Day-to-day items we love to use
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I flipping adore my Zojirushi Micom Rice Cooker. Forget soaking your rice for 30 minutes before cooking, and forget scraping burnt bits of rice from the bottom of your pot. You know what I like doing? Washing my rice the night before, hitting the schedule button on this Zojirushi, and waking up to a pot of perfectly cooked rice that stays warm until I’m ready to eat. I can cook up to 5.5 cups at a time, which is excellent for making fried rice the next day. It can handle multiple types of rice — brown, white, long-grain, short-grain, you name it. It’s even good at making oatmeal and porridge. Hell, it can do basically anything a pressure cooker can do. I can hard boil my eggs, bake a cake, make soup, and steam veggies with this baby. I splurged for a fancy-pants Zojirushi with multiple settings, but there are plenty of affordable options that also take up way less space than an Instant Pot. Also, it sings Twinkle Twinkle Little Star to me when it’s done cooking. What’s not to love? — Victoria Song, reviewer
Home tools
Yes, it’s a screwdriver. Yes, I’m aware you can buy screwdrivers (even multi-bit ratcheting screwdrivers) from any number of brands. I have five different ones on my workbench! But once I met the MegaPro, I knew I’d never need to buy a sixth.
Light and strong, grippy yet comfortable, easy to change the ratchet direction with one hand, with a long narrow shaft that reaches farther and more reliably than my other drivers, and a satisfying-to-open hidden stash of bits beneath its rotating cup on the end. Double-sided bits that don’t need to be squeezed or pinched to get them out of that handle and a shaft whose bit cavity is long enough I can fit impact driver extensions or even my right-angle attachment. I’ve never touched the square bits, but it’s got a great mix of Philips, Torx and flat. Oh, look at that — they also sell an “automotive” version that’ll hold 12 one-inch single-sided bits and has a magnetic end to hold on to screws. Looks like I’ll be replacing my other, inferior drivers with that one next. — Sean Hollister, senior reports editor
Miniature collapsible utility shovels don’t sound very useful until you own a tiny two-seater car that gets stuck in muck with shocking regularity. After many snowy mornings spent trying to dig my car out of its parking spot with whatever I had on hand, I decided it was time to explore my options. Selling my car for a more reasonable one that’s better suited for midwestern winters was out of the question. However, a teeny shovel that collapses easily for storage and allows me to quickly rescue my car from snow or mud is a good compromise. — Kaitlin Hatton, e-commerce social media manager
Five years ago, I had to purchase a folding saw as part of a prerequisite for joining the search and rescue team I volunteer with. Before that, I had always considered the humble hatchet to be a more versatile tool for the outdoors, something I could use to bludgeon firewood until my arms inevitably tired and I nearly keeled over after fewer swings than I care to admit. That changed when I picked up Bahco’s budget-friendly folding saw.
In the time since, I’ve become enamored with the little device. The seven-inch serrated blade conveniently folds into the handle and flips out in an instant, allowing me to feverishly tear through everything from hardwood to plastic without having to opt for additional tools. I’ve found it to be quicker and more efficient than an axe, and I don’t have to worry about my less-than-ideal precision, given I’m not swinging it around. It even has a convenient safety lock on the handle, so I can toss it in my backpack and not have to worry about it shredding my gloves, expensive rain jacket, and the rest of my SAR (search and rescue) gear. It’s an elegant tool for a more civilized age, and I’m here for it. — Brandon Widder, commerce senior editor
I’m not much of a tool person or knife person, but I have an unabashed love for my Leatherman Wave Plus multi-tool. I received it as a birthday gift a few years ago from my wife, and it’s been used nearly every day since then.
There are more tools on it than I really need (18 in total), but the locking straight knife (excellent for opening cardboard boxes), needle nose pliers, and mini screwdrivers are what I make use of all the time. Whether I’m breaking down boxes from the weekly arrivals from Amazon, Target, and Walmart or installing a new smart light switch in my wall, the Leatherman is always the first tool I grab to get the job done.
It’s also a great fidget tool when I’m sitting at my desk — it’s really satisfying to repeatedly unfold and fold closed. Just be careful not to pinch your fingers when doing that, as I have done and likely will do again in the future. — Dan Seifert, deputy editor
Personal items
At some point or another, if you live long enough, it’s very likely that you will need reading glasses. I hit that point — very reluctantly — a few years ago. Once I realized that I was squinting way more than was healthy for me, I accepted my fate and bought a pair of reading glasses. But that brought a new problem — I kept misplacing the things, or forgetting to put them in my bag, or leaving them in cabs. Until I got myself a pair of ThinOptics readers.
They can’t technically be called glasses because they’re made of plastic. And they don’t have earpieces; they sit on your nose like they were Ben Franklin’s specs. But they fold up into a small, flat case with a small keychain loop that I can hang in my backpack. And so when I leave my glasses at home, or accidentally sit on them, or (as once happened) leave them on the subway, I know that I always have a way to read my Pixel phone or my Mac Pro screen without spending the day in a desperate squint. — Barbara Krasnoff, reviews editor
Listen, you clip your fingernails every few days. Why not have the absolute nicest fingernail-clipping experience you can? Made of steel, the storied Japanese brand Kiya clippers make nice, clean cuts, and the plastic shell will even catch most of your trimmings. Keep those fingertips tidy! — Kevin Nguyen, features editor
A traditional watch
There are few non-tech gadgets and items I love as much as watches. While my small collection remains mostly humble and devoid of any luxury extravagance, I can’t help thinking about, reading about, or even writing about watches. Traditional watches are a mostly unnecessary tool these days, but they are one of my favorite ways to accessorize what I wear or how I’m feeling. I admire the craftsmanship and design of all kinds of watches and the way that some tell interesting stories or bring something out of me.
My gold G-Shock? When it’s not sitting beside me on my desk chiming on the hour, it’s what I wear with a black denim jacket and pair of Dr. Martens boots if I want to feel flashy. My two-and-a-half other G-Shocks (I sometimes wear my wife’s Pikachu anniversary Baby-G)? I admire their ruggedness and streetwear looks. My Seiko SKX013? It’s my first “real” automatic mechanical diver that isn’t too big on my dainty wrist and has as many stylings as the amount of NATO straps I throw at it (though I mostly stick with black). My $15 Casio F-91W? It’s so unassuming, but it’s got an infamous history. My manual-wind 1960s Timex Marlin reissue? I dig its mid-century numerals, and it reminds me of some of the classic Timex watches my dad owned and left behind.
Watches may no longer be necessary, but they are illogical purchases that continue bringing me years of joy and emotional value. — Antonio G. Di Benedetto, commerce writer
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