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Ask HN: Any piece of hardware that was more of game changer than you expected?

171 points by Cr0s 5y ago

I'm looking for things that help more than expected or in ways you wouldn't expect. It could be a second monitor, a really good mouse or even a microplane.

epolanski 5y ago
12" tablet with a pen like samsung galaxy s7 fe. I can read programming books in the top half while taking notes or running code in a repl in the bottom one. It's also okay coupled with gitpod or github teams (via codespaces) for "entertainment" or light coding.
taeric 5y ago
I'm rather fond of my RollerMouse. Not sure I can claim it is a game changer. But, the stable position of it relative to keyboard is quite comforting.
Trias11 5y ago
One Mix 4 micro laptop. I bought i5 version of it on aliexpress however amazon has higher end version of it (i7) available. 9" or so screen, full blown windows 11 laptop, extremely well built, solid. I upgraded it to Windows 11 Pro myself just for fun so I could RDP to it and control it remotely. I bought it for narrow use case (need to control hardware device that doesn't have mobile app) and extremely pleased on how fully functioning, well built it is. It could fit into large enough pocket and if you're in need of SMALLEST device as fully featured Windows-based computer - that's the answer. Drawbacks: no webcam (this is plus for me actually) and small battery life (ask me which power bank i chose to solve this issue).
zzzzzzzza 5y ago
switching from a gaming chair to a couch
stonecharioteer 5y ago
A mmotorized standing desk. Clamp style monitor mounts. A laptop mount adapter for the VESA bracket. Bone conduction headphones. I can wear these all day and not feel my ears hurt. A Samsung Galaxy S7 Plus tablet. It's got the most screen size for any tablet and I love reading tech books on it. A kindle Oasis. I've used the Kindle Touch and Paperwhite but the Oasis is something else. A grill-style sandwich maker. I can heat up anything and grill just about anything with it. It's amazing.
fomine3 5y ago
Galaxy Fold3 -- I can use tablet every time when I had used smartphone.
toastal 5y ago
A colorimeter. I bought a ColorMunki a few years back to correct the overly blue display on my only Razer Blade and it fixed so many issues with my photography and having color discussions with my designer--giving me the confidence to know it's not my screen that was the problem. I've since had friends borrow it and even TN panels can really use the color improvement. I've also used it to correct hotel TV color recently and you'd be amazed at how much of difference it can make. I know it's a WIP, but the color management in Wayland cannot come soon enough to me.
omnipath 5y ago
Dishwasher. Never really had one growing up, and never managed to rent an apartment with one, or one that worked. I'm now finally in a place with a working dishwasher, and it makes life so much easier. I don't feel guilty about not doing dishes immediately after using them (I only have a set for 2, so if I don't clean it immediately, I'll quickly run out of usable dishes in a day.) Folding Shopping Carts. Literally only had a car for the past 3 years so I could go grocery shopping (Before pandemic, took train to work. Parking wasn't free.) Now that I live in a place near a grocery store, I purchased a shopping cart, and don't really need the car anymore, which I sold last year. So, I don't care about gas prices, don't have to worry about maintenance, no insurance, and most importantly, I don't have to worry about parking!
santa_boy 5y ago
If it qualifies, Apple M1 series has been a real game changer for me. Its doesn't interrupt my thought process due to computing overload. Very rarely hangs and makes my idea to implementation and visual feedback process very seamless. My productivity is up so much that I bought two M1s (one for office and one for home)
kokizzu2 5y ago
steamdeck '__') PC as handled combined with monitor + keyboard + mouse can be main development PC also as portable game station
kokizzu2 5y ago
steamdeck '__') PC as handled combined with monitor + keyboard + mouse can be main development PC also as g
threshold 5y ago
oculus quest 2 - product of the decade
sincarne 5y ago
Two things stand out for me: A really good daypack. I was using book bags for family days out, but they were uncomfortable and impractical. When the National Trust reopened their outdoor spaces during the pandemic, I sunk £80 into an Osprey backpack. It has made a huge difference. I used to get very sweaty, and I have a broken collarbone that would ache. These are no longer issues for me. It has made being out in nature for a full day even more enjoyable. Bose Sleepphones II. I got them for a good deal on open box clearance. I usually listen to a sleep story on Calm.com to get to sleep. I have these for if I wake up in the middle of the night. They're comfortable, and great at blocking sound. I don't love the sounds–they're a bit overcompressed and some have really obvious looping points–but the things work.
sleepingadmin 5y ago
Raspberry pi was quite a game changer. It pushed the creation of so many similar cheap boards; which proliferated around the world and enabled IOT, it enabled so many things. SSDs will inevitably destroy spinning rust. The war was over long ago but spinning rust is still a thing. The next one that's happening right now is digital cameras. Consumer film is roughly around 87 megapixels. The pros use stuff that's in the gigapixels but 88 megapixels is the line to beat. Samsung S22 Ultra 5G has 108MP rear cam. This is a new generation that will make waves and it's happening now. Film still matters for your stanley kubricks but its not anymore.
throwaway889900 5y ago
Talalay latex pillow. Memory foam sucks in comparison.
deleted 5y ago
[deleted]
uniqueuid 5y ago
This might not be what you want to hear (i.e. too little tech), but here's a list from Bruce Sterling's talk at Reboot 11 (2009) [1] that stuck with me: * Number one, a bed. You're spending a third of your life in the thing. * Get a chair. I shouldn't have to tell people who work with computers to get a chair. * (things that go on your skin like clothes and cosmetics) * Apart from that, beautiful things, emotional things, tools. His (minimalist) message is to get rid of everything else. [1] https://www.wired.com/2011/02/transcript-of-reboot-11-speech-by-bruce-sterling-25-6-2009/ https://www.wired.com/2011/02/transcript-of-reboot-11-speech...
- ncmncm 5y ago
  I used to use a chair. Now I use a stool. I get up to walk around more often, now. In "Pushing Tin", Billy Bob Thornton's character took his folding chair with him wherever he worked. That must have been based on some real character.
  - pj-bs 5y ago
    Maybe Glenn Gould, a pianist that used the same chair. https://youtu.be/5SHtyGc8pfk https://youtu.be/5SHtyGc8pfk
brtkdotse 5y ago
1) Got rid of my second monitor and use just one 27” 4K monitor. My neck feels better and I’m less scatter brained. 2) whenever possible, I try to buy used pro/prosumer/premium things. They will usually last for years and years, be more comfortable/pleasurable in use and will be repairable/maintainable when they do break down.
- have_faith 5y ago
  > Got rid of my second monitor Did this also a long time ago. I still have my laptop connected which I flip open to use the webcam occasionally but I feel much more focused using 1 monitor.
  - AussieWog93 5y ago
    Same here. A decently-sized 4k display allows you to have documents open next to your main work app when necessary, but equally lets you use the full real-estate when you don't want to. With two monitors, I just found myself shoving shit on the second screen and getting distracted.
- wil421 5y ago
  I got rid of my 2 4K monitors and got an ultrawide. I’ll never look back. One 4K monitor was never enough for me. My ultrawide is basically 2 1440p monitors stuck to each other.
  - nullwarp 5y ago
    I just did the same thing, replaced 3 24" 1080p monitors with a single 49" ultrawide and it's been a damn game changer. Can't believe I waited so long to do it.
- whatch 5y ago
  I thought it would be a great idea to have two big monitors but I really hated that when I purchased the second one. And then I just put one of my monitors right in front of me and now rarely use the second one. But when I need a second monitor I'm really happy I didn't sell it. So layout makes a really big difference.
esun 5y ago
I finally gave in to reality and got reading glasses for coding. Didn't realize how much I was suffering.
- notreallyserio 5y ago
  How did you decide which brand to get and at what strength? I wear glasses every day (nearsighted) and have been thinking about getting reading glasses for work but the ones I tried at the grocery store were way too strong. I somewhat recently upgraded to a larger monitor and have scaled up my fonts but I still feel like I am straining a bit.
