John Biggs
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Articles by John Biggs
Bucherer opens massive new Rolex boutique in Bellevue, Washington
If you’re in the Pacific Northwest and looking for a new Rolex, Bucherer has a new place for you to try your luck. The Swiss watch retailer has opened a 4,700-square-foot Rolex boutique at The Shops at The Bravern in Bellevue, Washington, bringing another dedicated Rolex retail space to the Seattle area. The new boutique is located in one of the shopping center’s two arrival courts and features a massive 40-foot-high façade inspired by the evergreen forests of the Pacific Northwest.
Nomadic launches the “bold” Dána 141
Belfast-based Nomadic Watches has built its reputation on rugged, purpose-built tool watches. With the new Dána 141, the company is trying something a little different: a rectangular, manually wound dress watch that takes its inspiration from Art Deco design and Belfast’s industrial heritage. Priced at £1,250, the Dána 141 is the brand’s first rectangula…
Finland’s Arctic RAVN secures €2.5M to expand European drone electronics production
Finnish defence technology company Arctic RAVN has secured €2.5 million in convertible loan commitments to expand production of drone electronics, exceeding its €2 million fundraising target. The funding will support manufacturing expansion and product development as the company responds to growing demand for European-made components for unmanned systems.
Blogger's Boot Camp by John Biggs and Charlie White
Non-fiction ★ — 0 ratings Anyone can build a blog. It’s quite easy. The difficult part is keeping it relevant, technically sound, and popular. Bloggers Boot Camp shows you how to blog for success. It teaches you how to find a niche, find your unique voice, and how to hold a conversation with an audience. It provides information on all the right tools for the blog, and it offers best ways to promote your blog and content for maximum success and a profitable life.
Novel pathway for curcumin utilization found in diverse Gram-negative soil-dwelling bacteria with evidence of horizontal gene transfer
Abstract Bacteria are known to contain complex pathways to metabolize a plethora of recalcitrant compounds, especially in soil and gut microbiomes. Plant-derived polyphenols are often considered to be non-pharmaceutical antimicrobials that exist within both the soil and gut. Curcumin is the polyphenol active compound in turmeric root (Curcuma longa) and demonstrates anti-inflammatory, antioxidative, and anti-cancer properties.
Keep Going - A Guide to Unlocking Success
Can you rebuild a business that has been declining for more than a decade? On this episode of Keep Going, I spoke with Dorothy Belshaw, CEO and co-founder of Rockview Management Group, which recently acquired NY NOW, the New York gift and home furnishings trade show. At its peak, the show occupied more than 500,000 square feet of exhibition space at the Javits Center. But years of ownership changes, shifting strategies and the COVID pandemic took their toll.
Czech manufacturer announces a three tonne ground drone for logistics and protection
Czech defence technology company Cyber Drone Solutions has unveiled its Specthor heavy unmanned ground vehicle at Future Forces 2026 in Prague. The 3,000 kg wheeled platform is designed for logistics, border surveillance and critical infrastructure protection, with a modular mission bay that can accommodate cargo, observation sensors, firefighting equipment or a remote weapon station.
G-SHOCK goes analog with the new 2500 Series
G-SHOCK has always been a little different from traditional watchmaking. While most watch brands spend their time worrying about movements, finishing and heritage, Casio has spent more than four decades figuring out how to make watches that can survive being dropped, smashed and generally abused. Now, with the new G-SHOCK 2500 series, the company is bringing some of that toughness to a more traditional analog design.
Poland is building its own Starlink equivalent
Poland is working on a domestic answer to Starlink, with Deputy Defence Minister Cezary Tomczyk saying the first offers have already been collected and funding is in place to move the project forward. Tomczyk said the initiative could become a “fundamental change” in how Poland approaches secure communications and satellite connectivity. He argued that Poland should not remain dependent on systems controlled from outside Europe.
Marie Antoinette's Watch by John Biggs
Non-fiction ★ — 0 ratings Across continents and into and out of the hands of royalty, revolutionaries, smugglers, thieves, and the world’s greatest tech engineers, was Marie Antoinette’s watch, the “160,” worth an estimated $40 million in today’s dollars.
