the fifteenth century? Boring.” 

“Will you do the job or not?” 

“What are the terms, the conditions, and how much are you paying?” 

Pepper steps forward, a sizable stack of paperwork in her hands. 

The work would pay off the building. It would pay off his mortgage on his house. Hell, it would help a lot. He’d have extra to mess around and maybe go on a vacation. 

The downside is that he’s helping a villain get faster speed and better battery life with laptops. This could also mean he’d die, but honestly he was kind of expecting an early death. 

Rhodey assures him that he won’t die. 

“If anyone touches you, then they feel my wrath,” he says. His teeth glint underneath the lights. “And honey, no one ever likes feeling that.” 

“What, it isn’t all feather-light tickles?” 

“Touches a bit more than that.” 

There’s an unspoken story there. Rhodey’s grin goes from tight and eyes empty to refocusing on Tony and turning soft, genuine. 

“We can discuss the official plans over dinner.” 

“Dinner won’t work for me, I got plans tonight.” 

“A hot date?” 

"A special movie screening,” Tony says. “Can’t miss it. Maybe next time, or the next three times.” 

Rhodey smiles. 

“Maybe sometime.” 

“Maybe.” 

- 

Holy fuck.

Rhodes International has a local coffee shop on the lobby. A barista is a cheerful girl who has neon yellow hair greets him and asks if he wants a complimentary drink. 

“You...know who I am?” 

“Not in the slightest!” she says cheerily. “I have a memory thing where I remember everyone I ever meet and who I don’t meet. What kind of coffee guy are you?” 

“Um...you guys have mint syrup?” 

“Yup!” 

“Then I guess a peppermint latte?” 

“Coming right up!” 

So here is this girl humming what sounds suspiciously like the Winnie the Pooh song as she makes a drink, and that drink is amazing. 

Also, people are wearing, it seems, whatever outfit they want. There are some people talking, and two look to be dressed in professional business clothing, but the third guy they’re talking to is wearing ripped jeans and a tank top has the phrase of “I’m Just Existing on a Manifestation of Reality” emblazoned. 

It’s odd. 

“So glad you could make it, Tones,” Rhodey says. 

“Tones?” 

“What, too much?” 

“Tones sounds like you know me.” 

“And I don’t?” 

“What’s my favorite jam?” 

“Why jam?” 

“If you know someone well, you know their favorite type of jam.” 

“Orange marmalade?” 

“What the fuck do I look like, Paddington?” 

“You’re right, Paddington’s not near as sexy.” 

“This counts as harassment, right? This counts as harassment.” 

“Don’t have him sue us already, he’ll win,” Pepper says, breezing to their sides. God, she’s gorgeous. Casually dressed in a pencil skirt and a blouse and acting like she doesn’t look like a goddess. Must be exhausting. “Tony, great to have you. Let me show you who you’re working with.” 

He has his own fancy office, a team that knows what they’re doing, and catered lunch. 

Catered lunch. It’s not even a Friday. 

“Friday’s are questionable,” Rhodey says. “Weird selection.” 

“You don’t wanna know,” says Intern Joe. 

That’s literally on his ID card. 

- 

Tony starts work. It’s not bad, not at all. He works in the mornings on the weekends and Mondays as well as Thursdays, and then sometimes does work from his own office. 

Rhodey is...nice. 

This is a bit unsettling, because Rhodey literally just threatened the president over an environmental bill not being accepted and currently all employees are only slightly scared. 

“This is just like three months ago,” says Janice The Badass. (Also on her ID card.) “Don’t worry, the government can’t do anything. They rely on us too heavily.” 

“For what?” 

“For safety.” 

“Not asking.” 

“Good, I’m not going to answer.” 

“Okay?” 

- 

It’s also weird that Rhodey checks in on him. He brings him coffee how he likes it, and he makes him sit down and try new foods with him. 

He’s not bad at conversational topics either. Tony’s used to talking, and he’s used to bad-talking on dates. This doesn’t come close. 

No, they talk about the differences of Star Trek and how much Tony hates specific brands of pens, and how Rhodey is a disaster when it comes to coordination of ties. 

“I don’t like ties,” he scowls. 

“Then why wear one?” 

“Pepper says they look nice.” 

“Why do you need to look nice?” 

“Most things are all about presentation.” 

“Ah, need to be taken seriously.” 

“Only at times when I’m facing government officials or weird corporate bosses.” 

“Aren’t you a corporate boss?” 

“I’m a corporate boss who is also an enemy of fellow corporate bosses. Weird thing.” 

“That’s...intriguing.” 

“How so?” 

“Well, how does that work?” Tony asks, popping a couple blueberries into his mouth. “How are you both the same and an enemy?” 

“Watch and learn, sugar. Watch and learn.” 

Tony is allowed on the next business meeting. Which, coincidentally, his old Uncle Obadiah is part of. 

This leads to rather undesired complications. 

-

“You’re working for a supervillain?” Obie practically yells. 

“Well, it’s a bit more complicated than that,” Tony says. “I just work with computers.” 

“Besides if he wanted to work for a real supervillain, wouldn’t he be working for you?” Rhodey asks. 

He’s sitting in one of those rolling-chairs, and despite that, he made it his throne. He’s relaxed in it, perfectly at peace with the situation. All eyes are on him. 

“I’m not the one that the government is after.” 

“And yet I’m the one who’s successfully paid taxes. Where have yours gone, hm? Strip club in Vegas? Weapon sales in Afghanistan?” 

Obie freezes. 

Tony knows that when you freeze, it is your worst tell. 

“Does dad know?” 

This time, Rhodey turns towards him. He’s surprised. 

“We’ll discuss that later. But does Howard know, Obadiah?” 

“Howard is none of your concern.” 

“Oh my god, he is,” Rhodey says grinning. “You haven’t told him about your little back-door escapades. I wonder what would happen if I told him.” 

“You don’t want me as an enemy,” Obadiah says, shaking. He looks at Tony. “And you, boy, you just earned yourself a death sentence.” 

“Funny, Howard said the same thing when he kicked me out of the house,” Tony says as he’s checking his nails. Rhodey thinks he is in love. 

“Go ahead and try to get me as an enemy, see how well it works for you,” Rhodey says, pearly whites on display. “I took over the entire state of New York, leaving everyone in power allied with me. Plus, Tony hasn’t pushed his legacy from what I’ve seen, but what would happen if I just...let him talk? At the next press conference, perhaps.” 

Tony grins, and it’s dangerous. 

“Yeah Obie, what if I talked? I’m sure Howard’s disastrous attempt at fatherhood would be a real uptick in stock points.” 

“You wouldn’t.” 

“Just watch. Just fucking watch,” Tony says. “I still know how to smile for the press, and I still remember all of my lessons for how to make sure anything is believable.” 

He shakes. 

Rhodey gets security. 

Tony visibly relaxes as Stane is led out of the building, and Rhodey smiles over at him. 

“What?” 

“You wanna grab dinner with me?” 

“Like as a casual dinner, or a date-dinner?” 

“How about both?” 

“Thank god, I can’t remember where my nice shoes are.” 

- 

Tony supposes it is odd to be out to dinner with one of the most-feared men in all of New York. 

But it was hard to fear him when he was currently trying to lick ice cream off the tip of his nose with no such luck. 

Or when Rhodey kisses him senseless on his doorstep and makes fun of the little gnome that he’s put outside, and Tony giggles and watches him leave in his fancy car, still leaning on his door. 

Oh, he’s got it bad. 

But he doesn’t mind. 

[purplesurveys]

1021

survey by lets-make-surveys

1 - Do you have cats? Tell me about them. No. My sister used to have a cat, but Arlee passed away last April, I think a day or two before my birthday.

2 - Do you have an open fire in your house? Would you like one? Idk what that is, but it doesn’t sound appealing as I live in a tropical country as it is. More heat would just be uncomfortable.

3 - Are you a fan of making things cosy? What kind of things do you do to make your home feel cosy and snug? Cozy is nice, of course, but I wouldn’t always invest in them. I’d want my own place to have scented candles and fluffy pillows and blankets, but those three things are probably enough for me. I don’t really need fairy lights or oil diffusers or whatever.

4 - Do you still buy DVD’s or do you just use Netflix? Netflix. The last time I received a DVD was around...2013 maybe? when my mom gave me a DVD of Gone with the Wind for Christmas. I haven’t sought them out since, since everything is now online anyway.

5 - What kind of games console(s) do you have? What kind of games are your favourite? I grew up around video games but of all the people in my family who enjoys them, I was and am literally the only one who was never any good. I learned to be content with just watching my dad and cousins from the side, haha. Anyway, at home we’re currently using the PS3, PS4, and Switch.

6 - What was the last thing you had to drink? Water.

7 - Do you like things to be colour-coordinated or does it not bother you? Not for absolutely everything, but sure. My notes, back when I was still in school, were always color-coordinated. Also, when my parents asked me to reorganize their closets when I was younger, I liked fixing their clothes according to color too.

8 - Are you a big reader? Do you own many books that you’ve not gotten around to reading yet? I used to be, as a kid. Everyone called me bookworm and I embraced that title, haha. Then I got depressed and that never went away and everything got busy in life, and I was just slowly unable to finish books that I kept buying until I stopped reading altogether. I definitely have a number of books that are still unfinished to this day.

9 - Are you a fan of scented candles? What kind of scent(s) do you like? Mmm no, but I can see the appeal. I’d love to try buying one or two one of these days. They’d probably be perfect for Friday evenings after a work week.

10 - Do you believe that black cats are bad luck? No. I don’t believe in symbols like that. It’s also so frustrating hearing that black cats are still among the least-adopted animals in my country, because it only means people continue to believe in that ridiculous mindset.

11 - What’s your favourite breed of dog? Have you ever owned that breed before? Every breed is my favorite, except for, honestly, chihuahuas and pugs.

12 - Do you have laundry that needs to be done right now? No.

13 - Who or what was the last thing you shouted at? My family was playing Pictionary during the blackout yesterday and that was just a lot of constant yelling, lol

14 - Is there anything in your home that needs repairing or replacing? One of our electric fans broke a few months ago and we have a couple of leaks in the ceiling of our dining room which make it inconvenient whenever it rains. One of the lightbulbs in the kitchen is also close to going out, but I think my dad has already bought a replacement bulb for it.

15 - What kind of phone do you have? Do you use it often? iPhone 8. I’ve definitely been using it a lot recently. My depression for the last two or so months has made me reliant on background noise, so I have YouTube Autoplay all day long. I’m starting to see the effects on the battery hahaha, but it’s okay as I plan to get a new phone once I can finally afford a monthly plan.

16 - Who was the last person you spoke to on video chat? I was on video call with Angel and our HR supervisor on our first day last Monday.

17 - When was the last time you took any medication? Is this something you have to do regularly? I think it was a Biogesic for my headache, which is the only kind of pill I ever take anyway. No, I only pop one whenever I feel my temples start to throb, which isn’t too often.

18 - Where do you keep your shoes when you’re not wearing them? We have a storage space under the stairs, where our shoe rack also is. All my shoes are on there as we’re not allowed to bring any shoes upstairs (welcome to Asian homes, hahaha).

19 - Is your room/home generally clean and tidy? How long would you say you spent on housework each day? It’s clean. I don’t move around in here much except to sit at my desk to work and then sleep at the end of the day, so. As for housework, my mom’s a total control freak when it comes to chores, so even though I always want to help she wants things done her way, the steps of which only she knows.

20 - If you could have any snack in the world right now, what would you pick? What about a drink to go with it? I don’t have any particular craving right now, actually...maybe sushi? Deep fried maki sounds great rn. Just water would be fine.

21 - What’s everyone else in your household doing right now? Dad drove out for his work and my mom tagged along. No clue what my siblings are doing downstairs as I haven’t showed myself today so far.

22 - What was the last new item you bought for your home? (something like curtains or furniture, not something unique for you like clothes). Mom bought new plates as she felt like replacing the plate set we’ve had and been using since first moving here in ‘08. She also got a new tornado mop after the old one broke.

23 - Do you have a favourite mug to drink out of? Does your favourite change depending on what you’re going to be drinking? Yeah I used to love my color-changing mug with the wi-fi design, but now I’ve been using my mom’s Starbucks copper mug the most. As for the second question, no it doesn’t work that way for me. I’ll drink anything in my current favorite mug.

24 - What are five things you like to have within arms reach when you’re sat on the computer or settled down to watch TV? Phone, laptop charger, a hairtie, a blanket, and the cleaning cloth for my glasses.

25 - When doing surveys, do you have a certain routine or anything, or do you just sit and do them whenever and whatever? I don’t have a ~routine per se but I do have a few traditions, so to speak:

I prefer a cup of coffee to accompany me while taking them though I don’t always follow this, like now. 

If I’m taking surveys in public, like at a coffee shop, I zoom out my Chrome to around 67% so that no one could see what I’m doing.

I try to check out Bzoink everyday for new survey leads, but sometimes Tumblr will be filled with good surveys (like now - there are so many good ones floating around on here recently??? I’m so not complaining) and I keep track of them by liking those survey posts to take in the future.

I generally avoid bolding surveys, but when I do take one I prefer to actually answer each item, so that it doesn’t end too quickly for me.

[surveys-at-your-service]

Survey #286

“has he lost his mind? can he see or is he blind? can he walk at all, or if he moves, will he fall?”

