Shadowing Practice: The Best TINY Tech on the Internet! - Learn English Speaking with Video
Creating lesson...
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This is the tiniest tech that you'll actually want to carry every day.
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So the goals are simple.
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We've had to find gadgets that cover every possible situation.
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Each one has to provide a high-end experience, but in the most compact way possible.
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If something needs charging, it charges with USB-C, because it's just easy.
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And everything is black or silver, because it looks stealthy AF.
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And they were the only colors we could get it all in.
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So let's start small and just keep getting smaller.
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Believe it or not, every single thing on this table will actually fit into this one tiny sling bag, beginning with something that's typically pretty hard to reduce in size.
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Water.
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This pocket flask from Labo Mono is my absolute favorite right now because it holds 250ml of drink.
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It doesn't leak in the slightest.
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If it did, we'd have a bit of a problem right now.
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Thanks to this valve that needs you to bite down on it.
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And the more you drink...
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Chug, chug, chug.
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The smaller it gets.
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Fording up to literally a quarter of its original size.
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But smaller still is our power bank.
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This tiny thing here from Baseus, I think, has to have the greatest size-to-output ratio of any compact battery.
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So the thing's barely bigger than an AirPods case.
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It delivers 45 watts of power, which is just enough to also be able to charge most thin and light laptops, has a braided USB-C cable built in to do that,
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with an extra port to stick a second cable in, cable in and it has a 10 000 milliamp hour capacity
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which might not sound all that special
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if you search on amazon for the best mini power bank you'll almost definitely find one with apparently similar specs
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and a thousand glowing reviews like this also supposedly 10 000 milliamp hours
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but they're kind of lying to you
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and to show you what i mean i drained two identical phones completely flat
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and then plugged them in the left phone into our baseus the right one into our amazon power bank
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and both managed to get the phones to exactly 55 after 20 minutes
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which is great but while
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that process drained the amazon brick all the way till 56
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remaining base still had 74 that's a colossal difference especially considering the quoted capacities are the same
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so we'll bag this and don't cheap out on your power banks
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because there are differences in the quality of battery in terms of how much energy they waste
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and even whether the company is quoting the rated max capacity or the typical usable capacity.
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But it's the charger we found that I'd say is really testing the limits of compact engineering.
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This thing seriously blows my mind
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because even like two years ago I'd have told you this is the best three-in-one wireless charger.
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It has your phone on top, your earphones just behind there and then watches with this little sidearm.
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But now look at this!
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The Cuxu X40 Turbo which I would say is genuinely less than one-third of the volume,
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still charges all three things and this is Qi 2.2 wireless charging so 25 watts of power instead of 15.
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The only way something like that's possible is to just not waste a millimeter with this design
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and everything we've tested from Anker and Belkin currently is still just bulkier with no extra benefit.
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And then to power the thing the smallest 65 watt brick in the world from Rolling Square.
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Just to give you an idea of how insane that is, this is 65 watts.
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This is the latest 70 watt charging brick from Apple.
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Just like the wireless charger, this is basically the theoretical limit with current tech for how tiny you can go while still being high performance.
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And obviously that's with the absolutely enormous UK plug on the end of it.
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The US version is even tinier, although also worse for reasons that are not up for debate.
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And I'm pairing that with the Nomad USB-C charge key.
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This tiny keyring supports up to 240 watts of power and 10 gigabits per second data transfer.
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And the tips are magnetic, so they snap together.
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I don't think there is a tinier, more hassle-free way to always make sure you have full-speed USB-C with you.
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It's just dawning on me how many more products we have to still fit in here.
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Thank goodness they are getting increasingly minuscule.
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Like this is our towel from Matador.
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It's basically made of a nanofiber that can absorb a lot more than it looks like.
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It's actually absorbent enough that if push comes to shove, you could use this tiny thing to dry your whole body.
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Yes, I've tried it.
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No, that footage will not be making it to YouTube.
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No behave, baby.
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But just to give you an idea, this is the company's full-size towel, which also does not take up a lot of space.
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Really not exaggerating when I say full size.
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So this is 200 mils of water.
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We'll fold this towel up, stick it in.
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Let's come back to that in a bit to see how much liquid it's picked up.
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Now one piece of tech that is practically impossible to miniaturize effectively is the speaker.
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Because as a general rule, the smaller the speaker, the less air it's going to be able to push, and therefore the less thump it's going to be able to create.
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But the OneVibe Go from MoMax is, in my testing, the absolute best compromise.
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So this is the iPhone speaker, max volume.
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And then this is the MoMax.
