The Verge guide to holiday shopping

24:09But having used the very, very souped up MacBook Pros and having an M2 MacBook Air as my personal computer right now, you know, the MacBook Air is good enough for most of your like daily, you know, productivity type software. Where so long as you don't do what I did and get an eight gigabits of memory, that was a dumb choice on my part. You need at least 16. So you have to factor that into the price. So, yeah, like the one thing I'm hung up on is like needing programs that are only available on Windows. So I believe there is a solution to this problem, which is the Windows app, which is now a thing that exists as of just a couple of weeks ago.

24:50And I confess I have not used this at all personally. But the idea is you can now download Windows as an app and run what amounts to a virtual computer on your Mac computer. I do not believe that you should buy a computer and also another computer and then use the one computer to access the other computer. Like, yeah, that way lies madness. Dan is the like boot camp exists. Parallels exists. There's like kind of strategies here. Like, what do we do? Well, first off, I'll start with saying I don't think you need a MacBook Pro. I think a MacBook Air, like V said, is entirely capable of running the workloads of Excel and PowerPoint, particularly compared to an Intel MacBook Pro.

25:31Like the jump going from Intel to an M series processor is just enormous. And you're going to have power to spare so long as you equip it with at least 16 gigs of RAM. And I would recommend probably 512 to a terabyte of storage for this next half of the recommendation. And so I think go MacBook Air is my first recommendation. The second thing is buy the MacBook and then explore these options for running your Windows apps on the MacBook, whether that is the Windows app, whether that is Parallels. Bootcamp might be a little weird. That actually requires you to use a Windows on ARM build and it's a little wonky on the ARM Macs.

26:08I think Parallels is a little bit more straightforward of a solution. But again, I personally have not directly used it. But you should try it out and see if it allows you to do the things that you need to do. And if it doesn't, then you might have to go your route of setting up a tower PC. I don't even think you really need to go a tower PC. I think you could go a pretty simple PC that's always plugged in at home and you can just remote desktop into it and go from there. Nathan's not the only one with this problem. I know Neelai's been on the show many times talking about how his lawyer wife has to deal with very weird Windows-based programs and trying to use them on a Mac.

26:43It's a huge pain. He's not the only one with this problem. And so that means there are people who are trying to solve it. And so that would be my recommendation. Go get a good MacBook Air. Equip it well enough. You are still probably going to be spending close to$2 ,000 on this, but it's not$3 ,000. And see if you can get your Windows applications to run. And if not, then go to the next step. And if it's the kind of thing that it's like old, outdated software that just only runs on Windows, odds are that if you buy one of those like little$200 mini PCs things, it'll work fine for the occasional times you need to use it.

27:15So that would be my recommendation, is that if you do end up buying two computers. Unless Nathan is saying these, quote, needing software that's only available on Windows is AAA games, then you do need that big power tower, or you should just buy a gaming laptop. But I don't think that's what he was referring to. Just get a console. If you really want to be a Mac user and play AAA games, the console is just going to be so much easier for you. like just just just do there's so many pc gamers furiously sending you emails right now v i just want you to know don't just just don't just don't do it like so like my spouse is a gamer or was a gamer and they had this problem too and they have just like thrown up their hands in the air and gone like eff it of a ps5 and an xbox that's just just just it and you know for their purposes like are you really gaming on the go that you want it to be on your your pc or do you want in their case a giant 65 inch lg oled to to sit like two feet in front of because they move up their chair to two feet in front of the the so that all the racing games can go directly into their eyeballs i i don't know i just think just do the console and use the mac for work uh that's if if we are talking triple a games here i'm just saying macbook air mini pc steam deck and you are just living your best life like that's the that's the way to do it happy holidays to everybody it's a huge victory all right let's move on jen i have terrible news for you it's time to talk about matter i'm so sorry we have to do this one more time before the year is over we got a bunch of smart home questions i would say all of which i can distill into this voicemail from chris hi this is chris from los angeles gotta ask going into buying season what's up with matter what home tech am I allowed to buy?