Letters — Oct. 23, 2026
I’m 93, and I was a mailman in Hollywood from 1955 to 1957. At that time, there was a common belief that if you put your mail in a post box before the last pick-up listed on the box, it would be postmarked on that same day. But I was recently talking with a postal employee, and he told me that the ONLY way you can guarantee that it will be postmarked on that day is to take it into the P.O. and hand it to the clerk. He or she will stamp it right in front of you. I tested this, and he was right.
The CueCat was supposed to connect magazines to the internet. Instead, it became a dot-com disaster
There was a brief period around the year 2000 when technology companies seemed convinced that everything in the physical world needed a connection to the internet. Magazines, newspapers, advertisements and product packaging were all opportunities to send consumers to websites, provided somebody could invent a sufficiently complicated way to get them there. You’ll notice what I just wrote: they wanted to put magazines and newspapers on the Internet. But not in the way we think about them now.
Fosi Audio’s Carbon12 earphones bring carbon fiber and titanium to your ears for $150
Carbon fiber is usually associated with racing cars, expensive bicycles and aerospace equipment. Now Fosi Audio is putting it inside a pair of $150 earphones. The company’s new Carbon12 in-ear monitors (IEMs) use an ultra-thin carbon diaphragm, a titanium housing and a forged carbon fiber faceplate, combining some fairly exotic materials in a surprisingly affordable package.
The sleeping dogs of U.S. defence manufacturing
Deep in the Florida Panhandle, there’s a munitions factory without a roof. It was originally planned as a private factory for a well-known gun dealer in the area, but construction was never completed due to a lack of funding. It could be brought online for about $2 million, said one startup CEO I talked to at AUSA, but there wasn’t enough interest from American investors. How do we know?
Keep Going - A Guide to Unlocking Success
When Aaron Argueta and his business partner Jay started Bailey’s CBD for Pets, they had 50 bottles of CBD extract, about $500 and a dog named Bailey. Nearly a decade later, the company has more than 20 products and distribution in over 400 pet stores. Getting there, however, meant surviving an industry that seemed determined to put them out of business.
Review: Fosi Audio DISC Nano CD Player
Holy wow. I’ve been following Fosi for a while (we’ve done loads of coverage), and thus far the quality/price/value ratios for their gear — which have thus far ranged from headphone amps, earbuds, to powerful desktop and living room audio systems — have been excellent. Fast forward to, well, right now, and I’m blown away. Their latest product, the $99 Audio DISC Nano CD Player, is what amounts to one of the funnest products I’ve used in a long time.
DOXA goes pink with the limited-edition SUB 200T Afterglow
DOXA is no stranger to colorful watches. The Swiss brand has been making brightly colored dive watches since the 1960s, when its distinctive orange dials became a defining feature of the SUB collection. But its latest release takes things in a slightly different direction. The new DOXA SUB 200T Afterglow has a pink sunray dial inspired by the sunsets over Naples, Florida, and it’s limited to just 50 pieces.
In Review: The DaVinci EQ Vape
When a vape starts to look like something out of Frankenstein’s lab I’m a little wary. That said, with the DaVinci EQ, DaVinci company has made something that is simultaneously cool, cool-looking, and immensely useful, especially if you’re focusing on vaping concentrates. Interestingly, the DaVinci EQ also now supports flower, something that makes this $499 device far more interesting to average folks.
The T-Mobile Sidekick gave us messaging and email in the coolest package ever
CrunchGear, my old gadget site, broke the news on the Sidekick early with this grainy photo. Before every smartphone became a featureless rectangle of glass, there was the T-Mobile Sidekick. It was chunky, colorful, and equipped with a screen that flipped open to reveal a full keyboard. It was also one of the first phones that made being online all the time feel normal. The Sidekick was more than a phone.
SteelSeries brings ultra-wideband wireless to gaming mice with the Sensei Pro and Rival Pro
SteelSeries is bringing ultra-wideband wireless technology to gaming mice with the launch of its new Sensei Pro and Rival Pro series. The company claims the new mice can maintain an 8,000Hz polling rate without the interference associated with traditional wireless connections, while a hot-swappable battery system lets players keep gaming without stopping to recharge. The new lineup includes four models: the Sensei Pro, Sensei Pro Mini, Rival Pro and Rival Pro Mini.
