The question I couldn't shake

Hi friends!

Last month, I asked you all what you'd do if you could quit your job today and start a new career tomorrow. One person replied saying they'd be a pickleball instructor, another person wanted to jump over to tech support, someone wanted to make their dream of being an architect come true (and they very much should), while someone else wanted to be a gambling content creator.

One thing was clear to me after reading through the replies — everyone who shared with me wanted to do something that was totally different than what they're currently doing. Change is good. Scary, but good.

When I decided to leave CNET, the team threw a virtual going-away party for me. During the call, I was put on the hot seat and asked a bunch of questions about my time writing how-to articles and life in general. At one point, my good friend Cliff Colby asked: What would you do if you could change careers tomorrow?

I told him I'd own a restaurant, where I'd be head chef. It'd always been a dream of mine. For the next year or two, I couldn't shake that seemingly simple interaction. I kept asking myself why I wasn't doing that thing I wanted to do. So, eventually, I did. Thanks for asking that question, Cliff.

The next question for you all is one I'm stealing from Zack Whittaker, who asked his followers on Mastodon:

What did you (or someone you know) do this week that you're incredibly proud of?

But instead of limiting it to a week, let's stretch it out to within the last month.

Click reply and let me know.

Pixels

I feel like I've written double what I'm linking to below over the last month. I've continued to work on stories for TechRadar, Tom's Guide and The Strategist. It's a pretty full workload for me right now, paired with my full-time job, and life in general. I'm happy, but I wouldn't take on any more than what I have on my plate right now. Then it'll start feeling like work again.

Here's a quick recap of everything I've published in the last month or so:

News and hot takes

• Fitbit becomes Google Health: At the beginning of May, Google announced its screenless fitness tracker, the Fitbit Air, and the total rebrand of the Fitbit app to Google Health.
• Unboxing the Fitbit Air: Speaking of the Fitbit Air, Google sent me a review sample a couple weeks before launch. I quickly unboxed it and snapped some pics.
• Google Search changes: Google I/O, the company's annual developer conference, is more like an annual AI conference right now. One announcement Google made during the keynote was the biggest change it'd made to Search… ever. I hope you like using AI!
• Google Maps EV routing: Part of owning an EV is planning your routes based on your battery level and charging. Once you adjust to that new way of thinking, then it's just like owning a traditional gas-powered car — you get in and go. To help you get there, I covered how to use Google Maps' updated EV route planning feature for Tom's Guide.
• Bambu Lab X2D: Bambu Lab reached out a couple of weeks ago and asked if I wanted to check out their latest printer, the X2D. I already have, and love, the P2S, but I was intrigued by the dual-nozzle setup. My first print showed me why two nozzles are better than one.

Reviews and features

• TP-Link's C675D security camera: I spent some time testing TP-Link's C675D security camera that's actually two cameras stacked atop each other. One rotates and follows objects, the other has a very wide-angle field of view. I'm going to spoil the review — but I liked it so much, I've installed a TP-Link H500 hub to store its recordings and am looking into the most efficient way to replace all of my Ring cameras. Read my full review on Tom's Guide.
• Google's Pixel desktop mode: Google's Pixel phones have a built-in desktop mode that activates once you connect the phone to a monitor. I gave it a spin for TechRadar.
• Best Wi-Fi: My first roundup for The Strategist went live in early June. I tested several Wi-Fi routers and, based on that, put together a list of top picks. If you're in the market for a new Wi-Fi setup at home, let me help you out.
• Nomad's Universal Apple Watch Charger: Ever seen a product and thought it was ridiculous? That's what I originally thought about Nomad's USB-C/Apple Watch charging cable. Until they sent me one.

Pizza

As I was putting together this newsletter I realized I haven't written about pizza in the last month, and that makes me sad. I'm sorry. That said, I haven't ignored pizza altogether. My daughter recently graduated from high school and we had her party at our house shortly after the ceremony.

I didn't make pizza for the party (there were well over 100 people at our house at one point), but I did make 18 pizzas after the party started to die down when there was a small group of friends and family left.

I fired up the Gozney Dome S1 — an oven I hadn't used in well over a year — and cranked out pies, one by one, over the course of about 70 minutes. Just under 4 minutes per pizza.

I had a blast. It was nice to be back in the game, albeit on a very small scale compared to the food truck, but that didn't matter. I was making pizzas and feeding people. I needed that.

As for a shoulder update, the last few weeks have been pretty rough. I was hit with another round of frozen shoulder. I had to get another cortisone shot to help loosen it up. I'm still going to PT, working with the awesome team there, to gain range of motion and strength. Slow and steady wins the race, right? RIGHT!?

Status update: My goals for 2026

In an effort to hold myself accountable for my publicly stated goals for this year, here's a status update:

• Publish something at least twice a week: I'm exceeding this number, but I've moved away from creating my own original content lately – I want to get back to that.
• Release one app (Docker, iPhone, Android... doesn't matter): I built a tennis scoring and stats-keeping app — think GameChanger, but for tennis — for iPhone with the help of Google Gemini. There are still a few bugs in it I need to get sorted, but after that I think I'll open-source it and let people do what they want with it.
• Pass the General Class amateur radio test after passing my Technician Class in December: I have barely turned a radio on since February. I need to get back into it.
• Read three books: I started reading Find Your Yellow Tux: How to Be Successful by Standing Out by Jesse Cole, but haven't finished it yet. I also have Unreasonable Hospitality: The Field Guide sitting on my desk that I need to start working through.
• Make better use of my downtime: Same answer as last update: I don't have much downtime right now. We'll keep this as a work in progress.
• Related — Cut way down on my doomscrolling: I feel like I've taken a step backwards with this — time to double down on putting my phone down.
• Achieve "full" recovery from rotator cuff/bicep tendon surgery in 6 months: I'm not going to hit the six-month full recovery goal. That's okay, though. It's not something I should rush.

That's it for now. More to come, of course.

Don't forget to hit reply and tell me what you're proud of this month!

I appreciate you,

Jason