29:05What home tech should I absolutely not buy? Is it the year for matter? Thanks, Chris. I also want to know the question because I'm buying a house. Yay, my first house. And I'm going to go straight into the smart home. So I need I need this for me. Yeah, we got a lot of versions of this question because I think this is the time of year to buy all this stuff, right? Like they're fun stocking stuffers. They're fun gifts to buy people. And every version of this question we got is essentially, am I a moron for buying smart home stuff right now? As we've talked about many times, we're in the middle of transitioning to matter.

29:41Matter is kind of here. It's also kind of not here. Jen, talk us through it. Give us a gift guide here. What are we doing? Well, two points. The first would be friends don't buy friends matter devices for Christmas.

29:54Just don't put that pain on them. And the second would be, V, can you wait a couple years to move into your new house? No, my lease is up at the end of this month. So I know Nila's been going through this same issue with his house. You know, this is a tricky time. And I would like to say it's unique in the smart home to be in this awkward situation where you're between protocols and between devices and technologies. But no, this has been happening since I got into the smart home a decade ago. The smart home is continually changing. It's never in a place where you're like, okay, it's here. This is right.

30:31This is the way to do it. I'm happy. So really, it's kind of like any tech. I do always encourage people to buy. I think we do this a lot with our reviews. The best you can afford that fits your need. And that's still where it sits with Smart Home, I think. Mata is going to help, but it is not helping yet. And right now, Now, my number one recommendation about my Matter devices would be only by Matter devices that also work on other platforms, which is to sort of break that down a little bit. So Matter itself is not a platform, but it does support all the major platforms. And that's its biggest selling point.

31:10And that's the one thing that I feel is good about Matter devices. If you want to buy a cheap smart switch now for your Apple Home setup, you can go and do that. You really didn't have the option before Matter. And that's an area where Matter has succeeded. Yay. Where it has not succeeded is in being able to pair to multiple smart home systems. So I have spent the last month tearing my hair out trying to pair my Philips Hue platform, my Philips Hue bulbs in my house, which I have had for over a decade because that's one of those systems that's been around for a long time. And it's been something of a complicated process.

31:48And basically, there are still problems with that interoperability. So it's great if you want to buy a device and pair it to one smartphone platform. But if you're one of the few, and I'm guessing there aren't a ton of people out here that want to use two, three or four smartphone platforms. But I'm also guessing that if there are people that want to do that, they are listening. They are people. Yes, welcome. And that's where things go sideways fast. So I paired my Hue bulbs, all 40 bulbs I have in my house, and slowly collected over the years to Apple Home, worked great through Matter, paired them to Alexa, worked great.

32:25Next day, left. They'd gone from Apple Home. They weren't there anymore. And they weren't working anymore. So they weren't responding, which anyone that uses Apple Home will be familiar with. And then vice versa. The same thing happened with Alexa. It stopped working. And so I have literally been tearing my hair out. It's not been fun. So matter right now is still in its early stages. I remember when we first went to the launch party, launch event for it, the head of the CSA, the organization behind it said, matter is a journey. It's going to take a long time. And if matter is a journey, I would say we're right about the stage where we've just stopped at the gas station to fuel up.

33:00So it's going to be a really long time until we get where we need to be in terms of that solid interoperability. So right now, number one takeaway, if you're going to buy a device and you want it to work with a specific smart home platform and it works with Matter, that's great. But also make sure you have a backup so that it also works with Amazon Alexa over the cloud or Apple HomeKit as a HomeKit device, because there are still a lot of interoperability problems. Unfortunately, it is not the salvation of the smart home that we were all hoping, but there's still potential. And the most important part about Matter right now, I would say, is future proofing.

33:36So having a device that works with matter now is a good thing for the future of your smart home, but it's not going to solve your problems, most of your problems today, unfortunately. So one of the things they promised us or quite loudly said at the beginning of all of this was all your smart home devices that you currently have will work in matter going forward. So, yay, you don't have to go out and buy new stuff. That does not seem to be really happening. and you know philips hue example i just just gave i mean it does work with matter but but not well so i've just reverted to using it the way it always worked which it worked brilliantly it has for many years and what's not broken in the smart home you should not try and fix because you always run into problems so backwards compatibility has been one of the sort of real letdowns here.

