Too Smart?

A lot of stuff ends up here because manufacturers get greedy.

Ignoring the angel on their shoulder who says, “Maybe just make a simple product that serves a simple purpose,” they heed the words of the devil on their other shoulder, demanding that they smash a bunch of disparate products together into one. This, the devil tells them, will broaden their customer base and, in turn, up their profits.

And yet, as is made clear by the fact that so many of these products end up on our site, this almost never works. Because customers aren’t stupid. They don’t see a pod coffee machine with a built-in bluetooth speaker and think, Me like coffee, me like sound. No, they roll their eyes because even if they do love coffee and sound, what they don’t love is shitty coffee and shitty sound all at once.

But every now and then, one of these multiple-functions-in-one products arrives here not because it’s stupid. No, every now and then, you get the combo-item that flies too close to the sun, something almost too genius to be fully appreciated.

And that’s what we think we have here.

Think about it. You’re working from home in the summer. The windows are shut to keep in the air conditioning. But you could use some circulation.

What do you need?

A fan!

But also, since you’re working from home, you end up on a lot of Zoom calls. You want to be in front of the bookshelf to make yourself look smart, not the big framed reproduction of dogs playing poker. Only, the overhead washes you out, and the natural light from the window hits your face at a weird angle.

So what do you need then?

A ring light.

And while you’re on one of those Zoom calls, you notice Brian is wearing the stupidest hat you’ve ever seen. Like, what even is that thing? A fedora with safari flaps in the back?

So what do you need THEN?

Your phone to be charged so you can discreetly text other people on the call to make fun of him.

Okay, maybe that last one is a bit mean. Still, you get the point: a desktop fan/ring light/phone charger sounds stupid, but it might actually be super useful.

So buy one, duh.