  - falcolas 5y ago
    I recommend a sub 1.0 strength. It will let you read a screen comfortably. They’re effectively a consumable for me, so I have pairs scattered throughout my house.
  - nicoburns 5y ago
    Go to an optician/optometrist to get your required strength measured. The brand is likely not too important.
- zeke 5y ago
  I got a prescription for monitor distance, about 30in or 70cm, and ordered the glasses from Zenni. It makes my computer time much better.
threeseed 5y ago
a) Satechi Dock5 Station - holds and charges your phone, tablet, computer and AirPods. Wake up and everything is charged. b) Bose Sleepbuds II - comfortable, tiny earbuds that last all night and play white noise or repeating melodies. c) Anker PowerConf - video conferencing speaker which means you aren't having to fiddle with headphones and the giant red light makes it easy to see when you're muted. d) Mogics Power Donut - combination travel adapter, power extension board, extension cable and USB hub in one tiny device.
huffmsa 5y ago
Impact driver
- bluedino 5y ago
  To add: cordless electric 1/2" impact
- deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]
libertine 5y ago
I really enjoyed getting a mechanical keyboard (Keychron K2), it has a really nice typing experience when compared to membrane keyboards. There's something to the tactile + sound feedback that triggers some emotional response in us, it just feels good. It also improved my posture a lot from writing on a laptop (but for this objective, any keyboard would do the job ofc).
- kyriakos 5y ago
  I started getting pains in my fingers and after some time I realised they were caused by the keyboard. I bought a keychron and never had a problem with my fingers again. Really good devices for the price.
ssss11 5y ago
A good coffee machine at home. Unbelievable ROI, one of my favourite purchases.
- kqr 5y ago
  Yup. My wife and I got one when we moved in together before we were married. At the time we were very poor students and it was not obviously the right call. But we have gotten an insane mileage out of that thing from the day we brought it home. Easily worth it many times over.
- BiteCode_dev 5y ago
  Brand?
  - gehsty 5y ago
    I got a sage (breville I’m the US) barista pro and love it, no heat up time as it uses a heat pump, great grinder and easy to clean. I make at least two coffees a day, every day for over a year and it’s never missed a beat.
  - ssss11 5y ago
    I have a delonghi. Only a few hundred dollars but the support service has been fantastic which I didn’t really expect either. I’ve noticed a few responses to my post mentioning drip coffee machines - the one I have steams milk, makes lattes etc
- dudeinjapan 5y ago
  Bonavita makes some good ones--recommend BV1500TS or BV1900TS. Ditch the default stainless steel carafe and upgrade to double-walled glass.
- alias_neo 5y ago
  My Rancilio Sylvia E has really gotten a workout since lockdown. When it's not making coffee, it doubles as a very therapeutic thing to clean and maintain for a couple of hours every couple of months.
- 5y ago
fersarr 5y ago
- a wrist support brace: no more wrist pain when using a keyboard/mouse
- Jackdanie1s 5y ago
  Any recommendations?
  - fersarr 5y ago
    I am using this one now: "Actesso Breathable Wrist Support Brace Splint" but tbh all of the ones I tired before (they lasted a few years) worked too.
deleted 5y ago
[deleted]
alanfranz 5y ago
A very large display. I got a 4k 43” display, with a bit of retina magnification, and I can sit properly without slumping, my back fully straight on my seat. I don’t suffer back pain anymore.
- alias_neo 5y ago
  How far are you sitting from that monster? I've never understood having large format displays for work (programming in my case). I once (before children) had 3x28" 4K displays but they had to wrap pretty tight around my sitting position otherwise I had no chance of seeing what's at the far ends.
  - alanfranz 5y ago
    I think my desk is about 90cm deep, I’d say I stay about 100/120cm from my eyes to the display. Sometimes I just don’t place things to the edges or the very bottom. A 37” or 40” display would suffice but I didn’t find any, and 32” is too small imho.
    - alias_neo 5y ago
      Oh yeah a metre plus is pretty far. I sit about 30-40cm from my screen unless I'm sitting back in my chair.
      - alanfranz 5y ago
        But the whole point IS sitting back in your chair. Much better posture! Btw I performed some measurements and real distance is more like 90cm.
        alias_neo 5y ago
        That makes sense. When I say "sitting back" I mean leaning back, which is closer to the real distance I should be. I downsized my desk significantly when we had kids so that's the reason for sitting so close. We're currently working on resolving the space situation then maybe I too can switch to a monster sized monitor!
mikewarot 5y ago
Long, LONG ago I got a MicroSolutions 300 Megabyte External Hard drive, you could plug it in to a parallel printer port, boot the driver disk, and BAM... all of your tools were available. A decade ago, I got my first SSD drives, those were game changers. Boot times dropped like a rock, and performance went through the roof. I got a 32" HDMI monitor just before Covid hit... I'm VERY glad I did so. I've been stuck at home with Long Covid for almost 2 years now, it makes it so much easier to see what's going on. It was well worth the money. As for software, GIT is the best thing since Turbo Pascal. I assume you use it already. Oh, and consider getting a 3d printer of some form, along with a CNC router. Those might come in handy for home projects.
- y4mi 5y ago
  > I got my first SSD drives And to experience it all over again with proper nvme drives was very enjoyable indeed. Cold boots in about 5s now vs 20-60s with the old ssds of back then really makes shutting down/starting up into a very different experience again
  - ldoughty 5y ago
    > And to experience it all over again with proper nvme drives was very enjoyable indeed. Second this... Felt exactly the same as getting SSDs for the first time.
trinovantes 5y ago
A 3rd monitor lets me see live preview, documentation, and code all at once. I'm out of desk space to test the effectiveness of a 4th An nvme drive made everything boot faster A good chair (either herman miller or steelcase) fixed my back pain
- AussieWog93 5y ago
  >A good chair (either herman miller or steelcase) fixed my back pain Mine too! If you're on a budget, there are plenty of individuals on Facebook Marketplace and similar that sell used Steelcase/Herman Miller chairs for about a third of retail price. The more reputable used dealers will repair them before sale, as well.
  - paco3346 5y ago
    Also check out the Herman Miller company outlet store- https://www.officeoutlet.net https://www.officeoutlet.net
AussieWog93 5y ago
If a microplane counts as "hardware", then I can't not bring up my whetstone! Cost all of around $40, is a genuine joy to use, and keeps all of my knives sharper-than-sharp. I started out with a very expensive knife (Wusthof classic 8", around US$150 or so at the time) but nothing to sharpen it with, and this was a mistake. If I could do it again I'd recommend young cooks on a budget start out with a $20 IKEA knife and a stone to keep it sharp. You'll get better long term results than you would with an expensive knife on its own any day of the week.
- hellcow 5y ago
  America's Test Kitchen recommends the Victorinox knives for every skill level and budget, including professional chefs. It's just a damn good knife, and it happens to be cheap at around $50. Go with this rather than Ikea if it's in the budget :)
  - rdtwo 5y ago
    Fantastic starter knives, otherwise spend 150-200 on a Japanese gato/r/chefsknives has good recommendations. The mass market knife block sets are actually worse than the victronix and cost more.
    - toiletfuneral 5y ago
  - more_corn 5y ago
    My first Sous Chef gave me his Victorinox from when he went to Culinary Institute of America. I still use it even though I've since bought a Wusthof. I like how it is thinner, it holds an edge well and has good ergonomics.
- swalsh 5y ago
  I bought this Global Classic Flexible Boning Knife a few years ago, this one knife changed my whole game. I like to buy Chicken thighs, take the center bone out, keep the bones for some amazing stock and render the skin into schmaltz. It's a process that used to take quite a long time, but this knife has made it super quick.
kqr 5y ago
An Android phone with a physical keyboard. It's a night and day difference for me with fat fingers and who likes to look at the text I'm writing, not the keyboard I'm using to write. RIP BlackBerry Key2.
- zakki 5y ago
  What is the keyboard you are using?
