Why VA on UPSs lie, how the Mac could help Apple win AI, and a $3200 iPhone

Plus, a submarine for a parakeet (really), GPT-6 plays a city builder game, a new anti-dovetail bit, a Linux distro for orphaned hardware, and more.

Sep 14, 2026

I’m David Gewirtz. Welcome to this week’s Advanced Geekery newsletter. It’s been an exciting week. Let’s dive in.

Advanced Geekery is published weekly on Substack and LinkedIn. Same content. Choose your favorite delivery method. Back Issues.

My latest video

I’m back with a video I’ve been working on for months. This is the culmination of my Fab Lab power infrastructure project. I show how I install four Jackery 3600 Plus generators to supply the 3D printers with power. I also go into the how and why of the electrical loads, so you can understand where home UPSs fall down and why VA is really a fake marketing term, not something to use when setting up your power utilization strategy.

My articles

Here’s a quick recap of the articles I published in the last week on ZDNET.

The iPhone made Apple a giant - but the Mac could help it win the AI era: Looking back at Apple in 2011 and 1991 reveals an arc of technological change. The next chapter may hinge on whether Apple adapts to or loses its lead to AI.

$3,200 for a 2TB iPhone Duo? Let’s compare to Samsung and Google’s flagship foldables: Apple’s foldable iPhone Duo hits $3,199 with 2TB storage, but is it a futuristic pocket computer or an overpriced first-generation gamble?

Must-watch YouTube

Moving on, let’s queue up some interesting YouTube videos for your entertainment and edification.

The MicroJig folks have a new reverse dovetail bit. On its own, that’s not super exciting. But the demo dude showcases some neat uses for the bit, including a French-cleat-like snap-in shelving structure that’s very cool.
If you watch my video at the top of this newsletter, you’ll notice that the color looks better than some of my recent videos. I normally struggle mightily to get just mediocre color in Final Cut, but this video showed me how to pull in color settings from another video or image. It’s a game-changer. Not only does it save a ton of time, but the results look quite a bit better.
This is crazy. Dude let GPT-6 play City Skylines 2. His early attempts weren’t terribly satisfying. But after doing some tuning, GPT-6 took on the city builder and went to town.

Merch of the week

You no longer need a pocket protector to prove you’re a geek. Now you can celebrate your own advanced geekery with this official tee.

Hey, and I have a favor to ask. In order to get the shop to rank, reviews are really important. After you decide you want one of the shirts (they come in lots of colors and sizes) and place your order, please leave a review. The more reviews, the better. Even if you don’t order, you can help kickstart the store by favoriting a shirt or two.

Note: As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases, but not this week.

Interesting reads

And now, some good stuff from around the Internet, well worth checking out.

Proving that he must just never sleep, Jason Perlow’s back with his own Linux distro for fairly obscure and stranded hardware platforms.
This guy built a submarine for his parakeet. I wanted to build a robot car for Pixel, but he doesn’t like anything electronic. Yes, I have a luddite dog, who loves stuffed animals and veggies, but loathes plastic and electronics. Still, I totally love him, even if I’ll never get to make him a robot car.
ZDNET’s Kerry Wan is back with our headline of the week: iPhone Duo vs. Pixel 11 Pro Fold: I’ve used both, and it’s not open and shut.

Send in your projects

I’d like to regularly spotlight a reader project or two here. Your project doesn’t have to be a big Kickstarter launch. If you’ve built something cool, it has some pretty pictures, and you’re proud of it, I might be able to share it here.

If you have a photogenic reader project, send an email to me at david@zatz.com with the subject “READER PROJECT,” a few pictures, and a short one-paragraph description. If you have a social media link or a link to the project, include that, too.