With the multitude of different apps available for both IOS and Android devices, it’s next to impossible to keep track of even a fraction of them. So how do you find the most useful ones and ones that are actually perfect for today’s busy guy with a packed calendar?
Well, you could try searching through App Stores for hours to find something that might be of slight use to you, but we wouldn’t really recommend that approach. Your time is far too valuable for that. Fortunately, we’ve done the hard work for you and sifted through hundreds of apps to find 5 apps that every man should have on his phone. Read on for our picks.
Distiller
If you’re not much of a drinker you may want to skip this one, but if you like the occasional indulgence then the Distiller app is a must have. This app provides detailed and expert reviews of some of the most popular alcoholic drinks around including; whiskies, rums, brandies, and Tequilas.
It’s nicely organized in an easily scrollable list and each item provides you with a quick rating. If you find an item that catches your attention you can simply tap on it in the list to read a more detailed description. This is a great app if you’re planning a get together with the guys.
Weber’s Grill
There aren’t too many men that don’t love the tastes and smells of a backyard BBQ, but that doesn’t mean that we’re all expert cooks. If you’re looking for a little back up the experts at Weber have you covered.
The Weber Grill app will give you step-by-step instructions on how to cook more than 250 different recipes – if you’re looking for something to impress your guests you’ll find it in this app. It doesn’t just provide you with recipes, it will also provide you with great tips to get the most out of your grill. This one is a must have if you’re serious about grilling.
Sworkit
Once men get into their mid to late thirties they start to realize that they have to take their workouts seriously if they want to maintain a fit and lean frame. There are tons of apps that focus on fitness and workouts, but that doesn’t mean they’re all equal.
One of the best options if you’re looking for a personal trainer in your pocket is the Sworkit app. You can enter your workout goals and the app will provide you with great workout ideas. It even has videos that show you how to do different exercises.
SAS Survival Guide
If you’re the active outdoors type you may enjoy a good hike or a camping trip in the backwoods. It’s an exhilarating and reinvigorating experience as long as you’re properly prepared.
An app that should be on the phone of anyone that spends a lot of time in the great outdoors is the SAS Survival Guide. This app was actually created by a former member of a British Special Forces team and they know what they’re talking about when it comes to outdoor survival.
Evernote
For the busy guy on the go it’s important to keep track of appointments, make easily trackable meeting notes, and keep a log of their daily activities. In a crowded app category, there’s one app that rises above everything else when it comes to staying organized and that’s Evernote.
It keeps you organized and you can quickly search for any information you need at a glance with its built-in search capabilities. If there’s one app you should have it’s Evernote.
The coolest smartwatches have a few things in common: they are reliable, have a good Operating System, and offer plenty of versatility. When it comes to the latter, smartwatches should be able to track your heart rate and let you monitor your health, track where you are with GPS, and use your voice to search the Internet.
Even though some smartwatches can fully function without need of a smartphone, most watches still need to be paired to a decent smartphone for the user to make the most of them.
There are plenty of smartwatches in the market today. However, not all of them are worth the cost. So, we have listed below some of the coolest smartwatches you can buy this holiday season.
The Fitbit Versa 3 is one of the best smartwatches not from Apple or Samsung. It is also one of the best watches for users who are focused on becoming or keeping fit. The watch is comfortable to wear, it has a built-in GPS, and the display provides a crisp image which makes it easy to view the display.
At around $200, it’s one of the more affordable smartwatches you can buy. The only significant issue with the watch is that its side button is not the best. But other than that, it’s a great option, especially for fitness enthusiasts.
Fossil Sport
The Fossil Sport is one of the sportiest-looking smartwatches today. And at just under $200, it’s also a bargain. The watch comes with a lightweight design, it’s powered by the Snapdragon Wear 3100 chip, and it has GPS. It runs the Google Wear OS, and has numerous watch faces to choose along with apps. When it comes to the OS, the Fossil Sport might actually be better than Samsung smartwatches. In terms of battery life, the watch can last up to two days, which is not bad.
