CodingBlocks
CodingBlocks
The 2021 Shopping Spree
The Mathemachicken strikes again for this year’s shopping spree, while Allen just realized he was under a rock, Joe engages “no take backs”, and Michael ups his decor game.
The full show notes for this episode are available at https://www.codingblocks.net/episode170.
Sponsors
- Datadog – Sign up today for a free 14 day trial and get a free Datadog t-shirt after creating your first dashboard.
Survey Says
What's your favorite feature on the new MacBook Pro?
- The return of the function keys!!! Bye Touch Bar ...
- The MagSafe charger! I love proprietary cables!
- I need an SD card slot. Not a USB card reader. That requires a USB A to C dongle.
- That shape that hearken's back to those early 2000's MacBooks.
- Obviously, it's all about that M1 Max!!! 10 CPU cores, 32 GPU cores. THIS.
- That I don't need to buy or enable a TPM 2.0 module to run the latest OS.
- Wait, Apple had another announcement?
- The NOTCH!!!!
News
- Thank you to everyone that left a review!
- iTunes: BoldAsLove88
- Audible: Tammy
Joe’s List
| Price | Description | |
| “Fun” Answers | ||
| $3,499.95 | Jura x8 (Williams and Sonoma) |  |
| $3,499.00 | 2021 Macbook Pro – 16″ Screen, M1 Max, 32GB RAM, 1TB drive (Apple) |  |
| Robotics | ||
| $359.99 | Lego Mindstorms (Amazon) |  |
| $149.99 | Sphero BOLT (Amazon) |  |
| Entertainment | ||
| $499.99 | Xbox Series X (Microsoft) |  |
| $180 | Game Pass (Microsoft) |  |
| $179.00 | Play Date (Website) |  |
| Health | ||
| $929.99 | Trek Dual Sport 3 (Trek) |  |
| $179.95 | Fitbit Charge 5 (Amazon) |  |
| $921.22 | Dorito Dust Supplies (Recipe) |  |
| Levelling Up | ||
| $199 / year | Educative.io (Website) |  |
| $159 / year | LeetCode Subscription (Website) |  |
| $99 | ACM Subscription (Sign Up) |  |
Allen’s List
| Description | Price | |
 |
Honorable mention: Steam Deck (Steam) | $399.00 |
 |
Honorable mention: Microsoft Surface Laptop Studio 14.4″ (Amazon) | $2,700.00 |
 |
LG 48″ C1 OLED TV (Amazon) | $1,297.00 |
 |
Honorable mention: Aorus 48″ OLED Gaming Monitor (Newegg) | $1,500.00 |
 |
HTC Vive Pro 2 (Amazon) | $799.00 |
 |
Valve Index Controllers (Steam/Valve) | $279.00 |
 |
Kinesis Advantage 2 (Amazon) | $339.00 |
 |
Corsair MP600 NVME PCIE x4 2TB (Amazon) | $240.00 |
 |
Arduino Ultimate Starter Kit (Amazon) | $63.00 |
Michael’s List
| Price | Description | |
| My smart home can beat up your smart home | ||
| $14.99 | Kasa Smart Light Switch HS200 (Amazon) |  |
| $16.99 | Kasa Smart Dimmer Switch HS220 (Amazon) |  |
| $26.99 | Kasa Smart Plug Mini 15A 4-Pack EP10P4 (Amazon) |  |
| $17.99 | Kasa Outdoor Smart Plug with 2 Sockets EP40 (Amazon) |  |
| For my health | ||
| $529.00 | Apple Watch Series 7 GPS + Cellular (Amazon) |  |
| Need moar power! | ||
| $34.00 | Apple MagSafe Charger (Amazon) |  |
| $12.99 | elago W6 Apple Watch Stand (Amazon) |  |
| $10.99 | Honorable mention: elago W3 Apple Watch Stand (Amazon) |  |
| $29.00 | Honorable mention: Apple Watch Magnetic Charging Cable (0.3m) (Amazon) |  |
| When I lose my stuff | ||
| $98.99 | Apple AirTag 4 Pack (Amazon) |  |
| $10.99 | Protective Case for Airtags (Amazon) |  |
| $14.88 | Honorable mention: Air Tags Airtag Holder for Dogs/Cat Pet Collar (Amazon) |  |
| I need to get some work done | ||
| $180.00 | Code V3 104-Key Illuminated Mechanical Keyboard (Amazon) |  |
