Monologue: The Tech I Actually Like - Better Offline

Summary

Better Offline: Monologue - The Tech I Actually Like Hosted by Ed Zitron | Released April 25, 2025

Introduction

In this compelling monologue episode of Better Offline, host Ed Zitron takes a refreshing detour from his usual critical stance on the tech industry to highlight the technological innovations and gadgets that he genuinely appreciates. This episode, titled "The Tech I Actually Like," delves into how specific technologies have positively impacted his life, particularly in overcoming personal challenges and enhancing his daily routines.

Ed Zitron's Personal Journey with Technology

Ed begins by reflecting on his previously negative outlook on technology, attributing it to his struggles with dyspraxia, severe ADHD, and social anxiety. However, he acknowledges that technology has been instrumental in enabling him to thrive despite these challenges.

"Tech has made me who I am, enabling me, a man with a coordinational disability, dyspraxia, if you're curious, severe ADHD and a good amount of social anxiety in the past, well, it allowed me to thrive." [00:31]

Daily Tech Routines and Gear

Ed shares a detailed overview of his daily tech setup, emphasizing convenience and efficiency:

Moonlander ZSA Split Keyboard: Ed appreciates its ergonomic design that supports wrist health by keeping his hands separate while typing.

"It's good for the wrist because you're not moving them around." [02:15]
Apple Magic Trackpad and Samsung OLED Monitor: His expansive 49-inch Samsung OLED monitor paired with an Apple Magic Trackpad creates a seamless and productive workspace. The Escrowno Dock allows him to effortlessly switch between home and travel setups with his MacBook Pro.

"I really like it when I travel between New York and Vegas to just be able to slot the thing in and have the same setup." [03:45]

Appreciation for Anker’s Gallium Nitride (GaN) Technology

Ed expresses admiration for Anker's use of Gallium Nitride (GaN) in their chargers and batteries, which allows for smaller, more powerful charging solutions.

"GAN lets you put way more power in the much smaller profile, meaning that you can now get chargers that are dramatically smaller that can fast charge your iPhone or your iPad or even your MacBook Pro." [04:30]

He highlights the practicality of Anker’s products, such as the built-in cables that eliminate the need for extra cords, aligning with his preference for minimalism.

Travel Essentials: Pac 25L Travel Duffel

Despite the episode's tech focus, Ed brings attention to the Pac 25L travel duffel, praising its functionality for frequent travelers.

"It fits underneath the seat in front of you on Southwest. It's able to fit a lot of crap, has lots of slots for your laptop, and generally feels comfortable over your shoulder." [07:00]

Connected Fitness: Tonal and Fight Camp

A significant portion of Ed's monologue is dedicated to his fitness journey, facilitated by cutting-edge fitness technology:

Tonal: This wall-mounted exercise machine offers interactive workouts with magnetic resistance and personalized feedback through its built-in camera. Ed credits Tonal with transforming his physical health, allowing him to lose weight and gain muscle.

"Tonal also has cool shit like eccentric mode where they add more weight on the eccentric movement of the exercise." [09:20]

"It's possibly my favorite piece of tech ever made. It just works." [11:00]
Fight Camp: Complementing his strength training, Fight Camp provides punch pattern trackers and offers a variety of classes that keep his cardio routine engaging.

"Fight camp, which puts you got patterns trackers in the wraps. And yeah, they've got great classes." [11:45]

Building Connections Through Technology

Beyond gadgets, Ed emphasizes the invaluable human connections he has forged online. Platforms like Twitter, Reddit, and Blue Sky have allowed him to build meaningful friendships that have significantly improved his social life and mental well-being.

"It's such joy to have connecting with others about just about anything... Almost every single friendship I've made has started online." [12:30]

He shares a heartfelt story about his friendship with Ben Rudolph, who played a pivotal role in supporting him through depression and overtraining injuries.

"Had the Internet not existed, I'd never have got to share my fitness journey with him and probably never got out of the hole I was in." [12:05]

Balancing Gratitude with Critique

While Ed expresses deep gratitude for the positive aspects of technology, he remains critical of the broader tech industry's practices, specifically pointing out issues like Apple's App Store policies that he believes fuel unethical industries.

"And I realize I am being monopolized. You do not need to tell me… Apple's app store is horrifying. I believe that they are responsible for fueling truly evil industries." [06:15]

Ed conveys that his critiques stem from a place of wanting to preserve the beneficial aspects of technology that have enriched his life.