The Fossil Sport doesn’t have any unique or outlandish features. However, it’s a decent and capable device that nails all the basics.
TAG Heuer Connected
TAG Heuer is known for its premium watches. So, it’s a sigh of relief that the brand’s latest attempt at a smartwatch is actually good. TAG Heuer Connected is a great-looking watch. It resembles a mechanical watch, with its sporty case and its round display.
The Connected doesn’t just look good, though. It also has a built-in heart-rate sensor, a GPS and enhanced sports tracking. As a premium smartwatch brand, the only competition it faces is the Apple Watch. However, TAG Heuer has the advantage of looking more like an actual mechanical watch.
Apple Watch Series 6
The Apple Watch is probably the best smartwatch of any kind you can buy today. Its safety features are unparalleled, for one. The watch constantly monitors your heart rate, and if it detects anything irregular, it will recommend you see a doctor. If you collapse, it can even alert the emergency services for you. Potentially life-saving features like these are a major part of why the Apple Watch is such a hit with both users and critics.
Other than health, The Apple Watch Series 6 also has a stellar design, GPS, waterproofing, increased customization options compared to its predecessors, and more.
Samsung Galaxy Watch Active2
The Samsung Galaxy Watch Active2 is among the best smartwatches for Android users. It has the best features of the Samsung Galaxy Watch but compressed into a lighter and smaller form factor that’s more comfortable.
The watch has a 1.2-inch 360 x 360 display that’s small enough not to feel overbearing, yet it’s still bright and beautiful. It has the Galaxy Watch’s essential features, like a heart rate and ECG sensor, a health app that monitors sleep and stress, 39 workout modes, and a way to monitor the user’s blood pressure.
It’s more affordable than both the Apple Watch and Galaxy Watch 3, but doesn’t sacrifice too many features to make it feel like a downgrade.
If you consider yourself an audiophile, or you just appreciate the sound of high-quality audio, then you probably want the perfect Hi-Fi system for your home.
It might seem unattainable, whether it’s the complexity of the setup or astronomical costs. But it doesn’t have to be like that. In fact, building your home’s (high-fidelity) Hi-Fi system can be quite straightforward. So, how can you do it?
To create a Hi-Fi system of any budget, you essentially need three things: the source, amplification, and speakers. The source can be anything from a CD player to a turntable, PC, or even your phone’s music streaming service.
The amplifier simply takes your source’s electrical signal and powers it up until it can drive your speakers. A lot of devices have inbuilt amplifiers—even your phone, believe it or not. However, using a discrete Digital-to-Analog Converter will massively improve your sound quality.
Speakers need no explanation. There is plenty of variety, from wireless to bookshelf speakers.
How Much To Spend
How much should you spend? There’s really only one answer to this: spend what you can afford. This could be several thousand dollars on a state-of-the-art setup. However, it can also be several hundred on something that will sound almost as well.
If you’re budget-conscious, we recommend starting by looking at what you already have. Most of us already have a source, whether it’s a TV, laptop, turntable, or smartphone and you might even have a sick set of speakers that are just waiting to be unleashed to their full potential.
Whatever the case, take note of what you have, then you’ll be able to spend more on what you don’t.
It’s also helpful to make a list of the features that are ideal for you—like Bluetooth or wireless.
If your budget is a bit more mid-tier, we recommend spending it evenly over the components. If your turntable is flawed, for instance, the amplifier will only make those flaws more noticeable.
Plan For Your Home
It makes little sense to get massive speakers if you live in a studio apartment. Likewise, bookshelf speakers won’t be anywhere near loud enough if you live in a massive space.
Similarly, you should consider what you’ll be using your Hi-Fi system for. For instance, if you want it to also be a home cinema and use your TV as the source, a soundbar might be the best option.
