For Wet Hair, Bad Coffee and a Runaway Dog | Vol. 16

A regular hair straightener has long held a very specific job: show up after the drying is done and press the situation flat with hot plates. The Dyson Airstrait takes a different route, using high-velocity airflow to straighten hair from wet to dry. It is a piece of beauty-tech logic aimed squarely at the crowded-counter era, where every appliance seems to demand its own diplomatic territory.

That distinction matters more than the usual gadget glitter. The Airstrait is a straightener and dryer in one, but its documented approach is airflow-based rather than plate-based. We think that makes it the clearest choice for someone deliberately shopping for a wet-to-dry straightener, rather than merely another heated tool with a longer instruction leaflet.

Dyson also gives the thing a serious control panel: Wet and Dry styling modes, two airflow speeds, five precise temperature settings, an optional Boost mode, and a Cool mode. This is useful flexibility, although it does mean the device declines to be a one-button miracle for people who regard a snooze alarm as an excessive number of choices.

The selected US listing identifies it for all hair types. Our case for it is not that it erases every hair-styling decision—humanity remains safely burdened with those—but that its central proposition is unusually coherent: wet hair, a straightened result, and no hot plates involved.

There is a special category of modern annoyance reserved for trying to hear one thing while a plane, train, coworker, or neighbor’s leaf blower has nominated itself executive producer. The Bowers & Wilkins Px8 enters that mess as an over-ear Bluetooth headphone with hybrid noise cancellation and ambient pass-through, not as a tiny plastic apology for having ears.

We think its appeal is unusually clear: this is a headphone that treats the object itself as part of the point. Nappa leather detailing, aluminum arms, and memory-foam earpads are a far cry from the usual black-tech slab that gets thrown into a backpack beside a leaking pen. That does not prove better sound, nor does it need to; it simply gives the Px8 a more considered place in a daily-carry setup.

The practical bits are less theatrical and more useful. Four microphones handle active noise cancellation, while two are assigned to telephony. A wear-detection sensor is included, and USB-C serves for both charging and audio. That last detail matters for people whose desk or travel kit still contains a stubbornly wired corner of reality.

The Px8 also arrives with a carry case, a 1.2m USB-C-to-3.5mm stereo jack cable, and a 1.2m USB-C-to-USB-C cable. Nice: no immediate hunt through the cable drawer, where every lead is apparently for a device you stopped owning in 2017. The caveat is equally plain: at 320g without its case, this is a substantial over-ear headphone, not an invisible little escape hatch.

Dogs are brilliant, lovable creatures with two troubling characteristics: they can move surprisingly fast, and they are deeply unimpressed by the idea that a human has plans. One loose latch, a distracted delivery, or a squirrel with good marketing, and suddenly the neighborhood becomes a search operation.

The Tractive DOG 6 GPS Dog Tracker exists for that very modern strain of pet-owner anxiety. It provides live GPS tracking in the Tractive app, along with virtual fences and escape alerts. Rather than waiting for the “have you seen this dog?” posters to become a family craft project, it gives owners location information while the escape is still an incident, not local folklore.

There is more going on here than a digital leash. DOG 6 also tracks activity, sleep, resting heart rate, and resting respiratory rate, with health alerts for reported changes. We like that it can add context to a dog’s routine, especially when “he’s been a bit weird today” is the most advanced medical record most households possess. The necessary reality check: Tractive explicitly says it is not a medical device and cannot diagnose conditions.

At 39 g and 71 × 29 × 17 mm, this is aimed at dogs weighing more than 4 kg, not every tiny dog with a huge personal brand. Its IP68 rating and Tractive’s description of it as 100% waterproof make it suitable for the sort of dog whose relationship with puddles is less “avoid” and more “full commitment.” Battery life is listed as up to six days normally or up to 14 days with Power Saving Zones, so the useful part still comes with a charging chore. Naturally: the dog gets the adventure, and you get the admin.

The AeroPress Go exists for the moment a decent coffee habit meets a backpack, hotel room, campsite, or office kitchenette with the charisma of a damp break room. We think that is a very real modern problem: plenty of people can survive without their usual coffee setup, but they would rather not start the day negotiating with mystery pods or instant granules.

This is a compact manual brewer built around one neat piece of packing logic. The chamber, plunger, filter gear, stirrer, and scoop fit into the included mug, and the lid closes over the whole arrangement. It does not require electricity, so its natural territory includes travel, hiking, camping, and any place where an outlet is either absent or already hosting someone else’s questionable charger collection.

The actual output is deliberately personal rather than communal. One pressing makes an 8 oz serving of coffee or cold brew, or up to three espresso-style shots. That makes the AeroPress Go a strong companion for one person with standards, not the hero of a cabin full of sleepy friends all asking for “just a little.” The 15 oz mug can hold almost two 8 oz servings of American-style coffee or cold brew, but the brewing capacity remains one cup at a time.

We picked it because portable coffee gear often forces a choice between a bulky kit and a compromised ritual. The AeroPress Go makes a more practical argument: keep the kit compact, keep its pieces together, and accept that good camp coffee may still involve a little manual ceremony before civilization can resume.

Desk lighting usually asks you to accept a small plastic tower, a visible cord, and the vague atmosphere of a regional insurance office. The Gingko Smart Book Light is our curveball for people who want illumination without inviting another piece of obvious equipment onto the desk, shelf, or tiny-apartment side table.

The selected US version is a mini, walnut-finish Smart Book desk light with a natural wood-effect finish. It is also rechargeable and portable, which gives it a useful degree of freedom from the eternal hunt for the conveniently placed outlet. A portable light is not exactly civilization’s missing invention, but it does help when the outlet is behind a desk, a couch, and three generations of cable chaos.

We like that Gingko has made the object itself part of the appeal. This is a desk light for the person whose workspace includes a nice notebook, one aggressively overwatered plant, and a firm belief that visual clutter is emotionally expensive. The playful presentation is the point; a generic lamp may do the job, but it cannot be expected to join the décor conversation.

There is one small administrative wrinkle from the pre-USB-C era: the older Smart Book Light version is supplied with a Micro USB charger, and the selected listing also includes one. That is not a disaster, merely a reminder that every household has a drawer full of cables that look useful until the exact day they are needed.