I'm just going to leave this here without further comment.

The Verge published a profile of accessory maker Anker yesterday, written by Nick Statt.

I've been using their accessories—battery packs, Lightning cables, chargers—for a few years now and from the beginning I was very impressed by the quality Anker is able to deliver at less than half the price of Apple and established accessory manufacturers.

This article is a really interesting read about the origins and philosophy of the company.

How Anker is beating Apple and Samsung at their own game — The Verge

This is the first official trailer for Star Trek: Discovery and I'm super excited for this new series.

For those of you outside the US, this version should be available. :) https://t.co/PxXmui65RO

I made a lovely trip to the Netherlands in August 2016 and got to enjoy everything from strolls at the beach, breakfasts on the deck of a house boat, to exploring Leiden by foot. These are a few of the shots I took during that trip.

Remarkable essay by @FareedZakaria: "Our task is, quite simply, to keep alive the spirit of American democracy." https://t.co/mHrDOtC2Ix

— Brian Stelter (@brianstelter) May 14, 2017

Via Wil Shipley on Twitter

If any of this surprises you, you obviously have no idea how vain we men are.

Ein Beitrag geteilt von Adam Ellis (@adamtots) am 5. Mai 2017 um 9:25 Uhr

More fun with the MCEX-16 macro extension tube for my camera. All of the close-up shots were shot without a tripod.

The below shot of the dove is just a nice example of the great dynamic range offered by Fujifilm's X-Trans sensors. In the original picture the sky and parts of the trees were blown out. Reducing the highlights in the internal RAW converter in the X-Pro2 brought them back nicely.

By floccinaucinihilipilification

My favourite camera strap by a long shot is the Eddycam Edition "35mm" in all black. It's comfortable, robust, and the design is understated. I bought it alongside my Fujifilm X-Pro2 last year and kept it on the camera since then.

As much as I like this strap, there are two downsides to carrying my camera with a strap attached to the eyelets on either side of the body:

• When using heavier lenses on the body, the camera becomes front-heavy, making it dangle uncomfortably when carried over the shoulder, around the neck, and diagonally across the body.
• I can't switch to using a wrist strap in those rare situations when I want to and wrapping the neck strap around my wrist is impractical and doesn't give me the secure feeling a wrist strap does.

After a bit of searching for a quick-release solution to attach my Eddycam to, I ended up with the Peak Design Anchor Links. I have a couple Peak Design camera accessories and straps and their quick connectors are second to none. The system is a bit bulky which was my one small, but ultimately unfounded, concern about pairing the Anchor Links with the Eddycam 35mm strap: it might've ruined the clean looks of the X-Pro2 + black Eddycam strap combination.

The big benefit of using a quick connector system like the Peak Design Anchor Links, is having a new option to carry my camera when attaching larger lenses like the XF16-55mmF2.8 R LM WR zoom, or the XF90mmF2 R LM WR. If I'm going to be using either of those lenses for a significant amount of time, I always attach the additional hand grip MHG-XPRO2 to my camera, which has a little gap on the right side of the base that is perfect for attaching one of the Anchor Disks — I'm honestly not sure if this is an intentional feature of the hand grip, but it's undeniably useful :)

With the strap attached to one of the eyelets on the camera and the small gap in the hand grip, the camera will now hang vertically on my side, making the combination more stable and comfortable to carry.

I'm really happy with the result of this experiment and the increased versatility of this camera strap setup. The only thing missing now is an Eddycam wrist strap with an Anchor Link, as I don't find the Peak Design wrist strap very comfortable.

The Verge has a really funny article up, about Juicero, the USD 700 USD 400 Wi-Fi-connected "juicer". The story behind and around this thing is utterly ridiculous and funny, especially once you realise that investors were convinced this is a good idea. Go ahead, read the article and watch the video; it's worth it for the laughs:

Turns out Juicero’s ludicrous Wi-Fi juicer is even more unnecessary than it sounds — by Jacob Kastrenakes @ The Verge

Calling this device a juicer stretches the term almost past its breaking point:

• It merely squeezes pre-made juice packs into a glass.
• It doesn't produce juice from fresh fruit or vegetables.
• It's impractical because the small juice packs have to be replaced constantly and you have to put a glass beneath it by yourself.
• It produces a huge amount of non-degradable waste, unlike, you know, an actual juicer.
• It's not a stretch to assume a real juicer will give you fresher juice and store-bought organic juice is probably just as good.
• It forces you to buy juice packs from the company behind the Juicero.
• It's an Internet of Things device for no apparent reason other than to save you from having to push a button when you arrive in the kitchen (hoping that you remembered to put a glass beneath it beforehand).
• It's probably easily compromised because I can't see a Silicon Valley startup caring about properly securing their IoT devices.
• It, eventually, creates more problems than it solves and fails at being what it claims: a juicer.

It boggles my mind that this thing was a) thought of as a good idea, b) developed beyond the basic conceptual stage, c) funded (!), and d) made into an actual product you can buy.