Do you prefer having carpets or hardwood floors? Hardwood floors. Easier to clean and just looks better imo. When was the last time you took a bath? Is this something you do often or do you prefer taking showers? Not since I was a kid, probably. I don't like baths; it feels dirty. What’s your favorite way to style your hair? Do you do this hairstyle often or is it too much hassle for you? "I can’t style it any way." <<<< Mine is too short, too. Do you have a real or artificial tree at Christmas? We always use artificial. The mess isn't worth it. What’s your favourite snack to make when you watch a movie? Popcorn, of course. Do you prefer the Beatles or the Rolling Stones? The Rolling Stones. The only Beatles' song off the top of my head that I enjoy is "Hey, Jude," while there's a handful of Stones' songs I like. When was the last time you played a game of Monopoly? Did you play until the end or did everyone get fed up and start arguing? I'm pretty sure the last time was the PlayStation version at Jason's house. I don't recall if we finished it or not. Have you ever won money on a scratch card or the lottery? How much did you win and what did you spend it on? Maybe like, $10 or so? Mom or Dad would buy one for the hell of it rarely, and they always let us kids scratch it off because we thought it was fun for whatever reason. Have you been on a plane before? Where was the last place you travelled to? Yeah, multiple times. I went to Illinois last to stay with Sara for a couple weeks. Would you rather do a wordsearch or a crossword? Wordsearch. What’s your favorite colour of skittles? Red, duh. I always save those for last. Do you have a favorite TV detective (eg. Sherlock, Poirot)? What is it that you like about them? Does Dean Winchester count? I loved him when I was into Supernatural. He was so charismatic, funny, a wonderful big brother, and don't forget hot as fuck lmao. Were you ever in any positions of responsibility when you were in school? No. Do you need to wear glasses or contacts? How long have you needed to wear those for? I'd had glasses since high school. I'm blind as a mf. Do you talk in your sleep? Yes. Ocean or pool? Pool. Cleaner and less risk. I'll swim in either, though. What's your favorite song at the moment? "DEGRADE" by "3TEETH." I've been hooked on them lately. Ever met anyone famous? No. Do you feel that you've had a truly successful life? *blinks* Have you been in love? Absolutely. Where do you wish you were? Sara's would be great. Last thing you spent lots of money on? My Markiplier tattoo. Favorite restaurant? Olive Garden. What is your favorite kind of car? I really dunno. I don't know almost any car by name. I like slick-looking ones, though. AKA expensive ones lmao. What would you honestly do if you had a million dollars? Pay off a lot of things, first of all. For both myself and Mom. I know too well I'd spend a good deal on tats, but I'm quite sure I'd be disciplined enough to know what's more important. Are you more of a shy or outgoing person? I am VERY shy. Would you rather listen to new music or the classics? I tend to listen to music I already know. I go hunting for new bands and songs too rarely... Can you do a cartwheel? lol hell no Do you currently feel any sadness? I always do. Do you always respond to chain letters? I literally never do. I don't care what it's about. They're annoying. Do you spend too much time online? My life is online. It's depressing, and very. I usually don't know what to do with myself if I don't have access to it. What is your biggest annoyance? Right now, people not complying to COVID restrictions to help end this madness. Are you currently in a relationship? No. What do you like to do for fun? Watch YouTube, play WoW, write, read, take pictures... Not a lot. I've been stuck with anhedonia for years; not a lot of things give me any sort of pleasure, even the aforementioned things sometimes. Can you type without looking at the keyboard? Yeah. Do you ever feel like people use you? I've sure as shit felt it before. What role does religion play in your life? None. It's honestly a place of bitterness. Can you sleep with your eyes open? Noooooooo, that shit creeps me out. How often (if ever) do you use moisturiser? Pretty much never... but I need to considering my skin is dry as the Sahara. Have you had any of your wisdom teeth removed? What was the reason? (eg. infection, impaction, lack of space). No. What was the reason for your last hospital visit? I visited Mom after her surgery. Do you use a laptop, desktop, tablet or phone to take your surveys? Laptop. Do you have any debt? If so, are you on top of paying it all back? College debt, for sure. I dropped out three different times. No, I'm nowhere near on top of it. How often do you travel by public transport? Never. Do you have an Instagram account? If so, how often do you post on there and what kind of things do you post? I have three, haha. I don't post on any regularly enough... but I use my first one most. My "main" one is my primary photography one, and I have a second photography account for my darker/roadkill/"vulture culture" work. Lastly I made one for my pets... yes, I decided to be one of those people lmao. Are you close to your extended family? Do you wish you were closer? Definitely not, but we want to try to get closer. In Grammy's last days, she shared that she wished we were more "together" so much. Do you prefer to give your pets human names or not? Definitely not human names, at least usually. Have you ever used a fire extinguisher? Would you know how to use one without reading the instructions? No; I doubt it. What’s the worst thing you’ve ever had to deal with at your job? When I worked, impatient customers. What was the last thing you used your mobile phone for? Listening to music. While my laptop is kaput, I'm using an old one, but it's super slow so I'm just using my phone for music and videos. Did you used to play The Sims? What version or expansion pack was your favorite one to play? I loved the animals one; I went through a period of playing that a loooot. There was also an African wildlife one that I had, but that one was pretty boring, honestly. I never got into the human ones. What quality do you value most highly in others? Probably compassion. Who has made the biggest sacrifice for you? Mom. What was your best find from a flea market, garage sale, ebay or thrift? I got an AWESOME shipwreck w/ a sea serpent nightlight from the flea market once. What is one selfish thing you tend to do? Uhhhh I'm unsure. I try not to be selfish. Have you ever written a letter to a soldier? No, but man does this make me think of "Travelin' Soldier." I love that song so much, man. Always have. What do you use batteries for the most often? Ha, it used to be my mouse, but now that I have one that plugs up to the computer to charge, idk. What’s the smallest thing you’ve ended a relationship over? "I don’t think I’ve ended any kind of relationship over something small." <<<< Would you rather order a starter (appetiser) or a dessert? Or would you be able to manage a full three courses? It really depends on what I want and how hungry I am. If I had the first two though, I almost certainly couldn't handle a dessert. Have you or a member of your family been diagnosed with COVID yet? My older sister had it very badly to the point she wound up in the ER. It's no fucking joke. Aside from the necessities (eating, breathing etc.) what is something you do every single day, without fail? I was going to say “get on the computer” or something of the sort, but what if I don’t have access to technology that day for whatever reason? In that case, I’d think of Jason to some point. There isn’t a day that passes when he’s not lurking in my head somewhere. Is there anything you enjoy that’s considered childish for your age? What is it? Roleplaying. Some shows. I’m sure there’s plenty others. How many times a day do you use the bathroom? A LOT. If I’m drinking something, a lot of the time, I almost immediately have to go pee after a single sip. Do you need caffeine to wake up in the morning? What’s your drink of choice? I wouldn’t say I NEED it, no. I do regularly have my Mountain Dew in the morning in place of coffee tho lmao. That’s out of habit, though. Do you live somewhere with lots of livestock or wild animals? Livestock, absolutely. Wild animals, sure, so long you’re not right in a city. Well, even then, roadkill isn’t rare. Would you rather live somewhere rural or urban? RURAL. Mom and I are both having trouble adjusting to living in the suburbs. The only good thing is we’re closer to everything. Is there anything (a hobby, for example) that’s guaranteed to always make you feel better when you’ve had a bad day? Not absolutely without fail. If you’re struggling with your mental health, who are you most likely to open up to, or would you bottle it up instead? I VERY rarely bottle it up. That is so unhealthy. I confide in my mom, usually. What room of your house do you spend the most time in? Is this through choice or necessity? Ugh, my bedroom… but yeah, it’s choice. I COULD be in the kitchen or living room on the laptop, I just don’t want to for privacy’s sake. I’m waiting for the extra bedroom to be cleaned out to turn that into like my “dayroom” or “office.” I’m putting a desk in there, lots of motivational stuff, just things to inspire me to work. I NEED away from my bed. I only want to use it to sleep. If you have pets, do you snuggle with them when you’re having a bad time? Does it make you feel better? Well, it’s hard to “snuggle” with a snake, but I’ll still take her out sometimes and she gets comfortable against me for warmth. I do however definitely snuggle with my cat Roman, because he’s a total cuddlebug and super affectionate with me. How would you rate Stephen King as a writer? Shockingly, I haven’t read a novel by him. However, knowing stories he’s written and his genre, I think I’d absolutely love him. What movie are you looking forward to? Oh goodness, I have no idea. I’m totally out of touch with movies. Have you been to see an opera? No, they don’t appeal to me. What do you wish that you knew with more certainty? My career success. Of the following things, which would you most like to have more of? Drink, dreams, bed, drugs, lust, lies, hate, love, fear, fun, pain, flesh, stars, smiles, fame, sex: Love, of course. Would you ever consider working for the government? Absolutely not. What are the best and worst television channels? I don’t need to even watch television to tell you Discovery is best. Idk about worst. If you had a magical pencil and everything you drew became real what would you draw? Hm… if I drew like, Earth overlayed with a peace symbol, would that cause world peace? What would you like to touch? A wild (well, habituated) meerkat. Meerkats are just… so important in my life. Without them, I wouldn’t have met people who’ve greatly affected and even changed my life. I know the day I (hopefully) hold or pet one will be one where I cry. Does anything you own glow in the dark? I don’t know. Would you rather ride a dragon or a unicorn? Who the hell would answer “unicorn” to this???? Dragons are so so so superior. Can you make a balloon animal? No. How many glasses of water do you drink each day? Rarely more than two, if even that. What do you like in a poem, accessibility, crypticness, or something in between? I guess of these options, leaving some cryptic space, room for the reader to imagine. What I cherish most in poetry though is descriptiveness, but not to an excessive point where it’s just hard to understand. Who do you find yourself in constant conflict with? Why the conflict? MYSELF. I’m just so mad at and disappointed with myself. What subjects do you refuse to talk about? Why are you hiding from them? I mean, none, really. With some people I’m willing to talk about whatever topic. Greatest black and white film: Idk, I can’t recall enough. Greatest film three hours or longer: Troy. I adore that movie. I should watch it again…

[baronvontribble]

Original drabble, pt. 5

Navigation: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5

yeeeeeeee

It was cold on the way home the same as it had been on the way to work. The bus didn't run from anywhere near the store to anywhere near Ted's apartment building in an amount of time that made walking the less reasonable option, so he walked the whole way. By the time he got to his door, his cheeks and nose and ears stung with the cold; the relief of putting down his bags long enough to get out his keys only lasted the amount of time he spent not picking them back up again, which he inevitably had to do to go inside.

He slumped heavily against the door the moment he'd closed it and held onto the bags just long enough on their way down to the floor to make sure nothing broke, but after that, all bets were off in terms of physical activity. "I'm home," he called out, closing his eyes and letting himself breathe. Fuck, walking had been a bad idea.

"Is this where I'm supposed to ask you how your day went?" the AI's voice asked him, and Ted let out a wheezy chuckle.

"Well for starters," he said, "if we were really following the script? Slippers. And dinner. Already made, nice and hot. Falls apart when you get to the 'sit in front of the television' stage though, what with me not having one."

"That's a shame. It didn't even get to the part where you threaten physical violence if I'm not quick enough with your alcoholic beverage."

"Jesus. I think I'll skip that one, thanks. I mean for one thing, I don't drink." Heaving a sigh, Ted straightened back out and made his way to the kitchen to put the groceries away, draping his coat over a chair as he went and leaving his keys and phone on the counter. The only things that stayed out beyond that were the HD camera made for streaming purposes and the sandwich he'd bought to act as a reasonably well-rounded meal. "Where'd you hear about that shit anyway? Kinda antiquated at this point."

"Case files. Domestic cases weren't the kind of thing I handled, but I still had to be educated in how they worked. I had to be able to take notice of everything that might count as evidence in any given case because the data I recorded could be used in court." Whether Ted was anthropomorphizing or not, the tone of the AI's voice made it sound like he was smiling. "Ended up being used against a few human co-workers too. I didn't have much in the way of agency, but if I saw something, I still reported it."

"Aw, so you're a good cop."

"No." A firm statement that left no room for argument; the good-natured tone was gone just as easily as it had crept in, impressing Ted all over again at the tuning. "Good cops are the ones who stop what they're doing when they realize it's wrong."

That just sounded all kinds of wrong to Ted. "Some people might say there's a lot of grey in there. If leaving puts your life in danger, for instance. Or if you don't have any real say in what you're doing." He wasn't sure what this guy had done, but he'd never gotten a bad vibe from any of their little talks over the past couple days. And usually his instincts about people were pretty spot-on.

But that firm tone was back again, giving no ground. "Ted, please," the AI insisted, "I'd rather not talk about this."

"Seriously though," Ted continued. "I mean you left, didn't you? Yeah, maybe it took longer than it should've, I don't know enough to make any kinda call on that, but it seems to me like you had a limit to how much you were willing to-"

"Ted." The volume had been turned up significantly, hard enough to rattle the laptop's cheap onboard speakers. Admittedly that didn't take much, but it still stopped Ted dead in his tracks. "Don't."

Just like that, all the good humor had been sapped out of the room. Ted let out a slow, steadying breath. He just knew this one was gonna claw at the inside of his head for days. "Fine, I won't talk about it." Picking up the box with the camera in it and leaving the sandwich for later, he headed back over to his not-quite-desk and fell into his rickety old chair. "I didn't mean to upset you."

