Enthusiastic Recommendations — August 8, 2025

It’s been a tough week, gang! I have a long history of back problems, which over time I’ve mostly managed to keep under control. However, every year or so I’ll have some kind of flare-up that puts me on the shelf. Unfortunately, that happened earlier this week while putting Sophia down in her play gym. The easiest way I can describe the feeling is this emoji: 💥.

Since Tuesday, I’ve been effectively useless at home. I’m in pretty constant pain, and any kind of bending is basically impossible. I know how to handle these scenarios, and I’m doing everything I need to help the situation, but this time is especially difficult as almost all of the parenting work now falls to Adina. I feel very guilty about this, but also very grateful to her.

Anyway, that’s enough of that.

I really enjoyed Connected this week. We had Jason on the show to cover for Ticci’s vacation. It’s always fun to have Jason on Connected — he’s very good at bringing the energy that show needs, which is different from what we do on Upgrade (even though this week we brought back the jingles — thanks, Lex!). On the episode, I spoke about reconsidering my relationship with the Apple Watch and I haven’t worn one since. I’m having some teething issues so far, but I’m also loving wearing my mechanical watches again. When Adina and I got married, I went berserk and treated myself to a Nomos — specifically the Metro Date Power Reserve. While I’m absolutely not recommending that you buy this watch, if you have the means, I highly recommend picking one up. I saved up for this watch for a year, which made it all the more special to me. It’s very nice to have it on my wrist again.

Now, a couple of regular recommendations:

• While we’re still in the watch realm, I want to give a shoutout to the Moonswatch range. I’ve yet to buy one of these myself, but I think that time is coming. The idea behind this project is fantastic — Omega style at Swatch pricing. These watches look great and have so many wonderful options. Apologies if this is the first time you’ve seen them.
• We recently started watching Stick on Apple TV+. Owen Wilson plays a washed-up golf pro looking for a second chance. He finds a young prodigy he wants to turn into a star. I’ve heard it described as ‘Ted Lasso for Golf,’ and I can see the comparisons. This is a really funny 30-minute comedy with a strong cast all around.
• Last night I downloaded a game that was shadowdropped as part of a Nintendo Direct yesterday but is available on multiple platforms. It’s called ‘Is This Seat Taken?’. Let me quote Ash Parrish at The Verge, who explains the premise perfectly: “Is This Seat Taken? is a cozy puzzle game where you arrange people according to their preferences. A set of clues tells you who likes what, and it’s your job to put them in the most appropriate place like the world’s most powerful wedding planner.” This is a very cute little game I’d been looking forward to, and I didn’t know it would be on iOS — so that was a nice surprise.

Okay, I need to go apply some heat to my back. I’m seeing a physio tomorrow. Pray for Mojo.