The List – We Review Stuff

The iPhone 15's USB-C port opens up Apple’s handsets in a big way. It works exactly as it should - which is a nice twist given Apple’s love for proprietary formats - which means you can get hella weird. You can plug in a USB-C hub with an Ethernet port for wired internet on your iPhone, for example. Or more practically, audio interfaces, cameras, and so on. If you can think of it, it will probably work, and that rules.

Nowadays, a lot of games are super high-fidelity experiences. The Playdate hedges in the opposite direction. It’s sort of like a Game Boy that’s been squished down into a more squared shape rather than a rectangular one. There’s also a nifty crank hanging off the side. The software powering the handheld is filled with quirky animations and charming sound effects, giving it more personality than most modern consumer tech.

In any moment of decision, the best thing you can do is the right thing, the next best thing is the wrong thing, and the worst thing you can do is nothing. When Teddy Roosevelt spoke those immortal words, he surely anticipated this fateful day would come. 

I simply could not stand by any longer and let USB-C for iPhone 15 sit atop this list unchallenged for so long. Every day it remains there, the integrity of this podcast, of these people is thrown into question. So yes, I made the unpopular decision to stealth drop the Nintendo Switch— a handheld gaming console that has provided me with 2,442 days of gaming bliss— under the guise of the ASUS ROG ALLY in a covert attempt to take the #1 spot. It was an admirable attempt, but I was ultimately foiled by my detractors (Fergus). 

Am I crazy? History will decide, I guess.

Picture a muppet saying "Marley was dead, to begin with" and follow it up with an Oscar-worthy performance by Michael Caine. Now, THAT is what I call cinema. Alas, the streaming experience doesn't quite live up to the perfection of the VHS version of The Muppet Christmas Carol. The missing song "When Love is Gone" will slap at your heart strings, and allow you to fully experience Scrooge's devastation. Luckily, you can find it on YouTube or under Extras if you have a Disney Plus subscription. Even without the song, this is the only holiday movie you need to be watching every year.

It's incredible that, despite being viciously beaten regularly since I first purchased it in 2014, the Roland TD-11KV electronic drumkit works almost flawlessly. Save for a little bit of rust, it's stood the test of time.  Compare it to an acoustic drumkit. You probably need replace your drum heads every year or so at about $30 a pop. When you've got actual metal cymbals, you might have to buy new drumsticks every few months. The Roland TD-11KV has none of that upkeep.

Perhaps most importantly, with the help of a dongle that’s now very expensive and a second obscure dongle that isn’t quite as expensive, I can use the Roland TD-11KV to play Rock Band 4 on Xbox 360.  

Why make feeding yourself a chore when it could be more? Molly Baz's latest cookbook More is More takes simple recipes but gives them that little something extra - that MORE factor. The moreish additions won't blow out your cook time but they will make it look like you did!

If you've ever thought of dumping a whole bottle of wine into your pasta water, or dreamt of a mountain of clarified butter to go with your seafood tower, then this cookbook will be right up your alley.

$60!? FOR A DRINK BOTTLE? I might as well just go to therapy at that price. Don’t believe the hype you see for Frank Green, or Yeti, or Stanley Cup - instead indulge me and embibe from the ProIron 1 Litre Drink Bottle instead.

This is the perfect drink bottle. Spill-free spout, dishwasher safe, a tight-closing clasp, and a satisfying *pop* when you release the lid. And for just over $25, you won’t need to sink to drinking from puddles on the ground.

Whether its a practical purchase or an aspirational one that encourages better organisation is up to you to decide. If innovation, everyday carry and supporting Aussie businesses are up your alley this one is worth checking out.

With endless opportunities for customisation the Nest has seen use from my uni days, travelling and work. It's a staple I always come back to.

Full of big, weird, and wonderful ideas, the plumber’s latest outing is far fresher than you might expect for a sidescroller, and is destined to have you grinning like an idiot. I’m also a big fan of the game’s approach to difficulty. The hardest levels are entirely optional, and there are plenty of modifiers that can customise your experience without taking away from the core gameplay. Nintendo hit it out of the park with this one.

Even if you didn't hate the first Twilight movie, it was hard to defend lines like "and so the lion fell in love with the lamb." But beneath all the muck, beyond the cold blue colour-grading, there was a glimmer of something, or someone, special.

Robert Pattinson, the series' lead stud, was transformed into a teen hearthrob overnight when Twilight first released. Achieving the kind of fandom usually reserved for boy bands like One Direction. There are a few paths young celebrities tend to take after their star shoots into the stratosphere; they can lean into it, maintain that spotless image, or they can fall from grace entirely. The man formerly known as R-Patz took the path less travelled by: diving headfirst into the weird. Whether he's inventing a new microwaveable pasta snack, pushing Willem Dafoe's patience, or being very candid about his time on Twilight, I think we can all agree, Robert Pattinson has made an incredible comeback for someone who doesn't seem to take this whole celebrity gig too seriously. 