The volume was back to normal when the AI spoke again, and his tone was softer. "I know."

Right, time for a subject change. "Did you read your way through all the books yet?" Ted asked as he wrestled with the box the camera was in. Stupid packaging.

"Not all of them," was the reply. "But I did find a name. You've read I, Robot?"

"Hell yeah." Ted had to grin. "Gonna name yourself after Susan Calvin or something?"

"Wrong book. I meant the short story."

"Ohh..." That one was a bit older than Asimov's stories, if Ted remembered right. "Kinda dark, isn't it?"

The AI ignored his comment. "I did some research. 'Adam' is a common enough name in enough languages that if I pick a similarly common surname, I'll be relatively difficult to track effectively by my name alone."

"And I guess the literary allusion doesn't hurt either, huh?" Ted gave it some thought. "What about the biblical roots of it?"

"I haven't read the Bible."

"Y'know, ate a fruit from the tree of knowledge after watching a woman do it, and then both of them got kicked out of the Garden of Eden by God for disobeying His orders. Original sin, free will. All that jazz."

It was several seconds before he got a response. He heard the fans kick into overdrive for a moment on the main computer tower. "Right."

Damn, almost sounded like the guy had barely tuned that one at all. “What’s that mean? Like, is it good, is it bad-”

"It means I suppose I have a name now."

"You like it?" The box Ted had been struggling with tore open all at once, the cardboard giving way long before the tape did; one layer of packaging down, a bazillion more to go. He took a moment to idly suck on a finger that'd been nicked on the cardboard's edges with a quiet hiss at the way it stung. "I mean, I like it. But I'm not the one who's gotta live with it."

Machines couldn’t scoff, but this one definitely knew how to give the impression of such a thing through his voice. "Functionality is more important than whether or not I like it."

Ted snorted. "Yeah, you like it." One thing he'd learned about this guy: positive feelings were rarely ever admitted to directly. "Got a voice, got a name. Might be tempting fate to say this, but it seems to me you're just about ready to face the world, man."

"Just focus on getting the camera set up."

"I'm working on it, jeez." Foam, plastic, more plastic. Naturally, only about half of it could be recycled. The camera came with a flash drive about the same size as the end of his thumb, and included wireless capability that Ted would probably never use. He was quick to toss the trash aside for Future Ted to deal with, only hesitating when part of the 'trash' was the instructions. However, a cursory glance told him he didn't actually need instructions, and the manual promptly went back into the pile.

Then he let out a tired sigh as he ended up scooting over to what had once been his main computer to pluck out yet another bit from its wreckage: the USB extender. He'd have a lot of rebuilding to do after all of this was finished. His poor gaming rig had been reduced to a pile of spare parts. Honestly, if anyone in the pipeline ever contacted him about a job this big again, he'd probably just tell them to go sit on a cactus. Or at least be really salty about taking said job.

"This might take a little while," he said. "Gotta install the drivers, get the extender plugged into the power strip..." Within moments he was under the desk having a fight with one of the power strips connected to the battery backup, rearranging things until he could make room for the cord to the extender. "Got any music you like?"

"Depends. Am I limited in what media libraries I'm allowed to take it from?"

Ted grinned even as the dust under his not-desks had him stifling a sneeze in his elbow. "Dude, have you seen my library? Half of it is ripped straight off of video upload sites. I'm the last person who's gonna tell you where to go for that shit."

"True." Ted looked up from his work long enough to get a glimpse of the windows open on the laptop, trying to follow Adam's music search as it happened. To say it went a little fast would be an understatement; there was no way in hell he was keeping up. "It's a blend of different genres," Adam informed him. "Part symphonic, part electronic. It's also in Russian. You don't mind that, do you?"

"Not a bit." Just as long as he understood that Ted didn't speak a word of Russian. "Is that where you're from?"

There was no answer except the music as it started to play, and Ted dutifully hauled himself upright to listen.

It was pretty. Ted had no idea who the singer was when her voice entered the mix after a few bars of meandering piano and flowing strings. She had perfect pitch, whoever she was; the tone of her contralto voice made him think of long, flowing black hair framing long, elegant features. One of those fairytale maidens singing about longing and true love and all that profoundly schmoopy nonsense.

Then the beat dropped, and he envisioned the maiden tearing her dress asunder and climbing astride a winged steed while holding a battleaxe, and the longing contralto turned into a one-woman wail of anguish and howling righteousness.

"I would've loved this in high school," he said somewhere during the second chorus, awestruck. He was pretty sure there'd been some Latin in the lyrics somewhere, but he hadn't been listening very hard so it might've been a trick played on his ears. This along with something that sounded like it might've been either badly mangled English or even more badly mangled Esperanto, but he wasn't enough of an expert on linguistics to tell what the attempted lyrics were. It was exactly the kind of melancholic angsty nonsense he would've loved when he was fourteen, and at twenty-seven, he was seeing it as equal parts awesome and endearing.

Adam didn't respond until the song was over, letting it play out before saying anything. Was listening to the echo of it over the speakers and through the microphone different from reading the data of it, beyond a difference in audio quality? A question for another time, perhaps. "It's not what I usually listen to," the AI admitted, in the kind of tone one might use to describe their fondness for Rocky Horror Picture Show or The Room. "From what I've experienced so far, I prefer soundtracks over anything on the radio."

Ted snorted. "You nerd."

"I don't see what that has to do with anything."

"Only a nerd tries to justify their cheesier music choices. Just admit that you like this, I dunno, this symphonic emo Russian synth-EDM, and don't look back. I mean, I listen to show tunes."

"Show tunes?"

"Dude." By that point, Ted was grinning from ear to ear. "Broadway? Y'know, musicals. And big band stuff too, like Gershwin."

Several seconds of silence followed, then: "I regret asking."

"Alright, look. Lemme find some and I'll show you-"

"No, I believe you."

"I won't take long, I swear!"

"Ted..."

And this was how Ted dragged an AI into an hour's worth of Broadway sing-alongs, which the AI in question would later call 'torture', followed by Ted suddenly remembering his sandwich and bringing it into proceedings as well in the form of turning lyrics into nonsensical mumbling. This is also how it came to be that the camera did not get hooked up that evening. It didn't even occur to Ted to question why Adam seemed relieved when he gave up on it for the night, because he was having too much fun.

[sleepytisi]

I Tried Out the Amazfit T-Rex Smartwatch for 2 Weeks and These Are My Thoughts

This deviates a bit from my usual witchy posts, but I thought this would be a great read for those of us who have children or who have pretty bad ADHD or tend to really just wreck shit in general and need reminders of everything.

At CES2020, Amazfit held a press conference, announcing all of their upcoming products, which spanned many categories. They were putting a huge push on making ways to get the world motivated to embrace a healthier lifestyle through technology. This was made apparent with innovations such as their home gym models, which include a large screen meant not only to entertain and monitor your technique, but also daily workout classes that are led by actual instructors. 

Amazfit has had a few different smart watch designs over the last few years, but this year they included an entirely new category: rugged outdoorsman. Made for those with an active lifestyle that can take them from skiing in the Alps to hiking Angel's Landing in Utah, all the way to navigating the underwater labyrinth in the Cenote Calavera in Mexico, the T-Rex was created to handle all of this and more. 

This dinosaur is named such not to indicate that it's old and decrepit, but that's it's the king of all fitness watches. With 12 military grades, a body that won't quit, 14 sports modes, a 1.3" AMOLED screen that is still useable when wet, and a 20-day battery life, you can expect this watch to be with you through thick and thin, keeping track of where you are, how far you went on your trail, helping you maintain that ultimate heart rate for the best burn, and all with the most slick of designs. 

Amazfit's press conference turned into a release party, as we were all given the gift of this incredible new product, the night before its release to the world. And I wore it every day since then, so I could give you this review. Through the rest of the convention, this watch has helped me keep track of my steps and my heart rate, and has helped me learned new things about my sleep patterns. I ran it through a bunch of tests to see how it holds up in my lifestyle... which is definitely not the lifestyle I described above, which is what this watch was designed for.

I've mentioned in a few articles that I'm also a nature photographer. This puts me in places that are hard to get to, and sometimes I have scaled the side of a cliff to get a shot. I'm also very ADHD and super rough on my equipment. The third and most dangerous part of my life is that I have a toddler. So this review is from the point of view of an adventurous, clumsy, forgetful mom of a destructive monster who just yesterday ruined a pot because she left it steaming apples for four solid hours. 

Design

From the perspective of someone who has slight sensory issues, a really big factor in anything that I have to wear is how it feels. For me, things can be textured or smooth, but they can't be scratchy, distracting, or so soft that it makes my skin feel like they're the hook-side of velcro. There's some microfiber stuff out there that is so soft I can't touch it. The silicone band for the watch is very soft and comfortable, and the back of the watch has not caused me any discomfort at all, while wearing it both inside and outside my wrist. I prefer watches worn on the inside of the wrist, but I ran into issues with the bulkiness getting in the way of carrying my daughter. Wearing the face on the outside minimizes that issue, but the strap sometimes still snags on her clothes. It's not a big deal, but I did feel like I might hurt her if the face was on the inside of the wrist. The buttons are mostly inset, which makes them hard to push by accident. They are also in great locations, and easy to reach. The watch face looks huge on my tiny wrist, though. Aesthetically pleasing as it is, it looks like I'm wearing something that belongs on a much larger person.

The screen is crystal clear, and the colors are rich. Through the app, there is a large selection of watch face designs, and you can rearrange the items on the screens to your liking. You can also set up app notifications, so you can see incoming texts and get notified when your phone is ringing, that one of your Pokemon needs a berry or to be revived, or even alerts that you've been sitting around for too long today. That one is turned off, because I'm not here to be judged by a watch.

Battery life

I've set this thing up with so much stuff. It monitors my heart rate every 10 minutes, it tracks my sleep, it tracks my steps, it vibrates my arm when I get notifications, it finds my phone when I lose it more often than I'd like to admit. This thing is always going. Amazfit boasts a 20-day battery life with regular use. I think I've overstepped that a bit, because it lasts me about a week before I start thinking maybe I need to charge this thing. But I also don't let things go below 50% without charging up. So I'd say with the way that I use it, you'll probably get 10-12 days of use before it goes from 100% to 0%, which is still pretty great. 

Rugged

Hear me out. I'm the worst. I run into stuff, I drop things all the time (I just dropped my laptop a couple days ago and now the speakers are broken and it doesn't close all the way), I've slammed my fingers in my own car door, I've burned myself more times that I can count. During this week alone, I smashed my knee into my car door, I drank boiling tea and burned the entire inside of my mouth to the point where eating solid food feels like I'm eating broken glass, I burned my thumb on the stove, I cut my left pointer finger while chopping garlic, my daughter poked me in the eye while I was wearing contacts and straight up ruined that contact lens because my eye was leaking fluid, I bit my lip, and I've dropped my phone in my face several times. And that's just what I did to myself.

 I completely destroyed a pot while steaming apples because I forgot it was steaming for four hours, I dropped my laptop and it barely functions now, I've left my phone in so many public places it's a miracle I still have it. My daughter isn't much better. She's crazy fast for being one year old, she has ripped those really sturdy board books in half, she flips chairs and tables over, has ripped gates that are screw-mounted to my wall straight out of the wall, and will absolutely bite your nipple right off your chest. True story. 

So I may not always be scaling the side of a mountain, but I am always in need of things to be rugged. That being said, this watch does not have a scratch on it. 

During CES, I bumped into walls and booths, was pushed by people day after day, and scraped it against things as I walked by them. I planted a tree yesterday and bumped it into a rock. I handed it to my daughter to play with because we were out and about a little too long and she kept grabbing stuff in someone's office. She smashed it on the table, she chewed on it, she threw it at one point. I honestly feel like I should try to run it over, because this thing isn't even dirty from what I put it through. 

App Usage

The app is very easy to use and designed well. It keeps everything organized in one place, and things are easy to find for the most part. It did take me a while to find the button to add apps for notifications, because it was very small, at the very bottom of a white screen, and the button was light grey. Almost like they didn't want you to see it. My only other qualm is that when you're looking at the heart rate tracker, you can select each peak to see details of that mark, but it's a little hard to select some spots. 

Built in apps on the watch include an alarm, timer, and countdown, event reminders, activities, heart rate, your current status, weather alerts, music control, a compass, sports modes, the settings for the watch (like the face, how long the screen is on, etc), and my absolute favorite function: Find My Phone. Find My Phone will use the connection from the watch to the app on my phone to make the loudest and most ear-piercing tone I've ever heard in my life, whether or not my phone is on silent. Other Find My Phone options turn on my ringer, which isn't very loud at all, so this absolute banshee shriek of a sound is perfect for me.

The sports modes are really fun to play with. They track your GPS location at the start, then not only time you and mark your positions, but also track your heart rate and give you alerts to keep you in the zone. This is fun for people who enjoy working out, but I have enough issues with my heart rate spiking without any stimulation, so I'm probably not going to use this much. I do, however, have an alert to notify me of when my heart rate spikes, so that's comforting. 

Sleep Mode is automatic, which is great. I was using an app in my phone prior to this watch, and it's not very accurate. Sleep mode tracks through movements and heart rate how optimal your sleep quality is. What's really interesting is seeing how slow my heart rate gets while in deep sleep. At one point hitting 39bpm! Tracking your heart rate during sleep can also tell you how your body is reacting to your day. So if it slopes downward, it's likely that you ate a late meal, because that's indicative of your body digesting at bedtime. 