  - kqr 5y ago
    I'm using a Blackberry Key2 phone which has a keyboard built in. Sadly, I've just learned they are no longer being made. Not sure what I'll do when this one breaks.
rgoulter 5y ago
A keyboard where the keys are symmetrical, and allow greater use of the thumb (and allow less usage of the pinky fingers). -- Maybe it's not for everyone, but I wish I'd gotten a keyboard like this years ago.
- Aachen 5y ago
  So like enter in place of caps lock? I genuinely have no idea what you mean by symmetrical keyboard.
  - rgoulter 5y ago
    ZSA's moonlander[0] or their planck-ez[1] are a couple of examples. Where standard keyboards have staggered rows, the planck-ez is "ortholinear", and the moonlander has staggered columns. (I have seen designs which are symmetric and retain staggered rows, too). Though I think older keyboards in this category would be like the Maltron, Kinesis Advantage. And also recently, there's been a surge in custom mechanical keyboard designs, like the Sofle keyboard[2]. [0]: https://www.zsa.io/moonlander/ https://www.zsa.io/moonlander/ [1]: https://www.zsa.io/planck/ https://www.zsa.io/planck/ [2]: https://github.com/josefadamcik/SofleKeyboard https://github.com/josefadamcik/SofleKeyboard
- bikingbismuth 5y ago
  I “tried out” a Planck on a whim for a month in 2017 and never looked back. I currently use a Levinson and it just about perfect (I wish I could find a solid aluminum case and then it would be perfect).
cushychicken 5y ago
A floor heating pad. $30 and my feet will never be cold at the computer again!
- dudeinjapan 5y ago
  This was gonna be my answer. I got one a few weeks ago after using a kotatsu heated table at a traditional hotel in the mountains here in Japan.
  - qubyte 5y ago
    There's life before one has experienced a kotatsu, and life after.
    - dudeinjapan 5y ago
      This is really true. I spent my day in Shirakawa-go in the snow and when I got to the hotel it was freezing. I put my legs under the table and... WOW!!
    - cushychicken 5y ago
      #snugLife
- lostmsu 5y ago
  My wife just wears slippers. They work in the entire house.
- tra3 5y ago
  Can you share which one you have?
  - cushychicken 5y ago
    I legitimately don't remember. Just search "foot heating pad" on Amazon.
op00to 5y ago
Bidet.
- wly_cdgr 5y ago
  Hard to beat this one. Now whenever I use a bathroom that doesn't have one I feel like a filthy barbarian
david_allison 5y ago
Anker PowerCore 26800 (26800mAh) - 3 USB outputs, 2 inputs for charging. Removed away all worry about not having phone charging capability if you're on the move. There's likely better options available now with USB-C inputs, but the product is still fantastic. Oral-B Genius 9000 - looked like an overpriced & gimmicky toothbrush (with AR + Bluetooth). It is, but the carry-case is useful to double as an extra shaver->USB option, it's got a long battery life, and it has a good number of modes for brushing. Oculus Quest 2 - initially I wasn't sure if it'd be a gimmick, but it's an effortless & fun way to burn calories
- alias_neo 5y ago
  I have a RAVPOWER 26800mAh with USB PD. It has 2 USB A (Out) and a USB-C (In/Out), I can charge my Nintendo Switch, phone, wife's phone, tablet, kid's tablet, Earbud case and XPS 13 (@30W) on the go. I also use it to power my Pinecil when I'm working away from a plug socket. Very handy when we're out and about without the car. It's also the max size you can carry on a plane for travel (100Wh is the max in many places) at 99.3Wh.
- notreallyserio 5y ago
  Do you bring your battery with you when you're out and about? How do you carry it (if you do)? I have a battery and it is pocket sized, but it's not exactly comfortable to carry along with my wallet and phone.
  - david_allison 5y ago
    Depends if I think I might be needing it. Tote bag/leather satchel for everyday (especially because it lets you carry USB & lightning cables); backpack for longer trips. It's a big battery and wouldn't be feasible to carry in my pocket
  - ajolly 5y ago
    Drop leg bag
fit2rule 5y ago
Zynthian audio/synthesis platform: I got it to act as an FX processor, and it has become an extremely rich resource for creative instruments and digital music-making. Not just an FX box, its really more like an entire studio. Synthstrom Deluge: so incredibly deep and complex, it also started life as a simple tool that is now becoming a lynchpin in my studio operation - not just for drums and sequencing, also for recording quick takes and samples and so on. This machine has replaced the DAW for pure creative modes. NORN+Grid: Again, was purchased for one thing and is now being pressed into use for so many other purposes, un-dreamed of previously. Arturia AudioFUSE Studio: THIS was just supposed to be a neat desktop mixer that fit on the table, but it has become so, so much more - the STUDIO in the name is no nonsense! Again, way more power than expected, and it has expanded beyond the original purpose of having a quick desktop mix available - now practically everything in the studio is going through it (ADAT for the win) and it is the central console for production. I haven't touched the other mixers in weeks ..
adhesive_wombat 5y ago
A good dishwasher. I resisted getting one for years because the one I had growing up was pretty bad. Nothing would dry, items would come out dirty all the time and it was loud and would "chug" for hours. However, a good (not even fancy, just mid-range from a competent manufacturer) modern dishwasher is night and day. Doesn't even need special tablets, it just gets things clean, even on the eco mode, which is the only one I use. Its not the quietest on the market by a dB or two, but its basically not noticeable. So much better than having a huge pile of dishes taking up the entire draining rack until dry enough to put away, getting splashed with more water every time the sink is used (and the water is medium-hard so that makes a mess, but the dishwasher has a water softener).
- BiteCode_dev 5y ago
  How long have you had it?
  - adhesive_wombat 5y ago
    About 5 years or so. It's probably done well over 1000 cycles since then. It's had one breakage, which was a heat pump, which was repaired with a part from ebay. Other than that, its going strong.
- brtkdotse 5y ago
  People over here are insane and remodel perfectly fine kitchens when moving in to a new apartment, and sell all the appliances for a pitence. I picked up a year old Miele for 100€, it’s been chugging along like a tank.
  - adhesive_wombat 5y ago
    My mum has a Miele washing machine that is almost 30 years old. As far as I know, it's never needed a repair. Which is probably just as well as Mieles can always be repaired, but the cost of parts is, let's say, dramatic. My fridge has a broken egg tray lid and a dent in the door. Replacing the former is £35, a freezer door is almost £300 (nearly half the cost of the whole fridge freezer). The fridge door is almost £700, as much as the whole thing! The egg tray lid is particularly annoying as the plastic part is actually not well-designed and clearly has obvious weak points where a modest redesign would both make a breakage less likely in the first place, and allow the most obvious failure mode to be repaired with a small sacrificial part (that, moreover can be shared amongst all fridge models, so it's not even a major SKU count increase) rather than the whole lid.
agumonkey 5y ago
A tiny bluetooth adapter for good old earphones. I know analog + wires is often simpler, but tangled broken wires are hell, being tethered removes opportunity for simple multitasking.
- threeseed 5y ago
  If you are looking for a Bluetooth adapter then would recommend Qudelix 5K. Has the advantage of a built-in parametric EQ which can make a big improvement for even the worst tuned headphones.
timpattinson 5y ago
A decent fabric mousepad. Night and day difference.
- grujicd 5y ago
  There are even large ones wide enough to suit both keyboard and mouse. You don't have pad area anymore, mouse works everywhere. It's also more comfortable for hands when typing. Mine is Asus ROG Sheath, 990mm x 440mm.
cik 5y ago
I've spent a long time engineering, and adapting my workspace. It's at the point now that going to an office is a horrible experience, compared to my home office. Here's my setup * Ikea Standing desk (I never sit). I know plenty of people who use these for sitting, simply because the height of the desk is finally suited to their specific frame. * As many monitors as will make you happy (to each their own, but I'm happy with 2) * Kinesys Freestyle 2 keyboard (wired, I hate wireless things, I never want to think about batteries) * A laptop stand to lift my laptop - it turns out this made an enormous impact to my neck * Monitor stands - most monitors are stationary, but the wrong height, even when compared with arm layout in an ergonomic setup. * Kensington Expert Mouse * Wacom One tablet - Now I can draw on digital whiteboards in Zoom, or even on shared websites and it's significantly better than the mouse experience. * Sony WX-1000XM3 headphones - I use it for both music and the noise cancelling. Just having in on an cancelling noise has been an incredible improvement * Whiteboard - This is by far the most important one in this list.
