ePBT RamenStop is “a two-toned Katakana set themed around small ramen shops” in the group buy phase from the designer Plop from now until February 22nd via the Kono store and looks absolutely awesome. Estimated delivery is in 6-8 months and the set starts at $75 for the base kit.
Mechanical Keyboards have really taken off in the past few years, and I’ve reviewed a few and in the last two years I’ve gone from buying off-the-shelf boards to building my own. They’re highly customizable and can fulfill a specific need or just look nice and supply you with a chance to test out your soldering skills.
The Alice layout by the designer TGR is designed to be something like a Microsoft Natural keyboard in form but using standard sizes of keycaps while also taking up less of your deskspace. Add a few arrow keys to the lower right to this more ergonomic split layout and you’ve got something more similar to the open-source Arisu layout and this is the layout of the YMDK Wings keyboard I’m reviewing today, with some changes.
This isn’t the first Arisu-layout keyboard I’ve owned, but it was the easiest to build. I’ve had two Gothic 70 keyboards, they’re made of layered acrylic and surprisingly cost about what the Wings cost even though the Wings is made of aluminum (and a thin strip of acrylic for under glow.)
I’ve had Alice layout boards before, but without arrows it’s not super fun to use and it doesn’t look as nice because the arrow keys provide an accent I appreciate. Believe it or not, there are mini-Alice layouts in the form of 40% boards that lack even the number keys and some characters like brackets, those are awesome little boards but brutal to learn.
So here we have the Wings by YMDK, it has arrow keys, it’s aluminum and it only costs $135 plus shipping if you get it without switches. Shipping was a bit more expensive because that came close to $30 for me, but even with that I knew this was a deal. Similar boards have cost upwards of $300 and compared to other boards made out plastic this was an absolute steal.
Still, I wondered how good the Wings could be. I’ve had trouble with value boards in the past. The Gothic 70 keyboards I had included the most beautiful PCB with a wonderful latticework design but that same design also caused electrical shorts that rendered my last one useless. An error with the USB-C connector in the revision 2 board caused it to only work with USB-C cables connecting to USB-C on the computer if the connector was in a certain orientation.
YMDK was upfront about the USB situation and say right on the product page for the Wings that it doesn’t work with C-to-C connections at all. Disappointing, but with a metal board I’m a little less concerned about portability.
One benefit to the Wings is that it isn’t a group buy, most custom mechanical boards are sold where people get together to make a bulk purchase to make the cost more affordable for everyone. That bulk purchase usually includes a wait of anywhere between a few months and at the maximum a year or more. However with the Wings you can get it right away. Shipping was quick and the Wings got here from YMDK in China less than a week after I ordered it and only two days of actual shipping time. Most things from mainland US take more longer to get here.
Upon receiving the Wings it was clear where it was a bit cheaper. The box was a simple black box without any branding. Inside you are immediately greeted by a small resealable bag that contained a USB-C to USB-A cable, optional aluminum and rubber coned feet, parts to assemble a few stabilizers, screws, and black rubber stick-on dots for a simpler foot option. It is very unusual for custom boards to include the stabilizers, cable, and aluminum cone feet but I appreciated it.
Unpacking the actual board revealed the aluminum shell, circuit board, and acrylic underglow layer. Everything was screwed together using typical cross-head screws, and I disassembled the case so that I could solder switches in.
No instructions were included for assembly, what instructions YMDK does make available online are mainly focused at programming the board using their online configurator.
Disassembly revealed that the acrylic layer is incredibly thin. It only lets a little bit of accent lighting through and doesn’t do much to diffuse that lighting, so it is very easy to count the WS2812B LEDs included with the board.
The thin acrylic also has a protective paper backing on either side, this is typical with any acrylic parts to protect them during shipping. I’ve seen warnings about delicately removing that protective backing on much thicker pieces of acrylic in the past so as not to accidentally break the plastic and so I took a lot of time to do that right.
The Wings’ aluminum shell feels sturdy, and the silver anodization on mine came out well. I haven’t noticed any imperfections in the finish. Soldering the PCB with the switches I chose, Boba Silent Tactile U4 switches from Gazzew was fast and easy. I did notice a few things about the circuit board that were odd.
Usually if you’re going to include a split-backspace option, where you can have two 1U keys (1U is the size of a standard letter or number key) instead of a full-size 2U backspace key, you’ll support that with the case. But the Wings‘ case only supports a split-backspace layout, despite the PCB very clearly having a space for a stabilizer under the backspace key. I’ve seen one other user who dremel’d their case to allow for a 2U backspace but I would not buy the Wings expecting that will work.
