Category: Tech

eSIMs are some of the most useful but often confusing tools a traveler has at their disposal. We’ve talked about eSIMs before and the video above addresses all of the main questions many of you had. Watch it here first before checking out the quick answers below.

Do You Get A Phone Number?

This depends on the eSIM service provider locally, not the eSIM technology itself. For travel eSIMs, generally the answer is no since most online stores like Airalo, BNEsim, and Holyfly don’t have the proper permits for phone number (and SMS) so they only come with data.

Same With SMS?

Yes, that’s correct.

How Do I Make Calls?

You can use Facetime, Whatsapp, Signal, or any other Internet-based calling service. Otherwise you won’t be able to make a call with the travel eSIM if it doesn’t come with a phone number. You can go to a local shop or kiosk at the airport and set up a short-term mobile account (which will likely still use an eSIM) but probably get a phone number instead of data only. Alternatively, you can set up your home mobile service to include international roaming and use it when traveling.

Can I Use More Than One eSIM At A Time?

Almost all eSIM capable phones will let you use two eSIMs at the same time. (You can install many more.) This would let you use your home eSIM/service to make calls and the local eSIM for data. Just be sure you’re using the right eSIM for both. To be safe, deactivate your home eSIM when it’s not in use.

What Happens To Your Home eSIM?

Nothing. Any new eSIMs act independently, just like physical SIM cards would.

eSIM Summary

In short, eSIMs can make staying connected while traveling so much easier. They can be purchased in advance and activated later if needed and give you data all around the world. There are also regional eSIMs and all can be purchased right from you phone. For travelers to Turkey though, you’ll need to do this first.

The Ridge Magnetic Power Bank is a really solid start on being a versatile, all-in-one, small charger that looks good and can do a lot. And depending on the phone you’ll be charging it’s just right or just short of ideal.

You can watch the video above for the full review and read the summary below.

Colors And Capacity

Ridge’s Magnetic Power Bank is a small charger with a capacity of 10,000 Milliampere hours (mAh) . That’s enough to charge most smartphones up full about twice over. The Magnetic Power Bank has 15 watt MagSafe wireless charging and a built in lightening cable and USB-C cable, plus a USB-C port that has 20 watt charging. All of those watts means your devices will charge quickly but if you don’t have an iPhone that has a lightening port, it’s one useless cable for you.

It comes in three colors, Matte Black, Matte Olive, or my personal favorite the Basecamp Orange. Lighter and more compact, ever so slightly than most chargers of this capacity, the Magnetic Power Bank can even lend some electricity to your laptop if needed.

Digital Design

On the bottom of the Ridge Magnetic Power Bank there’s a small display showing you whether or not the power bank is charging devices, being charged, and how what percentage the battery has left. One area of confusion is though when you plug it into a laptop, sometimes the Power Bank wants to charge your laptop when you might want it to be charged by the laptop.

Some clicks of the bottom on the button often resolves the issue but it’s something to keep an eye on if you’re someone who uses your laptop as an electrical outlet.

I do appreciate the swings Ridge took with the design and it’s one I think a lot of you will be happy with. If you’ve already got a charger around the 10,000 mAh capacity I don’t think the Ridge Magnetic Power Bank offers something revolutionary enough to replace it with. I’d suggest waiting for the next version, maybe one with 2 USB-C cables built in or with faster wireless charging. But if you don’t currently have a portable charger and want something small, versatile, and light, that costs about 10-20% more than some competing products, the Ridge Magnetic Power Bank is a powerful option.

The Garmin 970 is their new top model Forerunner, a line focused on fitness and running. The 970 replaces the 965 and brings with it a lot of new features but it makes some key compromises at the same time. You can watch my full review in the video above or read on for the highlights.

Stays Slim

The Forerunner line are designed to be light and thin so as to be comfortable when you’re wearing while running or during other sports activities. No exception, the 970 is 47 x 47 x 12.9 millimeters with a 35.3 millimeter display. Gaining 3 grams (now up to 56) the 970 is still light but being slightly heavier is a trade off you’ll likely be okay with.