- frogulis 5y ago
  > wired, I hate wireless things, I never want to think about batteries It's funny, I feel exactly the same. When friends have asked me to explain why, I struggle to justify it. It's just a minor feeling of security -- one less thing to maintain. The only piece of hardware I've considered moving to wireless is a headset for gaming with friends, but it hasn't happened thus far. Maybe if the End Times come and my ATH-M50x stop working.
  - grujicd 5y ago
    To be fair, batteries for Logitech wireless keyboard (K270, non-fancy one, without backlight) last for years. Same for their Marathon mouse. Battery is not the reason to skip these devices. Connectivity might be, I had some interference with multiple sets nearby. But if you're solo they work very reliably.
  - _carbyau_ 5y ago
    Wires also double as safety tethers for angry people who like to throw their mouse/keyboard. Yes, I have intentionally purchased wired stuff for others with this in mind. Yes, they needed to get their shit together and they did.
shafyy 5y ago
Air quality monitor and air purifier. Helps me to have cleaner air at home by e.g., reminding me to open the windows more regularly.
- grech 5y ago
  Are the monitor and purifier one device or two separate devices?
  - shafyy 5y ago
    Two separate devices. I have the Awair air quality monitor and a Coway air purifier.
sambeau 5y ago
These super-cheap headband/earphones https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B09NPL7V7R/ https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B09NPL7V7R/ The sound quality is surprisingly OK, they are more than good enough for Audible & podcasts, and you can comfortably lie on your side. I bought them on a whim after considering options that cost 10x the price. I've tried listening to speakers (can't hear when lying on my side), my phone (falls between pillows, gets tangled in my limbs), regular headphones (can't lie on my side, wake up with them being squashed beneath me). These stay put, are comfortable and actually work. I won't wear them in public (for, hopefully, obvious reasons) but in the privacy of my own bedroom they've been a game-changer. Did I mention they were only £17?
hestefisk 5y ago
1) A coffee grinder and espresso machine. Keeps me going. Wasn’t expensive ($200 all up) 2) A good chair with proper back support 3) Two screens, 27” each. Nothing fancy but makes me quite productive
sofixa 5y ago
* an Onyx Boox Nova Air. It's an Android tablet with an e-ink display which i use mainly for reading web articles and RSS feeds, although I've tried the note taking ( with stylus and OCR) and it's fine, but not really my thing ( I like taking notes with my keyboard). * A small waterproof speaker for the bathroom which i use to listen to short podcasts ( like Revolutions by Mike Duncan, in the 20-30 minute range) during my morning routine, shaving, taking showers, etc
- bikingbismuth 5y ago
  Bathroom speaker has been definite life improved for me. Side note: I try to find ones that don’t have really annoying “my battery is low” noises. I had one that played this terrible bell sound and it destroyed my morning vibe.
  - sofixa 5y ago
    I'll definitely look into that next time I'm buying one ( the current one's battery is no longer in great shape), the beeps are very annoying and long.
BiteCode_dev 5y ago
https://shadow.tech/ https://shadow.tech/ I love the laptop factor, but I need a good GPU sometimes. There are ways to plug one using USB-C, and I wanted to go for that first. But my little bro, a gamer, told me it was a waste of money. For $29 a month, I can get a remote beast of a computer with Windows 10 on it and use it as much as I want. At first, I wasn't convinced. Primo, I'd have to upload all of my stuff. Secondo, what about the latency ? Well, I'm not playing multiplier online games, so it turns out the latency is imperceptible for my use cases. It's not your typical VNC setup, they optimized their client and protocol and I sometimes forget I'm not on a local machine. Second, OVH is behind the brand, so their uplink is crazy good. Which means uploading and downloading things is very fast. Sometimes it's even better to stream movies from the shadow and watch it remotely than to use my local connection O_o Eventually I saw the $2000 GPU I wanted to buy, and realize that it would take me more than 5 years of shadow usage to reach that price. After which my GPU would get old anyway, and I would need another one. Bonus: it takes no space on my desk, doesn't make noise, doesn't heat, and I can use it when I travel, so I have the buffed up GPU at my disposal at my clients sites, in holidays, anywhere with decent wifi. Because yes, the latency is good enough that I actually don't bother to plug my ethernet cable anymore: wifi works fine. Hotel wifi sucks though :) Unlike gaming streaming services, you are not limited to a gaming provider, you can reuse your steam account or gog games. You are actually not limited to game, you have a full Windows 10 at your disposal. You can do video edition, model training or 3D rendering. Not crypto mining though, according to the terms of use. In fact, nothing that requires background tasks as the computer shuts down as soon as no human use it (I assume they make money by sharing the hardware). But if you do want to play, it's nice. I tested Borderlands 2 with all settings cranked to the max, it works smoothly, including a with a controller plugged with BT into the laptop! It's not without any problem, obviously: - one or twice a day, the image will glitch, and I will lose control for a few seconds. So don't do remote surgery or bank your MMR on it. - the linux client just doesn't work on the lastest Ubuntu. I have to reboot every time to my windows session. - I'm in France, so YMMV, since I have no idea how good the ping to their server is from the US. Work fine from Germany. - if you alt tab for too long the shadow client (from the laptop windows, not the shadow windows), it will consider you are not using the machine and disconnect (probably part of their business model). I lost data this way. - the GPU you get depends of where you are. Some get a P5000 with 16GB GDDR5X, some a GTX 1080 with 8GB GDDR5X and some a RTX4000 with 8GB GDDR6 - if it gets through, it can act as a VPN. Unfortunately, the ports it uses may be blocked. - their support is google-level terrible. If the answer is in the FAQ, you are good to go. If not, you are on your own.
maxwelldone 5y ago
A QMK or a similar programmable keyboard. Often found in mechanical ones. I believe QMK supports 32 layers. So far I've only needed 4 or 5 but the boost in productivity is night and day.
- awiesenhofer 5y ago
  Looks interesting, how do you use it?
  - bikingbismuth 5y ago
    I use an Ortholinear keyboard and I remapped all the brackets to make more sense (to me). I also have few very common programming symbols on another layer like “:=“, “if __name__ …”, “try…except”. I have a layer that is my “network numpad”. The right side of my board (a Levinson) in this mode is: EF789(Del) CD456(Macro to type 255) AB123(Enter) __0.: I also have a HID device attack mode layer that has payloads for popping shells, adding accounts to windows machine, grabbing wifi passwords, etc. This one is just fun stuff from my previous life in red team InfoSec. Some of this is overkill but it shaves a few seconds off my day and I had a lot of fun building it.
  - maxwelldone 5y ago
    How do I use it? Let me give some examples (from my current driver - 68% board): 1. The bottom left key (Cntrl) is L1. I chose it because it's easy to just lean on it by the side of my palm as opposed to pressing it which is a hard to reach point. It controls commonly used hotkeys like window management, media (vol, play/pause), clipboard etc. 2. A layer for symbols & fn keys. 3. A layer just for VS Code keys. For instance, Ctrl + Page Up/Down behaves like mouse scroll (on Mac), so I've dedicated layer keys around home row. It's naturally placed near home row navigation. I also have some handy macros like that will type language specific stuff like "() => {}" and move cursor inside parenthesis, etc. 4. Another layer for pretty much everything else. Like, locking & unlocking my Mac (bad practice to have pwd in macros, I know), opening "about:logins" in FF, tagging files (Ctrl 1,2,3...) etc. Pro Tip for newbies: 1. Get comfortable flashing new configs (which shouldn't be a problem these days) 2. Don't over optimize layers & macros - go with something decent that will solve major pain points. 3. While using, make a note of things that work, things that feel odd and things you never use. Then, make incremental modifications. Rinse & repeat. For people considering Mech boards: It need not cost an arm & a leg. The first board I bought was Tada 68 which cost around 120 bucks. Getting a board with swappable keys might be tricky at this price point - but if you know what sort of key you want, this shouldn't be a big problem. As with SW development, start simple & expand based on necessity.
btschaegg 5y ago
If you play an instrument as a hobby: A proper König & Meyer sheet music holder (10068). It's not foldable, but very stable. If you only ever used foldable sheet music holders, you don't even realize what misery you could simply avoid. Beside not dealing with falling sheets all the time, you can also properly write on it without descending into madness. If you have to deal with larger pieces, something like the Berolina Manufaktur Magic Music Board will also come in handy. Alongside with that: A magnet ring you can put your pencil into, so you can attach it to the underside of your sheet music holder. This way, it won't get into the way of flipping pages. Or, if you have to deal with the finicky ones, you can increase the stability of your sheets with it by fixing them with the pencil somewhat.