34:27We've really hoped that a lot of our current devices would get upgraded to support Matter and either over Wi-Fi or Thread, which is one of the main protocols that Matter runs over. And it seems like from talking to companies out there that the kind of load that Matter requires for their products is just, it's much heavier than they had expected. So they're not able to update these devices necessarily with firmware. And if they do, sometimes that actually takes away function, which is one of the issues that Eve had with some of its devices. So it's smart plugs, they updated to Matter. And there was a potential that it was going to take away the function for energy monitoring, which is one of their best features.

35:09So they managed to get around that. But yeah, there's problems there. It's not as easy as people had hoped. So V, I think you should probably wait. Oh, no. One of the things that I believe strongly about gift giving is that you should never give someone a to-do list. And I think one of the things that happens when you give somebody like a smart home gift in a lot of cases is like, I've now signed you up to make 10 phone calls and rewire your entire house. But so here's what I wonder. And I'm curious kind of for everybody's perspective on this, because we're all sort of dealing with smart home stuff at various stages of installation.

35:45What is a good and not to-do listy smart home gift you can give someone at this point in time? A plug? A plug, yeah. You know, individual components are actually tough to recommend because you don't know what platform, unless you know this recipient very well, you might not know what platform they are using or prefer. That's true. So if you are going to do individual components, something like Jen said that works on all of them is obviously the way to go. So smart plugs like from Miros, they work on all the major platforms, very reliable. We like them a lot. They're very inexpensive. of Hue bulbs are very reliable, work on all the platforms.

36:25Hue lights, I have found, by the way, are almost always a hit gift because they set up really fast and they're fun. So in three minutes, you're just changing the lights in your house. Yeah. I have found, I don't know that anyone I've given them to as a gift has actually used them for very long, but they're a fun - But they haven't complained about them. Yeah. So there's things like that. I think that for a few years, everyone was giving everyone smart speakers and smart displays. I think we're kind of past that point. And not everyone wants a smart speaker. If they did want one, they probably have it already.

36:58And so that's a little tougher. I just think that, too, kind of like what Jen was saying, I think smart home products make a great gift for yourself and less of a great gift for someone else. Unless you know this person is already a smart home person and they've given you the list of things they want and there's smart home things on there and you just go buy them on that. I think that like you are introducing a project to the uninitiated. My only caveat there is if you are going to be the project maintainer, then maybe that's OK. An example, my in-laws, I gave them a Google Home Hub or Nest Hub, whatever it's called these days, the smart display, a few years ago.

37:42And I linked it up to Google Photos. And now they automatically get photos of the grandchildren on their kitchen counter. I installed it, set it up on their Wi-Fi. They don't ever have to touch it. It just shows them pictures. And then I saw that my father-in-law set it to a five-second changeover between the images. So it's just speeding by images when I was over there. So I set it back to a minute. Everyone's happy. But you have to be prepared for that. Otherwise, you are kind of introducing a project to them. And maybe that's not the best gifting type of thing. Photo frames are a good one. My mother-in-law loves them.

38:14That's the nice thing about the smart displays is being able to set up that feature. And there are ones that aren't smart displays if people don't want the speakers and microphones as well, like Skylight and Aura. But in terms of, yes, my actual smart home devices, it's kind of like, I mean, would you buy someone a tap, a faucet for Christmas? You know, it's like those types of, you know, I'd love a smart tap, a smart faucet myself. But so it's my English, my English. It's just there's slightly odd things. Oh, here's a smart switch. Go wire it into your house. And as much as you're going to get out of it, I think the one area that perhaps I would say, OK, this would be kind of cool is when you know they have a problem and there is a smart home device out there that will solve it.

