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Hello once again, and welcome back to Fast Companys Plugged In. I didnt buy a new phone this year. Or a new laptop, tablet, or smartwatch. That hasnt been a hardship. Ive just been perfectly content with the gear I already ownboth a satisfying feeling and a boon to my pocketbook. Instead of being splashy budget busters, the new products that made me happiest in 2025 have been relatively inexpensive items that bring clever twists to seemingly mundane categories. This week, Im going to tell you about three Ive found especially rewarding. (Im citing their list prices, butthis being Black Friday weekall are widely available at steep discounts as I write this.) The mother of all power banks. Most of the innumerable external batteries Ive owned have been thoroughly unmemorable. Not Ankers $119 Laptop Power Bank, a recent gift from my wife, who bought it off TikTok. As its name indicates, the Laptop Power Banks massive 25,000mAh capacity is enough to charge a computer. It can also handle a tablet, such as my iPad Pro. Or a smartphone. Or other gadgets such as a digital camera. Or how about all of them at the same time? Even if you do charge four devices at once, you wont need to lug four USB cables. Along with two portsone USB-C, one full-size USB-Athe Anker has a built-in cable that retracts into its case, and another that doubles as a wrist strap. Most power banks use LEDs to give you, at best, a vague sense of how much juice is left; this one has a fancy color display with a gauge that indicates precisely how much power remains, a battery health indicator, and other useful stats. Now the Laptop Power Bank is decidedly chonkymore of a briefcase or backpack accessory than something youd slip in a pocket. If all youre looking to do is occasionally top off your phone, its way more battery than you need. But by providing enough power to last through the busiest of workdays, its liberated me from hunting for wall outlets at conferences and running my fingers along the undersides of airplane seats in hopes of finding a power jack there. I get a little thrill every time I use it. The best smartphone wallet Ive owned. I used to carry a wallet so hopelessly overstuffed that George Costanza himself might have pointed and laughed. That was until I managed to downsize to one of those magnetic wallets that stick to the back of a phone. I carry my drivers license, one credit card, an ATM card, the badge that gets me into my office building, and maybe a $20 bill or two, and thats about it. Its the one place in my life where I feel like a preternaturally organized person. But I havent been wild about most of the phone wallets Ive used. Some were too tight: Only two to three cards fit in, and they were almost impossible to extract. Others were too loose, so cards went flying whenever I dropped my phone. And they were all made of leather that tended to end up looking battered and disreputable. Peak Designs $50 Mobile Wallet is unlike any other phone wallet Ive triedand much, much better. Made of sturdy cloth, it handles as many cards as I ever carry, and protects them from accidental exits with a magnetic flap. Most ingeniously, tugging on the flap causes the cards to travel slightly out of the wallet, where its easy to pluck the one I want. Its like having it delivered by a butler. The Mobile Wallet pairs with Peaks Everyday Case, which also sells for about $50 and is equally worth it. Wrapped in a similar fabric-y material, its easy to get on and off my iPhone and remains in mint condition after months of use. The case features Peaks SlimLink, a mounting technology that secures the case to a variety of accessoriesincluding a mount I installed on my e-bike to let my iPhone double as a GoPro-style action camera. A book light I actually use. Early this year, I pledged to read more dead-tree booksespecially the ones piled in a Jenga-like stack on my nightstand. Im still behind, in part because I like to read in bed after my wife has dozed off. Ink and paper do not mix well with utter darkness. This problem was theoretically solved decades ago by tiny clip-on book lights. But theyve always struck me as plasticky, fragile, and inelegant. The fact that they use AAA batteries doesnt make them any more appealing. Not long ago, however, a new generation of snakelike, USB-C-rechargable book lights came to my attention. Instead of clipping one onto a tome, you drape it around your neck, then bend it to direct beams of light from both ends at the pages youre reading. The one I bought, Kikkerlands Hands-Free Book Light, lists for $35. Other options exist, including ones from a company called Glocusent. If theres a downside to wearing a book light twisted around your neck, its that it looks pretty goofy, as my wife has helpfully pointed out several times. But shes the only person whos seen me using mine. Did I mention that shes usually asleep when I have it on? Youve been reading Plugged In, Fast Companys weekly tech newsletter from me, global technology editor Harry McCracken. If a friend or colleague forwarded this edition to youor if you’re reading it on fastcompany.comyou can check out previous issues and sign up to get it yourself every Friday morning. I love hearing from you: Ping me at hmccracken@fastcompany.com with your feedback and ideas for future newsletters. I’m also on Bluesky, Mastodon, and Threads, and you can follow Plugged In on Flipboard. [A note on last weeks