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It doesn't defy the laws of physics, but it is just small enough that you could throw it into a sling or a pocket, but just big enough that you could host a whole house party on this thing.
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Okay, maybe a flat party.
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And it still has water resistance, as well as an actually usable, realistic battery life of like eight hours, with one extra trick.
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It's also a MagSafe phone stand.
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Things that do lots of things, good for a compact setup.
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While we're saving space, why don't we also just trim down the biggest pocket filler, the wallet, to its most minimal possible form with the Secrid Card Protector Plus.
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I showed you guys the original card protector on our last EDC video, and we've been using it every day since because it is so thin, stops any of your cards bending,
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it's RFID blocking, it has this very slick ejecting mechanism, all while still holding five to six cards.
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And this plus is just an even better version of it with an even tighter grip on your cards
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and a fluted design.
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It's very fun to play with.
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I'm yet to see a better wallet than this.
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So you can go right in the very front.
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Now if you're someone who wears sunglasses on the daily, well, A, I'm very jealous of you,
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but also B, you've almost definitely felt the pain of your storage case tripling the space that things take up.
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So this company called Lenswrapper, actually just understood that name, has made something titty-er.
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They've decided that the important thing is to protect the lenses, so this wraps around them and then the arms go outside.
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Okay, well they were right.
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You obviously use some protection, but yeah, this is a pretty solid compromise for the space that it saves you.
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That said, if you want to do this properly, then you can't beat the Rove foldable sunglasses.
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I think they look sick.
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I've been using a pair for years now with no durability issues, while being so thin that you could probably use them as a knife.
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And these things, they fold down into something that is literally half the size of even that.
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Difference is crazy.
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Only thing is, they absolutely make you pay for the privilege.
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This is $175, which for 15 grams of material is nuts.
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I feel like we always see flashlights in everyday carry gear videos, and I'm always skeptical because your phone already has one that's already enough for most situations.
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So the only way that, to me, a dedicated flashlight makes sense is
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if it's both much brighter than your phone without taking up a lot of extra space.
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Thankfully, this is both.
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So let's say it's 3am.
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You're jolted away by a noise.
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Footsteps.
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They're coming from nearby.
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Your heart is in your throat.
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So you reach out, you grab your Clarus E5 Ultra flashlight and edge towards the door.
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Oh my God, there is someone there.
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And they are literally just around the corner.
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So you bolt through the doorway, you flash your light and find out it's your employee who ran out of his own dory toes.
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Phew, that's a relief.
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If though you picked up your phone instead of that flashlight, basically all you can see is an ominous silhouette which somehow makes the whole thing even more terrifying.
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Whoops.
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Yeah, I just love this thing because it has this spotlight mode that you've seen, but Then also, flick the switch down, that's floodlight, which has a much wider vision,
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plus a red light to use as a beacon, which is again extremely bright, plus a magnet to snap it onto things, plus a clip, so you can even whack it onto your bag strap like this
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and light your way with the floodlight while keeping both hands free.
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So obviously we've already got this sling bag that we're packing all of our gadgets into, but what if you wanted to buy a few more bits while you're away?
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Well, that's where the NanoBag Daypack comes in.
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Would you believe me if I said this was a backpack?
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I think it's not great.
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Oh, yeah, fair enough.
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A backpack with two straps, a zipper, that itself weighs only about 30 grams, but is able to carry 30 kilograms worth of weight.
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30 kilograms being a lot of improvised weapons, should you hear the dreaded 3 a.m creaking.
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It's also kind of surreal how it stays permanently connected to this miniature cover, so that you are always ready to just stuff it down and fold it back into itself.
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Time to get this bag in my bag.
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Now once in a blue moon when I do actually leave the house, the one thing I always regret not having around is some hand sanitizer.
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I've been waiting all video to make that joke and I don't think it was worth it.
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This is great.
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It's flat, so it slips very easily into front pockets.
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It's refillable.
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It smells like, I wouldn't go as far as to say cologne, but like somewhere halfway between hand sanitizer and that.
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But I also just find the idea of hand sanitizer so much more convenient than, you know, traveled soap sheets, because they need water, which you're not always going to have.
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The amount of functionality we've already crammed into this sling is beyond me slipped back into my handbag.
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But the biggest issue with emergency gear, whether it's a sanitizer or a power bank, is remembering to top the thing up.
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And that's where I think the rolling square battery is genius.
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So yes, I did already show you an amazing power bank earlier, but in my experience, there are two kinds of power bank users.