Single-color, in-switch, LEDs are also supported, but I didn’t know that in advance so I used switches with opaque tops. I might still install some white LEDs later-on but they’re not necessary or even supported by the default firmware. Oddly, the PCB has the cathode leg marked for each LED through-hole solder point but the printing isn’t great so it wasn’t immediately clear if the marking was half of a plus marking the anode or a minus marking the cathode leg of the LED. I confirmed with YMDK that it is in fact a minus for the cathode leg.
Typically a custom mechanical keyboard is built of a few pieces for the top and bottom and then a plate inbetween the two that the key switches pop into and those hold the circuitboard in place. The YMDK wings has what is called a superplate where that plate and the top of the keyboard are one piece. A superplate is easier to assemble in some ways, but it eliminates options for people who prefer to choose a separate material for the plate. Instead of getting to choose brass, fr4, or another material for the plate, you’re using aluminum because that is what the case is made out of. The fit of my case was also a little off, the cutout for one switch above the arrows didn’t match my key switches and it really took some work to get the switch to fit into the superplate there.
Once that was resolved, soldering the switches on was as easy as it should be. No beautiful lattice-work PCB to get in the way. Sadly the cone feet that came with my copy of the Wings included the wrong size of screw and couldn’t be used, but I had another set of feet and screws and they are a standard size. The screw hole for the feet is nicely counter-sunk and if I grab another set of screws I’m sure they’ll work fine.
One thing you’ll notice with the Wings is the incredibly odd default layout of the bottom row:
Practically every Alice or Arisu-layout keyboard has the most designer influence in the default layout in that bottom row, I’ve seen odd choices like backspace on either space bar, but this one is very wacky. The control key belongs on the left, not next to space where the Alt key is. There is also no Windows/Command key at all in the default layout which makes the board practically unusable under macOS.
Visiting the configurator linked in the Wings manual is not at all reassuring. The site is very much not intended for an English-speaking audience and takes a while to load the keyboard options before you can select the Wings board and begin choosing options for the board. If I hadn’t been more familiar with programming keyboard firmware via my own fork of QMK and QMK’s online configurator, I imagine this one would be very daunting to get used to if it is your first and the default layout in the configurator doesn’t match the default layout the keyboard ships with. Compile that by default and you won’t have access to the LED controls at all.
My hope is that someone gets the Wings into mainline QMK and then people can use the stock QMK configurator. However, the main QMK configurator is missing some of the features included in the configurator YMDK points you to. In order to set up LED options you might have to configure those things via manually editing a config.h and compiling on the command-line.
(Update: since this review was written support for the Wings has gotten into mainline QMK and thus the QMK configurator. Support is on the way for Via.)
I rebound the capslock to be the modifier key that accesses the extra layer of controls and put the Windows key onto the key between the spacebar and put the other missing keys back into the secondary layer. Programming the board wasn’t hard after that, but QMK Toolbox can be daunting for anyone new to mechanical keyboards. Via is preferable due to not requiring the Toolbox step and including the configurator right on the desktop program, but getting a board into Via can be a real pain.
Overall, I’m very happy with the YMDK Wings. I’ve been typing on the Wings for a little over a week now and I still appreciate the split layout, and having the arrow keys without having to resort to layers is exactly how it should be. For $135 plus shipping you’re getting a fantastic ergonomic value that looks great and has room for your choices of keycaps. YMDK does have options that include switches for a fair price if you don’t want to solder anything and don’t mind that they aren’t silent. Some might not be happy with the superplate design, but the YMDK Wings is a win for me.
The Wings is available now directly from YMDK in Black, Gray, Silver, Red, and Blue.
Continuing Agent 47’s story from the 2016 reboot-ish HITMAN, HITMAN (2016) 3 (2021), the all-caps sequel to HITMAN (2016) 2 (2018) from io interactive, is out. It’s still just as endearingly ridiculous as HITMAN (2016), but supposedly puts a cap on this trilogy.
There is a terrific game in HITMAN (2016) 3 (2021), some of the levels have fundamentally new modes of play that are surprising in what was for me just the constant ridiculousness of trying to make Agent 47 act normal as he fulfilled his mission objectives.
HITMAN (2016) 2 (2018) had the good idea of letting you play the 2016 game’s levels inside of the upgraded engine in addition to the new levels. That worked out well. Unfortunately, the third game in the trilogy is only available through the Epic Game Store on Windows and thus far the developers at io interactive have been unable to come up with a solution that lets player’s transfer their purchased game content from Steam. A solution is supposedly in the works, but until then the older games content is locked behind incredibly expensive DLC purchases of $60 for the base HITMAN (2016) 2 (2018) or $100 (!) for the “Gold” version of HITMAN (2016) 2 (2018) that includes all of the extra content from that game.
