Skip to content

My Home Tech Tour (2021)

2021-04-07 · Tech review, setup or bag tour · Ali · recording, 10:09 · watch on YouTube

Topic: Tools, apps and tech · mode: Demonstration and walkthrough · tags: Sponsor segment present

Ali tours the 36 items of tech in his home in April 2021, from his desk and filming gear (M1 Mac mini, two keyboards, Sony cameras, Aputure and Godox lights) through the kitchen, bedroom and living room, naming his simplehuman bin as his favourite piece of tech and the Oura Ring as not very useful beyond tracking sleep.

What is said

The parts of the video and what is said in each (★ — how much it matters to the video).

00:00:00 — The desk and filming setup: Mac mini, speakers, keyboards, mouse, microphone, iPad Pro, MacBook Pro, Apple Watch, cameras, lights, Philips Hue and smart speakers

  • ★★ Ali takes viewers on a tour of the 36 items of tech around his home. — 00:00:00
  • ★★ On Ali's desk his M1 Mac mini is connected to a CalDigit TS3 Thunderbolt dock, next to white Kanto YU2 speakers. — 00:00:00 · Mac mini
  • ★★ Ali keeps two keyboards on his desk: he prefers typing on the IQUnix L80, and switches to the quieter Apple Magic Keyboard on business Zoom calls (when, he jokes, he wants to play World of Warcraft) so others hear his typing less. — 00:00:00 · Zoom, World of Warcraft
  • ★ Ali chose the Razer Pro Click mouse over the Logitech MX Master only because he wanted everything on his desk to be white. — 00:00:39
  • ★★ Ali's desk microphone is a Shure SM7B on a Rode PSA1 arm, through a Cloudlifter preamp into a Focusrite 2i4 audio interface, which he jokes makes his voice sound more bassy on Zoom dates. — 00:00:39 · Zoom
  • ★ Ali says he does not use his AirPods Max very often. — 00:01:08
  • ★★ Ali uses his 12.9-inch iPad Pro for his drawing lessons; at the moment the lessons are studying the human form. — 00:01:37 · iPad Pro
  • ★ Ali's laptop is the 13-inch M1 MacBook Pro from 2020, which he jokes he uses for working in the toilet. (playful) — 00:01:37 · MacBook
  • ★★ Ali's AirPods Pro go everywhere with him, and he listens to and watches things at two to three times speed, which he calls a far more productive way of doing things. — 00:02:06
  • ★★ Ali films in 4K on a Sony A7S III and uses a Sony A7 III on a boom arm as his overhead camera. — 00:02:06
  • ★★ Ali gets the audio for most of his videos from a Sennheiser MKH416 microphone on an XLR cable, and lights most of them with an Aputure 120D Mark II. — 00:02:36
  • ★★ A Godox SL60 light in an Aputure Space Light softbox lights some of Ali's videos, his Zoom calls and podcasts. — 00:02:36 · Zoom
  • ★★ All the lamps and ceiling lights in Ali's living room have Philips Hue bulbs, controlled from an app with all sorts of light setups, which he jokes are good for setting the mood when a friend comes over to be productive together. — 00:03:05 · Philips Hue
  • ★★ Ali plays his music on Amazon Echos in the living room and kitchen; he has two HomePods but does not really use them because he does not really like Apple Music. — 00:03:05

00:03:46 — The kitchen and utility cupboard: hoover, blender, kettle, the bin and a laser printer

  • ★ Ali finds his Stagg EKG electric kettle very nice, though it pours so slowly that it forces him to be mindful when all he wants is a coffee. (playful) — 00:03:46
  • ★★★ Ali calls his simplehuman bin his favourite piece of tech in the house: an absolute joy to use, which every visitor comments on. — 00:04:16

00:04:45 — The bedroom: alarm clock, laptop desk, fan, Kindle, blue light glasses and the Oura Ring

