Howdy as soon as once more, and welcome again to Quick Firm’s Plugged In.
I didn’t purchase a brand new telephone this 12 months. Or a brand new laptop computer, pill, or smartwatch. That hasn’t been a hardship. I’ve simply been completely content material with the gear I already personal—each a satisfying feeling and a boon to my pocketbook.
As a substitute of being splashy funds busters, the brand new merchandise that made me happiest in 2025 have been comparatively cheap objects that deliver intelligent twists to seemingly mundane classes. This week, I’m going to inform you about three I’ve discovered particularly rewarding. (I’m citing their record costs, however—this being Black Friday week—all are broadly accessible at steep reductions as I write this.)
The mom of all energy banks. Many of the innumerable exterior batteries I’ve owned have been totally unmemorable. Not Anker’s $119 Laptop Power Bank, a current present from my spouse, who purchased it off TikTok.
As its title signifies, the Laptop computer Energy Financial institution’s large 25,000mAh capability is sufficient to cost a pc. It might additionally deal with a pill, equivalent to my iPad Professional. Or a smartphone. Or different devices equivalent to a digital digital camera. Or how about all of them on the identical time?
Even when you do cost 4 gadgets without delay, you received’t must lug 4 USB cables. Together with two ports—one USB-C, one full-size USB-A—the Anker has a built-in cable that retracts into its case, and one other that doubles as a wrist strap. Most energy banks use LEDs to present you, at finest, a obscure sense of how a lot juice is left; this one has a flowery colour show with a gauge that signifies exactly how a lot energy stays, a battery well being indicator, and different helpful stats.
Now the Laptop computer Energy Financial institution is decidedly chonky—extra of a briefcase or backpack accent than one thing you’d slip in a pocket. If all you’re seeking to do is sometimes high off your telephone, it’s far more battery than you want. However by offering sufficient energy to final by the busiest of workdays, it’s liberated me from looking for wall shops at conferences and operating my fingers alongside the undersides of airplane seats in hopes of discovering an influence jack there. I get somewhat thrill each time I take advantage of it.
The very best smartphone pockets I’ve owned. I used to hold a pockets so hopelessly overstuffed that George Costanza himself might need pointed and laughed. That was till I managed to downsize to a kind of magnetic wallets that follow the again of a telephone. I carry my driver’s license, one bank card, an ATM card, the badge that will get me into my workplace constructing, and possibly a $20 invoice or two, and that’s about it. It’s the one place in my life the place I really feel like a preternaturally organized particular person.
However I haven’t been wild about a lot of the telephone wallets I’ve used. Some have been too tight: Solely two to 3 playing cards slot in, and so they have been virtually unimaginable to extract. Others have been too free, so playing cards went flying every time I dropped my telephone. And so they have been all made from leather-based that tended to finish up wanting battered and disreputable.
Peak Design’s $50 Mobile Wallet is in contrast to every other telephone pockets I’ve tried—and far, a lot better. Fabricated from sturdy material, it handles as many playing cards as I ever carry, and protects them from unintended exits with a magnetic flap. Most ingeniously, tugging on the flap causes the playing cards to journey barely out of the pockets, the place it’s simple to pluck the one I would like. It’s like having it delivered by a butler.
The Cellular Pockets pairs with Peak’s Everyday Case, which additionally sells for about $50 and is equally price it. Wrapped in an identical fabric-y materials, it’s simple to get on and off my iPhone and stays in mint situation after months of use. The case options Peak’s SlimLink, a mounting know-how that secures the case to a wide range of equipment—together with a mount I put in on my e-bike to let my iPhone double as a GoPro-style motion digital camera.
A e book gentle I really use. Early this 12 months, I pledged to read more dead-tree books—particularly those piled in a Jenga-like stack on my nightstand. I’m nonetheless behind, partly as a result of I wish to learn in mattress after my spouse has dozed off. Ink and paper don’t combine nicely with utter darkness.
This downside was theoretically solved a long time in the past by tiny clip-on e book lights. However they’ve at all times struck me as plasticky, fragile, and inelegant. The truth that they use AAA batteries doesn’t make them any extra interesting.
Not way back, nonetheless, a new generation of snakelike, USB-C-rechargable book lights got here to my consideration. As a substitute of clipping one onto a tome, you drape it round your neck, then bend it to direct beams of sunshine from each ends on the pages you’re studying. The one I bought, Kikkerland’s Fingers-Free Ebook Gentle, lists for $35. Different choices exist, together with ones from an organization known as Glocusent.
If there’s a draw back to carrying a e book gentle twisted round your neck, it’s that it seems to be fairly goofy, as my spouse has helpfully identified a number of instances. However she’s the one one who’s seen me utilizing mine. Did I point out that she’s normally asleep when I’ve it on?
You’ve been studying Plugged In, Quick Firm’s weekly tech e-newsletter from me, world know-how editor Harry McCracken. If a pal or colleague forwarded this version to you—or when you’re studying it on fastcompany.com—you may check out previous issues and sign up to get it yourself each Friday morning. I like listening to from you: Ping me at hmccracken@fastcompany.com together with your suggestions and concepts for future newsletters. I’m additionally on Bluesky, Mastodon, and Threads, and you’ll follow Plugged In on Flipboard.
[A note on last week’s newsletter, which discussed my experiences with Google’s Gemini 3 Pro LLM: A couple of the issues I cited involved the earlier Gemini 2.5 Flash model, which still powers the Gemini chatbot’s Fast mode. I’ve updated the version of the newsletter on FastCompany.com to clarify this.]
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