38:58For example, like a smart garage door opener. Or, you know, if your granddad or your neighbor is always leaving their garage door open, you're like, look, here's a smart garage door controller. Look how you can do this. And every time you give someone a smart gift like that, you should have a little coupon next to it that says, I will come and install it and set it up for you. That's good. Yeah, and then I will not maintain it over time. Like this comes with seven days of service and then no more beyond that. That's how long your warranty lasts. V, are you thinking about smart home gifts? What are you going to give or receive this year?

39:33No, so I think I'm going to follow everyone's advice and do all the research ahead of time, a.k.a. Jen, I'm sliding into your DM sometime soon. And then I'm going to make a list and then send that list to everyone and say, only buy things on this list for me. But yeah, I'm basically, I want a thermostat as like number one on my list, just to, you know, lower my utility bills. And then, you know, further down the line, I'm going to get one of those Toto toilets in the bidet. So it's further, further down the line. That's a good gift. That's like a slightly awkward thing to talk about potentially at the holidays.

40:10But if you're that kind of family, like get after it. I bought one last year for the fans, like the family gift or for like my wife and I to use. And I love it. You know, you will change someone's life by introducing them to a Toto. That is true. I don't know if that counts as smart home, but it's high tech, so I'll take it. This will do it. All right, we got to take one more break, and then we have a few more questions, and we'll get out of here. We'll be right back.

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41:52All right, we're back. All right, Jen, one more smart home question before we get out of this matter chaos. This is an email from Alec, and this is like not specifically a Christmas holiday question, but this is actually a thing I've heard a bunch of people buy for the holidays. So I'm going to we're going to do it anyway. The email says last spring, Google announced that it will be getting rid of the Nest security products and support in April 2024, and that Nest customers can get a free set of ADT hardware to replace it. Problem is the ADT hardware doesn't seem very good to me, and I'd rather have a better alternative that can work with my remaining Nest products, doorbell, smoke detector, etc., as well as Apple Home and Google Home.

42:27I'm left wondering what a good alternative is to Nest security that isn't ADT. Lots of options, but no clear good direction. This definitely falls under the do not buy someone a whole security system for their house unless you know what they're doing. But if you want to give this to yourself or your partner or your family for the holidays, it seems like a reasonably good gift. Can we help this person? This sort of sunsetting of Nest thing has been going on for a while and does sort of seem like a lot of people might just be left in the lurch. Is there a good way out of this? Yeah, it's a tricky one, this.

42:56It's such a shame. The Nest Secure system actually was a pretty neat system. I was very sad when it went away. What it did so well, and which I do have some alternatives for, so hopefully we'll have a good solution here. But what it did so well was it took home security, which is full of tiny little white plastic things you have to stick around your house, and digested it all into one tiny little sensor and a nice little central hub. So it was a beautiful product in that respect. It was overpriced and had a fair number of other flaws. But, you know, that core functionality was really good. And then also the NFC tag.

43:32So you didn't have to worry about running in and like pressing the keypad thing, which still gives me nervous sort of hives when I have to do. Because I do it all the time when I'm testing these devices. Like, oh, no, the police is going to show up. But anyway, so it had some great solutions there. And this is what I like about the smart home when it takes a sort of legacy product and does makes it smart, makes it. Oh, wow. This is so much better than it was before. And there are a couple of solutions out there that will fill that Nest Secure-shaped hole. Unfortunately, not entirely precisely.

44:04There's a few sort of caveats and choices you have to make. So you're not going to get some of the benefits that Nest Secure had. But what I love about these two is that they both offer that all-in-one sensor product. So the two options that I really like are Arlo Secure and then the Ecobee security system. So they both have these all-in-one sensors. And Arlo Secure is probably going to be the best solution for our caller here because it's very well integrated with Google. It integrates into the Google Home system really well. The cameras and such, like the actual security system integration, it gets a little tricky when you integrate security systems into other systems because you want them to be secure.

44:48So there's a lot of sort of caveats about making, giving other platforms access to your security system. But in terms of using your Google Home app and integrating with your cameras, Arlo Secure is probably going to be your best solution. And it's really relatively inexpensive. It's like$200 to get started with the keypad and two sensors. And these sensors are awesome. They're all in one multi-sensors and they do eight different things, which is kind of impressive. So they're contact sensors, motion sensors, ambient light sensors, temperature sensors. They can also, the system itself can also listen for smoke and CO alarms.