- grujicd 5y ago
  If you play a guitar, get something like Hercules GS414B stand. It locks the guitar when you put it, so it's very hard to be knocked out by kids or yourself. Then it's safe to keep the guitar near the place where you usually sit and then you'll play much more often.
atc 5y ago
Rice cooker - so convenient Ducky One S2 mechanical keyboard - compact but a delight to code on
- wly_cdgr 5y ago
  +1 for rice cooker. So versatile and so convenient
christophilus 5y ago
80% mechanical keyboard (Vermillo). Fountain pen. 5k monitor.
db48x 5y ago
An Intel Optane NVME SSD. <10µs latency for both reads and writes even at low queue depths. There are newer NVME SSDs with more IOPS, but only at high queue depths, and their latency is a lot worse. If you put your swap on your Optane drive, you can use hundreds of gigs of swap without making your machine unresponsive. Makes a great place to put a database too. Check out this screenshot http://db48x.net/temp/Screenshot%20from%202019-12-09%2013-27-07.png http://db48x.net/temp/Screenshot%20from%202019-12-09%2013-27... See where it says “avio 3.53µs” and “avq 0.61”? That’s 284,000 IOPS even with nothing queued up. With any other drive you would be lucky to get a tenth of that at QD1. Even better, this is a mixed read and write workload; most drives are fastest when you are only reading or only writing.
- timando 5y ago
  Intel discontinued Optane for consumers.
  - awiesenhofer 5y ago
    You can get the enterprise ones used on ebay
- ncmncm 5y ago
  I had an Intel nVME SSD. It failed catastrophically after only a year. I posted about it, and somebody from Intel said, not surprising, that model was crap. Apparently the only products Intel goes to any effort to make reliable are the ones meant for data centers. So, no more Intel for me.
- randomopining 5y ago
  How does this compare to a Hynix p31 gold nvme?
  - db48x 5y ago
    Probably very favorably. I’ve never used that particular SSD, but if you have one you could measure the latency and IOPS under a similar work load and find out for sure.
dividedbyzero 5y ago
- Airpods Pro: Sound really good, walking around freely during calls has been great, solid noise cancelling. Most useful and fun pair of headphones I've ever owned by a long shot. - A single 27" 2569x1440 screen on a monitor arm. Had a 34" Ultrawide, an Apple Cinema Display and several combinations of multiple displays, but that's my sweet spot. Would love to have 5k, but these are still too pricey. - Metabo PowerMaxx BS 10.8v cordless drill. Almost as powerful as a big one but so small and light that it's suitable for delicate work and cramped corners. I've used it to screw small servos to an acrylic robot backplate and drill 12mm holes through 100mm of wood. - Philips Hue: I'd never have thought how much of a difference being able to have warm, dim light in the evening and cold, bright light in the afternoon makes, but it's huge. Also makes it easy to have half a dozen dimmed small lamps instead of a single big one. I have LED strips behind my screen that have cured my nightly headaches. - A small Victorinox Alox knife with just a blade and bottle/can opener/flat screwdriver. Lives permanently in my coin pocket and I wouldn't have believed just how often this comes in handy. It's also totally non-threatening, which is a must in an office environment. - A tiny flashlight on my keychain. I use this a lot in the darker months, it's so much quicker to get to than fumbling with my phone. - Victorinox Bike Tool: A 6mm or so hex key, a bit adapter that goes onto either end of the hex key, a number of metric bits (hex, philips, torx) and a pair of plastic tire levers. Snaps together into a package so lightweight and small that I actually have it with me when I need it and versatile enough to be useful, with bits for just the screw heads I actually have on my bike. - A tarp poncho for summer/fall hiking. Much airier than a rain trousers/jacket combo, keeps me dry even in torrential downpours, backpack fits underneath, plus it doubles as a simple shelter in a pinch with a few tent lines and a hiking pole. Has saved the day more than once. - A proper microphone (Elgato Wave 3), turns out I sounded like shit on calls and such but no one had the heart to tell me, but finally someone did and I got that microphone, mostly because it has an integrated pop filter (that also works). I've compared recordings with the old setup and the new microphone and it's night and day. I can't quantify it, but I believe not sounding awful has made at least some positive difference in how people interact with me. These days, audio is often as not the only way people get to perceive me. - A TS80P USB-C soldering iron. I run this off a spare Macbook power adapter, so my soldering setup hardly takes up any space now. Being able to dial in just the temps I need has made for much better and more consistent solder joints, and I haven't even started digging into custom firmware.
j4yav 5y ago
The Apple Watch surprised me in how much awareness of my health it generated - mainly how much and what quality sleep I was getting, but also other general signals. It helped me pay more attention and make some good health improvements. Presumably any other smart watch offers similar benefits.
- dkobia 5y ago
  Second this. I was highly skeptical of the watch until I received it as a gift for Christmas. It has made me more acutely aware of how sedentary I’ve been during a typical work day. Closing the rings is now an obsession and I’m better for it.
  - tzs 5y ago
    Mine too. I currently have a streak of 1004 consecutive days of closing all three rings going on. > Closing the rings is now an obsession and I’m better for it So far I've not become obsessed about it. It is more that I've changed my habits so that I'm more active. There have been a few times where before the watch I might have skipped my morning walk due to something like waking up with a sore ankle, without even checking to see if it was a "you slept on it wrong and the soreness will go away when you move it a little" kind of soreness or a "OK you actually did hurt it yesterday and should just stay off you feet all day" kind of soreness. Now I check, and so far it has always been the former. I'm thinking of intentionally taking a day off and missing closing all the rings just to keep from accidentally becoming obsessed over the length of the streak.
    - d3nj4l 5y ago
      Congrats on the streak!
    - kemayo 5y ago
      I'm on day 1,805 of my streak. I find that this is well past the level where people just make fun of you if you tell them about it. ;-)
- dividedbyzero 5y ago
tmaly 5y ago
A Blue Yeti microphone on a Rode shock mount arm paired with Bose speakers. This has made meetings from home amazing. No headphones or mic issues.
kyriakos 5y ago
Xiaomi roborock. Amazing how much dust it collects and how easily it works unattended.
smoyer 5y ago
I spent more than I should have for a pair of ErgoDox Infinity keyboards ... they've made a tremendous difference in the health of my hands, wrists and elbows!
edude03 5y ago
A Mac Pro (2019) - I was/am using the 2019 Macbook Pro, but under heavy load (compiling rust/flutter mostly) the machine would get slower and slower as it became more and more heat saturated, and worse, when driving an external monitor the GPU would get hot as well and the whole UI becomes slow. The mac pro is ~2.5x as fast in compilation but more importantly it doesn't lose responsiveness when the CPU is fully loaded, so I can still browse the web while waiting :D EDIT: I said 2016 MacBook but it's the 2019 16" (2.3 GHz/8Core/i9) and to be clear, I know the 8-core Mac Pro on paper, has faster clocks, but it's surprising how much of a difference the thermal headroom makes to responsiveness and productivity
- throwawaynay 5y ago
  sounds kind of insane that a 2-3k$ laptop can't compile stuff and allow you to browse the web at the same time lol
  - jeromegv 5y ago
    That’s a 6 year old laptop. Highly dependant on what you compile as well.
