With Apple wrapping up 2024’s flagship smartphone releases, it’s time to peek into the world of mobile accessories for the iPhone 16 and other smartphones. I’m not talking about another iPhone 16 case or a MagSafe phone grip. No, today, I’m taking a look at a stylish little sling to carry your everyday essentials, even an iPhone 16 Pro Max, around town. Say hello to the Shinjuku Sling from Waterfield Designs.
I’ve been a fan of Waterfield Designs for over a decade now, as I’ve used several of its products, including backpacks, messenger bags, and laptop sleeves. As someone who often carries more than one phone around these days, I’m always looking for gear to help make that a bit easier.
The Shinjuku Sling is an excellent option if you want a sling big enough to carry even the biggest iPhone and your other everyday necessities. Here’s why I like it so much.
One thing I love about Waterfield is that all its products are made by hand in San Francisco. These aren’t mass-manufactured products, and each one is made with care using high-quality materials.
The Shinjuku Sling is made with waxed canvas and full-grain leather, with some colors using X-Pac Canvas. It comes in five colors: navy, brown, black, storm gray, and olive green (the last three colors are the X-Pac versions). It’s a relatively compact pouch that measures 8 x 2.5 x 5 inches, and it weighs only 8.8 ounces when empty.
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Despite its size, the Shinjuku Sling is quite roomy and spacious. It has one main compartment in the middle and two zippered pockets on the exterior. The one closest to your body is perfect for storing important documents, like a passport. All the compartments are lined with Waterfield’s signature gold lining, making it easy to see where your items are in the bag.
The main compartment has one large pocket for your phone, along with two stretchy mesh pockets for smaller items, like AirPods. My iPhone 16 Pro Max (sans case) easily fits inside the pocket with room to spare. So, even if you have a case, the phone should fit without any issues. This can also be used with other similarly sized Android phones.
One of my favorite things about Waterfield products is the zippers. They’re YKK waterproof zippers that are quite resistant to the elements, so even if you take this out in the rain, the contents inside will remain nice and dry. The two zipper pulls for the main compartment are customized, and you can use a third-party lock if you want extra protection.
The adjustable strap is comfortable to wear and has a metal paragliding-style buckle. You can easily attach certain items to the strap that are too big to fit inside, such as hats, certain water bottles, or even a small speaker. The strap can also be wrapped around chairs when you’re out for an extra security layer while sitting down.
I’ve been using the Shinjuku Sling for the past few days when I want to have a light carry when going out. When I say light, I mean just my phones, keys, card holder, lip balm, hand sanitizer, power bank, and AirPods Pro. All of these fit comfortably and are easily accessible with the Shinjuku Sling.
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The best part? Like all my other Waterfield products, this sling will last many years.
The only negative aspect of the Shinjuku Sling is its price. It’s $129 for all colors, which is a little pricey considering its overall size. For something like this, I think around $80-$90 would be more reasonable.
Despite the high price, it’s worth buying if you are in the market for a compact sling for your phone and other essentials. I have several other Waterfield products, and these are designed to last for years. So, if you do drop the $129 for the Shinjuku Sling, it’s likely the last sling bag you’ll need for a while.
TerraMaster has launched its latest storage solution, the F8 SSD NAS, as part of its 2024 fall product lineup. This NAS device provides up to 64TB of storage across 8 NVMe M.2 SSD bays, making it ideal for data-intensive tasks such as 4K video editing, large-scale backups, and business operations requiring fast access to large datasets.
There are two versions available: the F8 SSD, with a regular price of $599.99, and the F8 SSD Plus, priced at $799.99. However, as part of a limited-time promotion, they are currently being offered at discounted prices of $499.99 and $699.99, respectively. Both models run on TOS 6, TerraMaster’s operating system, designed to optimize performance and offer efficient data management.
The F8 SSD is powered by an Intel N95 processor with 4 cores, while the F8 SSD Plus is equipped with an Intel Core i3-N305 processor with 8 cores, providing enhanced performance for more demanding workloads. Both models include 8GB of DDR5 memory, which can be expanded up to 32GB.
10GbE LAN port
With eight drive slots for 2280 NVMe M.2 SSDs, the F8 SSD and F8 SSD Plus both support up to 64TB (8x8TB) of raw storage capacity. Internal drives use file systems like EXT4 and BTRFS, while external systems can utilize EXT3, NTFS, and others.
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A key feature of the F8 SSD series is the 10GbE LAN port, allowing for fast data transfers, which is essential for applications requiring quick access to large files. Both models offer three USB ports and at just 177x60x140 mm they are well-suited for environments where space is limited.
The TerraMaster F8 SSD NAS is designed for users who require a compact, high-performance storage solution, making it an ideal choice for home offices, small businesses, and content creators.
Both F8 SSD models are now available for purchase globally, through the TerraMaster site and Amazon, and we’ll have a comprehensive review of the F8 SSD Plus soon.
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TerraMaster F8 SSD Plus – An 8-Bay SSD NAS in the Palm of Your Hand – YouTube
A set of puzzles that will challenge even today’s most sophisticated artificial intelligence models, while being relatively easy for people, aims to encourage AI developers to create new techniques. Any AI that solves the puzzles will net its creators a share of a $1 million prize fund.