Choosing the right speakers also depends on your home. As long as they are a good quality set and will fill your room with sound, you can focus on maximizing their output.
Based on where you place them, stereo speakers will react differently. We recommend placing them away from corners and keeping them some distance from your walls. This will keep the bass from muddying the other frequencies.
It’s always good to measure the dimensions of your room and follow the manufacturer’s recommendation for placement. However, you can always experiment by moving the speakers around until they sound just right.
Plan For Hi-Fi System Additions
We recommend setting aside an extra budget for any additions you might need, like speaker stands, AV racks of quality cables. After all, you don’t want anything to compromise the quality of your sound.
If you want your Hi-Fi system to double as a home theater and give your home cinematic experience, you might want to consider speakers with Dolby Atmos.
Likewise, if you want wireless speakers, it’s a good idea to ensure that they support Hi-Res Audio streaming. This might cost a bit more, but the crisp audio will make them worth it.
Finally, we suggest using a dedicated mains outlet; your system might be more power-hungry than you think. It’s also a good idea to keep your mains cable some distance from your signal cables since they can affect performance.
For some, working from home in a home office is the only way to work. But for a lot of professionals, this is something that takes time to adjust to.
As we get used to working from home, it’s crucial that we rearrange our working space to reflect the office. Whether they are functional or stylish, these essential gadgets are what you need to help stay focused on your daily tasks.
The hub of your home office is always your desk. It houses most of your essential equipment, after all. But a regular sitting desk might not be the best option, particularly in the long term. We recommend a standing desk; or a stand up adjustable desk, if your budget can allow.
There are tons of benefits that come from standing desks. You can lower your chances of gaining weight, reduce back pain that often comes from sitting too long, reduce your risk of getting diseases caused by inactivity, and even lower your blood sugar levels.
If you have to sit to get work done—some guys just don’t like the idea of standing desks—then any regular office chair won’t be of much help to you. Instead, opt for an ergonomic chair.
This chair is designed to keep you comfortable and help you remain seated in the proper position for long periods.
It typically has lumbar support, is height adjustable, can swivel, and is shaped in a way that mirrors your body’s natural seating position. By providing additional comfort and support, ergonomic chairs are essential to help you maintain a full workday without tiring your back.
After that first sip of coffee, we usually get down to work, and it often takes a while before we go for another sip. When we remember that we have a mug of coffee right in front of us, it usually is already cool. Hardly anyone enjoys a lukewarm cup of coffee.
That’s where the Coffee Mug Warmer comes in. This is a handy device that you can place your mug on. It will keep your coffee hot—or any other liquid in your mug, really. That way, you won’t have to leave your desk to go reheat your cup.
It’s extremely easy to get distracted while working from home. There are just too many things that can grab our attention, whether it’s a noisy neighbor, the TV playing in the living room, or something else.
To help maintain focus for as long as possible, noise-canceling headphones are essential. We can use them to play our favorite music or simply to eliminate all background noise. Either way, they help us to get into the zone and lose ourselves in work for long periods.
There is no shortage of decent headphones out there, though we recommend checking out the reviews for each one to know what’s the best fit for you.
Since your home office needs more devices than you might initially think. And most of these devices need a power outlet. So, it’s important to be prepared by getting a surge protected power strip.
This is an important device for any additional gadget or gear you might get for your home office.
Ideally, look for one with surge protection. Some of your gadgets are not cheap, and you don’t want something like a power surge turning them into useless chunks of metal.
Not many guys have desktop computers at home. But a lot of us do have laptops for work. When you’re working from home, it can be easy to hunch over your laptop; even if you’re working at a desk.
This will cause your neck and shoulders to ache, and the longer you do this, the more you turn poor posture into a long-term problem.
One easy solution is a laptop stand. It positions the laptop so that the screen is close to your eye level. It also helps to keep your laptop ventilated, which is a major plus if your work makes the laptop’s hardware do the heavy lifting.