When a game is ported to another hardware and software platform there is always work involved to make the game work well, but frankly it is infuriating to boot up the latest HITMAN and be immediately with the opportunity to buy access to a game I already own that’s just on a different store on the same hardware platform.
I hope io interactive can fix this situation soon, Hitman (2016) 3 (2021) deserves to be evaluated for what it is, and right now the business deals the companies involved have made are ruining some of the fun.
Hitman (2016) 3 (2021) is available now on the Xbox One and Xbox Series X, Playstation 4 & 5, as well as a streamed version to the Nintendo Switch, and the aforementioned Epic Games Store on Windows. It costs anywhere from $60 to $90 depending on the edition.
Watching their movies out of order, Good Time was the previous Safdie Brothers film, another criminal thrill feature released years before Uncut Gems.
Good Time features two brothers, Connie (Robert Pattinson) and Nick (Benny Safdie). Nick’s brain is non-typical and his brother Connie manipulates him into a bank heist that leaves Nick locked up for the crime while Connie spends the rest of the film trying to free his brother.
Unlike Uncut Gems‘ Howard (Adam Sandler), Connie seems to actually care about someone besides himself, and there are few enough side characters that everyone gets to have a moment. Connie’s girlfriend Loren, played by Jennifer Jason Leigh, does a terrific job depicting someone who is trapped in a bad relationship with both Connie and her familial relationship with her mother.
Ultimately, this film is better for the space it gives those side characters, their realistic portrayal helps the world of Good Time feels more real than Uncut Gems. The spaces the characters visit and inhabit are also true to real city spaces. A Dominos to hide inside with a pissed off manager, a shitty local bank to rob, the home of some nice people Connie takes advantage of will be instantly recognizable to anyone who has ever struggled to pay for food and find the energy to clean, even the amusement park doesn’t feel fake.
Good Time also comments on stereotypes. Dash (Barkhad Abdi) is a Black security guard that Connie beats into unconsciousness, and doses with enough acid to make The Undertaker hallucinate for a year. Connie races to Dash’s home to conduct business in order to get money for bailing out Nick, but audibly remarks that the apartment is actually well furnished, and it is. This is an apartment that Dash cared about, and he is added to the list of people that Connie undeservedly steps on in order to help Nick.
There is no existence under capitalism that doesn’t involve stepping on other people, and that is true in the fiction of Good Time as well. In the opening, the brother’s bank heist was going well, but the bank teller hides an explosive dye pack in the money bag. Both risking her life, if the brothers-as-robbers were armed during the heist and they realized what was in the money bag, and when the dye pack goes off it caused an unintended car crash that could have been fatal for any pedestrians caught in the way. Just to protect the bottom-line of a bank whose money is insured to begin with.
The characters of Good Time are interesting, the world feels more realistic than other thrillers including the Safdie brothers’ Uncut Gems, and the movie has an important message behind the thrills about capitalism even if most people will miss it. I like a lot about this movie, but I will note there is a particularly disturbing scene where Connie attempts to sleep with a sixteen-year-old girl in order to distract her before the local TV news program gives a report on the bank robbery. Fortunately, no clothes come off before they are interrupted, but it is another incident where Connie feels he has to do something in order to not create another witness to his flight from “justice.”
Jason Snell writing for Macworld:
But… connecting and disconnecting AirPods on the Mac is so much more frustrating than on iOS. While iOS 14 brought more intelligent connection and disconnection of AirPods, Big Sur can’t get with the program. It can take a long time to connect the AirPods, and they seem to disconnect at the drop of the hat.
Typically I use a pair of Sony MDR-7506 headphones with my Mac, connected through a USB audio mixer and both those devices are a little more than a decade old, but when I need to make a video call on my Mac I use my one working Powerbeats Pro (it’s the left one, the right one turns off after about 10 minutes of usage) and trying to determine that it is connected, the default microphone, and the microphone whichever app I’m using actually selects is a nightmare.
I don’t want to go back to switching which device (my Mac or my Windows computer) has a physical microphone attached and my experiences otherwise match Snell’s in this article. My wired Sony headphones are more than a decade old and work great even if they have some signs of wear at this point — I’ve replaced the ear pads four times now — nothing beats the reliability and consistency of actual headphones. In that same time I’ve gone through several pairs of AirPods with warranty servicing, and now these PowerBeats Pro that don’t have an extended warranty and I wasn’t able to get serviced during their first year. You can’t beat the convenience of AirPods and their cousins from Apple’s Beats brand, but they do not last at all and are not convenient to use with a Mac.