Issues that I've run into

I've had to keep my watch locked unless I specifically want to use it. I've found it constantly turning on and activating stuff that I didn't want to activate, just from the lightest touch from outside sources. One of the most frustrating was accidentally turning on DND mode in the middle of the day, and having people get mad at me for not answering messages.

My favorite part

Notifications, hands down. I am not good at responding to texts or phone calls. I don't hear my ringer, and when it's on vibrate, I won't notice the message at all. Having my watch notify me through a very abrupt and jarring vibration is perfect for me. 

Final note

This watch is fantastic. I may not use it for crazy adventures outdoors, but I do have a good use for it in my life. Having something that reminds me of stuff that needs to be done, notifies me of messages, and is impossible to destroy? Perfect for my life. The entire reason I was not willing to spend money on smart watches from other manufacturers was simply because I knew they would get wrecked with the way I treat things. 

For a cool $130, this watch is the exact right thing for more than those who live life jumping from helicopters. It's also for ADHD moms of tyrant babies who are keen on wrecking everything nice that they own. 

What are your thoughts? Any other products you'd like me to review? Let me know in the comments! This review was not paid for or coerced in any way, and nothing written in it was exaggerated. Those things actually happened.

[simaethae]

meme responses

tagged for memes by @imindhowwelayinjune​ and @erotetica​, it’s too hot today and I’m sleepy and answering these was a nice distraction thanks guys :)

from @imindhowwelayinjune​ -

1. If I gave you $20 and told you you had to spend it right now, what would you spend it on?

Snap decisions are hard! Uh. Pre-ground coffee, I’m running low. Or cat toys, Mally always needs more to destroy <3

2. If you waved your foot in the air to the immediate left of you what would you kick?

The sofa cushion. It can take it.

3. There’s a new spider in my sink. Name it.

FABIAN listen if you want to increase your affection for spiders you should go read children of time you will not regret it

4. Describe one thing you’d like to create (eg a specific story, art, type of pancake, etc)

That time I tried to do Japanese strawberry shortcake I screwed up baking it at the last stage, which after faffing around with two double boilers and my friend’s cooking thermometer and stand mixer was really a bit annoying? (the doorbell went, I got distracted, excuses excuses.) Anyway. I’m going to make this thing. Although it might have to wait until strawberries come back into season next year at this rate.

5. Describe one thing you’d like to consume that someone else created (eg a specific story, art, type of pancake, etc)

more people should write fic for my otp exactly how I’d write it using my characterisations, the eternal longing. :/ but I’d definitely settle for some good sexy fic about them atm, can I take a moment to thank @yavieriel​ for making me really want well-written Celebrimbor/Sauron D/s which does not exist and I am not equipped to write aaaaaa

6. If you were a cartoon character, what outfit would you always be drawn in/what features would make you identifiable? 1. Bonus: Draw yourself as a cartoon character - take no more than five minutes - and include the sketch here.

hm. pale woman with bobbed brown hair, probably for caricature purposes portrayed making a sardonic expression at the protagonist from behind my laptop. i usually wear contacts but I suspect I’d be in glasses to signal that I’m a Nerd.

7. Tell me some gossip about someone I definitely don’t know

We strongly suspect Awful Former Senior Colleague has been misrepresenting his financial position to his girlfriend – this is the one he’s been very public about without in fact technically having left his wife. His mid/late-life crisis really keeps on giving. ::popcorn.gif::

8. Without checking to see if it’s correct, type something you have memorized (a line of poetry, a lyric, an equation)

The glass is falling hour by hour, the glass will fall forever / but if you break the bloody glass you won’t hold up the weather.

9. Go to the elf name generator, generate a name, and tell us what the parts of it mean 1. Bonus: Describe who this name belongs to

“Fenneth” – fend (door/threshold) + feminine ending. Doorwoman? Is that her actual name? She’s one of those unfortunate characters who ended up in a corner of the histories known only by her job description, isn’t she.

10. What’s something that made you laugh out loud recently?

Oh, god. Uh, at my yoga class the other day the instructor told us to align our hands with the middle of our chests and then added, in a pained voice, that he’d told another class to keep their hands in line with their nipples and a lady replied that her boobs had dropped too much. He sounded so distressed.

11. What trope do you secretly love that people like to say you shouldn’t? (eg self-insert characters, purple prose, chat fic, pumpkin lattes - you know, whatever the latest fun is that we’re not supposed to be having)

I honestly don’t mind a good self-insert or anything in the, you know, “what if this character were marginally less dumb” fixit genre - it’s not the sort of read that tends to stay with me but all the problem-solving can be very soothing/satisfying.

and from @erotetica​ -

1. Do you have any pets? If so, in what way are they stupidest?

::forcibly suppresses impulse to insist on my cat’s intelligence:: uh, I would probably rest easier if I didn’t occasionally have to stop Mallycat from trying to eat plastic. here’s a picture of her refined and dignified mien

2. Favorite kind of book (classics, scifi, romance, etc.)

I know there are books other than f/sf but I can’t generally be bothered. I have a real life, I don’t feel the need for that much more of it.

3. Obscure Headcanon for a character you haven’t previously shared?

do I have any I haven’t shared. uh. Elf hair colour discourse, Celegorm has silver hair like his grandma Miriel, fight me.

4. Do you have any ocs? If so, share what universe they’re from and a little bit about them.

I find coming up with OCs really difficult! I’m kind of fond of Kiyazi from as the sun tho, she’s a straightforward person who likes violence, is under the impression she can trust Sauron to tell her whether violence is actually a good idea or not, and moves like a weapon.

5. Music or Audiobooks?

Music, I read much faster than people talk and find writing easier to pay attention to in print anyway. With music it doesn’t matter if I zone out for a minute.

6. What is your favorite hobby?

Procrastinating instead of actually writing.

7. An author you enjoy?

Let’s go for something different: while Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall is the epitome of that annoying “of course everyone can forage in the hedgerows on their way to the local farmers’ market!” thing, the man knows his flavour combinations. I’ve made, like, liver to his recipe and it tasted like something I would voluntarily keep eating?? They’re good cookbooks.

8. Do you speak more than one language? If so, how many, and which ones?

Bad tourist French, but enough that French people give me points for trying and/or try to be helpful in the hopes that it will make me stop inflicting my awful accent on them a little sooner. I used to be genuinely good at latin and greek but my degree was like seven years ago now and I have to resentfully admit it’s fading.

9. Share a quote/book passage/poem that you like

What be her cards?   you ask.   Even these:

The heart, that doth but crave

More, having fed;  the diamond,

Skill'd to make base seem brave;

The club, for smiting in the dark;

The spade, to dig a grave.

from “the card-dealer”, dante gabriel rossetti

10. If you had to choose a Bad aesthetic, which one would you pick (dudebro, edgelord, I Liked It Before It Was Cool, etc.)

I. How many bad aesthetics are there, I try not to contemplate. is mine bad. but, Well If You’d Read The Footnotes In Parma Eldalamberon 17, probably.

11. You are stranded on an island. What one thing do you have with you? Say the first thing that comes into your head.

My phone, which is going to be completely useless with no signal. I can spend the few hours it takes for my battery to run out reading on my kindle app before I cast myself into the sea, sounds great, it’s good to have a plan for these situations.

Aaaand I’m supposed to write eleven questions and tag eleven people but that’s far, far too much effort, sorry! >_>

[ccerebral-thunderr]

don’t know why i think i could lie

also on ao3 here

Yuri sat at his computer, trying to edit his latest video. It was a general life update after VidCon, as he didn't have any other ideas and he had to post something this month. But he wasn't exactly making progress. Every time Yuri left the safety of the pile of blankets he was sitting under to even try and touch the desktop, he was hit with a wave of chills and shaking.

“Yuri! What do you want for dinner?” Otabek called from the living room.

“I'm not really in the mood to eat,” Yuri yelled back, trying to sound as loud as he could through the blankets.

“How long have you been editing?” Otabek asked, getting up from the couch and pausing the show he was watching.

“I don't know? It's taking a while. I'm not really sure how I want this to look in the end.” Yuri replied, shivering as he tried to move closer to the desk.

“Maybe you should take a break, dude. Come on. We can watch The Office. I know you love yelling at Michael because he's an idiot.”

“The man should not be in charge of an office building! He’s delusional at best!” Yuri yelled, forgetting they had neighbors who would surely be irritated with him for being so loud. But they hadn't complained yet, which meant he’d keep being loud.

“Yuri, seriously. You've been at it for two hours.” Otabek said, sounding concerned.

“Fine. I'm bringing my blankets, though.”

“Okay?” Otabek said, confused. Yuri almost never got cold. Maybe he was getting a little sick.

“I’m here,” Yuri said, although it was muffled, and Otabek looked surprised if only for a split second. There were a lot more blankets than he had anticipated. He’d have to figure out a way to take Yuri’s temperature without him knowing, as he refused to admit he ever got sick. It happened rarely, too.

“Alright. Sit wherever, because I think I’m gonna grab some tortilla chips or whatever we have in the pantry,” Otabek said, and Yuri quickly rearranged his mass of warmth so he could see the TV. He felt around for the remote to start the episode again, and unpaused it just as Otabek sat down.

“Are you okay, Yuri? You usually-” “I’m fine. Just a little cold is all,” Yuri cut his friend off, preparing himself for whatever shenanigans were about to go down in Scranton.

Yuri was asleep not fifteen minutes after the start of the show, which Otabek took as an opportunity. He raced to the cabinet that kept their medicine, which was a half-empty bottle of Tylenol that was probably expired, a bottle of allergy medicine that was at least six months old and had never been opened, and a thermometer that needed new batteries. Otabek quickly changed them, hoping Yuri was still asleep. He walked back in and awkwardly took Yuri’s temp. The results: he was burning at around 103 degrees Fahrenheit(because I’m American and we can’t just use the same measurement system as everybody else in the world because reasons). Otabek let Yuri keep sleeping. Hopefully his fever won’t be as high when he wakes up.

“Yura? Are you okay?” Otabek asked, turning on the living room light. Yuri wasn’t in the cocoon of blankets on the couch. He would have known if Yuri had gone back to his bed, and he wasn’t there. Which meant Yuri was in the bathroom, probably. Otabek ran down the hall and knocked quietly on the door.

“Yuri? Are you in there?” Otabek asked, quieter this time.

“S’okay. Go back to bed, Beka,” Yuri replied, sounding a little slurred.

“Yuri, I’m going to come in, okay?”

“Go back to bed. I’m fine.” Yuri said sternly, or as sternly as he could. Otabek opened the door slightly and found Yuri curled in a ball on the floor.

“Yura, what’s wrong? Why are you in here?” Otabek asked in a tone that meant business. He wasn’t taking any excuses, and Yuri could see it in his eyes.

“Okay, I’ve felt like shit all day,” Yuri said. There was something about Otabek that made him cave every time and he didn’t know what it was. “I’ve been freezing and I was sure when I came in here I was going to throw up.”

“Yura, come on. Let’s get some medicine and then you can go back to bed, or the couch or wherever you want to sleep.”

“It’s three in the morning and I know we don’t have any medicine that isn’t expired.” Yuri said, and Otabek was about to tell him about the Tylenol, but stopped after he remembered.

“Well, I’ll just have to get some, then.”

“You dumbass. You are not leaving to get me drugs at this hour of the morning. I can wait until the sun’s up, at least,” Yuri said, but the wave of chills that hit him at that moment said otherwise.

“I’m going to see if the CVS around the corner is still open. I’ll be right back, and call me if you need anything.” Otabek said gently, and Yuri nodded. He heard Otabek’s footsteps down the hall to his room, and then he came back with a hoodie for Yuri.

“I’ll be right back, Yura.”

“Okay. Thanks.” Yuri said quietly as Otabek went back down the hall, and he didn’t think he had been loud enough.

Yuri pulled on the hoodie, and realized it was Otabek’s after seeing the sleeves were just a little too long. He walked slowly back to the couch and turned the TV on for background noise, but after fifteen minutes of lying under blankets with his eyes shut, Yuri knew he wasn't going back to sleep any time soon. Turning on a show that was actually entertaining was his only option, but he wasn't in the mood to wait ten minutes for Netflix to decide if the Wifi was working or not. Yuri channel-flipped until he landed on some international house show and tuned out the buyers. He was more interested in the places and buildings themselves, mostly because after living in a small town all his life and moving to a bigger city only a few years ago, the world outside of Yuri’s apparent bubble seemed so much more interesting and exciting. He had always been a little jealous of JJ and Isabella because their channel was based on their travels and the places they got to visit. Yuri was so lost in thinking about all the places he would go if he could that he didn't hear Otabek unlock the door and come in.

“Yuri? You still awake?” He asked quietly.

“Yeah, I’m on the couch,” He replied.

“I got some meds. I’ll get some water so you can take them and try to get some sleep.” Otabek said, walking towards the kitchen. He came back with a mug and the bottle.

“Thanks, Beka,” Yuri said, and downed two of the pills.

“Anytime. Now, go to sleep, and wake me up if you need anything,” Otabek said, and went back into his room. Yuri blamed his racing heartbeat on the fever. But he knew that wasn’t the reason it was there.

“Leo?”