    - edude03 5y ago
      Sorry, I said 2016, but I meant 2019. I was (in my head to be fair) comparing an 8 core Mac Pro 2019 to a 8 core 2019 MacBook. I did later upgrade to 16 cores though
Bandrsnatch 5y ago
In the early 1990's I worked for a communications company and I recall saying that the cell phone was a game changer and that it would be used for more things than the current computer which was the biggest tech item being purchased at the time. Flash forward to 2022 and I am travelling across the world and I noticed that everything one needs to do requires a cell phone app from seeing a menu (QR codes) making reservations, to ordering tickets, ordering an Uber ride, to getting directions, getting on a plane, showing your vaccination status, checking your health vitals, face timing appointments. EVERYTHING! The cell phone became more important and powerful than I ever imagined and the cell phone has still not reached full maturity as a communications device.
- sys_64738 5y ago
  Yeah, I remember using the internet back in 1991 for the first time and thinking if only I could use this at home or on the train. I saw my first mobile phone and pager back in 1994 then it kind of made sense. I remember trying to explain it to others but nobody grasped the internet existed outside academia.
jonathanstrange 5y ago
A simple Pok3r mechanical keyboard, I think mine has blue Cherry switches. I recently changed to an even cheaper (ca. $40) mechanical tenkeyless. People might flame me for saying this, but it really doesn't matter to which mechanical keyboard you switch when you're used to cheap rubberdome keyboards. Typing is so much better on any of them.
- cehrlich 5y ago
  I agree completely. I bought a Keychron because they're reasonably cheap and have ISO layouts available. I hear online that the case feels cheap, the keycaps are low quality, etc. The only explanation to me is that these things are written by people who don't actually use them as the tools that they are. I've been typing on mine for about 6 months now and it has been great other than the RGB occasionally turning itself back on for some reason.
- fanf2 5y ago
  The thing that really impressed me about mechanical keyboards is the QMK firmware and the VIA configuration tool. Superlative examples of open source hardware and software.
squaresmile 5y ago
The Logitech G305 mouse for $40 (or any current gen wireless gaming mouse). I don't play game competitively but I have always felt latency with previous gen wireless mice. The recent wireless mice feel like wired to me. It's quite nice to use a wireless mouse with a large mousepad. A large desk is also a must imo.
cracrecry 5y ago
Midi devices. I have lots of the cheap ones for controlling my software with hardware wheels: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=umO-Bwzl3f0 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=umO-Bwzl3f0 I also control software like blender using those, even my emacs use that. It is always in the same place and once you learn it, you are so fast. I also use sheets of paper and color pens.
- n4bz0r 5y ago
  That's MIDI devices as-in devices with MIDI port (like synthesizers), right? The video looks interesting, haven't seen joysticks/controllers being used in such a fashion. What kind of devices (brands/models) do you use if you don't mind sharing?
  - crtasm 5y ago
    I see a korg nanokontrol2 in the video clip, not sure about the others. midi controllers run over USB nowadays.
- awiesenhofer 5y ago
  I'm intrigued - how do you control emacs with it?
- laserlight 5y ago
  Can you give some pointers? I’m interested in using non-traditional input devices but don’t know where to start.
  - hiptobecubic 5y ago
    At least in linux, midi devices can be read just like any other character device. It's not a ton of work to read the midi data and translate it to keypresses or whatever else you want. I used to have a Griffin Powermate and did something similar with it. It was a ton of fun.
    - laserlight 5y ago
snowwrestler 5y ago
Switching from a mouse to a multitouch trackpad completely resolved my wrist pain, and I find gestures essential to productivity now. I started off with a Fingerworks trackpad; this is the company Apple bought to bring in multitouch technology. Then when Apple’s trackpads got big enough and supported enough gestures, I switched to those.
- capableweb 5y ago
  I've been eyeing the Apple trackpads for some time now, as the experience of their trackpads are like no other (for laptops at least). How well does the standalone trackpad work with Windows and Linux? Those are my main OSes I switch between, and it's very nice that mouse input is exactly the same for both so muscle memory works perfectly well, would the same be true for using a Apple trackpad?
  - 555h 5y ago
    I recently got the Apple Magic Trackpad 2 for use on linux. I use it on the left side of my keyboard, so my right hand isn't taking all the RSI wear from using a mouse. Overall, it works very well. It's basically plug-and-play. I only use it wired (with the included lightning-to-usbc cable), so I can't speak for the bluetooth experience. I'm using KDE5 on xorg 7.7, and the multi-touch features work fine (two- and three-finger click). I haven't tried setting up gestures (three-finger swipe, etc) yet, so I'm not sure how well those work. One issue is kinetic scrolling, where the page keeps scrolling with inertia after your input (like on a phone, or on macs). Without this, two-finger swipe scrolling will just emulate sending individual scroll wheel clicks to the app, which I find very unsatisfying. At least on my setup, kinetic scrolling doesn't work by default. Maybe more bleeding-edge distros, or Wayland, or GTK DEs have better support for this -- not sure. I got firefox to support it by starting it with MOZ_USE_XINPUT2=1. Chrome, Libreoffice, Konsole, and other apps still use the scrollwheel-type behavior. I haven't really spent much time looking into kinetic scrolling for them. I think this is probably the biggest drawback, but my impression is that it's not specific to the Apple Trackpad.
  - snowwrestler 5y ago
    I’ve only ever used the Apple trackpad with a Mac. The Fingerworks trackpad worked great with Windows. Basically you map gestures to keyboard shortcuts (it came with a bunch out of the box), so anything you can do with key combos, you can do with gestures instead: app switching, opening and closing things, cut/copy/paste, etc.
hrgiger 5y ago
This year we moved new apartment, so I had opportunity to renew most of the staff I was planning, from multi-monitor stand, some powerfull homelab server to robocleaner. From all of this, the cheap trash box I bought with sensors always make me smile whenever I use, I didnt even notice I needed before. Its quite big so enough storage for 1-2 day and when your hands get closer even in dark it opens automatically.
nickjj 5y ago
A 2560x1440 monitor running at its 1:1 native resolution. The screen real estate improvement over 1080p is substantial. You get so much more vertical space and you can easily fit 4 side by side code windows at 80 chars. At 24" or 25" the PPI is also quite nice for reading text. I wrote up a very big monitor selection guide at https://nickjanetakis.com/blog/how-to-pick-a-good-monitor-for-software-development https://nickjanetakis.com/blog/how-to-pick-a-good-monitor-fo..., I try to keep it up to date by supplying alternatives to the ones I've purchased. Some of the monitors I recommended were $330 when I bought them but are now $500-700, although sometimes they come back in stock at $350ish. I made the switch around 5-6 years ago and still think it was one of the biggest upgrades for general quality of life improvements when using a computer. The only reason I haven't gone 4k is because using one at 100% scaling at 27" or less isn't really feasible due to how small the text is and using a 36" one to be able to comfortably view it at 100% scaling feels too big for using it in a normal desk environment. Personally I'd rather have the flexibility of 2x 24-25" 2560x1440 monitors, plus 120hz / 144hz 2560x1440 monitors are very abundant if you're into games (although you can make a strong case that 120hz+ is very noticeable and useful for general usage too).
- trabant00 5y ago
  Wait till you get a 32 inch 4k one. I am shocked a lot of IT professionals still use 1080p when the above can be found for as low as 250 usd with discounts
  - bsenftner 5y ago
    I have four 4K screens, and it is heaven. I got spoiled early in my career by a Unix system that had a greyscale newspaper layout monitor in the early 90's. That monitor could crispy display an unfolded two page newspaper layout with space on the left and right for tool/editing interfaces. For a while, 4K monitors were landing right near US $300, so I got 4 over a period of months. Simply being able to array references around my work, with space to spare for communication and music interfaces. It is lovely to hit stride and before I know it the day is over, and a ton of work accomplished.
heavyset_go 5y ago
A vertical mouse did amazing things for my wrist.