Double Tap has barely taken its first steps. The wittle baby is yawning, and opening its eyes, but it still has no idea about the world it lives in. Looking deeply into it's tiny eyes, I can see the potential. But it has so much growing up to do before it becomes part of our sci-fi TV future.

Microwaves are like printers. If you’re thinking about your choice in microwave, it’s usually not a good thing. The LG NeoChef 25L Smart Inverter Microwave is the exception to that. It’s a microwave that’s actually good and thoughtfully made in ways that are often both pleasant and surprising.

It’s easily the best microwave I’ve ever owned, I got it at an exquisite bargain of a price and with holiday sales on the horizon I can absolutely see it going on sale again.

It will consume every spare minute of your day. It could make you miss deadlines. It may ruin your relationship. But, by god, you will enjoy it. It’s rare to find a free-to-play mobile game that is still actually good even if you choose NOT to pay, but fair warning—the fear of missing out on all those cool new cards will break you eventually.

OPPO’s Find N3 is the tablet-style foldable to beat, thanks to great cameras and a design that actually makes sense. It’s not a weird hard-to-use candy bar when it’s shut, it’s a normal phone. While the Find N3 is the high-end foldable to beat, it’s $2,699 means it’s unlikely to convert sceptics.

Even if it is the best tablet-style foldable, there are still some compromises when compared to a more typical phone.

Warcraft Rumble is billed as an action strategy game. I’ve heard it compared to Clash Royale. I’d describe it as a reverse tower defence. It’s a leaner take on the real-time strategy games that Blizzard used to make and while it’s more of a mobile game than a new one of those, the core gameplay in Warcraft Rumble often resembles that of the original Warcraft trilogy in a way that felt like a throwback.

Each match, you’re building up an economy and making decisions about what units to produce to best match what your opponent throws at you. It doesn’t hurt that there’s an almost Pixar-adjacent look to the art style and a cranking soundtrack in the mix. Rumble isn’t quite Warcraft 4, but it gives you plenty to chew on in the meantime.

iPhone users have Shortcuts, a nifty little visual scripting app that lets you create a series of “if, then” functions on your phone. But what of us Android users? Fortunately, there’s MacroDroid. This clever app gives you the power to script handy actions for your phone. Want a reminder to lock the door every time you leave the house? Or for a Google Calendar event to automatically bring up driving directions? MacroDroid’s simple macro wizard can guide you through the process. It’s all colour-coded and easy to understand. MacroDroid can help you turn your phone into a productivity powerhouse. Or, like me, you can just use it to do dumb stuff.

It's been a hot minute since I've found a truly useful app. These days, Apple and Google's native applications are so robust, I rarely find myself wanting for a productivity or convenience feature that doesn't come pre-installed on modern smartphones. But with the Swipewipe app, it was love at first sight. Swipewipe takes the simple but addictive swiping action popularised by Tinder and applies it to your photo library. Month-by-month, Swipewipe asks you to clear out your bad photos and screenshots of memes by swiping left to delete and right to keep.

It gamifies digital cleanliness and rewards you by striking off the months you've already organised. Giving you peace of mind that, the photos that made the cut, are worth keeping and not just digital junk taking up your precious storage. 

Even in a time when things like ChatGPT, Bard and Microsoft’s Copilot are becoming more and more mainstream, Meta’s AI Stickers are a huge step towards ubiquity because they use generative AI in products that people already use. Throwing prompts into a box and seeing what you get is fun, unpredictable and novel, just so long as you don’t think too hard about the potential privacy and copyright issues.”

There’s nothing wrong with Australian classics like Solo and iconic staples like Coke and Pepsi, but the world of soft drinks is pretty stale this side of the Pacific Ocean. If you fancy a foray into the dark side of drinkables touched by sin, then the Diablo-themed Mountain Dew Game Fuel Mystic Punch might be worth tracking down.

I’m not a big soft drink guy but it was novel, different and tasted better than I expected. It’s the first time since 2016 that Game Fuel has been available so who knows, it could become a commodity in the future amongst cola aficionados. It’s basically the same as buying bitcoin at this point.

The OPPO A98 5G’s microscope lens might not be a feature anyone was clamouring for, but it sure is a fun one. The 2MP lens will magnify up to 40 times for some truly stunning and unearthly photos. One caveat is that it requires a bit of patience and some steady hands, but if you persevere, you’ll love playing around with it to see everyday objects from a new perspective.