newsletter, which discussed my experiences with Googles Gemini 3 Pro LLM: A couple of the issues I cited involved the earlie Gemini 2.5 Flash model, which still powers the Gemini chatbots Fast mode. Ive updated the version of the newsletter on FastCompany.com to clarify this.] More top tech stories from Fast Company Inside the Trump administrations dicey play to block states from regulating AIThe controversial state-level preemption could be Trumps payment to the tech industry for helping bring him back to power in 2024. Read More Its not your job. Your social media feed is ruining your workdayNew research suggests your feed may be shaping your mood, productivity, and interactions at work far more than you realize. Read More Jeffrey Epsteins emails, now in a searchable, Gmail-style interfaceYou are logged in as Jeffrey Epstein, jeevacation@gmail.com. Read More This project is using AI and satellite data to create the first definitive map of the entire continent of AfricaMost African countries lack accurate local base maps, stalling all sorts of government and business decisions. A new project aims to create this vital resource. Read More With new Opus 4.5 model, Anthropics Claude could remain the best AI coding toolClaude Code is already widely used by developersand with a new brain, it may fend off Googles new Antigravity tool. Read More How to introduce AI to a skeptical workplaceFor AI to provide the benefits that it can bring, you need your whole teams buy-in. Read More
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Ive worked for myself for nearly a decade, and in all but one of those years Ive earned more than the U.K. average salary. Some years its been a little more. Im naturally frugal, and even during the rockiest stretches, theres always been enough to cover the basicsplus a safety net if I ever truly needed it. Yet I worry about money constantly, gnawed by the sense that Im only one missed invoice from financial collapse. Although Im generally wary of self-diagnosis, the term money dysmorphiaa disconnect between how we feel about our finances and the realityfits me like a glove. From the rise of HENRYs (high earners, not rich yet) to the boom in income stacking, todays workplace trends illustrate just how messed up our relationship with finances has become. While money dysmorphia isnt a clinical term, its a shorthand that many workers now recognize. Credit Karma reports that 29% of Americans experience it, especially millennials and Gen Z, so Im in good company. But could the nature of solopreneurshipthe feast-or-famine cycles, the autonomy, the pressure to slay in your own lanemake us even more prone? Its absolutely heightened for solopreneurs, freelancers, and anyone with an unstable income, says Alex King, founder of financial education platform Generation Money. Without a fixed monthly salary, they normalize volatility and uncertainty, which can create a sense of inadequacy or inflated confidence in their finances. The numbers paint an intriguing picture. Advice site Freelancing Support reported that 41% of freelancers struggled with poor financial well-being in 2024, and a 2025 study found that three in four U.S. solopreneurs have less than six months worth of savingsor no safety net at all. Plenty of people have good reasons to be anxious. But a surprising portion are on solid ground: The number of six-figure solopreneurs has almost doubled since 2020, and research from the Minneapolis Fed shows that self-employed workers earn significantly more over their careers than those in traditional jobs. Everyones always thriving, innovating, scaling Kim Berndt, cofounder of the fashion tech collaboration lab We.art studio in Cologne, Germany, has been a solopreneur since 2017. After three years of not paying herself a salary, her numbers finally look stable. Emotionally, though, she feels anything but. Social media plays a significant role in warping her sense of financial reality. Its the biggest scam, because it creates the illusion that everyone is always thriving, innovating, scaling, she says. The two industries I straddletech and fashionglorify speed and visibility, yet theyre the Wild West when it comes to pay. Berndt has accepted that she may never feel stable, especially in an emerging field that many still dont understand and that offers little clarity around value. I chose self-employment, so I have to find ways to cope, she says. I identify with Berndts me-against-the-world mentality, so I was curious to hear what financial therapist Elana Feinsmith had to say about this predicament. I told her about the ripple effects of my own money dysmorphia: oscillating between avoiding my bank balance and obsessively checking it, hesitating to charge fairly, and feeling guilt and shame over basic spending. Finances are like an iceberg, she says. The numbers sit above the waterline, but below is where the dark, murky feelings live. She encourages me to examine not just the volatility of my work but also the money scripts I learned earlier in life. It doesnt take her long to extract that being the eldest daughter (surprise!) has something to do with it. Figure out the amount that would calm your nervous system, then project a few years down the line to see the real picture, she tells me. A panic alarm sounds in my headif only it were that simple. Feinsmith says that reaction is typical of money dysmorphia. It makes long-term planning seem impossible, and she sees clients grapple