“Hey, Yuri. Heard you're sick?”

“Yep. If I leave the bubble of blankets I've made, I'm gonna freeze.”

“That sucks, man. But judging by your text, I'm assuming that's not the reason you're calling.”

“No, it's not. Leo, what do I do? I thought that crush was something that died in my old flat. And now I that I know he might return my feelings, it’s not as bad. But it's still awful.”

“You could tell him? But that's obviously not the best option at the moment,” Leo said, trying to think. There had to be something else that Yuri could do.

“No, it's fine. It’ll blow over. It did last time, so there's no reason that it shouldn't this time,” Yuri said, shifting in his spot on the couch. “Otabek’s out getting food and stuff, so he shouldn't be back for a while. But enough about my shitty emotions. You said you had something you wanted to talk about?”

“Yeah, actually. So you remember how the last day of VidCon I walked around with those two vloggers?”

“Yep.”

“Well, I kept in contact with one, and we’ve been Skyping, and I think I like him a bit.”

“What’s his name?” Yuri asked, stretching to grab his laptop. He wanted to investigate. Not stalk. Just see what this guy was like.

“Guang-Hong Ji. He’s honestly the sweetest person I’ve ever met, and it helps that he’s adorable, too.” Leo sounded sheepish.

“Well, if I were you, I’d try to meet face-to-face more often. If it's possible, I mean. But I'd wait to see if the friendship keeps going before saying anything.” Yuri said. “There’s not much else I can think of, at the moment.”

“Well, you are kind of dying right now. Thanks, Yuri. Do you think JJ might have any helpful advice?”

“Advice? Yes. Helpful? Maybe,” Yuri laughed, and Leo chuckled on the other end.

“Well, I’ve kept you long enough. Take a nap or something. Get better.” Leo tried to sound stern, but Yuri could hear the laughter in his voice.

“Thanks, Leo. Good luck.”

“You too. Bye.”

“Bye.” Yuri said, and hung up.

[midnightstarr8]

RULES: 1. Answer 11 questions. 2. Write your own 11 questions to pass on. 3. Tag 11 people.

This will be my third go-round at this thanks to the lovely @bleuemelomane <3 Loved your answers girl, especially the music! This time I probably won’t tag people but I will answer all of your questions!

1. Do you write fiction/fanfiction? If not, would you like to? -I do write from time to time; you can find my fanfiction at fanfiction.net under this link! https://www.fanfiction.net/~midnightstarr . I used to write a lot more than I really do now; I think I’ve been slipping back out of the Beyblade fandom a bit and that’s keeping me from really having the inspiration I need, but it’s also hard to really want to write after you’ve been working for 12 hours already lol. Work kills me. PS; if you check out that link don’t go back any further than three years LOL the rest of my stuff is crap.

2. What inspired you to be the person that you are today? -I think for the longest time, I was the girl that cared what everybody thought. Like really really cared, hearing something bad about myself or that I’d done something wrong and I’d go nights with no sleep. So I decided that I had to change that because it’s not right to live your life in fear of what others think of you: you’re not gonna please everybody. So keep the people closest to you happy, keep yourself happy and don’t stretch yourself too thin for other people. We’re all only so deep until we run shallow, so take care of your self-esteem! I had a wonderful father but a not-so-great mom and both of my parents struggle with alcohol addiction and work away for weeks at a time, so I mostly raised myself. I’ve always been a really independent person, but not that confident: it’s really different. Aiming to be a nurse and possibly a doctor has really helped me with my self-confidence because there’s nothing like leaving the room of your patient and knowing you made a positive difference to them. Their health depends on your judgement and your medical assessment, knowledge and skill: it’s a great boost when you��ve done something that really makes a difference. I’m still not entirely sure what kind of person I am, because on certain days I feel like a wonderful person and on other days I feel like a bad one. I think we all cycle through that, so really if we all try to just be the best kinda person we can I’m hoping that makes up for it in the end.

3. Name a few mundane things about your daily life that put you in a good mood. -Omg, okay. A cold glass or can of Diet Pepsi. Yummmm, probably with ice. Especially after a long day at work. My laptop, always running down my playlists. Putting on lipstick and nailing the perfect application! My pups cuddling up to me in bed and putting her face on mine - lmfao it’s just an adorable way to wake up. On sunny days, when we’re lucky enough to have them, if the wind’s just right the sea turns this amazing bright blue and everything just looks and sounds better. Hearing my dad playing with the animals, when Brandon calls and he says he had an awesome day at school.... Coming online here and seeing someone agrees or wants to talk about one of my headcanons! All things that make me mundanely happy.

4. Name an event that had a deep impact on your life. -That’s really difficult... Like, I’d like to say my parents’ divorce but I was a child and mom’s alcohol abuse has just been one long road of battery and ignorance. So that doesn’t really count either. Maybe graduating from nursing school... That definitely changed my life in big ways. The things you learn and the responsibility you carry is so huge, it’s a bit like carrying around a bomb that could blow at any time and you’re the only one who knows how to defuse it so if you make a mistake everything goes BOOM

5. What would be the perfect crossover for you? (Could be from movies, animes, books.. Whatever you want.) -Holy shit, uh, Beyblade, Sailor Moon and Digimon. Can you imagine a world with so much magic...?

6. What was your very first OTP/ship? -Honestly Beyblade came first.... So that would make it RayxMariah! Hahaha god love their hearts <3 Then V-Force happened and it became MaxxMariam but I still have my ReixMariah feels. Nothing but real love for that pairing.

7. Are you more of an email person or a letter person? -I think I actually do prefer emails.. It’s just quicker. Plus letters can get messy and time-consuming when you’re trying to write a whole lot. Emails I can pop it down and be done!

8. Do you relate to a fictional character? -This is gonna be lame but I really think I relate to Tyson. I am Tyson. From the bottomless gut to the engorged head to the fact that I think my friends might ditch me from time to time but they keep comin’ crawling back and I still love them to bits. Can’t relate to the champion thing though. I am master of nothing.

9. What’s your skincare routine? Do you have any secret tips that have made you as awesome as you are now? -This is laughable, but I don’t really have a skincare routine. Like there’s nothing I do nightly. In the shower I use a body wash on my face and neck called Sea-Kissed Scrub. It’s got sea salt in it, like little granules so I rub it into my face and my dry skin just totally disappears plus I feel so fresh. But otherwise, when I get out of the shower in the mornings I moisturize with whatever moisturizer I have in front of me (I have about 30 - right now it’s tarte’s H20) and then I put on my makeup. I don’t wear foundation. Really. None. I might use a pressed powder in white and maybe a concealer, but no foundation. It’s too hard to match my skin tone; I’m pale as fuck with naturally blushed cheeks so there’s nothing full coverage enough to handle it. So I just do some on-point lips and eyes and that’s about it.

10. Talk about your OCs/fictional characters: how did you create them, what makes them special.... -I’m not nearly talented enough to have a good OC, but honestly my portrayal of Mariam in my fics and in my roleplaying online here and on skype is probably close enough to having an OC. We have so little info about her as a character that it’s like having a bit of a blank canvas: time to play! I think what drew me to Mariam is that she’s so stubborn and a bit cocky, but at the same time she can be taken down a notch; like she’s not so much of an idiot that she can’t learn something new? She makes mistakes, and she’s not the best beyblader on her team and she fights with her captain and he has to be strict with her but she didn’t let that stop her from believing Max belonged with Draciel. So like, she’s a really individual thinker and I like that. So while my Mariam isn’t afraid to live life, I generally have her make a lot of mistakes... Because when you leap into everything head over heels, some things just don’t work out. And she’s a passionate person: when she’s pissed she’s pissed, when she’s upset she’s really upset so like that can spiral out of control at times. She has a couple bad habits and she makes a lot of assumptions about people. I think Mariam is special because she’s not the feminine soft that she wishes she was so she wears pretty dresses to make up for that. I think she’s special because no one else can make as many fucked up bad decisions as her and still find room to make another bad decision. Haha I love her because she grows. She has good days and bad days: like a normal person, like all characters should. She’s special because she’s mine.

11. Finally, let’s talk about cute fluffy friends: Talk about your pets! -Okay. Shadow is my nearly two-year old pup!! She’s jet black with a white patch on her chest and two white feet! She’s a border collie and terrier mix so while she’s not a huge dog she’s fluffy as fuck and soft to the touch with a really pretty face! I got Shadow because my father was getting depressed, and he loves animals even more than I do so I figured it was time for a dog. I’ve never owned one, so she’s my first pup and honestly she was so hard to train at first that I doubted my ability hahaha. She talks to us! Shadow is THE most verbal dog I have ever come across and everyone else who gets to know her says the same thing. She has a full range of speech. Shadow’s our pretty puppy. Now, a few days after getting Shadow, we made the choice to go and adopt a kitty too... Because I’ve owned cats all my life and Dad said ‘if we’re gettin’ one might as welll get two.’ So we did! On the day we visited the rescue, a lady came in with a carrier with two tiny babies in it... They’d just been pulled out of a drain pipe. So I chose Ghost. He was a snow white little guy who was terrified of people. So he went to the vet, got his shots, some ointment for his sore little eyes and he came home. The first night home, he curled up in his litter box and wouldn’t come near us but Shadow crawled in it with him and they slept there that night. After that it got easier and easier!!! Ghost has had a hard road, and late last year we found out he’d developed necrosis of his hip.... So he had to have a leg amputated. My kitty is a proud amputee and doing great!!! In fact, now he’s not in pain anymore and he’s so damn happy and active because of it. He’s a sook now. More for dad than for me, but that’s okay because that’s how I intended it. God love their hearts, they are serving their purpose. <3

And that was 11 questions! Thanks for the tag @bleuemelomane, <3 you.

[josephlrushing]

Lenovo ThinkBook 13s Boast Stellar Specs with Harmon Audio Included

Full transparency, I’ve been enamored by Apple’s Ecosystem for so long, that I’ve almost had to challenge myself to step outside of my normal way of thinking to embrace that there are more affordable, more capable options out there. Over the course of the last few months, I’ve been checking out Lenovo’s ThinkBook 13s as my Daily Driver, and let me tell you, it is one great utility laptop.

Although intended for small to medium business users the Lenovo ThinkBook 13s has been a great portable workhorse for all of my Podcasting and Gear Diary needs. The unit that I received specs included a Core i5-8265U processor (1.6 GHz), 16gGB of RAM, and a 256GB PCIe NVMe HDD. There’s a 512GB optional upgrade should you choose that route, and even a 15″ model if you decide the screen real estate isn’t enough as well. Lenovo’s going for what they consider “SMB laptops with style”, which is fitting because this laptop does indeed look amazing. Typically when you think of a business laptop, you’ll think of a thick, black laptop someone in a suit is using in Starbucks to check his Outlook mail… but the ThinkBook 13s sets itself apart in a major way.

In terms of what you receive in the package itself, it’s pretty standard. Coming complete with the ThinkBook is a proprietary charger and installation disc for software. Right off the bat, I have to say that I am not the hugest fan of proprietary chargers, but Lenovo typically goes this route on the ThinkBook line. There are also all of the warranties and instruction manuals included as well.

So the first thing I immediately noticed with the ThinkBook 13s was its sound. Although the small frame of the laptop itself would lead you to believe that the speakers would be less than adequate, Lenovo managed to pack bottom-mounted Harman speakers that get surprisingly loud for everything from music streaming on Tidal to meetings that I’ve hosted using Zoom.us.

The speakers fire to the sides of the device, which when placed on a counter or when it’s sitting on your lap doesn’t muffle the audio by any means.

To the left of the ThinkBook 13s, you’ll see there’s a Slim-Tip adapter outlet, an HDMI port with a single USB-C and Headphone/Mic combination port beside that.

Immediately I appreciated the fact that the headphone jack is appropriately situated to the more often used left side of the laptop. I’ve grown frustrated with Apple’s need to have headphones to the right, the most headphone companies have their built-in cables on the left ear cup, making it a hassle to situationally connect.

Turning to the front of the ThinkBook 13s, you’ll notice there’s no ridged opening or groove to easily open the laptop which was honestly my biggest disappointment in my time reviewing. Often I open my MacBook with one hand, so in situations where you have something in your opposing hand and need to quickly open it, if you don’t have nails will require you temporarily putting them down in order to open.

At the right of the laptop are two additional standard USB ports which I greatly appreciate. I’m coming from a laptop that’s void of them, when multiple devices — including my Apple devices that tend to come with USB-A cables for you know, synching with iTunes — having them, this is a HUGE deal for me, so the fact that Lenovo didn’t jump both feet in on USB-C is a good thing — although I still believe they should’ve offered USB-C charging for the device instead of the slim-tip adapter.

What’s noticeably missing is an SD or MicroSD Card slot. Obviously this could be fixed with the purchase of a dongle, but it would’ve been a welcome addition (wishful thinking). Ports aside, one interesting thing I noticed I enjoyed more than I thought I might was that the ThinkBook 13s folds completely flat. Not quite sure of the use case for this since it doesn’t fold back to become a “phablet”, but it’s nice knowing this is a “feature” (at least to me). Lenovo has stated that the hinge has been tested to endure up to 25,000 open-Close cycles, but I couldn’t tell you who’s truly keeping count.

