After almost two years plus on-and-off restrictions due to COVID-19, Singapore finally opened up slowly in the year’s second half, and mask-wearing became optional for most places. Finally, we are almost back to normal. I hope in 2023, mask-wearing will become optional on public transport.

Robot Vacuum Cleaner
Thanks to my ex-colleague, JayJay, for the link up, I got into Roborock’s Public relations (PR) list. They have sent me two Roborock cleaners for review, the Roborock Q7 Max and Roborock G10.

I am keeping the Roborock G10 for my use while I pass the Roborock Q7 Max to my parents so that it will help them with some household work.

I also got into Dreame’s PR list, and they sent me the DreameBot L10s Ultra for review.

So right now, I have four robot vacuum cleaners cleaning my house.

My iRobot Roomba 980 is responsible for vacuuming my master bedroom only, while my Roborock S7 will clean my whole house. After vacuuming, I will alternate between my Roborock G10 and DreameBot L10s Ultra to take care of the mopping part since both come with auto-mop cleaning.

Gadgets/Tech
My brother got me the CalDigit TS4 Thunderbolt 4 Dock for my birthday so I can dock my new work 16″ MacBook Pro (M1 Pro). I recommend getting this dock if you are looking for a dock for your M1/M2 MacBook.

Ugraded my living room’s Sonos Beam to a Sonos Arc. I moved the Sonos Beam to my room since I have a PRISM+ Q55 TV in it.

Because my living room’s Xiaomi Mi LED TV 4S 55 doesn’t support eARC, so to get Dolby Atmos on my Sonos Arc, I have to buy the HDFury 4K Arcana 18Gbps.

I upgraded my mesh routers to eero Pro 6, so my house is finally on wi-fi 6.

Lastly, I got myself a Rode NT-USB Mini Microphone with the Rode PSA1+ Microphone Arm because I wanted to sound better during Zoom/Slack calls.

Apple
I got myself a new base model Apple 14″ MacBook Pro (2021) since my brother has a friend who is leaving Apple and asked if we got any last things to buy. The price is too reasonable for me to resist.

Bought the new Apple AirPods Pro (2nd Generation) during Shopee’s 10/10 flash sale.

Lastly, for the usual yearly iPhone upgrades cycle, except this time, I upgraded to higher storage which is 512GB. I got the iPhone 14 Pro Max in Deep Purple.

Travel
With COVID-19 restrictions slowly easing for the rest of the world, I am happy I managed to travel to three countries in the year’s second half.

Traveled to Australia in August 2022. Japan in November 2022, and Switzerland in December 2022. When this post is published, I will be in Geneva, Switzerland. I will be back in Singapore only on the 9th of January, 2023.

What I Said In 2021

I am looking forward to getting the Roborock Onyx in 2022. Roborock Onyx is the auto-empty dock for the Roborocks S7. The stocks come and go, and there is no way for me to pre-order it on Lazada or Shopee, so I can only manually check it now and then.

I managed to get the Roborock Auto-Empty Dock the moment it got back in stock.

There are a lot of rumors that the iPhone 14 will drop the notch. I hope it is true. AirPods Pro 2 will be released in 2022.

Somewhat true for the iPhone 14 Pro series. It dropped the notch and replaced it with Dynamic Island, which still looks like a notch.

AirPods Pro 2 was released back in September 2022, and I bought it.

Maybe 2022 will be when I get my MacBook/MacBook Air/MacBook Pro that uses Apple Silicon. My current personal laptop is a hand-me-down 13″ MacBook Pro (Retina) from Li Xiang, which is an early 2015 model.

I did get the base model Apple 14″ MacBook Pro (2021).

Nest will launch a new wired video doorbell in 2022 that supports 24/7 recording. I hope they fixed the power issue, and I may consider getting it again.

They did. Google called it the Nest Doorbell (wired, 2nd gen).