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There are, well, people like me, who are always on their phones, tablets, and laptops, and just like the idea of keeping everything topped up.
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That's who the bassiest one is for.
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But then there's also the people who are just phone users
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and they want to power bank more as an emergency backup for their phone.
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That's who this is for.
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It's small enough that you can slide it onto your keys.
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So we're only talking 2000 milliamp hours of juice, but that is still enough to get most modern phones from completely flat to about 25% charge.
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I really like how you can just snap the power bank off, revealing both a USB-C cable baked inside and a second cable that is actually both micro USB and lightning.
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I am a strong advocate for USB-C everything, but this is an emergency power bank.
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And in an emergency, sometimes you are rescuing your friends
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and family who may not have the same regard for the latest technologies.
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But this is what makes me go from like to love.
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They give you a magnetic dock with the thing.
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This is how you charge the power bank, but the magnet is also strong enough to support your whole set of keys.
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So it creates this automatic system where you come home, you need to stick your keys up somewhere anyway, And then by sticking them here, you make sure that the next time you need to go somewhere,
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you are completely charged and ready to go again.
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But now we're getting into what I would call the micro realm with the AirFly 2.
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It's a little situational, but if you are a big plane traveler, it feels like a must.
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Excuse me.
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Goodness, this is cozy.
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Because while the very newest planes have Bluetooth, which means your nice wireless earphones can pair directly to the screen, Most planes still don't, meaning
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that the only way you can listen is those wired headphones they throw out
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that honestly wouldn't feel too generous as part of a happy meal.
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So the idea is you plug your AirFly in
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and this effectively gives the plane the Bluetooth that you need to connect the earphones you want.
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Actually, two sets of earphones so you can watch the same movie as the person sitting next to you.
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Does that work for you?
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But let's say the content selection on this plane is just terrible, which it usually is.
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Here's what I'm doing right now.
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I'm currently on a bit of a K-drama streak, so I just finished The Glory, which is literally the second best TV show I have ever watched in my life.
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And so next on my list is Night Has Come.
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The problem is you can't watch Night Has Come on Netflix in the UK.
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So we need to pull up Surfshark VPN, our sponsor, change the location to South Korea, and then we can not just watch it but also download the entire show for our plane journey,
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which is gonna be a hell of a lot more enjoyable than watching the Meg 2 for the seventh time.
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Not to mention that even if not for the plane journey, you'll probably want a VPN anyway for security on the horrific public Wi-Fi at the airport,
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and to be able to have seamless internet while you're away as if you never left home.
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And if you go to surfshark.com slash boss, you can get it for $2 a month with four extra months for free for as many people as you want.
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Your other option, of course, would be to play a game.
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And I think the Atom controller is a very interesting proposition for that.
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Because this can connect to your phone, it can connect to your PC, but the most important one, because there's no alternative if you don't have a controller, a Nintendo Switch or Switch 2.
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Can I have what you're having?
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Is it drinkable?
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Yeah, it's fizzy lemon.
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Okay, this isn't just like water with loads of food covering it.
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It's obviously a little too small to properly wrap your hands around, but Prisha, my wife, loves it.
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It's such a fruity pink cocktail.
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And I think it really comes into its own when you're planning on playing four to eight player multiplayer on the go, because I mean a bag of these is a lot more portable than a bag of these,
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or even Joy-Cons.
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Okay, let's stow these away into the carry-on.
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There you go, there you go.
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Thank you very much.
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We can't have an everyday carry without a multi-tool.
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I mean, how else am I gonna aggressively offer to fix someone's loose cabinet hinge at a house party.
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And for this setup, all roads have led me to the Leatherman Micro.
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Part of it is just the fact that this doesn't overlap as much with the other things we're already packing.
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Like this is Victorinox's mini multi-tool, for example.
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Best parts of this are a flashlight, which we already have a better one of, and a pen, which I'm about to show you a better one of.
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Plus, I find some of these tools so fiddly.
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Like, what am I meant to cut with this?
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Whereas the Leatherman, to me, feels as small as you can go without feeling like a Christmas cracker toy.
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It's got a bottle opener, unboxing knife, three different types of screwdriver, even a 12 centimeter ruler.
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But what if you need to measure more than 12 centimeters?
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This is the Midori XS tape measure.
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I never really thought of myself as someone who would carry a tape measure wherever I go, but this thing's so tiny that you kind of might as well.
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It's really satisfying to pull out.
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It comes in so easily and it can measure up to a meter and a half.
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You can buy fancier and more expensive tapes like this one made of titanium, but in my experience the mechanism here isn't actually as reliable as the Midori.