with it at every income level. Addressing the iceberg There are now 72.9 million independent workers in the U.S., and almost everyone wants to leave corporate jobs to start their own businesses, amid the fifth year of persistent inflation. King warns that these conditions are likely to breed more widespread money dysmorphia. But it doesnt have to define the solopreneur experience. Small structural changes can help close the gap between perception and reality. Have separate accounts for personal and business finances, King advises. Combining them distorts whether you feel rich one month and poor the next. Avoid months of paying yourself nothing, and dont overpay yourself when things go well. Ideally, work toward a baseline salary or a fixed minimum to cover costs. As the end of the year approaches, Im particularly beguiled by other freelancers 2025 roundups, where they highlight their wins, earnings, and learnings. Im all for championing the wins, but after ingesting a few, I fall into catastrophizing my own balance sheet. King points out that many of these updates confuse revenue with profit. Theyre not saying I made X amount, but then had to deduct what I spent on outreach, subscriptions, and training, because thats not sexy, he says. This year, Ill be approaching the freelance wrap-up posts with caution. And after consulting the experts, Im more convinced that theres no quick fix for financial dysmorphia. Yet just the idea of taking a pickax to my financial iceberg makes me feel calmer. Perhaps thats the best economic stability a solopreneur can ask for: not perfect peace of mind, but the confidence to keep moving anyway.
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E-Commerce
If you loved the Lego Game Boy but couldnt get yourself to buy it because it was only a display piece that couldnt play actual Game Boy games, I’ve got great news for you: It’s no longer merely a clever block of bricks. Substance Labs, a merry band of Lego and gaming lovers based in Switzerland, have created a kit that retrofits the official brick-perfect Lego set into an unofficial pixel-perfect playable Game Boy. The name of this wündertronics is BrickBoy. Yes, its a Kickstarter project, so the usual may not deliver caveats apply. Substance Labs calls itself a team of creators and engineers who grew up building with Lego and gaming on the classics [who have] spent the last years working across hardware, software, and product design, from open-source projects to custom electronics. I need to believe they will deliver on their promise because I need to believe that dreams do come true sometimes. And apparently, given the more than $500,000 that they have collected so far from project supporters, many other people feel the same way. Substance Labs says the prototypes are built and tested. We have shipped a naked kit to early testers, creators, and magazines, the company says. Now we are ready to move into the next phase together with you. The technical implementation of the BrickBoy kit is modular, allowing users to install the electronic core into the Lego chassis in under 10 minutes without soldering or coding. The hardware fits directly inside the assembled model, activating a functional display and speaker system that runs freeware, home-brew titles, and legally obtained ROMs. While the base unit relies on digital files, an optional third-party cartridge reader add-on allows the system to interface with physical Game Boy, Game Boy Color, and Game Boy Advance cartridges. The nonfunctional Lego kit [Photo: Lego] Kits start at $115 for the essential edition, which will make your Lego model play original Game Boy games. A $196 collectors kit model plays every Game Boy title, including Classic, Color, and Advance, without any limitations. The Substance Labs designers say it has accelerable gameplay for faster sessions (so you can pace through long Pokémon games), a customizable backlight, Bluetooth audio, wireless game loading, and system updates. They have other versions, like the Gamer and Collector editions, which have additional features like Bluetooth audio and an “Exposition Mode” that keeps the unit powered and lit for display purposes. A 3D rendering of the Substance Labs Gamer Kit [Image: Substance Labs] I dont care much about the display purposes myself. My home might be the closest thing to the Lego Housecomplete with a Lego brick minefield all over the floor, thanks to my sonso I welcome the idea of turning all these Lego nostalgia sets into functional gear. The Danish company has been milking the 80s and 90s with sets like Lego Atari and Lego Pac-Man, which are cool and all, but do nothing but sit on a shelf gathering dust. The BrickBoy is a perfect example of how Lego could perhaps think of a way to make its sets actually usable objects. Not all of them would be possible to turn into a real thing, but models like the Game Boy, with its spot-on dimensions and proportions, are ideal. I get it, though. Theres probably not enough business to justify the engineering effort to mass-produce something like this. So Lego will leave it to the obsessives. Now Substance Labs better Miyamoto the hell out of this thing and hurry up with the deliveries, because I really need to get it for my son this holiday season. Hes already a Mario junkie, and he will become a Tetris addict too, just like his dad.
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E-Commerce
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