45:24So you don't need, you know, all the other sensors that most security systems come with. And also they're leak detectors. You can't use them as a leak detector and a contact sensor at the same time. But you can, you know, you can choose, pick and choose what you want them to do, which is really neat. And if you use Arlo cameras, you actually can get video verification, which is a pretty key part of any kind of security system these days if you sign up for professional monitoring. And that was something that Nest Secure didn't offer. So that's where police will only come to your house if they can actually verify that something's wrong and not that you just forgot to know how to disarm the system by pressing the buttons.

46:05So the Arlo Secure is a good one. And then the Ecobee Secure system, very similar. It also has these sensors that are contact and motion in one, but they don't do all the other stuff. But what they do, and this is something that V might be interested in, is they do sync with your thermostat. And so if you leave your door open, you can set it to automatically turn your heating or AC off when the door's left open, just so that you're not, you know, accidentally cooling the outdoors or heating the outdoors. You used to say, we're not heating the outside here. So that's a neat sort of extra feature, which I really like.

46:43And that's the kind of thing, you know, security systems are boring. They're kind of expensive. You're paying monthly for them most of the time, and especially if you have professional monitoring. So it's kind of cool when they can do something else useful and helpful. And all of these, both on Arlo Secure and eCube, you can use as motion sensors and contact sensors in your smart home. So when the door opens, the lights can turn on. You can set motion automations and those types of home automation setups, which are really useful in your house, as well as also protecting you potentially if someone comes and tries to break in.

47:16So those are both good options. The other one would be Abode, which has a bit more like traditional security system. They have all the different sensors, but they also work as a Z-Wave hub. So if you want to connect to a broader smart home with Z-Wave devices. And all three of these do work with Apple Home. They all work with Google to some extent, and they all work with Amazon Alexa Assistant too. So you have kind of broad support there on the platforms. They all also have cameras with them. So our caller does mention he already has some Google cameras, but if you wanted to add more cameras, you can use cameras from all three of these systems in there.

47:57The ECOB cameras and the other cameras are really quite good. The Abode cameras I would maybe steer clear of. So there's some three good options and three good price points too. I think the cheapest actually is the Abode, which starts$160. The ADT stuff, unfortunately, just really wasn't very impressive. I read a lot of people complaining about that when it came out. But we did actually report a couple of months ago that it looks like ADT is working on another system where they're more tightly integrated with the Nest devices. and have some slightly nicer looking hardware. So if you can wait, you might want to wait and see how that pans out.

48:37But otherwise, I would look into one of those three options that I mentioned. I think you'll probably find something there that you'd like. I feel like our takeaway so far is that holiday season 2027 is going to be like sick for the smart home. It's going to be so good. Until then, just, you know, close your eyes and point at something and we'll try. No, I think that's super helpful. I'm actually going to, I think, go probably buy one of those this holiday season. Stuff's on good sale. I guess that's part of the reason everybody buys stuff is just everything's on sale right now. All right. A few more questions, then we're going to get out of here.

49:07We got a couple of questions about gaming, specifically handheld gaming. This first one is a voicemail from Sean. Hey, this is Sean from Ohio. Christmas is coming up, and I have a seven-year-old son at home that is really into video games. I've been noticing on TikTok a lot of these handheld, almost Game Boy-esque video game emulators. I'm wondering if those are any good, if emulator handheld gaming is very good. I've heard of the Steam Deck, and we own a Switch, but I'd love to get him something that I can just load up a bunch of games. Also, I'm a Mac user, so I don't know if that prohibits me or kind of detracts from being able to do that.

49:49Anyways, looking for a game device to buy for my son. Love to know your thoughts. Thanks. There are two correct answers to this question, I would say. One is a device called the Retroid Pocket, which is one of those things that comes from Amazon and ships with like a million built-in games that you can play. Some of them don't work very well. Some of them are like porny and weird on a lot of these emulator devices. But it's also, there are some very good games. So that's a good like all-in-one emulator kind of system. How old is your son if they're porny? Seven, you know, whatever. I'm not here to litigate.

