How I found the best battery pack after years of charging frustration

Essentials Week spotlights unexpected items that make our daily lives just a little bit better.

ABC has stood for a lot of things. In the 1970s, it was synonymous with 1-2-3. After the callous 1980s, thanks to Glengarry Glen Ross, it stood for "Always Be Closing." Now, in the 2010s, we absolutely need to amend the acronym to the ultimate rule of our tech-heavy lives: Always Be Charging. 

As a guy who carries a MacBook, an iPad Pro, an old but still good iPhone, two kinds of Bose noise-canceling headphones, a Kindle, and a Muse almost everywhere, I take the ABC commandment very seriously. Ideally, nothing in my backpack should ever drop below 50 percent charge, and friends don't let friends' phones die either. (This is an easy way to be of service, but it also reflects a certain kind of OCD: Just the sight of a screenshot on Twitter where someone has let their iPhone drain below 10 percent is enough to make me anxious.) Read more...