"True cynicism doesn't come from a place of emptiness. It comes from a determination to defend that which makes us feel whole." [13:00]

Conclusion and Gratitude

Ed wraps up the monologue by expressing immense gratitude towards his listeners, the Better Offline team, and the online communities that have supported him. He attributes much of his personal growth and happiness to the positive use of technology in his life.

"I well up with the love in my heart for their kindness and their generosity that they continually show me." [13:00]

He celebrates the podcast’s recent Webby Award win, thanking listeners and team members for their unwavering support.

"Thank you to Matt Osowski, Robert Evans, Sophie Lichterman, Ava Warrender, Daniel Goodman, Ian Johnson, and everyone who works on this show." [13:10]

Key Takeaways

Personal Empowerment: Technology can be a powerful tool for overcoming personal challenges and enhancing quality of life.
Appreciation of Quality Tech Products: Investing in reliable and efficient gadgets can streamline daily routines and improve productivity.
Fitness and Health: Connected fitness technologies like Tonal and Fight Camp offer interactive and personalized workout experiences that can lead to significant health improvements.
Human Connections: Online platforms foster meaningful relationships that can provide essential support and companionship.
Balanced Perspective: While celebrating the positives, it is crucial to remain critical of the tech industry's ethical practices to advocate for a better technological future.

Notable Quotes

"Tech has made me who I am… it allowed me to thrive." — Ed Zitron [00:31]
"GAN lets you put way more power in the much smaller profile." — Ed Zitron [04:30]
"It's possibly my favorite piece of tech ever made. It just works." — Ed Zitron [11:00]
"True cynicism doesn't come from a place of emptiness. It comes from a determination to defend that which makes us feel whole." — Ed Zitron [13:00]

Better Offline continues to explore the intricate relationship between technology and society, offering listeners a nuanced perspective that celebrates innovation while advocating for ethical growth within the tech industry.

Transcript

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Ed Zitron (0:31)