The lens is now a more scratch resistant material (sapphire crystal) but a bulk of the added weight comes from two big hardware additions.

Light, Listen, And Sound

The 970 now has a built in flashlight with 3 white light modes and a bright red light mode. As bright as most new cell phones a flashlight is one of those features on a watch you didn’t realize you needed until you use it all the time. Garmin have also introduced a microphone and speaker to the 970 so you can now make and take calls with the watch. You can also have it read out kilometer markers or when an activity is starting but a less talked about feature are the new voice commands.

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Those work completely offline and let you set alarms, countdown times, activate the flashlight, and a whole bunch of other watch functions with a long press and speaking the command. Voice commands work fairly well, though it can be a bit buggy, I imagine as Garmin improves the feature with software updates over time it will be even more useful.

New Sensors

The 970 now comes with Garmin’s generation 5 Elevate heart rate sensor – a bit more accurate than the gen 4 – and capable of taking electrocardiograms or ECG. The ECG function may be useful in detecting atrial fibrillation, known as Afib, which is an irregular heart beat. The ECG feature isn’t available in all regions and honestly it’s one of those features you’ll use once or twice when you first get the 970 and then probably never bother with again.

The Elevate 5 heart rate sensor can also measure skin temperature and ambient temperature if you take it off for about 10 minutes. There’s a glance dedicated to temperature and when you’re sleeping the 970 uses the temperature readings to better determine your sleep score.

But the biggest jump up for the Forerunner 970 is the new price. The 970 is now $750 (up from the $600 the 965 was sold for new) and as big of an upgrade for Garmin the 970 is, the price will probably keep a lot of people away. You can still get the 965 new at a discount and other manufacturers sell watches with built-in maps for a lot less if you’re wondering if you should buy a Forerunner right now. Garmin decided the Forerunner 970 was going to take a big leap forward but I don’t think anyone was expecting them to do so this much with the cost.

Macbooks are expensive equipment that are fragile in some key places. Anyone who’s owned one is familiar with the keyboard shine that happens over time. While it’s not entirely preventable, it can be slowed down with some regular maintenance.

Here’s how to stop Macbook keyboards from getting shiny.

Why So Shine?

The reason this familiar gloss happens on Macbooks and happens relatively quickly compared to some other laptops is that Apple uses ABS plastic for its keys. ABS stands for Acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene and this type of plastic, compared to others used for key caps has some advantages. It is durable and cost effective compared to alternatives.

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What causes the shiny keys, more noticeable and faster than keyboards made with other plastics comes from a few factors. The first is physical – the matte finish of the keys wear down over time from being typed on and since the matte fishing is particularly fine and as thin as possible, this can happen quickly. You’ll also notice it on the keys and parts of the space bar you tend to use most, because that’s where there’s the most and most frequent impact from typing.

The second cause is where you can really slow down the progression of increasingly shiny keys.

Keys To Prevention

Our fingers and hands are producing oil and sweat all day. They’re also really good at picking up dirt – all things that can accumulate on your keys and make them shinier over time. Try, before each time you sit down at your Macbook to wash your hands first. This will help remove excess finger oils and dirt. Also, don’t eat over your keyboard to prevent additional grease, grime, and dirt from accumulating.

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ABS plastic is also particularly sensitive to heat and UV light. Typing outdoors and under the sun especially can slowly degrade the plastic, which you’ll begin to notice as shine, over time. When possible, try to avoid using your Macbook in extremely hot conditions or outdoors in direct sunlight.

Using a cleaning solution like iKlear, which a lot of apple stores use on their display models once a week keeps oil and grease to a minimum and reduces the amount of shine it will accumulate. Macbook keyboard shine isn’t entirely preventable but you can slow it down, and now you know how. If it’s something you’re really worried about you can get a keyboard cover but eventually, the impact of typing – will wear your keyboard out, even if dirt and grease can’t get to it.