Recommends
Recommends
Two lists of picks, judged the same way: an honest verdict, what it is genuinely good at, and the real catch named out loud. If I cannot name the catch, I do not understand the thing well enough to recommend it, so it does not go on the list.
This used to be two separate sections, Tech Watch and The Cypher. They were always the same kind of writing about two different kinds of thing, so they are one door now, split by kind rather than by which week I started them.
The rules. Open source by default. Paid tools get a nod only when they have earned it in daily use. No affiliate links, no sponsors, no sponsored placements, and nothing on either list pays this site anything. The zero is the point.
The open source and self-hostable tech worth your time, starting with the local AI you can actually run yourself. Buzz is featured at the top.
Read the verdicts Twenty five picks Gear and hardwareThe DJ side of the house, written from behind the decks. Reliability and library portability valued over spec sheets, because a spec sheet has never saved a set.
Read the verdictsHow a pick gets on a list
It has to be something I have actually used, or something I would hand to someone standing next to me. The verdict says what it is in one sentence. Then what it is good at, in the plainest terms I can manage. Then the catch, which is the part most write-ups leave out and the only part that saves you an evening.