Callzone Media the world's got plenty of cowboys, but it's short on dancers. This is the award winning Better Offline and I'm your host, Ed Zitron. Better Offline. That's right. You're listening to this week's monologue, and you may wonder why I'm saying award winning, but that's because we won the goddamn Webby for best Episode in the business category. We are winners. All of us. You, me, every listener. You all did this. Thank you so much. And before I get started any further, as lots of you have been asking about it, we're finally selling better Offline merchandise. We've got shirts, hoodies, onesies, glasses, tumblers and mugs. And until May 22, we're selling a limited edition hat. It's all really good stuff. The links are in the episode notes. Buy them now. Anyway, the Monologue I've realized that over time I've skewed pretty negatively about tech. And as I've said before, it's because I'm a broken hearted romantic. Tech has made me who I am, enabling me, a man with a coordinational disability, dyspraxia, if you're curious, severe ADHD and a good amount of social anxiety in the past, well, it allowed me to thrive. Without the Internet and the associated platforms I've used, I would have never had a good life. And if that sounds dramatic, you should see my hand wrang or hear how awkward I was as a child, or see how I tie my shoelaces. Anyway, so today I want to talk about some of the things I love, why I love them, and why you might love them too. Because it's important for you to see that I'm pissed off because I know that tech can be cool. It can be so much better. Now, while some of you might see this as shilling or fanboying, I think it's important that anyone covering tech actually likes it, finds something exciting about it and wants it to be better. Beyond the bullshit horse trading or sports fandom style stuff. And this episode will also run down my general daily carries, I optimize for convenience and as little thought as possible because I'm a huge baby and I need everything to be easy. I do not have any financial relationships with any of these companies and have in some cases given them a great deal of my own money. Unless I specify otherwise, everything I've mentioned or linked is something I bought with my own money and in advance of recording this. So at my desk I use this insufferable keyboard, a split keyboard called the Moonlander zsa. And it lets me type and feel like I'm plugged into the mainframe. You've got your two hands separate. It's good for the wrist because you're not moving them around. And I've got an Apple Magic trackpad along with a giant 49 inch Samsung OLED. It's a G9 connected to this thing called an Escrowno Dock where I just slide my MacBook Pro 16 inch in. Your mileage may vary, but I really like it when I travel between New York and Vegas to just be able to slot the thing in and have the same setup. It works. It works really well. Well. And like I've said, I'm a huge baby, so if it didn't, I'd be complaining endlessly now when I'm out and about. I really like what companies like Anker have been doing with Gallium Nitride Gan for short and their chargers and batteries. GAN lets you put way more power in the much smaller profile, meaning that you can now get chargers that are dramatically smaller that can fast charge your iPhone or your iPad or even your MacBook Pro. The reason I like Anker stuff is because it works and it can take a beating and the batteries tend to come with a cable built in, which I love because I hate having to have cables in my pocket. If you accost me on the street, I probably have one of their fast charging USB C batteries in my pocket. Mostly because it can fast charge either my iPhone or my iPad. They also just released this giant 165 watt power bank with two cables. I'm lusting for it. I want it so badly, but I cannot justify it. I already have a really similar battery pack that I bought years ago. I have no justification for it now. What's cool about these is that they can also be charged using their built in cables. I hate carrying extra shit around so this works very well for me. I also use an Anker prime charger when I'm traveling. It's got the ports to power all my stuff, including my MacBook, along with a Maggo Wireless charging station which is kind of a little fold up thing charges your AirPods Pro, your Apple Watch and your phone via MagSafe. It all just kind of works. Which is kind of the theme of everything. And for those curious, I also really like the AirPods Max. They sound great. They're way too expensive. They're like 500 bucks. But they sound lovely and they fit these giant goddamn ears. I've got Some of you have said I'm an Apple fanboy, I'm an Apple fanboy in the past and I'm really what I really am is a sucke stuff that all works together and I realize I am being monopolized. You do not need to tell me. I know. And I've also really I will say it again, Apple's app store is horrifying. I believe that they are responsible for fueling truly evil industries. Anyway, though, it's not tech per se, I really need to tell you about the Pac 25L travel duffel. I think it might mean Lita. I don't know. It's where I put all my crap when I'm traveling. It fits underneath the seat in front of you on Southwest. It's able to fit a lot of crap, has lots of slots for your laptop, and generally feels comfortable over your shoulder. I. I know it's weird to bring up a bag in a tech thing, but this bag is amazing. I've gone through like five different other bags to find this one and I can throw my prime charger in it, my MacBook, my iPad, my clothes, medicines, all sorts of crap. And it all fits in and it opens at the top so you can look inside of it without having to pull it fully out. I love it. I love it. I got Instagram targeted with it, which annoys me. I don't like that the Internet manipulated me, but thanks to all this gear, I can basically walk around all day without worrying about anything dying. Probably two days honestly. And I've got this little bag of cables and extra batteries that I can hand out to friends who have been planning ahead. Like I have skill issue. Moving on though, those of you who follow me on bluesky will know that I've been on a big fitness push and a big part of that has been tonal. Tonal is this giant wall mounted exercise machine with a big screen in the middle along with big adjustable arms that can be moved around to fit different exercises. It's hard to explain, but I advise you to go to the website. So if you want to do bench press, you put the arms down, you go on the bench and you push up with the cables. It works really well and it uses magnetic resistance to create up to 125lbs of weight either side and uses on screen prompt either through classes or your own custom workouts, which is what I use to tell you both what to do. Critique your form using the built in camera, give you feedback and actually count your reps. Which I love because again, huge baby. Don't like writing stuff down, don't really like having to do anything. If they could do the workout for me, I'd let them. But nevertheless, it works really well. And like I must say though, it is egregiously expensive. It's over $4,000 before tax and requires a great deal of space around it, but it's possibly my favorite piece of tech ever made. It just works. I dropped from 240 pounds to 165 pounds since the show began, gaining