Mike Wojo

Did you know the PS5 can't play audio CDs?

This week I watched a lot of hiking videos on YouTube. Particularly from Kraig Adams, and marvelled at the beauty of Switzerland. I've done some hiking in New Zealand, and while grand for sure, I've never experienced the lush greens and historical/cultural touches that places like Switzerland and Austria have.

Kraig Adams on YouTube

Tentative plan is to go back to New Zealand in Feb so I can deal with my car I left there, grab some more things to take back to Australia (like my ice hockey gear), and do at least one day hike. Tongariro?

My friend Chris sent me this handy list from Department of Conservation NZ for overnight and multi-day tramp gear. One thing that stood out immediately was "40-50 litre size bag for multi-day hiking" as not only have I not done a multi-day hike yet, but I have been rigorously researching bags this week...

My current work backpack is over 10 years old (my trusty red Incase), my other bag (Red Canoe Radio Canada backpack) is smaller with strangely short and uncomfortable straps and can't fit a laptop well, and while I love my Worktone canvas tote, wearing a heavily packed tote on one shoulder for long periods gives me neck and head aches. So ultimately, I was looking for something that could replace all three and that I could use for work, for travel, for hiking. (But honestly, I'll still use the tote anyway)

I spent more than an entire day researching, from Patagonia to Carhartt to North Face, then branching out to everything else, and almost gave up and bought nothing until I accidentally found this one. It made me smile.

The Urur bag from Klättermusen, what I ultimately chose

It's called the Urur bag from Klättermusen, a Swedish mountaineering brand. It’s abrasion and water resistant, can be used as a tote or a backpack, has a laptop pocket and bottle holder, and has daisy chaining loops covering the front that you can attach additional modular accessory bags to. I love the details, like the patterns and colours on the straps and inner, and the way the daisy chain loops go diagonal across the front.

Look at these colours!

And the little mouse decal

It's a pain to get it here to Australia but I found one place that would ship it, with one left in stock. Human foraging instinct very satisfied.

I'm feeling inspired this week to backup my iCloud photos and messages onto physical storage instead of the cloud. Watching a 2025 tech trends video, they mentioned the "anti-cloud movement" about people and businesses taking back their data and leaving cloud services. I love that idea. I want to be responsible and tidy with my own data instead of paying Apple $15/month forever for it to sit there and probably be analysed for AI models.

Also super disappointed to read about Apple settling a case about Siri listening without being explicitly activated, and then selling transcripts to advertisers. Apple made privacy "their thing" and I swear they've said multiple times that they do not do this. The death of my heroes continues!