- rdtwo 5y ago
  10$ vertical mouse was a life and wrist saver
bemmu 5y ago
Adjustable stand for your phone (gorilla stand or tripod). Helps to position your phone during video chats such that everyone is in the picture. When buying make sure it supports both vertical and horizontal.
Waterluvian 5y ago
Not exactly the question, but disabling my doorbell and my answering machine. Absolutely not joking. My life has improved so greatly. I am not a thrall to the interrupting whims of others.
- mastermedo 5y ago
  Exactly, I disabled all notifications on my phone except the actual phone aspect. The only notification I get is at 10am and 6pm to check my mail. A true life changer.
khaledh 5y ago
The switch from a mechanical HDD to a SDD was the biggest gain in performance I've seen from any piece of hardware. I still remember the time when HDDs were the norm and the agony of waiting on loading/accessing something from disk was real.
- heywire 5y ago
  I do a lot of work with virtual machines at <dayjob>, and don’t have enough room on the internal ssd to hold them all. I usually swap them in and out as I work on different projects, but every once in a while I’ll boot one direct from an external usb3 HDD. I can’t believe we used to work that way. I couldn’t imagine going back. An SSD can breathe new life into a 10+ year old system easily, too.
  - ColonelPhantom 5y ago
    What OS are you running inside the VM's? I was quite late with upgrading to an SSD, and Windows 10 was unusably slow, while Linux was quite usable. Sure, it still got quite a bit faster with an SSD, but it was far from as life-changing as it was for Windows.
- dlhavema 5y ago
  I cannot agree more. This switch breathed new life into my home ( Windows 10 ) computer. If only i did it with a larger drove though... Im atruggling through my system drive on a 90gb ssd...
  - stevezsa8 5y ago
    Given how cheap SSDs are now, unless you are living below the poverty line, buy a 500GB MX500 for ~60USD. You deserve it :]
  - pmarreck 5y ago
    this is waaaaaay too small. you can definitely afford something larger now
- 5y ago
dustractor 5y ago
About ten years ago, I lived in an area where power outages were a common occurrence, sometimes lasting up to a week. Naturally, during those times, I found it necessary to own some sort of flashlight or headlamp, along with whatever batteries it took. Unfortunately, being that this was in rural America, all of the available headlamps (coleman/energizer/craft, at walmart, at lowes, at DG, etc) are of such low-quality that they basically start out being trash. As a rule, they take three AAA's, and also, as a rule, they flicker out all the time so you have to give a technical-tap every few minutes to jiggle the loose connections, and that's when they're actually working. Over the course of two years, I went through five headlamps. I had one explode on my forehead after only five minutes of use. It made me very sad, that we as a species appeared to have forgotten how to build a simple apparatus consisting of a light-bulb, a switch, batteries and wires. So then I got a Fenix. It's machined out of a single block of aluminum and it takes 18650 cells instead of triple A's. I've used it on a regular basis for the last decade and it still works every time I need it, the whole time I need it. No more technical taps.
- rdtwo 5y ago
  Yeah a nice 60-100$ flashlight is a pleasure to use
- Cr0s 5y ago
  Just opened my drawer to check on my flashlights after reading this. 3 out of 4 appear to be dead.
- btschaegg 5y ago
  Ah, yes. I also have a heap of defunct flashlights around. Took me a while to find some good ones. My modern preference: One of the Olight Baton series. I've got an old one (I see the new ones even allow recharging batteries without removing them). The magnet in the back can be really useful if you need an improvised stationary light for working in the dark. Also, if you need a detachable front light for your bike: Consider the Busch & Müller Ixon IQ Premium. This is the only sane detachable front light I was able to find. It provides enough light (10 and 80 lux, a rarity nowadays) and runs on replaceable batteries with a standard form factor (AA) that can be recharged without taking them out.
bikingbismuth 5y ago
A small macropad, in my case a CU7. I’ve mapped keybindings that I commonly forget like mute/unmute for Teams, delete/archive for Outlook, and I have a macro for putting in my username and username+work email. Makes signing into things a bit faster.
logicalmonster 5y ago
Open ear headphones that use what they describe as bone conduction technology really added some value to my life. It's tough to go running in normal headphones because you can't hear danger (cars, animals, people, etc) but it's a lot easier to push yourself with some good background music. This gives the best of both worlds.
- tmikaeld 5y ago
  Which headset is good enough? I backed some kickstarter years ago which failed, so i never tried bone conduction again.
  - derwiki 5y ago
    Not GP but I like my Aeropex by Aftershokz
  - scatters 5y ago
    Aftershokz Aeropex. It's worth trying them out though; see if a running store near you will let you try them out on their treadmill.
  - verst 5y ago
    I've run thousands of miles with Aftershokz Trekz Air. Battery Life is still great after years. Just yesterday I ran 21 miles and listened to 3 podcasts while doing so. Afterward the headphones still reported a battery level of "high". Sure you don't get amazing music quality, but it's good enough for the distraction and I always hear every bicyclist approaching me from behind.
    - tmikaeld 5y ago
      Thank you, I’ll check them out, sounds great
- mateuszf 5y ago
  > It's tough to go running in normal headphones because you can't hear danger There are some noise reducing headphones (like Airpods Pro or Sony Wh-1000xm*) which have ambient mode - mixing music with external noises which also work great for that scenario.
tezza 5y ago
* streamdeck (with AutoHotkey) saves more hot loop critical tasking than i could have dreamed of * Microsoft X6 keyboard - the original hot action key - svn st, svn diff, svn ci -m “”<space><back><back> as an example of the very frequent things replaced by a discrete key each
abducer 5y ago
And 18650 powered flashlight, such as one made by Fenix. (Also note they make a keychain flashlight which could stand in for the device in another toplevel comment.) The 18650 is more your standard flashlight though. I used to have a flashlight, who doesn't? But now I consistently take one when hiking, looking for stuff, etc. The brightness and even cast of the beam, plus the long battery life, mean it has a lot of utility for working at night or in a poorly lit space. You can use it as a lantern, too, just stand it up or hang it. Bonus points for USBC charging. An insulated mug. I didn't think it would change the way I drink tea. Now I can bring it to my desk and take small sips. This helps me get back to work and stay focused, and probably reduces my overall consumption because I don't feel like I have to chug while warm and then go brew more.
needSomeCoffee 5y ago
Makita Brushless 5amp drill combo set. I have used a wide variety of battery powered drills and drivers for decades. If you do a lot of home projects building things, you will use these tools often. Never was dissatisfied with other brands (Ryobi, Bosch), but decided to treat myself one year as I believe Makita Brushless is top of the line today and I wanted more powerful batteries. Best decision ever. So much power, the 5 amp batteries last so long. I have driven 1/2 x 6 inch lag bolts into fence posts with the driver and it did not complain. Just an amazing upgrade (notably because of the 5 amp batteries). If you are starting out building a tool set, splurge and get these. Just remember to store them in your house not the garage as heat/cold cycles can really reduce the batteries cycle count. Only negative is that the driver is so powerful one must be careful when driving smaller screws. Also, spend the extra money to get a good set of bits. I went with Makita for this as well, and the bits are very, very good relative to the many, many others I have used (Dewalt, Milwaukie, etc.) Links (I bought the drill/driver set at a good price thru Amazon with the smaller/lighter drill which proved a very good decision for me): https://www.makitatools.com/products/details/XT269T https://www.makitatools.com/products/details/XT269T https://www.makitatools.com/products/details/E-01644 https://www.makitatools.com/products/details/E-01644
bsenftner 5y ago
Make your own giant, the entire wall, whiteboard for practically nothing. Go to your local lumber, home building supply store and purchase "laminated particle board, shower wall panels". Last time I did this, they were about US $23 for a 6'x9' panel. Two of these completely cover an ordinary single bed sized room from wall to wall. I just drill the thing right into the wall, and grab white-board markers. I showed the building maintenance manager this trick at an animation studio I worked, and in a week the entire studio's walls, every wall, became a whiteboard. Scribbling ideas, any idea, on one's wall is liberating.