real muscle definition and physical strength. And since getting tonal in 2021, I realize that's much longer. I've done hundreds of workouts. Look, I'm a simpleton and thus having something count my reps and tell me exactly what to do is extremely effective. And tonal also has cool shit like eccentric mode where they add more weight on the eccentric movement of the exercise. So if you're thinking of the bench press, it starts by your chest and you push up and then went and you've done the push up that's in the pushy part. As the weight is coming down, it adds weight to that eccentric weight. There are studies that suggest it. It works more. Feels good though. I'll also say the form correction works and the workouts are varied and equivalent to working out with real iron. It's got barbells, it's got dumbbell exercises, and I've got real muscle as a result, which is the best endorsement I could actually give. I love it. I've happily paid for it. And tonal is worth it if you're going to use it. Like any gym membership, except unlike any gym membership, you have a bloody thing nailed to your wall. If use it. Don't get this. If you're not going to use it. Seriously, it's so expensive. But if you are, if you are truly going to. It is the best money I've ever spent. Really. I'm sure that there are more important things, but nevertheless it's. I cannot. I just upgraded to tonal 2, which has like smoother action and stuff. But I beat the ever living shit out of my old one. I used the crap out of it. It's something I kind of dreamed of as a kid. Like I really wanted something like this, something that direct me and allow me to do these exercises and tell me what to do without having to go gym. Because the gym feels like a very judgmental place. And on a higher level, I have up until recently really not liked my body or how I look. And connected fitness stuff has really helped me fix that. For those curious or those who aren't but want to get pissed off at me, I work out about three to five times a week, either lifting on tonal or doing my cardio days, which include Peloton's yoga classes and another one of my favorite tech products, Fight Camp, which puts you got patterns trackers in the wraps. And yeah, they've got great classes. Shout out to coach pj. I love fight camp, I really do. And I love boxing as well. If you've ever wanted a cardio exercise that just feels perfect, really boxing is it. You're probably throwing a punch wrong. I certainly was like smiling as I read this. Bam. But this was, this was a large part of how I changed my view of fitness. From this kind of punishment, a kind of a penance for the sin of sloth, for feeling bad about how he looked in the mirror, for feeling lethargic but just feeling fat. And I'm sure there are listeners who totally get this as well. And I use this kind of stuff to find it as a joyous alternative to typing all day. Something that makes me feel happy and strong, like I'm building something that's just for me. I'm building an image. And I know that sounds very dramatic. Who gives a shit? It's a monologue. Come on, we can have some fun. But having data, the work I've done, my heart rate, the volume of what I've been lifting, my output on the heavy bag, it all lets me see progress, sure, but it gives me a body of work and the connected fitness aspect let me do it alone, which helped my social anxiety and going to the gym. Now I'm extremely social and very confident in who I am. And I think a lot of that came from this, came from the fitness side. If you ever want to talk about this, my email is ezetteroffline.com that's echozetaetteroffline.com always happy to talk fitness, always happy to give advice. I'm not a personal trainer, but I found so much joy through this and it is through the tech side. Yet beyond the connective fitness aspect was this thing that I truly love the most about technology. It's the connections I've made with real human beings that have made my physical life so much better. A few years ago I started chatting to a guy called Ben Rudolph on Twitter and we, along with a few friends, Tatiana Caleb ended up starting a group DM for Fitness, which truly changed my life in part because Ben, out of the kindness of his heart, patiently explained everything from how to build a sustainable lifting routine to showing me a video of how to throw a punch and a kick. I'm proud to call Ben my friend and had the Internet not existed, I'd never have got to share my fitness journey with him and probably never got out of the hole I was in. I was injured after really over training because I got very depressed and Ben helped me out. Ben is not in fitness himself. He is a mountain of a man, a formidable muscled fella, but he works in tech. It just so happened that we had a mutual interest. This is, this is the reason I log onto the Internet and like this is really what I love the most about technology. As dark and ominous and brutal as the world feels right now, as noxious and poisonous as social media contest feel and seem, there's such joy to be had connecting with others about just about anything. I love using Reddit if you're on the better offline Reddit. I truly love you for posting there and the way all of you responded to the Webby thing actually made me cry in the best way. Thank you. And I love Blue sky too, because for every sickly little pedant correcting me, there are hundreds of wonderful souls, many of whom choose to email me when I make this show. At the core of my critiques and complaints is the sense that I know what technology has done and will do for me, and a frustration that there are those who would interfere with that process as much as possible for profit or growth, I guess. And I realize it's bland and obvious to say the Internet is good for connecting people, but it really is. And had it not done so for me, I don't know if I'd have made it out of my teens. And you can choose what you want to make that meme. I find such joy and love in my friends. I'm so incredibly grateful for them at times. I well up with the love in my heart for their kindness and their generosity that they continually show me, and almost every single friendship I've made has started online. I can connect with them wherever they are in the world. I can send them what I'm doing or hear what they're doing, what I'm feeling, and vice versa. And for that, I'm eternally grateful. Nothing about this gratitude stops me from critiquing these companies. And indeed, the love that I fostered through digital connections drives my fury at those who would interfere with or exploit it. True cynicism doesn't come from a place of emptiness. It comes from a determination to defend that which makes us feel whole. Thank you for listening. And again, by the way, thank you for voting for me in the Webbies. It fucking rocks. We won. Actually, you know what? Before I go, I was gonna log off there. I just want to thank everyone who works on Better Offline. I forget whether we put the thing at the back that says all of these things again, but thank you to Matt Osowski, Robert Evans, Sophie Lichterman, Ava Warrender, Daniel Goodman, Ian Johnson, and everyone who works on this show. You've been extra normally supportive. It's a pleasure to do this. And yeah, thank you to the listeners as well. It's my cheesy way of thanking you all for the Webby. Anyway, the episode's really done now. Cheers.