  • ★★ Ali's analog alarm clock forces him to get up in the morning to turn off the alarm, so that he does not stay in bed too long. — 00:04:45
  • ★★ Ali's Kindle always stays on his bedside for whenever he reads. — 00:05:14 · Kindle
  • ★★ Ali almost never uses his blue light blocking glasses; he says they are apparently good for you, but he is not bothered. (hedged) — 00:05:14
  • ★★★ Ali wears his Oura Ring most nights to track his sleep, but has not found it very useful beyond that. — 00:05:14

00:05:43 — Music and entertainment: piano, guitars, ukulele, ethernet, PlayStation 5, Oculus Quest 2, TV and Apple TV

  • ★★ Ali plays piano and sings along on a Yamaha P125 keyboard, and has two guitars, one a Martin Mini electro-acoustic. — 00:05:43
  • ★★ Ali has an electro-acoustic ukulele for busking in town at some point, when the world opens up again. — 00:05:43
  • ★★ Ali is about to test eight IQUnix keyboards to find the best set of mechanical keys. — 00:06:33
  • ★★ Ali plays Horizon and a little Call of Duty with friends on his PlayStation 5. — 00:06:33
  • ★★ Ali has found the Oculus Quest 2 virtual reality headset quite a lot of fun recently. — 00:07:22
  • ★★ If viewers would like it, Ali plans a review of what it is like to game in virtual reality. — 00:07:22
  • ★★ Ali's TV is a 50-inch LG OLED, he thinks the C9, run from an Apple TV 4K on which he watches Netflix, Disney+ and Nebula. (hedged) — 00:07:22 · Netflix, Nebula

00:07:51 — Nebula and the CuriosityStream sponsor read

00:09:48 — Sign-off and pointer to his desk setup video

Humor (significant)

  • Explaining why his Mac mini is on the desk, Ali takes a swipe at Windows users. — 00:00:00

    “because I'm not one of those heathens that uses Windows up until next month.”

  • Ali chose the Razer mouse over the MX Master only because he wanted everything white. — 00:00:39

    “And if you ain't white, you ain't right.”

  • Ali says he uses his MacBook Pro when he needs to work in the toilet. — 00:01:37

    “which gives a whole different meaning to the phrase toxic productivity.”

  • Ali presents the Apple Watch Series 6 with the blue leather strap he wears about town. — 00:01:37

    “which lets me signal my elegance and sophistication around”

  • Ali rarely uses his AirPods Max but wears them in town and in coffee shops. — 00:01:08

    “I love wearing these to show that I'm an Apple fan boy.”

  • Ali's NutriBullet blender makes his Huel and his protein shakes. — 00:03:46

    “to try and look more like zac efron”

  • Ali presents the Dyson Cool Fan in his bedroom. — 00:05:14

    “which I often joke is my biggest fan that I have in my bedroom at all times.”

  • Ali shows the electro-acoustic ukulele he wants to take busking. — 00:05:43

    “I want to busk with my ukulele because I'm really cool.”

Threads in this video

Where the stories that moved here went next

Mentioned

Central: simplehuman bin

Also: People: Zac Efron

Organizations: Apple · CuriosityStream · IQUnix · Nebula · Netflix · The Walt Disney Company · Twitter

Products: AirPods Max · AirPods Pro · Amazon Echo · Apple M1 · Apple Magic Keyboard · Apple Magic Trackpad · Apple Music · Apple TV · Apple Watch · Aputure 120D Mark II · CalDigit Thunderbolt Dock · Cloudlifter · Dyson fan · Focusrite 2i4 · Godox SL60 · HomePod · Horizon Zero Dawn · Huel · iPad Pro · IQUnix L80 · Kanto YU2 · Kindle · Logitech MX Master · Mac mini · MacBook · Microsoft Windows · Oculus Quest · Oura Ring · Philips Hue · PlayStation 5 · Razer Pro Click · Rode PSA1 · Sennheiser MKH416 · Shure SM7B · Sony A7 III · Sony A7S III · Stagg EKG · World of Warcraft · Yamaha P125 · Zoom

Replies to

← Previous: 9 Lessons From My Favourite YouTuber · Next → The KEY to Staying Motivated #shorts