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It gets caught every now and again.
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I love it when the cheap option is actually the better option.
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But what's probably more handy than always being ready to find
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out the exact centimeter length of what you see on the go is a little carrying case.
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Now that I've reached the wise age of 30, I take a couple of supplements.
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You know, for the wisdom.
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And this case by Curved is so good for a few pills
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or gum or coins or they even sell earplugs specifically made to fit nicely.
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It's easy to open and close, it's waterproof and it comes with this sleeve that lets you in the lowest hassle way possible, clip it onto things.
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AirTags have just been upgraded for the first time ever, so you can now precision find them from 50% further away, and the speakers on them for location are like 50% louder too.
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So let's say I was incredibly dense and I lost it there.
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Oh yeah.
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I feel like you could hear that probably at least a floor above, maybe two.
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Considering that the AirTag 1s are already the most reliable trackers in my testing.
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This feels like a bit of a no-brainer.
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The only thing I'm adding to that, which can be very useful, is a fabric sticker.
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It just keeps your AirTag in its own designated place that's near the edge of your bag, so it's got the best chance of being picked up.
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But you are not ready for the most insane price-to-size ratio of any product in this video, but also the most insane performance-to-size ratio.
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This is ShiftCam's Creator SSD.
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How much storage do you think this adds to your phone?
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Considering that this is Samsung's latest SSD and this is 2TB.
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2TB.
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This has as much storage as this.
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And while it isn't as fast, it's still fast enough that you can use this to record ProRes footage directly from your iPhone.
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Which looks a lot better than this normal footage
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and is about the most demanding thing that most people would want from their phones.
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Is it cheap?
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Hell no. But is it an incredible product if you do splash out?
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Yes, it's shockproof, splashproof, dustproof, and they even give you this little extender so it still fits nicely while you've got a case on.
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And we can actually close the front pocket.
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It's happening.
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And now from read and write to write.
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Sorry.
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And it is the tiniest pen that I could actually see myself using.
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I'm not normally too fussed about materials, but this being made of titanium is kind of the reason that it's strong enough for you to transform it like this,
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doubling the thing's length but still without it feeling like I'm one misplaced apostrophe from snapping the thing in half.
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Very smooth writing experience too, although I have no idea why it needed to be so spiky on the end.
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It takes up like negative space.
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But perhaps nothing embodies this video better than the Casio ring watch.
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This is literally like someone took a normal, classy, high-end Casio watch and hit it with a shrink ray.
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The watch module is designed to be approximately a replica at one tenth of the scale.
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And it's just so sick that all the watch functions, stopwatch, alarm, LED backlight, dual time, they're all here, just miniaturized.
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And to make this on a scale like this, it does actually require a lot of cutting edge manufacturing.
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What's the time?
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It is 1101.
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Honestly, this is like very readable.
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Kind of wish Apple did one of these.
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I can't tell if I look unconventional Like a donut.
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Would you find it cool if someone's checking their ring watch in front of you?
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Yeah, yeah.
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You would.
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Okay, well there you go.
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I can't actually tell if this is designed to be a joke product or not, but I respect the hell out of the ambition and execution.
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So, what's underneath this towel?
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Okay, towel is still wet.
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Oh my goodness.
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Look at that.
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It has taken all the water.
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It's really impressive for something that's the thickness of like a kitchen towel.
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Only question now then, does this bag close?
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Have we done it?
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Or do we need to start the video from scratch?
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Three, two, one.
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Look at that.
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I'm so proud of this, honestly.
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Okay, hope you found this useful.
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I'll catch you in the next one.
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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson
This B2 speaking lesson is built on the video “The Best TINY Tech on the Internet!”. This video has 272 sentences and 3680 words to shadow. The speech runs for 19:47. The speaker talks fast, about 186 words per minute, so expect linked and reduced sounds. 82% of the words are among the 3,000 most common in English; the rest is worth studying before you start.
