The Zolt Universal Laptop Charger: Is This The Ultimate Mobile Charger?

At AT&T I don’t travel for work as much as I used to for HTC, but when I do I usually bring my personal laptop with me – and that means two different power supplies. I use a Rocketfish universal charger for my HP work laptop (a rather chunky and heavy machine) and the Dell charger for my XPS 13. The Dell charger is small, but the Rocketfish charger is your typical brick. It has a USB port for charging though, which is a big improvement over your typical charger. Together, carrying the two chargers is a hassle, especially since I fly carry-on 95% of the time. I usually put both chargers in a carrying case inside my carry-on luggage.

In my quest for a new, lightweight universal charger I backed the FinSix Dart on Kickstarter back in April of 2014. After waiting 19 months (!?!), I gave up waiting and requested a refund. Props to FinSix for giving out refunds – many Kickstarter campaigns do not.

I then ordered a Zolt: it seemed better in every way. Getting it was a bit of a fiasco – they didn’t indicate there would be a wait on getting it, so I was expecting to receive it shortly after the November 19th launch date. The neglected to communicate that’s when pre-orders would start shipping. It was almost five weeks later, a day after I left to spend two weeks in Calgary that they informed me they were shipping the Zolt. I think it’s pretty foolish to surprise ship a product right at the holidays when so many people travel, but I give credit to their customer service team: they were able to re-direct the shipment and ship it out the day I got back. There was a bit of a delay, but I finally received it. I’ve had a couple of days now and here are my thoughts so far. Continue reading The Zolt Universal Laptop Charger: Is This The Ultimate Mobile Charger?

After two years of waiting, #ThingCharger is finally a reality! Here's hoping it works…

After two years of waiting, #ThingCharger is finally a reality! Here's hoping it works...
Posted by Instagrate to WordPress

I'm excited to finally get my @zoltcharger – really impressed so far!

I'm excited to finally get my @zoltcharger - really impressed so far!
Posted by Instagrate to WordPress

Watched the highest-grossing movie of all time today, and threw down $20 on the largest lottery jackpot in history. It seemed like the appropriate thing to do (I buy lotto tickets twice a decade).

Watched the highest-grossing movie of all time today, and threw down $20 on the largest lottery jackpot in history. It seemed like the appropriate thing to do (I buy lotto tickets twice a decade).
Posted by Instagrate to WordPress

The most unique Christmas gift I received was a #Munchpak snack subscription. It’s fun to taste snacks from other cultures! Reminds me of my #HTCelevate days when I’d get global taste packs from #HTC fans…

The most unique Christmas gift I received was a #Munchpak snack subscription. It's fun to taste snacks from other cultures! Reminds me of my #HTCelevate days when I'd get global taste packs from #HTC fans...

This is what #Elvis meant by a “Blue Christmas” right? Side note: funny how more are coming in a black case.

This is what #Elvis meant by a "Blue Christmas" right? Side note: funny how more are coming in a black case.

When I first saw this package, my brain read it as LORDS OF PECAN, so that’s what I’ve been calling it all week as I’ve been eating it. That, my friends, is an epic name for #icecream. Also, a #heavymetal band that bakes pies.

When I first saw this package, my brain read it as LORDS OF PECAN, so that's what I've been calling it all week as I've been eating it. That, my friends, is an epic name for #icecream. Also, a #heavymetal band that bakes pies.

Evolution of trackpad size. On the left, a 2015 Dell XPS 13. Right, a 2007 Dell XPS M1330.

Evolution of trackpad size. On the left, a 2015 Dell XPS 13. Right, a 2007 Dell XPS M1330.

Getting Cut on the Bleeding Edge: the Samsung 950 PRO NMVe M.2 SSD & the Dell XPS 13

One of the unfortunate side-effects of not being a “full time tech geek” any longer is that I’m not quite up to speed on certain aspects of technology.  Back when I was a full-time tech writer, I spent every waking minute reading about tech, reviewing tech, testing tech…you get the idea. Since joining the corporate world I still use tech of course, but my immersion is in very specific slices of it; since joining AT&T I know far more about WordPress than I did two years ago for instance.

When I ordered my Dell XPS 13 (early 2015 edition) in May of this year, I purposefully bought it with a 256 GB drive knowing I’d be upgrading to 512 GB within a few months. Dell charged a huge premium for the 512 GB drive (like all OEMs do). I’d been reading about forthcoming NVMe drives since 2014, promising great performance gains because they finally broke away from the legacy AHCI standard. We’re talking over 2x less latency, much deeper queue depth, etc. So with great anticipation I pre-ordered the Samsung 950 PRO, one of the first commercially-available NMVe M.2 drives.

Continue reading Getting Cut on the Bleeding Edge: the Samsung 950 PRO NMVe M.2 SSD & the Dell XPS 13

This is what real #TexasBBQ looks like at #PecanLodge: deep-fried beef ribs. Thank you @johnstarky #Meatatarian

This is what real #TexasBBQ looks like  at #PecanLodge: deep-fried beef ribs. Thank you @johnstarky #Meatatarian