Apple also recently released a pair of over the ear headphones called AirPods Max and they are completely ridiculous. $550 just for the headphones and the included “Smart Case” doesn’t cover the entire headphones but at least they have replaceable ear pads… oh wait those are $70! The most expensive ear pads I’ve ever gotten for my Sony MDR-7506 headphones are $20. The Apple AirPods Max ear pads look like they will be much easier to replace, but they also look like they are more wasteful, there is a hard plastic part in the replacement, not just the foam mesh ear pad I replace on the Sony headphones.
The AirPods Max headphones also do not include any kind of wire for connecting directly to a device, just a Lightning to USB-C Cable for charging and no charging brick. Without a direct wired connection here will be audio latency that makes the AirPods Max unsuitable for editing video or audio, or doing any other kind of low-latency work like playing video games. Apple does sell a cable that will directly connect the AirPods Max for $35, but you can’t charge while you’re using that adapter. There are plenty of other lightning to 3.5mm cables but they apparently won’t work.
From the Apple Watch series of devices, the AirPods Max have a digital crown in order to change the volume, access Siri, and so-on.
Topping off the design of the AirPods Max is the weight, 385 grams. That’s heavy. My Sony MDR-7506 headphones are 229.63 grams which is completely comfortable. Even Gruber noted the weight in his review, titled “Heavy Is the Head That Wears the AirPods Max:
The AirPods Max headband does seem to distribute the weight as comfortably as it can, but the weight is all in the ear cups, and heavy ear cups are, well, heavy. When you remain motionless, you can forget they’re there. But when you move around, the AirPods Max have inertia. They move a bit when you shake your head side-to-side, and they move a lot when you nod your head up and down. Look down at your feet and look back up and you’re instantly reminded, Oh yeah, I’ve got heavy cans on my ears. You feel a bit bobble-headed with them on. The heaviness of the AirPods Max doesn’t make them uncomfortable, per se, but it definitely feels like they’re intended for stationary use. Their lack of water resistance aside, the weight keeps them from being the sort of headphones you’d want to use while exercising any more vigorously than a brisk walk.
There are plenty of headphones that cost $550 or more, but after my experiences with the regular AirPods and the Powerbeats Pro I would definitely not recommend anyone spend this much on these. When my Sony MDR 7506’s eventually become irreparably broken, I will get another pair of them. A decade is plenty of life for headphones that cost less than $100. For my iPhone, iPad, and video call use I’m going to get the cheapest pair of regular AIrPods I can. The other features of the AirPods Max sound great, 20 hours of battery life, active noise cancellation and a transparency mode that let you hear what is going on around you… but the inconsistent experience of using AirPods with a Mac, the ridiculous Smart Case, and the high price of both the AirPods Max and their replacement parts make it both out of reach for me now and completely unserviceable over time. Replacing the ear pads on my Sony headphones has cost about $60 over ten years for four replacements. Replacing the same AirPods Max earpads four times over a decade would have cost $276. Hopefully those Apple ear pads are more durable and last longer.
As a complete counter to their most expensive headphones, Apples’s Beats brand now has a $50 pair of headphones called Beats Flex that are Bluetooth earbuds connected to each other by a wire that is meant to go around the back of your neck when worn and the earbuds magnetically connect when you’re done with them. They don’t have a case, and at 12 hours they last longer than typical AirPods on a single charge which get 5 hours until you put them back in their charging case. The Flex are also available in a variety of colors (black, yellow, blue, gray) compared to the white AirPods and AirPods Pro. But the $50 price tag only gets you the first generation of AirPods chip, the W1, instead of the newer H1 in the 2nd generation of AirPods and AirPods Pro. The aforementioned AirPods Max have an H1 for each ear. The older H1 chip has more latency between the device making noise and the headphones receiving them, hands-free Siri access (which is almost entirely terrible if you call anyone in your life “Sweetie” preceeded by “Hey”). The H1 is also incredibly slow to pair to a device. The only thing the Flex have that AirPods don’t is that you won’t be as likely to drop one into water, due to the cable connecting the two earbuds together, and they charge via USB-C. The Flex also won’t sense they’re out of your ears and don’t pause podcasts or music until you magnetically link the earbuds. Apple also has an Android app for updating the Beats Flex firmware, something they don’t make available for their AirPods line of products.
The Verge’s Chris Welch liked the Flex for what they are. I don’t think I’d really recommend Beats Flex for anyone who wants to use them with a Mac but it is incredible that Apple makes competent bluetooth headphones that cost less than replacement ear pads for the AirPods Max.
Supposedly new AirPods and AirPods Pro designs are coming this year with shorter stems and new charging cases. I hope this doesn’t mean all of the new designs will be in-ear. One of the reasons why I’d like to go back to the regular AirPods is that they are more comfortable for my ears.