I think it might be possible to travel by the end of 2022 without VTL. I am hoping to visit Japan or U.S. at the end of 2022.

I did visit Japan in November 2022, but not the U.S. Wanted to go to the U.S., but we ended up with Switzerland because we wanted to learn skiing.

For 2023
For 2023, probably the most significant change is I might be moving house to somewhere more central in Singapore. If that happens, I will re-look at all the devices I really need in a smart home again. The good thing about your second house is that you will know what you want and don’t like. It is like learning from all the mistakes made with your first house.

Wishing all my readers, visitors, and supporters a Happy New Year 2023! May both the inflation and war in Ukraine stop so that we can get back on to our lives.

Looking Back 2022

56 posts were posted in 2022, accumulating 48 comments, and 393,210 views.
December 2022
31st
Looking Back 2022
27th
Rode PSA1+
19th
Apple Lightning to 3.5mm Audio Cable
12th
NuPhy Air75
5th
Rode NT-USB Mini
1st
Charby Orbit Powerbank
November 2022
28th
Charby Orbit Stand – Adjustable MagSafe Stand
24th
Logitech MX Master 3S Wireless Mouse
21st
Apple Watch Magnetic Fast Charger to USB-C Cable
14th
Ugreen 65W Travel Charger
7th
Benks Infinity Pro Magnetic iPad Stand
October 2022
31st
Apple AirPods Pro (2nd Generation)
24th
Dreame H12 Pro Wet & Dry Vacuum Review
17th
Google Pixel 7 Pro Review
13th
Google Pixel 7 Pro Case
8th
Ugreen Height Adjustable Aluminum Mobile Phone Holder
3rd
Knocki Review
September 2022
26th
Ugreen HDMI 2.1 Switch
20th
QNAP TS-464 Review
12th
Apple iPhone 14 Pro Max Clear Case with MagSafe
9th
Singtel iPhone 14, iPhone 14 Plus, 14 Pro, And 14 Pro Max Price Plans
5th
DreameBot L10s Ultra Review
August 2022
29th
Roborock G10 Review
17th
eero Pro 6 Review
11th
Ugreen DigiNest Pro Power Strip
5th
Apple MagSafe Battery Pack
July 2022
28th
Flipper Zero
21st
Omron Upper Arm Blood Pressure Monitor (JPN500)
18th
Apple 14″ MacBook Pro (2021)
7th
Ugreen 200W Desktop Charger
4th
Poly Sync 20 Speakerphone Review
June 2022
30th
Poly Studio P5 Webcam Review
27th
HDFury 4K Arcana 18Gbps
23rd
Sonos Arc
14th
Ugreen HDMI 2.1 Cable
8th
Shure AONIC 40 Wireless Noise Cancelling Headphones
3rd
Sanus Wireless Speaker Stands
May 2022
30th
CalDigit TS4 Thunderbolt 4 Dock Review
23rd
Linksys Atlas Pro 6
12th
Passport III – 65W Travel Adapter
4th
Arlo Pro 4 Spotlight Camera Review
April 2022
26th
Roborock Q7 Max Review
20th
Ugreen USB-C to 4-Port USB 3.0 Hub
11th
Plugable DisplayLink 4K DisplayPort and HDMI Dual Monitor Adapter
6th
HyperJuice 4-in-1 Magnetic Wireless Charger Stand
4th
Sumlett USB-C to HDMI Cable
March 2022
30th
ErgoTune Supreme V3 (2022)
25th
Happy 38th Birthday To Me
February 2022
28th
Xiaomi Mi Portable Electric Air Compressor 1S
21st
OEM Google Nest Hub Max Stand
15th
Yunteng Selfie Stick Tripod Stand
7th
Google Nest Hub Max
2nd
LEGO Architecture Singapore 21057
January 2022
17th
Roborock Auto-Empty Dock Review
10th
Sonoff NSPanel Smart Scene Wall Switch Review
3rd
Stack Overflow The Key Macropad