Kapta Space raises $24m Series A
Seattle-based space technology startup Kapta Space has raised $24m in Series A funding and secured multiple classified contracts for moving target indication (MTI), a capability used to detect and track moving objects from space. The funding was led by Washington Harbour Partners and co-led by Bison Ventures. MetaVC, MYDA Capital, Entrada Ventures, Aurelia Foundry, and Fitz Gate Ventures joined the round. Kapta has raised $30 million thus far.
The $600 Record Doctor XI wants to make cleaning your vinyl less of a chore
Buying records is the fun part. Cleaning them is the chore. Record Doctor’s latest machine, the XI, is aimed at making that second part a little less annoying. Billed in the launch announcement as a 25th-anniversary model, the Record Doctor XI is a $599.95 vacuum record cleaner. The announcement says it will ship in October. Its main pitch is straightforward: clean both sides of an LP at the same time, and make less noise doing it.
At Washington’s premiere defence show the primes rule the roost
Across the street from the Carnegie Library Apple Store, not far from the National Portrait Gallery, missile launchers are aimed at the sky. Next to them, an autonomous ground drone scans the area using LIDAR, ensuring that it can negotiate rough terrain without GPS. A few feet over, an AI-based strategy system is using Google Gemini to manage tactical information. Next to that, a hydration station is offering free energy drinks.
Keep Going - A Guide to Unlocking Success
Playback speed 1× Subtitles Share post Share post at current time Share from 0:00 0:00 / Why should we still have hope? “Because we’re still fighting.” Esther Dyson on hope, money diabetes, and the future. Esther Dyson has spent decades studying technology, business, and the ways both affect society. But she doesn’t consider herself a futurist. As she explains on this episode of Keep Going, she’s more interested in understanding the present and helping people change what comes next.
Keep Going - A Guide to Unlocking Success
Esther Dyson has spent decades studying technology, business, and the ways both affect society. But she doesn’t consider herself a futurist. As she explains on this episode of Keep Going, she’s more interested in understanding the present and helping people change what comes next.
Bremont goes deep blue with its latest full ceramic Supermarine
Bremont has added a new limited edition to its Supermarine dive watch family with the Supermarine Full Ceramic Deep Blue, a 43mm ceramic diver rated to 500 meters and limited to 250 pieces. The Deep Blue is the latest version of the Supermarine Full Ceramic, which Bremont introduced in 2024. As the name suggests, the big change is color. The watch uses a blue ceramic monobloc case and matching ceramic bezel insert, paired with a titanium inner case and knurled titanium unidirectional bezel.
Exclusive: Reveal Technology receives $9.5m US Army order for their 3D mapping platform
US-based Reveal Technology has received a $9.5m purchase order from the US Army to expand deployment of its Farsight 3D mapping platform across additional infantry brigades. The order, issued under Reveal’s existing GSA IDIQ contract, covers procurement, distribution, training and maintenance of Farsight, following a previous implementation with the 82nd Airborne Division and the Army’s Nett Warrior system.
Ukraine’s military tells defence startups to get closer to the front line
Defence companies looking to sell into Ukraine should stop treating the country’s military as a testing ground and start treating Ukrainian units as partners, military leaders told attendees at Resilience Conference London. Speaking on stage, representatives of Ukrainian military units described a defence technology market in which products can become obsolete within months and companies can waste soldiers’ time by arriving with technology that does not address an immediate battlefield problem.
Auterion launches vendor-agnostic vertical drone launcher
German defence software company Auterion has introduced a modular vertical launch system designed to deploy several types of drones from different manufacturers using the same launcher. The Nemyx Vertical Launch System, announced on October 5, expands Auterion’s Nemyx swarm software into hardware. The company says the system can deploy commercial drones, strike drones, interceptors and mid-range loitering munitions without requiring a separate launcher for each aircraft or supplier.
These cufflinks tell you what day it is whenever you fasten them. Yes, really.