50:24I'm not in charge. No, I think it's, it's the, you can basically either do the, like a system like the analog pocket, which is an amazing piece of hardware, but requires you to kind of bring your own games, which is the more legally upstanding thing as we've talked about on the show in the past, but also more expensive and more complicated. Or you can buy the things that you see all over Amazon from companies like Anbernic and Retroid and others that are just the, we downloaded every ROM we could find on the internet, put it onto a device and we'll ship it to you from Amazon. Those are very fun.

50:56They come with some weirdness. Some of the games don't work. Some might be games you don't like very much. They require some extra management, but they work. The Retroid Pocket is very good. It's the one people seem to like. So I would steer you that way if that's what you want. But if you want to be a gaming purist, the Analog Pocket is the one. Then we have a question that is another one we've gotten a bunch of, which is a voicemail from Hillary. Hey, VergeCast. This is Hillary. My husband and I are expecting our second child in May, and my husband wants to get a handheld gaming device to go with those long, sleepless nights.

51:33I think it's a little bit silly, too, because he's not actually going to have time to play it. But pretending that he does, he's trying to choose between a Steam Deck and a Nintendo Switch. Which would you recommend for using while caring for an infant? Thanks. neither of them are very good as nannies i would say so i think the way i like this question is this is less what can i do for the child and more like how do i occupy myself while my child sleeps on top of yeah having just had an infant i had terrible luck with this i found that anytime i put a screen up sort of behind his head he would wake up and it would go sideways but i will say Between these two, the Switch is the choice for me, at least.

52:16Yeah, same. The games work super well offline. The thing is really simple and straightforward. You can put it on a table and just use the Joy-Cons in your hands, or you can hold it, or you can plug it in. It'll end up being a thing your kids can use when they get older. I lean way towards Switch as the more sort of, I have a kid on my lap and also want to play video games kind of device. I totally agree. And I think that the challenge with the Steam Deck, while a phenomenal gaming device, is that you will spend a lot of time tinkering with it. And if you do have a limited amount of time to play, because you are also caring for a new infant, the Switch is the one that you'll be able to just pick up, start playing, put it down when you need to.

53:00And like David said, it is convertible to tabletop or TV playing very easily and stuff like that. So I would recommend the Switch as well. The best device for one-handed entertainment while you're caring for a child, because generally you're only going to have one hand, is a Kindle. Just press the button and you can turn the page. It's the only one that you don't need two hands for. Yeah, my gaming strategy was to get weirdly into this game called Hold Down on my phone, which is just a game where you shoot a ball at things and try to knock them down and get as far down as you possibly can. Have I ever spent six straight hours playing that game while a child slept on top of me?

53:38Yes, I absolutely have. So I truthfully, I would say like an Apple Arcade subscription is like the better infant care strategy than either of these devices. But yeah, I would lead a Nintendo Switch if that's where you're going. All right. One more question. And then we're getting out of here. This is a much broader question. So everybody has to answer, but you can go any direction you want. It's an email from Charles. It says, I think niche small batch hardware products make great gifts. Things like the Panic Playdate handheld console, the Dirty Wave M8 synth tracker, or the paper shoot camera.

54:08the problem i run into is finding these products in the first place usually the marketing relies on word of mouth referrals so they're hard to find if you're not deep into the specific community or hobby these products are made for i'm curious to know what your favorite small batch bespoke hardware is i'm going to broaden this question very slightly which is just to say we each have to recommend one thing that is like thoroughly non-obvious something that you wouldn't find on like a gift guide that is like here's the cool bose headphones and airpods and this iphone and that laptop. I've got one.