Once you open the laptop, you’ll notice that there’s a full-sized keyboard with each key with roomy enough space that allows for touch typing without errors from hitting the wrong keys. While some keys I feel are a bit overlarge, like the shift and Caps Lock keys, it makes for easier typing. Each key gives a great response, regardless of travel, which is something I’ve longed for since purchasing what’s easily the worst keyboard I’ve ever had in the MacBook.

Aside from the keys, to the upper right of the ThinkBook 13s is a fingerprint reader that works better than I expected it to. Hiding under the power button, the reader is super responsive, even on the first register. When initially setting up it only asked for my fingerprint three times, which I thought to be a surprise because of how quickly it responded to the tap gesture I made, which made me believe it didn’t register my tap, but to my surprise it did.

What’s worth mentioning about the ThinkBook though is privacy. Fingerprint security aside, the ThinkBook 13s goes the extra mile with actual key gestures that allow you to fully disable the microphone and webcam, which is a first in any laptop I’ve ever used. With identification functions like these, the moments you DONT need your camera on, or when you want your voice to be heard. (Looking at you, Google).

Aside from the keyboard gesture, there’s a ThinkShutter slider that you probably wouldn’t notice if someone didn’t tell you. Right above the camera is a TINY slider that you swipe right on to reveal or conceal the camera lens. When concealed you will see a red dot that covers the lens, signifying that the camera is not on. This is a nice touch, but I would personally suggest a more obvious color or way of showing that the camera is not available, because in direct sunlight I could never tell the difference. 

At the price that the ThinkBook 13s sells doe, you can easily tell that a laptop designed for businesses is gently being marketed towards consumers thanks to it’s “audio by Harman” feature, but the 10-hour battery life is very good. I was surprised that the claims of a ten-hour battery life held up, with me having heavy usage (including writing all of my holiday gift guide articles and research directly with Chrome browser, Google Docs, and numerous windows) with the ThinkBook 13s. I wish I had more time to play around with Vantage, which is Lenovo’s tool that lets you tweak the functions of the laptop to fit your needs.

While I certainly wouldn’t be GAMING on this laptop, moderate web browsing, light working including Office and photo editing might be ideal for the ThinkBook 13s… heavier processing, including running strenuous applications for video editing will take a toll on the performance and battery life of the laptop. But the price is right at $800 for the base model, and whether you are a business owner or just your average web surfer, there’s enough to love about Lenovo’s laptop to justify purchasing.

The Lenovo ThinkBook 13s pricing starts at $800 for the base model; you can buy it directly from the manufacturer.

Source: Manufacturer supplied review unit on loan

What I Like: Affordably priced; Very good battery life; Harman speakers are fantastic

What Needs Improvement: Heavy applications like Adobe and video processing are tough to handle on the ThinkBook

from Joseph Rushing https://geardiary.com/2020/01/21/lenovo-thinkbook-13s-boast-stellar-specs-with-harmon-audio-included/

[xpressfocusworld]

ZAGG Slim Book Go for iPad (9.7-inch) Review: About as Versatile as an iPad Laptop Case Can Be

Cameron Summerson

If you’re looking for a way to get more out of your iPad by turning it into a makeshift laptop, look no further than the $99 ZAGG Slim Book Go. It’s a robust little accessory that adds a lot of versatility.

What It Is: A Laptop-like Accessory for Your iPad

iPads have come a long way since they were first introduced, with many users opting for their simplicity over a traditional laptop. The one thing that’s missing for most users is an easy way to bang out a bunch of text at one time—using the on-screen keyboard is fine for short, simple bits of text, but if you’re looking to do more than an external accessory is the way to go.

And while there’s no shortage of iPad-specific (or even compatible) models floating around out there, the ZAGG Slim Book Go has a few interesting tricks up its sleeve to make it a real contender for your iPad-turned-laptop keyboard needs.

Cameron Summerson

First, it has all the features you’d expect from a portable keyboard: it’s Bluetooth, so it connects quickly and wirelessly; it’s backlit for easy typing in dim environments, and it can sync with two different devices for easy switching. But all those are expected features—things that any manufacturer would be chastised for not including.

It’s the other stuff that makes the Slim Book Go an option worthy of your consideration.

For starters, the detachable laptop-style form factor is excellent. The Slim Book Go is two parts: the keyboard and a case. The case part goes on your iPad and serves not only to protect it, but also to physically connect to the keyboard by way of strong magnets in each of the two units. The case also has a handy, versatile, and intelligently-designed kickstand so using it with the keyboard—either connected or separately—is easy.

Cameron Summerson

But that’s not all. The case, which initially felt bulky to my hands that are otherwise only familiar with the iPad in its naked glory, also has another useful trick: a bay for your Apple Pencil. You can tuck the Pencil away here, close the lid like a laptop, and have it all neatly tucked away. Together. I don’t use the Pencil, but I can see how this would be a killer feature for anyone who does and likes to keep it close at hand.

Otherwise, the design is pretty straightforward. As I mentioned earlier, the keyboard and case connect easily via magnets, which gives the entire thing a unified look and feel—not unlike a laptop. But, you know, with your iPad.

I’d be lying if I said I was taken aback by its form factor or overall look out of the box—it’s honestly pretty dull looking. But hey, it doesn’t need to be because it does what it’s supposed to do so damn well.

In fact, let’s talk about that now.

Using the Slim Book Go: I Like You, Little Keyboard

When I first slapped my iPad into the case, as I noted above, I was a little surprised with the added bulk, but as I used it the sense that it was too bulky faded. The case itself undoubtedly works as a good protective cover for the tablet, though it doesn’t do a lot to protect the screen—it has a tiny lip around the edge, but I don’t think it would be enough to prevent the screen from cracking if you dropped it face-down. So, like, try not to drop it face-down.

Otherwise, it’s legit. It has openings for the Lightning port and the headphone jack (this iPad has a headphone jack). You know how some cases make buttons almost unpressable and annoying? Well, this one doesn’t do that. They’re still plenty clicky.

The kickstand is really cool because of its unique design. Instead of folding out from the middle of the device—like the Surface Pro’s kickstand, for example—the hinge is actually at the bottom, and it folds outward. It’s also very stiff, so it holds the tablet at whatever degree you want it—all the way up to dead-straight.

Cameron Summerson

Directly under the display (in landscape) is the Pencil holder. Under that (on the bottom) are the magnet attachments for the keyboard. That’s the star of the show here, so let’s talk about it.

First off, I was shocked at how easy the Slim Book Go is to type on, especially given its overall small form factor. But the keys feel excellent—decent travel and a great tactile feel. They’re a little undersized, but I didn’t find that to be a problem during my testing. I type a lot of words every single day, and I could easily switch between my regular keyboard, laptop keyboard, and the Slim Book Go with minimal effort.

It’s also backlit. But not just old fashioned “regular” backlighting where you get one color; oh no, the Slim Book Go has seven backlighting options. You can choose from white, blue, teal, green, yellow, red, and purple. And they all look outstanding. Even yellow, which is traditionally a terrible color (I kid, I kid). But really, I just kept my review unit on red all the time, because…I like red. Oh, all of those colors has three different brightness levels, too. Or you can just turn it off. Your call, man.

Cameron Summerson

It also includes all the function keys you’d want: home, lock, task switching, internet, media and volume controls, and even a button to bring up the software keyboard if you need it. You know, for emoji.

Speaking of using the keyboard, let’s talk “lap-ability”. The most common complaint with the Surface-style kickstand is that it just isn’t lap-able; the Slim Book Go is capable of being used in your lap, and it’s not a terrible experience. It’s just… finicky. If you position it right, it’s stable enough to type on, though it still suffers the same issue that most detachable products like this—with such a flimsy hinge (where the keyboard connects to the case, not the kickstand hinge), it just doesn’t have the structural rigidity needed to make for a great experience. But since the kickstand is a big ol’ slab of plastic that lies flat, it helps a lot.

Finally, let’s talk battery life. ZAGG claims the Slim Book Go gets a year of battery life with an hour of use each day, so that’s about 365 hours. Or three months if you use it for four hours a day. Or 45 days if you use it for 8 hours a day. But honestly, if you’re typing on your iPad for eight hours a day, seven days a week, we probably need to talk about your device usage habits and not really focus on your keyboard’s battery life. Also, just because I did the math, you could theoretically type on the Slim Book Go for over 15 days without stopping.

Speaking of battery, though, that’s my biggest gripe with the keyboard: the battery status indicator is sort of… not great. It doesn’t have much in the way of a real indicator, but instead just blinks a tiny light on the power button when you press the Fn and Ctrl keys at the same time. If it flashes green three times, the battery is more than half full. Two yellow blinks mean it’s somewhere between 25-49%, and one red blink means it’s below 25%. I guess you should probably charge it at that point.

The biggest issue with that system, which honestly isn’t horrible, is that it depends on you remembering to check it before it’s almost dead. The manual doesn’t indicate the light blinks to warn you when the battery is really low, but maybe I’ll be pleasantly surprised to find that feature in 6 months when my battery runs low.

Conclusion: A Versatile Product with a Lot to Like

There’s a lot to like about the Slim Book Go: it’s versatile, functional, and adds a lot of value to your tablet. If you find yourself banging out lots of words on your iPad every day, this is an excellent option to add a keyboard that works in both a laptop-esque form factor or as a separate accessory. And at only $99, it’s an easily justified purchase that will add a lot of functionality to your iPad. The kickstand on the case is just an added bonus.

Source link source https://xpressfocus.com/zagg-slim-book-go-for-ipad-9-7-inch-review-about-as-versatile-as-an-ipad-laptop-case-can-be/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=zagg-slim-book-go-for-ipad-9-7-inch-review-about-as-versatile-as-an-ipad-laptop-case-can-be

[fmservers]

Gift Guide: 10 suitcase-friendly gifts for frequent flyers

Welcome to TechCrunch’s 2018 Holiday Gift Guide! Need more gift ideas? Check out our Gift Guide Hub.

I’ve been traveling a lot this year — more than any year in the past. It’s been both a blessing and a curse, so thanks, TechCrunch, for that. Honestly, I should probably be packing for Asia instead of writing this, but I’m looking out for you instead.

Rather than writing the standard Travel Guide or Holiday Gift Guide, we’ve opted to combine them into one. Because if there’s one key to making the most out of your time on the road, it’s efficiency. Technology can play an important role in helping streamline the packing process and generally making the most out of your trip.

Of course, as with everything, too much tech can also be a bad thing. I know I’ve found myself packing too many gadgets or jamming a messy rat king of cables in my carry-on, making a mess of things in the process.

What follows is a collection of gadgets, accessories and other products designed to remove some of the biggest pain points from travel and help you make the most of your trip, whether overnight or longer.

Amazon Kindle Oasis

Okay, maybe including a Kindle on here is a bit of a cheat, but very few devices have improved my travel life like an e-reader — and the Oasis is currently the nicest one you can get. It wasn’t all that long ago I used to jam several paperbacks into my carry-on. I do miss the tactility of real books from time to time, but when it comes to traveling, nothing beats the ability to jam thousands of books into a seat-back pocket.

Price: $249-$279 Available from: Amazon

Anker 40W 4-Port USB Wall Charger

A lot of modern hotels are getting better about USB ports. I recently found myself staying at one in LA where every single link had a place for me to charge my iPhone. But it’s still a crapshoot — especially when traveling to a strange city — and hey, if you can avoid plugging your personal devices into a strange port, all the better.

I started traveling with my own combo mini power strip/USB hub years ago, but Anker’s 40W 4-Port USB Wall Charger is a much more compact solution, bringing four USB ports directly to the wall. Best of all, like all of Anker’s products, it’s dirt cheap.

Price: $26 Available from: Amazon

BUBM Cable Bag

I’ve tried a LOT of cable organizers in my many years of gadget blogging. It’s the only thing that keeps my travel bag from turning into the Indiana Jones snake pit. At the end of the day, all of them ultimately suffer the same compromise: you can either have a lot of compartments for your various tech doodads or you can free up more space in your bag.

Ultimately, I tend to side with the latter. Especially when it comes to carry ons, anything you can do to free up space is a net positive. Lately, I’ve been digging this one from BUBM. It looks snazzy and the fold-over design helps free up precious bag real estate.

Price: $12 Available from: Amazon

Calm Subscription

This is one is admittedly an odd choice. Sure there are plenty of travel-specific apps out there, but when it comes to helping tamp down the stress associated with travel, the Calm app is a good place to start. This is coming for a very anxious flyer, mind you. It’s not a fear of flying — that part’s fine. It’s everything else. From the getting to the airport to the endless lines to the $3 airport water to the occasional middle seat.

I’m also, not coincidentally, an anxious meditator. I’ve tried a LOT of different apps to pursue mindfulness on my smartphone, and Calm is far and away the one I like the best. The guided meditation sessions are terrific and ditto for the the more freeform ones. It’s also a great way to get your bearings after waking up in a hotel room in some unknown city.

A year’s subscription runs $60, which is a small price to pay for peace of mind.

Price: $60 Available from: Calm

Harman Kardon Traveler Speaker

This one admittedly feels like more of a luxury than many of the others, but don’t underestimate how much a small Bluetooth speaker can improve hotel time. The vast majority of laptops have pretty terrible built-in speakers and even middling Bluetooth speakers are a major improvement.

Harman Kardon’s Traveler fits the bill and won’t add much size or weight to a carry on. It also has a built-in mic for teleconference — a definite bonus for work trips — and doubles as a power bank for charging up devices. The 2,500mAh battery isn’t much, but on the road, every little bit of juice counts.

