{"id":4866,"date":"2026-07-19T09:09:18","date_gmt":"2026-07-19T09:09:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=4866"},"modified":"2026-07-19T09:09:18","modified_gmt":"2026-07-19T09:09:18","slug":"tech-review-for-your-consideration-several-cool-new-gadgets","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=4866","title":{"rendered":"Tech review: For your consideration \u2014 several cool new gadgets"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<div>\n<p><strong>By Jim Rossman, Tribune News Service<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>I\u2019m lucky that I get to review lots of cool new gadgets, both big and small.<\/p>\n<p>Larger or more complex things usually have enough going on that they take up all the writing space I am assigned, but sometimes I accumulate smaller or simpler gadgets, and I\u2019ve learned to group those together.<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=4864\">World Cup: England survives wild French comeback to secure third place<\/a><\/p>\n<p>This week we are looking at a few smaller gadgets.<\/p>\n<h4>EZQuest USB-C Dual Display 12-in-1 Multimedia Hub Pro Series<\/h4>\n<p>Laptops have changed over the years, and including every port under the sun has gone by the wayside.<\/p>\n<p>I don\u2019t have to tell Mac laptop owners, as Apple has taken away most ports in favor of a few USB-C ports. Most laptop users I know have started carrying a hub in their bags to add back the ports they need.<\/p>\n<p>The EZQuest USB-C Dual Display 12-in-1 ($89.99, eqz.com) has all the ports I\u2019d need for my job.<\/p>\n<p>The hub connects to a USB-C port on your laptop, and it provides two HDMI ports, two USB-C ports, three USB-A ports, a headphone\/microphone jack, SD and microSD card readers, and an Ethernet jack. There\u2019s also a USB-C port for passing through power.<\/p>\n<div>\n<\/div>\n<p>I think the best feature is the hub\u2019s design. Most hubs have a built-in USB-C cable, kind of like a tail. The EZQuest 12-in-1 doesn\u2019t have a tail. It has a USB-C port and a separate cable, so the hub itself is a standalone box that gives the user more options for placement.<\/p>\n<h4>Iniu SnapGo Air 10,000 mAh Power Bank P781<\/h4>\n<p>If your phone has wireless charging, keeping a magnetic power bank in your bag is a no-brainer.<\/p>\n<p>About the size of a deck of cards and just a half-inch thick, the P781 ($54.99, iniushop.com) is a 10,000 milliamp-hour power bank that can provide up to 25-watt Qi2 wireless charging to keep your phone powered up.<\/p>\n<p>It also has two USB-C ports to provide up to 45 watts of power to your gadgets that need wired charging.<\/p>\n<div>\n<\/div>\n<p>The P781 has a small digital display to show the battery level and charge rate. It also has a very cool integrated USB-C charging cable that doubles as a carrying handle.<\/p>\n<p>The battery will charge your iPhone 17 1.8 times, and your AirPods Pro 2 13.4 times.<\/p>\n<h4>Shelly Plug US Gen4 smart plug<\/h4>\n<p>Smart plugs are a great way to give some smarts to things that are not normally smart \u2014 like a lamp. Set them up on your home\u2019s network and you can remotely control them with an app, or with your voice if you have a home assistant.<\/p>\n<p>The Shelly Plug US Gen4 ($24.99, us.shelly.com) is available in black or white, and they get cheaper if you buy them in a two- or four-pack.<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=4862\">Dear Abby: After my wife\u2019s tepid answers, I feel like I should file for divorce<\/a><\/p>\n<p>The Shelly plug is compatible with almost every home automation standard I can think of, including Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, ZigBee, Matter, Apple Homekit, Amazon Alexa, and Google Home.<\/p>\n<p>They are the perfect size to not block access when they\u2019re plugged into an outlet and they have a button on the front to manually turn the outlet off or on.<\/p>\n<p>What makes them really great is their ability to show precise power consumption of any device plugged into it via the app. You can also set power limits and the plug will cut power if your device asks for more power than expected.<\/p>\n<p>It also has an ambient light sensor that can also be used to turn the power on or off or trigger events or schedules.<\/p>\n<p>Finally, it has an LED backlight that glows to tell you the outlet\u2019s status at a glance. The status light can be disabled in the app.<\/p>\n<p>This is a great smart plug at a great price and it does just about everything.<\/p>\n<h4>Eufy SmartTrack Card E40<\/h4>\n<p>We\u2019ve all heard of Bluetooth locators, like the Tile or Apple\u2019s AirTag.<\/p>\n<p>I love AirTags, but they\u2019re too bulky to slip in my wallet.<\/p>\n<p>Eufy has released a new tracker that is compatible with Apple\u2019s Find My network as well as Google\u2019s Find Hub and it is not much larger than a credit card.<\/p>\n<p>The SmartTrack Card E40 ($34.99, eufy.com) doesn\u2019t have a removable battery like the AirTag \u2014 rather, it has a thin, rechargeable battery that can provide up to five months of battery life from any standard wireless charger.<\/p>\n<p>When you need to locate the SmartTrack, you use the app on your phone, like Find My to see the last known location on a map and if the item is close by, you can activate an 80-decibel alarm that sounds so you can hear if your wallet has slipped between the couch cushions.<\/p>\n<h4>EcoFlow RAPID 3-in-1 power bank<\/h4>\n<p>I usually don\u2019t include two power banks in one roundup, but the EcoFlow 3-in-1 ($69.99, us.ecoflow.com) is more than just a power bank.<\/p>\n<p>When you add a folding plug, this power bank turns into a 45-watt USB charger, which means you might be able to carry one less charger in your bag.<\/p>\n<p>This is a simple device. It has a charger plug, so you plug it into the wall to charge up the battery. You can also charge it up via the USB-C port on the bottom. There\u2019s also a retractable USB-C charging cable on the bottom.<\/p>\n<p>The power bank holds a 10,000 mAh battery and it can keep two of your devices going at the same time. The front also hides a small digital readout of the battery level.<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=4861\">An eye on trends: Acai grows through upheaval by focusing on health<\/a><\/p>\n<p><em>\u00a92026 Tribune Content Agency, LLC.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A few of the smaller gadgets include power banks and smart plugs.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4865,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4866","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Tech review: For your consideration \u2014 several cool new gadgets - Next City Digest<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=4866\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Tech review: For your consideration \u2014 several cool new gadgets - 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