Konstantin Chaykin has taken one of watchmaking’s most familiar complications and put it somewhere unexpected: on your shirt cuffs. The Russian watchmaker’s new Master of Days cufflinks feature a mechanical day-of-the-week display that advances each time the cufflink is fastened. Rather than relying on a watch movement to trigger the calendar mechanism, the wearer provides the action needed to move the display forward.
Keep Going - A Guide to Unlocking Success
What happens when you reach the end of a successful career and realize you’re not done working? On this week’s Keep Going, I talk with Alan Wexelblat, a longtime software engineer, UX leader, startup veteran, and MIT Media Lab alum who retired earlier this year. Instead of settling into retirement, Alan began volunteering full-time with organizations supporting immigrants and refugees.
Frederique Constant drops three super-complicated watches priced at $42,000 per set
Frederique Constant has brought back its Elements Collection for 2026, pairing three of its in-house complications with three natural stone dials. This year, that means onyx, heliotrope, and turquoise, along with a moon phase, tourbillon, and perpetual calendar. There is one catch. You cannot pick your favorite. Frederique Constant is selling all three w…
Astroscale is ready to help the UK sweep away space debris
Space junk cleanup company Astroscale UK has secured ISO/IEC 27001:2022 certification as it prepares for a planned orbital debris removal mission. The British arm of Japan-based Astroscale spent 20 months putting new security policies, processes and oversight in place before completing an independent audit. The certification makes the company eligible to work with government and private companies to prepare and launch missions.
Vivint’s Comfort IQ wants to make your thermostat smarter by watching the rest of your house
Home security company Vivint has announced something super cool. It’s a product called Comfort IQ and it uses a central thermostat and the company’s motion sensors, door sensors, and cameras to tell their app how and when to turn on your HVAC system. Other smart thermostats aren’t very smart. Because these wall warts usually hang out in one room or in the middle of a hall, they can “see” only a small portion of your house. Busy in the basement and your thermostat is upstairs?
The UK is sharing drone data from Ukraine
The UK is giving British defence companies access to Ukrainian battlefield data to develop AI models for autonomous drone swarms. The data, sourced from live drone activity in the country, can be used to simulate real-world drone flights, thereby allowing AI companies train their models under a myriad conditions.
Two drone startups team up to demonstrate connected autonomy at sea
San Diego-based Shield AI and UK’s Kraken Technology have demonstrated autonomous maritime “teaming” in Portsmouth, with two K3 SCOUT uncrewed surface vessels using Shield AI’s Hivemind autonomy software to coordinate an intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance mission using networked and autonomous maritime vessels. The companies demonstrated who the two SCOUTs could work together under real world conditions to perform a vital task.
Ukraine’s DOD Solution raises $2.1 million in pre-seed funding
Estonian-Ukrainian defence tech company DOD Solution has raised $2.1 million in pre-seed funding to scale AURA AI, its onboard autonomy platform for unmanned systems. The round brings together investors from Ukraine, France, Germany and the US, with Canadian drone company Draganfly joining as a strategic investor. The round also includes Angel One Fund, Better Angle, Defence Builder Fund, Network VC, Newfund, UAID Fund, WildField Ventures and 4C-Next Holding AG.
I hated psychedelics until they changed my life
I went into my first mushroom session as a skeptic. I hated the culture around psychedelics, distrusted the idea of calling them “medicine,” and had no interest in spiritual revelations. I was also burned out, grieving my father, drinking too much, and struggling to feel much of anything. Six hours later, something had shifted. That night sent me looking for an answer to a question I never expected to ask: what if I had been wrong about mushrooms?
I went looking for answers in a bag of mushrooms
I went into my first mushroom session as a skeptic. I hated the culture around psychedelics, distrusted the idea of calling them “medicine,” and had no interest in spiritual revelations. I was also burned out, grieving my father, drinking too much, and struggling to feel much of anything. Six hours later, something had shifted. That night sent me lookin…
Keep Going - A Guide to Unlocking Success
What happens when a product takes ten years to become an overnight success? On this week’s Keep Going, I talk with Reid Robinson, founder of Robinson Exotech Corp. and creator of the X Leg, a wearable exoskeleton designed as a hands-free alternative to crutches. The idea came out of Robinson’s own recovery after a serious car crash in 2015 shattered his lower leg and ankle. Over the next two and a half years, he went through 13 surgeries while doctors tried to save his leg.