Key vocabulary in this video
The 15 most advanced words in the video, with pronunciation and meaning:
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| watt noun | /wɑt/ | In the International System of Units, the derived unit of power; the power of a system in which one joule of energy is transferred per second. |
| towel noun | /ˈtaʊ̯əl/ | A cloth used for wiping, especially one used for drying anything wet, such as a person after a bath. |
| earphone noun | /ˈɪə(ɹ)fəʊn/ | A transducer that converts electric signals into sound and is held near the ear, especially as part of a telephone; an earpiece or headphone. |
| flashlight noun | /ˈflæʃˌlaɪt/ | A battery-powered hand-held light source. |
| sanitizer noun | /ˈsænɪtaɪzɚ/ | A program to detect errors in code, usually integrated into a compiler. |
| sling noun | /ˈslɪŋ/ | An instrument for throwing stones or other missiles, consisting of a short strap with two strings fastened to its ends, or with a string fastened to one end… |
| compact adjective | /kəmˈpækt/ | Closely packed or densely constituted; having much material in a small volume. |
| wireless adjective | /ˈwaɪ(jə)ɹ.ləs/ | Not having any wires. |
| milliamp noun | One thousandth (10⁻³) of an ampere. Symbol: mA. | |
| charger noun | /ˈt͡ʃɑɹd͡ʒɚ/ | A device that charges or recharges. |
| microwave noun | /ˈmaɪkɹoʊˌweɪv/ | An electromagnetic wave with wavelength between that of infrared light and radio waves. |
| fold verb | /ˈfəʊld/ | To bend (any thin material, such as paper) over so that it comes in contact with itself. |
| goodness noun | /ˈɡʊdnəs/ | The state or characteristic of being good. |
| centimeter noun | (Canadian spelling, alternative) Alternative form of centimetre. | |
| floodlight noun | A projector of a bright beam of light for use in theatres and studios; a flood |
Phrasal verbs you will hear
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| take up verb | To pick up. | |
| pick up verb | To lift; to grasp and raise. | |
| find out verb | To discover, as by asking or investigating. | |
| hand around verb | To distribute something by having one person hand it to another so it spreads through the group. | |
| pull out verb | To withdraw; especially of military forces; to retreat. | |
| pull up verb | /ˌpʊl ˈʌp/ | To lift upwards or vertically. |
| reach out verb | To extend one's hand(s) forward; to reach for something. | |
| throw out verb | /ˈθɹəʊ ˌaʊt/ | To discard; to dispense with something; to throw away. |
Sentences worth repeating
Short, complete lines from the video that you can reuse in everyday conversation:
- We'll fold this towel up, stick it in.
- I'm yet to see a better wallet than this.
- You're jolted away by a noise.
- Does that work for you?
- Can I have what you're having?
Grammar in this video
The structures the speaker uses most, with the exact words from the video:
| Structure | In the video |
|---|---|
| Present perfect continuous have/has been + -ing — an action that started earlier and is still going on | we've been using · I've been using · I've been waiting |
| Conditional sentences if + clause, will/would + verb — a condition and its result | If it did, we'd have · if not for the plane journey, you'll probably |
| Present perfect have/has + past participle — a past action that still matters now | have told · we've tested · I've tried |
| Relative clauses who / which + clause — extra information about a person or thing | power, which is · someone who wears · floodlight, which has |
Pronunciation to watch
The speaker uses 69 contractions and reduced forms, such as I'm, you're, don't. Say them the short way, as you hear them.
- The “th” sounds: thickness /ˈθɪknəs/, tenth /tɛnθ/, theoretical /ˌθi.əˈɹɛt.ɪ.kəl/, underneath /ˌʌndɚˈniθ/
- The “sh” and “zh” sounds: flashlight /ˈflæʃˌlaɪt/, splash /splæʃ/, proposition /ˌpɹɑpəˈzɪʃən/, ambition /æmˈbɪʃ.ən/, precision /pɹɪˈsɪʒ.ən/
- Long words — get the stress right: sanitizer /ˈsænɪtaɪzɚ/, titanium /taɪˈteɪni.əm/, proposition /ˌpɹɑpəˈzɪʃən/, supposedly /səˈpoʊ̯.zɪd.li/, theoretical /ˌθi.əˈɹɛt.ɪ.kəl/
How to practise with this video
- Listen to the whole video once without speaking and note the words you do not know.
- Start at 0.75× speed, shadow it sentence by sentence, then go back to normal speed once it feels easy.
- Record yourself and compare with the original, paying attention to words like watt, towel, earphone.
What is the Shadowing Technique?
Shadowing is a science-backed language learning technique originally developed for professional interpreter training and popularized by polyglot Dr. Alexander Arguelles. The method is simple but powerful: you listen to native English audio and immediately repeat it out loud — like a shadow following the speaker with just a 1–2 second delay. Unlike passive listening or grammar drills, shadowing forces your brain and mouth muscles to simultaneously process and reproduce real speech patterns. Research shows it significantly improves pronunciation accuracy, intonation, rhythm, connected speech, listening comprehension, and speaking fluency — making it one of the most effective methods for IELTS Speaking preparation and real-world English communication.