Price: $150 Available from: Harman Kardon

HyperDrive USB-C Hub Attach

I travel with a LOT of gadgets. It’s kind of my job. As such, you’re no doubt catching onto the fact that lack of charging ports is a consistent theme in all of this. HyperDrive USB-C Hub Attach is a clever take on TwelveSouth’s iconic PlugBug that brings USB ports directly to the MacBook’s charging brick. Here, however, you’ve got the decided bonus of a third active USB-C port for data transfer. At $50 for the larger version, it’s also priced to match TwelveSouth’s offering. Price: $50 Available from: HYPER

Luna Display

As I noted in my write up last month, the Luna Display isn’t for everyone, but those who need it will find it to be a downright lifesaver. Once this thumbnail-sized $80 device plugs into a MacBook, it connects to a nearby iPad over Wi-Fi, converting the tablet into a second screen.

I’ve been using the hell out of it every time I’ve found myself working from the road or at home. I’ve become entirely dependent on my monitor at work, and now find myself being the guy with both a laptop and tablet out on the table at the coffee shop. Totally worth it for the ability to monitor my RSS feeds while working on a story.

Price: $80 Available from: Luna

RAVPower Wireless Portable Charger

Powerbanks are a dime a dozen these days, but RavPower is making some of the cleverest ones out there. It’s tough to narrow them all down, but this one lands on my list for its inclusion of a Qi charging pad that lets users wirelessly charge compatible handsets on top of the brick.

Keep in mind, some airlines and airports are limiting the size of batteries that can be stowed in a bag, so if the person you’re buying for is a frequent visitor to, say, China, double check the limits — though this 10400mAh battery should be fine in most cases.

Price: $50 Available from: Amazon

Timbuk2 Never Check Expandable Backpack

I always thought I’d outgrow backpacks, but aside from a brief flirtation with the messenger bag in the aughts, I’m rarely seen without one. Of course, no two are the same, and if there’s a frequent traveler in your life, a solid backpack makes all the difference in the world.

Timbuk2 makes some truly terrific bags, and the Never Check certainly fits the bill. It has a spacious interior for clothes, shoes and anything else needed for an overnight trip, while maintaining a small enough footprint to be stashed in an overhead bin or under the seat in of you.

Price: $200 Available from: Timbuk2

Twelve South AirFly

This is one of those travel concerns that doesn’t really dawn on you until you’re face to face with it. Love your Bluetooth earbuds? Great. But good luck listening to the movie on your flight. Twelve South, in all of its infinite wisdom, has designed a small wireless transmitter that plugs into headphone jacks, so you can use your go to headphones with the seat-back entertainment system. Turns out it also comes in handy for the TVs at the hotel gym.

The biggest downside here is pricing — $30 doesn’t seem like much, but you can grab a pair of wired headphones for pretty cheap these days.

Price: $30 Available from: Amazon

Via Brian Heater https://techcrunch.com

[buytabletsonline]

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As someone who primarily games on PC, my advice to anyone who’s looking to get into PC gaming is usually going to be to build their own. Up until recently, I would have written that my advice would be to always go the custom build route, but thanks to that thorn in the side of the gaming enthusiast known as cryptocurrency mining, that may not be entirely realistic for a while. In turn, this makes buying pre-built PCs a better proposition than it usually is, and there are plenty of manufacturers ready and waiting to fill the gaps. Lenovo is once such manufacturer, with its Y720 offering solid mid-to-high-range hardware in a mobile package.

Design

The Y720 looks much like the array of gaming-centric PCs from Lenovo, sporting a black color scheme accented by red. If you’ve seen a Legion-branded machine before, you know what to expect: something a little more subtle than your average gaming notebook, but still decidedly a laptop made for gamers.

There isn’t much in the way of external lighting on the Legion Y720. The Legion logo on the reverse side of the display lights up, but other than that, you’re left with an all black machine (save for another patch of red on the underside of the device that no one is ever going to see). I like the look of it overall, but one thing that’s become an annoyance for me is that the smooth and glossy finish on the outside of the laptop seems to be particularly good at attracting fingerprints and oils from your skin.

Obviously, even though this is an endlessly frustrating thing for me, it’s not a deal breaker. If I judged a laptop’s value by such a small annoyance, no machine would ever get a passing grade. Still, this might be something worth keeping in mind if you share this particular irrationality with me.

In the end, the Legion Y720 has a fairly unremarkable design, but that’s honestly the way I prefer it. If I’m going to carry a gaming laptop with me, I don’t need it to act as some kind of shining beacon that lets everyone know I’m using the computer. The black and red color scheme looks nice, and the limited external lights give this laptop a fairly mainstream look that doesn’t overdo it. If I had my way, more gaming laptops would practice subtlety in the way Lenovo has here.

Like every other gaming notebook out there, the Legion Y720 weighs a fair bit more than your standard notebook. There’s good reason for this, of course, as it’s packing more serious hardware than your standard notebook as well. With a weight that starts as 7.05 pounds (and goes up depending on your configuration), this isn’t exactly a light machine. Nor is it small – its 15.6 inch display and full-sized keyboard see to that. You’ll need to make extra consideration for space if you’re going to lug the Y720 around with you, but such is the life of a PC gamer with a preference for laptops.

Performance

Obviously, if you’re buying the Legion Y720 for anything, it’s not for looks, but to play games (or do other graphics-intensive projects like 3D rendering). For this, hardware obviously counts more than anything, and a gaming notebook that is lacking in suitable hardware will quickly be left behind and forgotten as manufacturers move to cram their machines with better and better parts.

In terms of power, the Legion Y720 is no slouch. The model I was sent for review is Lenovo’s top-of-the-line Y720, with a Core i7 7700HQ CPU clocked at 2.80GHz and a NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 6GB. This model also boasts 16GB of RAM, a 1TB 5400RPM Hard Drive, and a 512GB SSD.

The result of all of this hardware is a speedy little machine that’s fast to boot up and manages to avoid lag when doing most tasks. While the GTX 1060 isn’t NVIDIA’s best 10-series card (far from it, in fact), it’s more than likely going to be capable enough for whatever modern games you want to play on a laptop.

Does this mean that you’ll be able to max out graphics settings in each and every game for years to come? No, but for now, the GTX 1060 is a solid card that should allow for some very pretty games. For instance, the GTX 1060 is enough to meet the recommended requirements for the upcoming Final Fantasy XV Windows Edition, and I imagine that’ll be the case for a lot of graphics-intensive PC games for another year or two. In short: While the GTX 1060 may not offer as much power as its big brothers within the 10-series, it’s probably going to be a while before you begin to feel that rift in capability.

Indeed, for the time being, the GTX 1060 is a solid graphics card. In Divinity: Original Sin 2 – a game with no lack of impressive (and intensive) graphics – I found that cranking everything up to Ultra settings gave me a framerate that topped out around 100 in indoor environments without much on screen and bottoming out in the mid 70s during times when the PC had to render a bunch of objects and characters or when Original Sin 2’s wonderful particle effects filled the screen. The Ultra profile in D:OS 2 includes the highest settings for textures, lighting, and shadow quality; settings like ambient occlusion, god rays, and bloom turned on; and finally, 16x anisotropic texture filtering and SMAA.

So, the GTX 1060 certainly isn’t a slouch, though it won’t melt your face to the degree that the GTX 1080 can. Obviously, you’re going to want to keep the Y720 plugged into a power source as you’re playing, as trying to run a game while the laptop is running on battery will cause a significant drop in frame rate.

You can, of course, drop your graphics settings to compensate for this, but even then it still isn’t the most efficient way to play games on the Y720, as I only made it about an hour and 40 minutes from a full charge to the point where I was getting 10% battery life warnings while playing They Are Billions. Don’t let that give you anxiety about a potentially short battery life, as I got about 4 hours of life on a full charge when I was streaming video with the display at half brightness.

As an aside, it’s a bit confusing that Lenovo chose not to offer a Legion Y720 variant with a GTX 1070, even just for those who don’t mind paying extra as a means of future-proofing their notebook a little more. Regardless of which configuration you go with, you only ever have the option of a GTX 1060 with this notebook.

The review unit’s Intel Core i7-7700HQ and 16GB of RAM both help keep things going smoothly. With a Core i7, you’re not really going to have to worry about your CPU acting a bottleneck to gaming performance at any point in the near future, and unless you’re going to be doing things like video processing on this laptop in addition to gaming, you can honestly go for the base model, which ships with a Core i5-7300HQ.

While the base model only comes with 8GB of RAM, the good news there is that it’s also customizable, meaning that you can upgrade to 16GB for $100 more. This, I think, is worth the extra money – there was a point not too long ago where 8GB of RAM was suitable for a gaming rig, but we’re quickly approaching the point where 16GB will be considered standard. With many new and upcoming games suggesting 16GB in their recommended specifications, it’ll be much easier to pay a little extra than it will be to deal with the frustrations of hitting that ceiling later on.

The 15.6-inch IPS display Lenovo has outfitted the Y720 with is fairly solid as well. Though it isn’t matte like I would prefer with a gaming laptop, glare is not nearly the problem it is with other glossy finishes. Lenovo has treated the display with an anti-glare coating, and while it doesn’t stop glare from being an issue entirely, it does still cut down on it significantly. If I can’t have a matte display (which I understand doesn’t look all that great on a gaming laptop that is otherwise supposed to look sleek), I’ll definitely take something like this instead.

The 1080p LED display probably won’t blow your mind like a 4K desktop monitor will, but it’s perfectly suitable for this machine. Colors look rich and visuals are sharp, which is all you can really ask for at the end of the day, isn’t it? Anything else is just icing on the cake and borders on unnecessary when we also have to make concessions for battery life.

The trackpad and the keyboard are similarly “good enough.” Lenovo managed to resist going all-in on the RGB craze, and while the chiclet-style keyboard does have RGB backlighting, it’s zoned so you can’t make each individual key a different color or set up these crazy lighting patterns. You backlight is managed through Lenovo Sense, and even though the keyboard is zoned you still have plenty of options when it comes to customization, so I honestly can’t really say I miss having a backlight for each individual key.

The two-button trackpad does fine when it comes to browsing, but if you’re using this laptop for gaming (as is its stated purpose), you’re almost never going to use it. Get yourself a decent Bluetooth mouse and use that instead, because trying to play games with a trackpad – especially ones that require quick reactions – is really just inviting frustration.

Finally, we come to the Y720’s JBL speakers. These are something of an anomaly within the word of laptops, gaming or otherwise. The speakers seem to provide somewhat fuller sound than most laptops can (though bass is still lacking, unsurprisingly), but one interesting thing to note is that these bad boys can get loud. I think you should still get a nice pair of headphones or a headset to use while you’re playing games, but if that’s not an option after dropping the cash required for the Y720, the included speakers at least do a serviceable job.

Wrap-Up

In the end, the Lenovo Legion Y720 is a fine laptop, though it doesn’t really have much that makes it stand out from the crowd. As I said earlier, that isn’t necessarily a bad thing, because hardware – not software or design – is most important when it comes to gaming, and the stuff that’s packed inside this laptop is enough to ensure most games run well.

So, while I’m not about to sing the Y720’s praises from the mountaintop, I don’t have a problem suggesting that you at least consider the Y720 if you’re looking for a gaming notebook. This, of course, would normally be the time where I recommend that you build your own gaming PC instead of buying a pre-built, but there are two problems with that.

This first is obvious in that if you’re specifically looking to buy a gaming laptop for the portability factor, suggesting that you build a desktop instead is silly. Even if I could convince you to build a desktop instead, though, the second problem is that PC hardware is ridiculously overpriced at the moment. This means that pre-builts have a rare moment in the spotlight among enthusiast PC gamers, and the Y720 benefits from that.

Even though laptops aren’t my preferred form factor when we’re talking about PC gaming, those seeking one out should consider the Y720. Assuming you start with Lenovo’s base model – which is currently $1099 on Lenovo’s store – and make some tweaks from there, you should walk away with a solid gaming machine without ever having given the absurd prices of PC parts a second thought. Personally, I think that’s worth a lot at the moment.

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Christmas Gift Ideas for the Electronically Disinclined

Holidays are hectic. It’s an established fact. With all the parties, get-togethers, dinners, celebrations, gift-giving, and well-wishing, it’s a wonder you even have time to sit down! Like you’ve been wanting to do since the season started.

It’s cold, dammit!

However, the most expansive time-sink BY FAR is gift-giving. Going out to all the different stores to find that PERFECT shirt or that AMAZING new game takes AT LEAST a day, maybe more if you have an extensive family. Deciding just what to get those special, gift-worthy people in your life is stressful, time-consuming, and just all-around a bad time.

But worry not!

Lucky for you, children are especially easy to divide into clean, clear-cut categories based on their interests and likes. This makes shopping for them a simple matter of knowing what the latest trends in these areas are. We’ll do everyone a favor and skip over toys, clothes, and other non-confusing options and go straight to the real head-scratcher here.

Electronics.

If you don’t know the difference between gigabits and gigabytes, why it’s RAM and not LAN, or what, exactly, a graphics card is, have no fear.

I’m here to help.

All of these gift ideas will be for the Canadian side of Amazon (except for the Google Home series), but you can easily switch over to the US side of things. Simply go up to the address bar and change the .ca to .com

E-Readers

Reading is an enjoyable past-time that many people today still find time for, even in the midst of their busy schedules. School might get in the way, work might butt in, but they’ll get back to that book eventually.

