Mophie 3-in-1 Portable Travel Charger

I’ve tried many MagSafe travel combo chargers, and had a problem finding a good one. Many looked nice, and felt like they were of high quality, but always had something that wasn’t perfect. Many of them would do this really annoying thing where one or more connected devices would randomly act like it had lost its power connection and was reconnected to the charger after a blip, lighting up and chiming. When you’re on the edge of falling asleep in a quiet, dark room, this is not good.

This Mophie charger is the first one that doesn’t do that, and also feels like a top-notch product. It packs down small, deploys to a reasonable size on the night stand, and has adequate space for the devices it should accommodate. It’s powered by USB-C so you can use any power source you might already be packing, but it comes with an appropriately long cable and wall charger that packs in an included case, if you prefer it to be self-contained. If you get the “global edition”, it also comes with standard travel adapters.

It seems like these things would be table stakes, but they’re harder to find than I imagined. Mophie got it right with this one.

AMEX Platinum is Losing Access to Lufthansa Lounges

I’m stopping over at the Frankfurt Airport right now, and just noticed this in the AMEX app when making my way to the Lufthansa lounge:

Effective October 1, 2026, eligible Card Members will no longer have access to Lufthansa Lounges via the Global Lounge Collection benefit.

Oof, that sucks. As someone who flies through Frankfurt—already the airport that I loathe the most when flying in Europe—a few times a year, this was a benefit that I appreciated. No explanation, no apparent other benefit to replace it, just a loss of a valuable benefit.

I wish I could trade my (weird, IMO) Oura Ring credit to keep my lounge access. We keep getting odd and weirdly constrained discounts to things (for instance, a $75 credit when spending at Lululemon, once a quarter), instead of the travel-focused benefits we used to enjoy.

Spodek

I’m finishing up my latest trip to Poland for work. A favorite thing about our office is that it’s next to Spodek, an arena in Katowice. “Spodek” means “saucer” in English, and it is indeed shaped like a flying saucer. One of the touches I love about it is that it plays the musical tones that the aliens use in the movie Close Encounters of the Third Kind. Here’s a look (you might have to turn your speakers up).

Spodek

Spodek, in Katowice, Poland, is a “sports and entertainment hall” shaped like an alien flying saucer. Here it is at noon, when it plays the song from the ali…

youtube.com

Antonio G. Di Benedetto, writing at The Verge:

A Sony doesn’t have the impeccable handling of a Canon or a Nikon, or the romance of a Fujifilm or a Leica, but what makes the A7R VI captivating are the stone-cold results it delivers. Camera tech is constantly improving, but it will probably be a while before any camera — from Sony or anyone else — is superior enough to justify an upgrade from here.

I have the A7R V, this model’s predecessor, so I can’t really justify an upgrade to this one, but that’s a pretty solid review. Sony has really done a good job of establishing itself as one of the top camera brands.

We’re reaching peak camera with the Sony A7R VI

This camera has it all and does it all.

www.theverge.com

“Why Is It Absolute Hell to Buy a Movie Ticket Now?”

Gah, I’m traveling, and wasn’t on top of this, and now the 70mm IMAX theater in SF is sold out (or only really terrible seats available) as far as tickets are available, into January. I bought some seats to an advanced screening at Alamo Drafthouse, which will have to do, I suppose.

It does suck that I’m lucky to live close enough to that theater, but it’s crazy hard to get a ticket. I still haven’t been able to get one at that theater to The Odyssey, despite trying. It’s sold out into mid-September.

Why Is It Absolute Hell to Buy a Movie Ticket Now?

Overwhelmed theater apps and a scarcity mindset around exclusive big-screen formats for blockbusters like “Dune: Part Three” and “The Odyssey” have led to the “concertification” of movies.

www.wired.com
Movies
Katowice, Poland

“El Niño Is Back. And Worse Than Ever.”