Last Reminder! Free Booze and a Shroomies Book Party
Hello from the ashes of my life! This summer has been wild and difficult and strange and I’ve been super remiss at posting to this newsletter. I’ll get started in October but until then I have two things I wanted to share. First, I’m having a book party for my new book, Shroomies, on Tuesday, September 29th at Krupa Grocery in Windsor Terrace. This is a celebration and a chance to give you all some signed copies so I’d love for you to attend.
Slingbox invented the future and then the future killed it
There was a time when watching your television somewhere other than your house was a fairly radical idea. Before Netflix became a streaming service, before the iPhone, and years before every television network had its own app, three guys came up with a fairly straightforward solution: take whatever was playing on your television at home and send it over the Internet.
Germany’s DTCP secures €450M for its dedicated defence fund
More than a year in the making, and with two investments already in the books, a new investment fund focused on defence and security has finally announced its first close. DTCP has pulled together €450 million from LPs that include Deutsche Telekom, Porsche SE, Denmark’s Export and Investment Fund (EIFO), Danica and Estonia’s SmartCap. And Ole Aguirre (a veteran and ex-founder) and Georgia Watson (ex-Lakestar) have been appointed to lead a specialist defence and resilience investment team.
Epson adds three less expensive laser projectors to its Home Cinema lineup
Epson is expanding its Home Cinema range with three new 4K HDR laser projectors aimed at people who want a very big screen without stepping up to the company’s $4,500 LS11000. The new Home Cinema LS5000, LS6000 and LS7500 start at $1,999 and use Epson’s 3-Chip 3LCD projection system paired with a laser light source. Depending on the model, brightness ranges from 2,500 to 3,500 lumens for both color and white brightness.
Reminder: Free Booze and a Shroomies Book Party
Hello from the ashes of my life! This summer has been wild and difficult and strange and I’ve been super remiss at posting to this newsletter. I’ll get started in October but until then I have two things I wanted to share. First, I’m having a book party for my new book, Shroomies, on Tuesday, September 29th at Krupa Grocery in Windsor Terrace. This is a celebration and a chance to give you all some signed copies so I’d love for you to attend.
ARX Robotics wants its land drones fighting alongside Britain’s Ajax vehicles
German defence startup ARX Robotics is working with General Dynamics Land Systems UK to integrate autonomous ground vehicles with the British Army’s Ajax fleet, creating robotic “wingmen” that could scout ahead of crewed armoured vehicles and take on higher-risk missions. Initial work will focus on connecting ARX’s Hector uncrewed ground vehicle with Ajax and examining its use in reconnaissance, surveillance, protection and combat missions.
H. Moser & Cie. made a digital watch for people who hate smartwatches
H. Moser & Cie. has made a digital watch, but calling the new Off-Grid a smartwatch misses the point.
Keep Going - A Guide to Unlocking Success
What happens when you finally get everything you thought you wanted, and realize you want something else? Joe Spector came to America from the Soviet Union at ten years old. His family arrived with $100 each. Joe had a red suitcase. He studied his way into Berkeley, finished in three years, and landed a job at JP Morgan. It was the kind of secure, prestigious career his younger self thought meant he had made it. Then he realized he didn’t care about it.
The iPod Hi-Fi was a hopeless side quest for Apple
In February 2006, Steve Jobs took the stage at Apple and announced that the company was about to reinvent the home stereo. During his presentation, he talked about the iPod. By 2006, iPods were a huge business. Apple was making $8 billion a year on the devices, and it was selling millions a quarter. This meant they were everywhere. People were carrying them on the train. The ubiquitous white earbuds were visible in bank lines and on city streets.
The UK built and flew a new jet engine in under seven months
Like something out of James Bond’s Q Branch, the UK has taken a new turbojet engine from concept to flight-ready status in less than seven months. The engine was part of a Ministry of Defence program aimed at building a domestic source of engines for drones and other military aircraft. The engines were co-developed by the MOD and Oxford-based startup Alloyed, with the work led by the MOD’s Strategic Capabilities Office.
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