Sure, there’s not a lot of practical application to be had in a feature like this, but whoever said that smartphones need to be 100% practical? It’s a neat toy, and sometimes that’s enough.

We’ve all been there: we want to enjoy the delicious taste of crab meat, but are tired of the selfish crustacean gatekeeping with its pesky exoskeleton. Enter soft shelled crab, the delightful delicacy that cuts out the middle man and delivers an entire crab to your stomach without the burdensome task of removing its shell. A meal this decadent must certainly be limited to the price ranges of the Bezoses and Zuckerbergs of the world, right? No! Soft shell crab can be yours for under $20 a serve. 

Every great design idea it includes begs questions of why Google didn’t go a step further. Why is there no 4G? Why does the charging dock not have a power bank? Or work as a Bluetooth speaker? Why didn’t Google make a keyboard and stylus? Sure, these might seem like minor quibbles, but it’s easy to see how a few tweaks could have taken this from being a pretty good Android tablet to a legitimate iPad competitor. It’s these “what ifs” that make the Pixel Tablet so hard to assess. It’s a nice piece of industrial design, a functional Android tablet, and a giant missed opportunity.

It's possible I was a little harsh on the ASUS ROG ALLY, using it as a trojan horse to get my beloved Nintendo Switch on the list before tossing it down below SOFT SHELL CRAB. But for all its power and potential, my grievances still stand. In the few weeks I had to review the ASUS ROG ALLY, I spent more time troubleshooting battery issues and confusing UI bugs than I did actually playing games. For those looking to emulate games, the Windows-based ROG ALLY presents an opportunity almost too good to turn down. But for those who like to keep their handheld gaming simple and stress-free, it's hard to pass up the Steam Deck or Nintendo Switch.

In 2023, ordering a cheeky takeout meal from your delivery app of choice is feeling less and less like a "sometimes" thing and more like a "in case of emergency" thing. But there is one fast food restaurant where you can still get a true bargain; a bastion of meat, cheese and carbs with prices that'll transport you back to 1999. A place where inflation doesn't exist, Hungry Jacks. And the menu item that shines the brightest as a paragon of economic eating is the $2.50 BBQ cheeseburger. For just $2.50, Chef Jack will dish up a sesame seed bun, mayo, smoky BBQ sauce, a slice of cheddar and, of course, a flame-grilled beef patty.

The fact that this pick ended up in last place in the first episode makes me so mad that I've started to question my place on this podcast... in this world. I mean, it's just $2.50...

Mineko’s Night Market is a social simulation/adventure/puzzle game with minimal adventure, soulless NPCs with single dialogue lines, and puzzles that teeter between too hard and too easy.

In the early stages of Mineko’s Night Market, you only have a few minutes of IRL time to pick a few flowers or pat some island cats until you’re too tired to do anything else – you can spend an absurd amount of money to buy some food or just go to sleep (which feels a lot like life today, TBH). The cats you pet follow you around the island, and people will pay just about any price you set for your handmade goods. The art style is cute and the music is peaceful, but if that's what you want out of a cozy game, just play Animal Crossing or Stardew Valley. 

The Microsoft Zune was always a little behind the curve, and that’s even more evident in 2023.

While the Zune HD is full of good ideas, using a niche MP3 player is an exercise in inconvenience. You need actual MP3s to start with, wired headphones, a proprietary cable to sync it, and the software no longer works on Mac. There’s retro charm here, but you sure need to work for it.

Look, I’m not going to go up against Zuckerberg in a cage match to get a tablet app, but it would be great to see a multi-billion dollar company put just a touch more effort in.

Threads has gotten the Instagram treatment and ended up with the worst UI on a tablet app that I’ve ever seen. Look at this thing. It is horrific.

But to add insult to injury, Meta doesn’t even have faith in its own creation. The official word is to just use a browser rather than their official tablet app!

It's going to be hard to out-awful this baby.

When you think of holiday cheer, only one beverage comes to mind: wassail. But, if you aren’t currently residing in Dickensian London, you’ll have to settle for the second best: egg nog. “But, Adam”, I hear you say, “I’d love to drink more delicious nog, but I just don’t have the time! How can I fit egg nog consumption into my already busy schedule?” I’ve got just the solution: a 1.5L water bottle filled to the brim with thick, cloying egg nog. Now you can take your nog on the go! Finally, egg nog that fits with your active lifestyle. Just don’t be surprised if you find yourself overcome by Christmas cheer! Wait, no. I meant nausea. Don’t be surprised if you find yourself overcome by nausea.