Chico Harlan, to Michael Barbaro on The Daily podcast:

in an El Niño year, the sea surface temperatures, the ocean temperatures in that part of the Pacific, rather than gliding down, stays high and sometimes even keeps increasing. And if the gap between the temperatures in a given year — and the usual temperature is 0.5 Celsius, a pretty small threshold — that is an El Niño. If the gap between the water temperatures is two Celsius greater than usual, then you have a super El Niño.

And, Michael, this year we could be heading even for a three-degree gap, which is beyond what we’ve ever seen before.

Yikes.

El Niño Is Back. And Worse Than Ever.

The recurring climate phenomenon is poised this year to enter a new phase known as a super El Niño, exacerbating the effects of climate change.

www.nytimes.com
Science
Katowice, Poland

I’ve got this super expensive, super great propane fire pit to use while camping. It’s pretty ridiculous, but a campfire is such an essential part of camping for me, and the Howl is so much better than any of the alternatives I’ve used, that it’s worth it. It’s the third one I’ve owned, and I’ve tried several owned by others I’ve camped with. If you feel the same about a fire’s importance to your camping, and you camp enough for it to make a difference, take the advice “buy once, cry once” here.

Aside: Some might ask, “Why not just use wood?” Unfortunately, in California—and much of the American West—fire bans happen every summer, and you can’t have an open fire like that. The Howl is UL-rated, and able to be used in a lot more circumstances when other fire sources are banned.

This anecdote, posted to the Howl blog, is a fun look at just one part, and why it cost so much.

The $40,000 Mission Control Knob

Why did HOWL spend $40,000 certifying the Mission Control Knob? Go behind the engineering of a premium American-made propane fire pit.

www.howlcampfires.com

I always think of The Shield as a show no one watched. But searching online after hitting “publish” on that last post turned up a ton of kudos for that finale. The one at the LA Times was good, and has an interview with some of the actors. However, this made me literally laugh out loud:

Martinez: Glenn was brought into our world to play on our court, and she had to come up to our game. As it were, it was part of adding to the team. It didn’t diminish or alter the team.

“Martinez” here is Benito Martinez, who was by far the weakest regular actor on the show. The level dropped every time that guy was in a scene, and I was happy to see his character Aceveda get “promoted” out of the precinct.

Going off shift at ‘The Shield’

The actors agree that it was team chemistry that fueled FX’s police drama. But, not surprisingly, there are a few disagreements too.

www.latimes.com
TV

“Eight Perfect Series Finales”

Stephanie Bai, writing at The Atlantic:

Last year, I asked The Atlantic’s writers and editors to name a perfect episode of TV, but a perfect finale is especially hard to pull off—and nothing invokes the wrath of fans quite like a bad ending. Here are eight shows that make the most out of their last minutes.

I love this premise. For me, the first thing that came to mind when I thought of “a perfect finale” was the finale to The Shield (★★☆☆☆). For a show that started really rough for me, it was a rare example of one that got better over the seasons. And that finale was, indeed, perfect.

Eight Perfect Series Finales

How a show ends determines how it’s remembered.

www.theatlantic.com

Kristen A. Schmitt, writing at Smithsonian Magazine:

The test kit, which remains effective for up to 12 months, is simple to use. After carefully removing the tick with either tweezers or a tick-removal tool, you place it into the kit’s “Tick Crusher.” The grinder pulverizes the tick’s chitinous exterior, exposing the internal contents where the Borrelia burgdorferi is located. A patent-pending buffer solution readies the sample for testing. The user then inserts a test strip into a slot in the grinder. The strip’s chemically treated nitrocellulose paper functions as an immunochromatographic assay that can detect the presence of Borrelia burgdorferi.

As someone who is often out in areas where ticks are common, this is great to hear. California, where I live and ride MTB most often, isn’t a Lyme hotspot, but I’ve still had my share of tick discoveries post-ride, and this would definitely be welcome when that happens. At $50 each, with a 12-month shelf life, it’s probably a bit expensive, but I’ll certainly put one in the medicine cabinet anyway.

The First At-Home Test for Infected Ticks Could Improve Lyme Disease Diagnosis

LymeAlert will hit the market in August. The latest tool against the tick-borne illness could become a medicine cabinet staple

www.smithsonianmag.com