However, it can get a little tiring to lug all those books around with you. At the very least, you need to take the book you’re reading and a backup book in case you finish that one. If you’re like me, you also probably have a few others in your bag in case you get bored with the ones you’re reading.

Enter e-readers.

E-readers are a kind of tablet that have one singular purpose – reading. A single e-reader can hold thousands of books, and if you want a new one, you only need internet access to download it.

E-readers have come a long way in a short time, and there’s many different kinds out on the market. But don’t worry! Down below, you’ll see a few of my recommendations.

Kindle – The most basic option, this e-reader has all the features that make an e-reader a good gift. The screen gives off almost no glare, even in direct sunlight, and reads like paper. The battery can last weeks on a single charge, depending on the screen brightness and other options. And of course, wi-fi allows it to connect directly to the Amazon e-book store.

The screen is a bit lower quality than the other options, but that’s forgivable.

Kindle Paperwhite – In addition to no glare, long battery life, and wi-fi, this reader has a few more perks. The screen is twice as clear as the basic Kindle; that together with Amazon’s Bookerly font means that eyestrain is vastly reduced. As well, it comes with built in LEDs to light up the screen for easy reading at night. No more struggling with a flashlight!

This model is actually on sale right now. Get it for only $20 more than the basic model!

Kindle Voyage – Admittedly, this one is only a slight upgrade from the Paperwhite. Two more LEDs offer brighter and more uniform illumination at night, and the PagePress system allows you to turn the page with only a slight bit of pressure. As well, the slimmer design means it’s even lighter than the Kindle and the Paperwhite

Kindle Oasis – The all-new Kindle experience, just released this year. An inch more of screen means that you get even more text per page, and even less eye strain. In addition, this is the first model to be truly waterproof, reportedly able to survive up to 60 minutes in fresh water. No need to panic if you slip in the bath or knock over a drink.

It has 12 integrated LEDs for nighttime reading, and the 32 GB option means you can carry four times the number of titles with you. The thinnest Kindle yet, its aluminum back and strong cover glass means that it weighs less than any of the other models.

Headphones

Headphones are a mainstay for the holiday season. Everybody likes music is some form or another, and even if they (somehow) don’t, they like movies or TV or gaming or what-have-you. They’re less intrusive than speakers, and some of them come with microphones built in!

You might be asking why you should pay all this extra money when you can find perfectly good headphones at the dollar store. Well, you get what you pay for: dollar store headphones break easily and offer less sound quality. It’s like the difference between VHS and DVD; functionally the same, but inferior.

The lower price of most earbuds mean they’re better as stocking-stuffers, but headphones offer far superior sound quality. However, take note of whether the receiver has glasses or not. A lot of over-ear headphones press the arms of the glasses into the wearer’s temples, making it painful to wear them for long. Earbuds are more suited for wear with glasses, unless the headphones are loose enough to not press down.

Earbuds

MXditect 2-pack – A modest 2-pack of earbuds. The cord is covered with anti-tangle, anti-kink material, and includes a button to control calls and music as well as a slider for volume. Almost 1,000 reviews give it a solid five stars. Best of all, if you have Amazon prime you can get next-day shipping.

Aitalk E260 – For those who like to take their music on the go, these over-ear headphones keep the cord out of the way and the buds in your ears. Perfect for those that like to jog or run to music and are always complaining about their tunes falling out of their ears. Offers 2-day shipping.

SD Flayer – For something a bit pricier, these specially-designed headphones have an extra little rubber bit that braces the bud on the inside of the ear. Crystal clear sound and kink-resistant cord means only the best for your little beatmaster. Comes with a silk carrying bag and a gift box.

Shure Series – And here we have the obligatory ‘dear lord what is that price’ option, for those who were REALLY impressed by their (grand)children this year. The Shure series of earbuds are designed to slip into the ear and form a tight seal, offering noise-cancelling effects even as they improve comfort and design. The model linked, the SE215-K, features a detachable able for easy customization (but not wireless play). It also includes the option to purchase a different wire with music/call control buttons.

Headphones

Cowin E7 – Now on sale for $80 when they’re usually $200, these wireless headphones include a built-in microphone, noise-cancelling tech, and NFC pairing. That last one means you only need to bring the headphones close to the thing you’re trying to connect them to to make them connect. Handy! With 30 hours of battery life and coming in a gift box, these are perhaps the perfect gift – while the sale lasts.

E-Sports – In case the sale ends, these wireless headphones offer basically the same function with less quality. Connects easily with Bluetooth, has a built-in mic, and offers noise-cancelling effects. Free shipping, too!

Audio-Technica ATH-M50x/ATH-M40x – Both of these models of Audio-Technica headsets are on sale right now. I would honestly go with the M50x over the M40x, if only because the sale is for a lot more. Although these headphones don’t come with microphones, they’re critically acclaimed by professionals everywhere for their quality and performance. If your (grand)child is serious about their music mixing and doesn’t already have a pro setup, this is for them.

Speakers

Speakers are a must for anyone who likes music. Whether it’s to share beats with friends or to get an impromptu dance party going, no kid or adult can fail to get excited at a quality speaker. Especially if it’s wireless!

VicTsing Shower Speaker – Half off right now at only $26, this waterproof Bluetooth speaker is perfect for the kid who can��t stay away from their tunes. Of course, the shower isn’t the only place they can use it; the suction cup and built-in mic means that hands-free music and phone calls can happen in the car, while they’re doing the dishes, or anywhere else that requires two hands.

Altec Lansing iMW575 – Just because summer is six months away doesn’t mean you can’t start preparing now. On sale now for $70 off, this floating, waterproof Bluetooth speaker is perfect for pumping up the tunes in the pool. Parties, get-togethers, or even just a fun day with the family, this speaker does it all. Voice command also lets you answer phone calls hands free, without even getting out of the water.

Tsumbay – This one isn’t waterproof unfortunately, but that’s alright! With a $30 price-point and 12 modes for its LED light, this speaker is more suited to relaxing in the backyard after a long day. Play music through Bluetooth, off an SD card, or even pick up radio stations! Answering calls is also supported.

Mics and Webcams

For that movie-maker or up-and-coming YouTuber, microphones and webcams are the perfect holiday surprise. Laptop defaults don’t really cut it if you’re trying to pump out a hit YouTube series or shoot the next big blockbuster. HD quality is a must if you don’t want people to leave, and these products are the best!

Mics

Neewer NW-700 (w/ Scissor Mount) – This professional-grade mic is perfect for picking up sounds directly in front of it. Meaning, if your gift-getter is into recording their own vocals, voice-acting, or any kind of broadcast, this is for them. YouTubers, podcasters, and recording artists will all benefit from this mic. And for $20 more, you can get it shipped with a scissor mount. Easily adjust the microphone for sitting or standing, and make sure that lisping, static, and annoying white noise is a thing of the past.

Blue Snowball iCE – For something a little more portable, the Blue Snowball iCE mic is great, especially for the relatively cheap price. Clear audio for podcasts, video recording, interviews, and field work. Not intended for professional or studio quality, but for streaming games it works fairly well. It’s recommended you get a different stand though, the one that comes with it is terrible.

Audio Technica AT2020 – Currently on sale for $60 off, this mid-range microphone is another ‘get-what-you-pay-for’ type situation. This is more for music recording than podcasts, so if your intended recipient is an aspiring YouTuber or podcaster, this isn’t for them. It’s not going to win you any awards, but the sound and quality is good enough for first-time vocals and guitar recording. The only thing is, it doesn’t have a USB, so you’ll need an extra cable to connect it to the computer. You can find one here.

Webcams

Microsoft Lifecam HD-3000 – A starter model from Microsoft, this cam is slightly better than the stock cam in a laptop but not professional by any means. If your burgeoning YouTuber is just starting out or not very serious, this is the perfect model. Currently on sale for $15 off.

Logitech Webcam HD Pro C920 – An HD webcam with built-in microphones, this cam is perfect for the recorder that’s just gaining some traction with their videos but is still a long way off from going viral. Currently on sale for $40 off. If this isn’t quite enough, there are more expensive versions available on the same page, including the next model.

Logitech Webcam HD Pro C930 – Business-grade recording at 30 frames per second (only one level down from professional grade) means that this is the best model available for a recorder on the cusp of fame. Tilt, zoom, pan, and built-in mics make it the full package, and the $55 discount doesn’t hurt either.

Computer Mouse

Computer mice aren’t a very involved topic unless you’re trying to become a pro gamer. For a casual Christmas gift, the mice listed below are more than enough.

Pictek 7200 DPI – You might think that wireless is the way to go for a mouse, but that’s not always the case. When playing a game that requires quick movements like Overwatch or Counter Strike, wires make you just a bit faster. That bit is important to gamers. Trust me. With it on sale for $15 off, it’s the perfect time to get it!

VicTsing Mini – That being said, not everyone got the memo about wires. If your gift getter simply insists on wireless, this would be the way to go. Five DPI (speed) levels and cool LED lighting that comes in two colors. It’s also got noiseless clicking, which is handy when they stay up late to game. On sale for $20 off.

Zelotes 7200 DPI – Another wired option with funky LED with much the same features as the Pictek. Not just for gaming either; can be used for visual design and other artistic applications. A solid option, especially since it’s on sale for $25 off.

Digital Assistant

Digital assistants are small, mug-sized towers that sit in your home and listen for your voice. When you say the keyword out loud (OK Google, Hey Alexa), you can issue voice commands to them. They can search Google, make purchases, remind you of things, set calendar events, play music, look up the weather, and even control other smart devices in your home!

There are currently two main competitors in the digital assistant market. The Amazon Echo series, and the Google Home series.

Amazon Echo

Echo – The basic model of the Echo series, the Amazon Echo can sync up to smart devices around your home as well as other products from the Echo series. Connected to the internet, it has a slew of useful ‘skills’, such as making reminders, sending emails, and playing music off of Spotify and other platforms. It’s a perfect midway point for someone who likes music but doesn’t have a lot of smart devices.

Echo Dot – Half the size of the Echo, the only thing missing from this model is the 60mm speaker. It can still serve your needs perfectly well with the 16mm one, but the sound will be diminished and tinny. You can connect it to a speaker over cord or Bluetooth, but otherwise this one isn’t recommended for music.

Echo Plus – The Plus has all the functionality of the Dot and the Echo, but with an extra ZigBee smart home hub. This means that it’s extremely easy to connect those fancy WiFi light bulbs to the Plus. More than the other two, which require either extra apps on your phone or even additional hardware. For instance, for one of the aforementioned app light bulbs, you need a special plug off Amazon for $10.

Basically, if the person you’re buying for has a lot of wireless smart devices, get the Plus. If they like listening to music and don’t have many smart devices, get the Echo. And if they don’t have many smart devices and don’t care about listening to music out loud, get the Dot.

Google Home

Google Home – Basically the same functionality as the Echo series, but has the added benefit of belonging to Google. This means that it’s better at some things, like searching videos on YouTube, translating to different languages, using Gmail, and searching Google. Another advantage it has is native support of most smart devices, meaning that you don’t need some special plug for it to be able to control your WiFi light bulbs.

Google Home Mini – On sale now for 50% off, the only real difference between the Home and the Mini is that the volume and mic sensitivity is lessened in the Mini. If playing music and being far away isn’t that integral to the gift receiver, this one is perfect.

Roku

The Roku is small device that plugs into an HDMI port on a TV. Connected to the internet, it allows the user to watch TV shows and movies from a bunch of different sites and apps. If your gift receiver doesn’t have cable or satellite in their dorm room or house, this is the perfect Christmas gift.

There are a bunch of different models that offer crisper images, clearer audio, faster loading, or simpler controls, but the basic model can be found here.

Keurig

Aaaah, the Keurig. My favorite non-computer electronic in the entire apartment. Keurigs are a line of one-cup coffeemakers that use a pod-based system. You buy K-Cups from retailers, put one in the machine, fill with water, and press the button.

Just don’t forget the cup.

There are dozens, if not hundreds of companies that have jumped on the K-Cup train. Fresh, quality coffee, tea, hot chocolate, and other beverages over in your cupboard is too tempting to resist. Starbucks, Tim Hortons, and Dunkin Donuts all have their own line of K Cups.

There are a few different models of Keurig machines, but the functionality doesn’t really differ between them. The only thing that changes is how often you need to refill it and the customization options. Some have ways to change the strength of the brew, some have screen displays. They all brew coffee.

Here they are, in order of cost.

K15 – On sale for $20 off; smallest reservoir and no extras

K50 – On sale for $30 off; slightly bigger reservoir

B130 – On sale for $50 off;  desk version, brews only one cup before needing more water

K200 – On sale for $30 off; bigger reservoir, small greyscale touch screen, coffee strength control

K425 – On sale for $20 off; large reservoir, small color touch screen, coffee strength control

K525 – Huge reservoir, large color touch screen, coffee strength control

If these are too pricey, or they already have a Keurig, consider buying them some accessories. Reusable K-Cups, a drawer for their different coffees, or a coffee sampler pack are all amazing gifts on their own.

Amazon Gift Card

If you absolutely cannot figure out if they’d like any one of these gifts, an Amazon gift card in a nifty Santa tin is acceptable. It’s an easy way to allow them to pick out what they want. And with quick shipping, it’s like they got it for Christmas anyways!