Companies like OpenAI already claim that their AI models, like GPT-4, exhibit “human-level performance” on real-world tests, such as university admission exams or the bar exam for lawyers. But this isn’t because the models are reasoning intelligently like humans, says Mike Knoop at…
A Brief Demonstration of how the Cisco UCS 5108 Blade Series hardware works including Servers, Hard Drives, Memory, Power Supplies, IO Modules and Fans.
Simple, Easy and Efficient!
The Cisco UCS 5100 Series Blade Server Chassis is a crucial building block of the Cisco Unified Computing System, delivering a scalable and flexible architecture for current and future data center needs, while helping reduce total cost of ownership.
Cisco’s first blade-server chassis offering, the Cisco UCS 5108 Blade Server Chassis, is six rack units (6RU) high, can mount in an industry-standard 19-inch rack, and uses standard front-to-back cooling. A chassis can accommodate up to eight half-width, or four full-width Cisco UCS B-Series Blade Servers form factors within the same chassis.
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The Cisco UCS 5108 Blade Server Chassis revolutionizes the use and deployment of blade-based systems. By incorporating unified fabric and fabric-extender technology, the Cisco Unified Computing System enables the chassis to:
•Have fewer physical components
•Require no independent management
•Be more energy efficient than traditional blade-server chassis
This simplicity eliminates the need for dedicated chassis management and blade switches, reduces cabling, and allowing scalability to 40 chassis without adding complexity. The Cisco UCS 5108 Blade Server Chassis is a critical component in delivering the simplicity and IT responsiveness for the data center as part of the Cisco Unified Computing System. .
According to statistics, it’s expected that people will download 143 billion apps in 2026 alone. That’s a lot of people and a phones, so it’s no surprise that bad actors have pinpointed the Play Store as an ideal distribution center. According to security researchers at Kaspersky SecureList, the infamous Necro malware has been found in Android, with more than an estimated 11 million devices infected.
The estimated download count comes from the researchers taking a look at the different infected apps. There are several that are confirmed infected, including Wuta Camera and Max Browser. There are also WhatsApp mods from unofficial sources that carry the malware, as well as a Spotify mod called “Spotify Plus” — yes, like the premium service. The report also touches on a number of infected mods for games like Minecraft and Melon Sandbox.
According to the report, the malware was part of Wuta Camera from version 6.4.2.148 until its discovery and removal in version 6.4.7.138. Max Browser has since been removed from the app store, but it had been downloaded and installed more than a million times and contained the Necro loader from version 1.2.0 forward.
Clker-Free-Vector-Images / Pixabay
The Necro malware is designed to generate revenue for the attacker by running processes in the background of your phone. You might notice a performance hit, but the malware is built to go undetected. In short, it opens and clicks advertisements to create ad revenue, but it does so through invisible windows.
In an interview with Fox, Google stated that all known infected apps had been removed already, and that most users should have been protected by Google Play Protect, the default antivirus on most Android devices.
In an interview with FAST COMPANY, Lyu admitted that the Rabbit R1 launched prematurely in 2024. It failed to meet the high expectations for this piece of AI hardware. Despite the initial backlash, the device got 16 OTA updates in an effort to fix bugs and improve functionality. As of now, around 5,000 people use the Rabbit R1 daily, but this is a far cry from the 100,000 pre-ordered units. Early adopters have expressed disappointment as the device has struggled to deliver on its promises.
The AI hardware landscape
The Rabbit R1 is part of a larger conversation surrounding the emerging and uncertain field of AI hardware. It is still in its experimental phase, much like the early days of mobile phones. While the device features some good hardware, the real challenge lies in delivering a compelling, everyday use case for consumers. Lyu and industrial designer Robert Brunner both acknowledge that complexity but see it as essential to advancing technology.
Why did the Rabbit R1 user base shrink?
Despite the hype and a promising start, with over 100,000 pre-orders and $20 million in revenue, the Rabbit R1 has seen its user base shrink significantly. The device failed to meet the high expectations it set, largely because of several critical flaws.
Software bugs, short battery life, and limited functionality tanked performance on this device. Tech expert Mishaal Rahman discovered that theRabbit R1’s interface is essentially a single Android app, which led many to question why dedicated hardware was necessary at all.
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The device currently supports only four apps—Spotify, MidJourney, DoorDash, and Uber— most of which you can manage with your phone. This redundancy, especially for a $200 product, makes the device’s value questionable. Rahman even installed the Rabbit R1’s software on a Google Pixel.
Some of the key features that Rabbit promised during the launch (like the “Teach mode” that would allow users to create their own agents) have yet to materialize. Lyu’s vision of a personalized computing experience where the Rabbit R1 would be the “simplest computer you don’t need to learn how to use” is far from a reality right now.
The future of the Rabbit R1
While Lyu has announced plans for updates, including a “Teach mode” and other features, the fate of Rabbit’s fledgling device remains unclear. Without some strides, the Rabbit R1 might be relegated to the growing category of hit-and-miss AI gadgets, just like the Humane AI Pin.
Lyu, however, views these initial missteps as a necessary part of the product’s evolution. He believes that launching early and learning from user feedback is crucial for startups in the fast-paced AI hardware industry. Despite the setbacks, he remains optimistic about the Rabbit R1’s future.
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