| $169.00 | Honorable mention: Das Keyboard 4 Professional Wired Mechanical Keyboard (Amazon) |  |
| $280.00 | Honorable mention: Drop SHIFT Mechanical Keyboard (Amazon) |  |
| $240.00 | Honorable mention: Drop CTRL Mechanical Keyboard (Amazon) |  |
| If you insist on an ergo keyboard | ||
| $199.00 | Honorable mention: KINESIS GAMING Freestyle Edge RGB Split Mechanical Keyboard (Amazon) |  |
| Turns out, keycaps matter | ||
| $29.99 | Honorable mention: Razer Doubleshot PBT Keycap Upgrade Set (Amazon) |  |
| $24.99 | Honorable mention: HyperX Pudding Keycaps (Amazon) |  |
| Things I need to buy again | ||
| $19.99 | HyperX Wrist Rest (Amazon) |  |
| $28.99 | Honorable mention: Glorious Gaming Wrist Pad/Rest (Amazon) |  |
| $34.99 | Honorable mention: Razer Ergonomic Wrist Rest Pro (Amazon) |  |
| When things go wrong | ||
| $69.99 | iFixit Pro Tech Toolkit (Amazon) |  |
| $64.99 | Honorable mention: iFixit Manta Driver Kit (Amazon) |  |
| For all your calling needs | ||
| $599.00 | Rode RODECaster Pro Podcast Production Studio (Amazon) |  |
| $549.99 | Honorable mention: Zoom PodTrak P8 Podcast Recorder (Amazon) |  |
| $12.95 | On-Stage DS7100B Desktop Microphone Stand (Amazon) |  |
| $199.99 | Elgato Ring Light (Amazon) |  |
| $159.99 | Elgato HD60 S+ Capture Card (Amazon) |  |
| Music to your ears | ||
| $148.49 | Kali Audio LP-6 Studio Monitor (Amazon) |  |
| $189.00 | Honorable mention: KRK RP5 Rokit G4 Studio Monitor (Amazon) |  |
| $379.99 | Honorable mention: Yamaha HS7I Studio Monitor (Amazon) |  |
| $199.99 | Honorable mention: ADAM Audio T5V Two-Way Active Nearfield Monitor (Amazon) |  |
| $155.00 | Honorable mention: JBL Professional Studio Monitor (305PMKII) (Amazon) |  |
| $599.00 | Kali Audio WS-12 12 inch Powered Subwoofer (Sweetwater) |  |
| $65.00 | Palmer Audio Interface (PMONICON) (Amazon) |  |
| $169.99 | Honorable mention: Focusrite Scarlett 2i2 (3rd Gen) USB Audio Interface (Amazon) |  |
| For the decor | ||
| $34.99 | Dumb and Dumber Canvas (Amazon) |  |
| $34.99 | Honorable mention: The Big Lebowski Canvas (Amazon) |  |
| $34.99 | Honorable mention: Pulp Fiction Canvas (Amazon) |  |
| $34.99 | Honorable mention: Friday Canvas (Amazon) |  |
| $34.99 | Honorable mention: Jurassic Park (Amazon) |  |
| $34.99 | Honorable mention: Bridesmaids Canvas (Amazon) |  |
| $34.99 | Honorable mention: There’s Something About Mary (Amazon) |  |
Resources We Like
- Security Now 834, Life: Hanging By A Pin (Twit.tv)
- Buyer Beware: Crucial Swaps P2 SSD’s TLC NAND for Slower Chips (ExtremeTech.com)
- Samsung Is the Latest SSD Manufacturer Caught Cheating Its Customers (ExtremeTech.com)
Tip of the Week
- VS Code … in the browser … just … there? Not all extensions work, but a lot do! (VSCode.dev)
- Skaffold is a tool you can use to build and maintain Kubernetes environments that we’ve mentioned on the show several times and guess what!? You can make your life even easier with Skaffold with environment variables. It’s another great way to maintain flexibility for your environments … both local and CI/CD. (Skaffold.dev)
- K9s is a Kubernetes terminal UI that makes it easy to quickly search, browse, filter, and edit your clusters and it also has skins! The Solarized Light theme is particularly awesome for customizing your experience, especially for presenting. (GitHub)