54:39And I will caveat that this might appear on one of our gift guides, because our gift guides are very good. And I consider this a niche small batch hardware. I'm not sure if Charles will agree, but I love the PineSill. It is a very cool little tool if you are into tinkering at all, or if you want to explore it. My personal experience, I've never soldered anything before. I bought a PineSill, and now I'm soldering. That's how it goes. And it was very easy to get into. It's very easy to use. It's very small and lightweight. It's inexpensive. It's a small company, open source hardware. That would be my recommendation.

55:14That's a good one. That counts. I'll give you that. V, what do you got? One of the things I tested this year that is completely stupid, but that I kind of enjoyed the concept of was the NowWatch. You're not going to find this anywhere, but it is like a stress tracker device thing, but it has these little disks. There's no display. It's one of these no display type trackers. It just buzzes whenever you're stressed. And it has these like gemstone faces that you take in and out with a little magnet. And that thing was fun. I would not recommend it to most people, to be clear, who actually care about their health tracking.

55:51But for people who are just like, I want something that's unique. I want something that's very stylish. I want something that's going to alert me when I'm really stressed out because I'm the of person who cares and wants my tech to tell me to cool down. Then that one, it's weird and kind of fun. And then I thought of the other one that's really niche and something that I bought for myself this year is the MediCube Booster H. And it's a little wand that you zap your face with so that your skincare goes into your skin more deeply. It uses electroporation. It's all over TikTok. But if you're not in the skincare community, you ain't going to know about this thing.

56:31So there you go. That's good. The MediCube Booster H, it's on sale for like 50 % these days. So I would do it. Hayley Bieber uses it. So there you go. All right, Jen, you got one? Well, I'm not sure it quite fits with the niche small batch hardware, but maybe it does. But Home Assistant. The Home Assistant Green, if you want to, you know, be budget, which is their their new budget version of getting started with Home Assistant. But as we started the smart home discussion with all the problems with Matter and how you should buy a device that also works with other platforms, Home Assistant would be your friend here because it can help you get any device into any platform and also will offer Matter support going forward.

57:15It has Matter support in beta right now, as everyone else does. Everyone's in beta right now. So, yeah, every time I write a review on The Verge, one of the comments will be, but you can already do this with Home Assistant. It is a great, powerful tool. It's one of those devices that if you give to a friend, you are going to then become their backup IT person. But you will know the right friend to give this to. And if you give it to the right friend, they will be very, very grateful. Yeah, the Home Assistant people are a little like the Linux people, but Home Assistant is much more of a product that regular people can actually figure out.

57:57And it's gotten that way a lot over this last year or two. They've really put a lot into making this a much easier proposition than it once was. I agree. Mine, I have two. One is a gadget and one is not, but it's close enough. one is the one i've already mentioned which is the analog pocket which i think as like a little game boy thing for the modern age is just one of the like best made pieces of hardware out there it's the kind of thing that like if you're in the gaming world you know this and you're like david the analog pocket doesn't count in this game but if you're not you've probably never heard of it it takes cartridges it's a very fun thing if you want to like play retro games in a new way it it rules and they're also building a thing for the n64 that is not coming out this year but it's probably coming out next year and i'm confident i'm going to um do whatever it takes to buy one whenever that happens so if you want to just like wrap up a piece of paper that says i'll buy you the n64 thing uh that works fine the other one is um i've gotten back into a kick with notebooks um as dan can attest i spend all of my time switching between to-do list apps and recently i have given up on to-do list apps and i'm back to writing on paper like a like our ancestors did and the team from Cortex, which makes very good podcasts over at RelayFM, they made a thing called the Sidekick Notepad that is this big, wide notebook that is part like lists on the right and just sort of empty space to write on the left.

59:18And it sits on your desk and is a perfect like day planner thing. And I love it very much. It's a great wrist rest for your keyboard too. It's specifically designed to be the width of your keyboard, which is very cool. Yeah. And it sort of sits in front of it and you can like write on it and then go back to typing. It's lovely and I have enjoyed it very much. so that's my recommendation all right thank you all we should get out of here i hope we have spent a lot of people's money um and if you want to buy us nice things to to tell us um send jen all of your matter compatible gadgets and she will somehow figure out how to install them in her home all right thank you guys appreciate it as always thanks bye

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