- dlhavema 5y ago
  Thats cool, white board paint is crazy expensive still
- Cr0s 5y ago
  This is actually genius. How often do you use it?
  - bsenftner 5y ago
    Daily. It's a blast to scribble on the wall anytime ya want.
tkuraku 5y ago
A 43" monitor from Dell. https://www.dell.com/en-us/shop/dell-ultrasharp-43-4k-usb-c-monitor-u4320q/apd/210-avke/monitors-monitor-accessories https://www.dell.com/en-us/shop/dell-ultrasharp-43-4k-usb-c-.... It's wide enough that you can comfortably have three panes of code side by side and also tall enough that you can see a lot all at once. It's 4k, but it's so big you don't need much scaling to be comfortable.
- namibj 5y ago
  Iiyama also has both a digital signage and a desktop monitor as competition, both using MVA panels (the former's is even rated at 5000:1 typical static contrast). They might well be cheaper; I switched to the digital signage one as my daily driver because my old 40" 4k's backlight PSU has become too weak to be useful and that model of screen got EOL'd (the desktop variant I mentioned above was released 2~3 months after I bought mine). But unless you can color-calibrate yourself on the source, I'd recommend against the digital signage models as they don't offer any color profiles/factory calibration.
type0 5y ago
In no particular order: Trackball, mechanical keyboard, IPS display, SSD, coffee bean grinder, e-ink reader, nifty fifty lens, electret XLR mic, DAC for stereo system.
Turing_Machine 5y ago
The Amazon Kindle has completely transformed the way I read for pleasure. It is not as satisfactory for technical books, or anything with a lot of illustrations, but for standard novels it was a real game-changer.
- pull_my_finger 5y ago
  I've heard this a lot, but when you get good at formatting your ebooks it becomes nice for them as well. I generally use a combination of briss[1] and k2pdfopt[2] to crop the margins and sometimes split on columns etc for pdfs and it makes all the difference. Sometimes it can require a fair bit of manual tweaking, but you only have to do it once and it's very much worth it in reading experience. [1]: https://sourceforge.net/projects/briss/ https://sourceforge.net/projects/briss/ [2]: https://www.willus.com/k2pdfopt/ https://www.willus.com/k2pdfopt/
brenainn 5y ago
Probably my split keyboard running QMK. It's a Sofle I built from a kit. It forced me to learn to touch type, and after taking some time to setup layers I can now reliably type code at 65+ wpm. That's a big improvement for me, and more importantly I can now type without the interruption of having to look at the keyboard.
adriand 5y ago
Because a knee injury has prevented me from running, which was my go-to exercise previously (and because it’s too cold and snowy right now to cycle), I purchased a kettle bell on a whim. I find working out with it is much more enjoyable and challenging than I expected. It’s super small and compact, so it takes up no space in my home, and it is always there in my office waiting for me whenever I need to blow off some stress.
zoba 5y ago
I have enjoyed my DJI Mini 2 far more than I expected. Drones over 250g need registration/certification in many places (including the US). The Mini 2 weighs 249g and has a 4k camera. You do mostly get the same shots in one area so if you don't move around much it might get boring quickly. If you take weekend trips, or are nomadic, it will be a lot of fun.
- qchris 5y ago
  I believe that DJI just opened up their developer API for it, so some third-party apps (or maybe your own, if you're technically inclined?) will hopefully start offering things like waypoint missions as well!
  - zoba 5y ago
    Yes the Litchi app already takes advantage of this on Android. Seems DJI will make the iOS apis available at the end of March and then there will be waypoint modes and tracking features on iOS as well.
d387afe03f 5y ago
cehrlich 5y ago
A bunch of 1L glass bottles with wide openings so that they're easy to clean in the dishwasher - has reduced the friction to getting enough water in, and I can't remember the last time I felt that type of tiredness that comes from dehydration. BenQ ScreenBar Plus - It's just a light that goes on top of your monitor, but it makes working much more pleasant. There's probably a clone that's cheaper and does the same thing, but I'd buy this one again without hesitation. About $200 worth of home workout stuff (exercise mat, adjustable dumbbells, resistance bands, pullup bar) - I had to stop running for a while due to some injuries and I hate going to the gym, so this has been a game changer in terms of staying fit.
- Cr0s 5y ago
  Yeah, home workout equipment can be surprisingly cheap but useful, especially if you can't or won't go to the gym. Problem is that I tend to just stop using my pullup bar, exercise mat etc. sometimes. I don't even realize it's been a few day without me touching them
- GordonS 5y ago
  I tried a BenQ ScreenBar and a clone, and found the clone brighter, while being a lot cheaper. It's a great device that lights the desk area nicely - I'm going to use the se forever now! I'd prefer to buy the BenQ, since AFAIK this whole concept was their idea - but the price is just so excessive that I couldn't justify it.
  - baristavibes 5y ago
    Could you please post the name of your clone? I'm interested in this if it helps reduce eye strain
    - GordonS 5y ago
      Sure, it's Quntis: https://smile.amazon.co.uk/dp/B08HMLKS2N https://smile.amazon.co.uk/dp/B08HMLKS2N
drakonka 5y ago
* An ereader (Kindle, now Kobo) * Stadler Form George air washer. Not a full on humidifier, but does help keep humidity up in my dry bedroom. Also judging by the state of the water during my weekly cleaning it really does help to "clean" the air somewhat. * More recently, a high quality drying rack (inspired by the drying rack article linked here a few weeks ago). Helps me keep humidity up in my apartment and prevents me from trying to hang partly-moist laundry on my doors. In general makes laundry day a lot more tolerable. Didn't realize it'd make such a difference to laundry satisfaction. * A Roomba, currently S9 with the self-empty base that I've had for a couple of years. * A Litter Robot. No more scooping, cats always have a fresh box.
- Calamitous 5y ago
  I’m curious why you switched from kindle to kobo? I’ve used a few kindles over the years, what does the kobo offer that’s better?
  - drakonka 5y ago
    Aside from the already great points made by others, I am trying to move away from the Amazon ecosystem a bit as both a reader and a writer, since I do not think Amazon is good for writers (in the long-term). Since I also plan to start publishing my fiction "wide" (ie on stores other than Amazon), it was a good time to get a non-Amazon reader to preview my books on.
  - Haegin 5y ago
    I'm not the person you asked, but I switched from Kindle to Kobo when I realised I could get ebooks from my library on a Kobo. Now pretty much everything I read is from the library and I've not turned on my Kindle in well over a year.
  - madvoid 5y ago
    Recently switched from a Kindle to a Kobo and here are my findings so far: Kobo Pros: * Natively handle .epub files * Overdrive integration for library books * Dropbox integration so it's quick to transfer files from my laptop * Pocket integration. Being able to read long form web articles on an e-ink screen is a game changer for me. * OS is generally better * Minor, but I like seeing the book I'm reading on the sleep screen Kobo cons: * Buttons are slightly worse than the Kindle's * For the Sage, the battery life is worse than the Kindle. I've heard the other models are better though.
habibur 5y ago
A raspberry pi when the GPIOs are used. So much of your home can be automated with such a cheap hardware. Plus the ability to ssh in and tune the code anytime.
- derwiki 5y ago
  What have you automated with a rpi? In case any of us are looking for inspiration
Kon5ole 5y ago
Wireless ANC earbuds. (Airpods pro or similar) Having high quality silence and/or music available in my pocket at all times was definitely more of a game changer than I expected. Using a 8K 55" tv as a monitor. I usually run it scaled, so I have basically the pixel area of a 4k screen but with retina resolution. Everything is crisp and large enough that even content placed in the corners is easy to read. Truly a game changer for work, so much so that I am puzzled why there are basically no 8k proper monitors available at sensible prices. This TV was manufactured and shipped halfway across the world where I bought it brand new for less than 1000 usd. And its a TV, with a TV OS, remote control, TV tuners and whatnot - HDR even. A normal monitor without all the TV stuff and sensible inputs (I have to use HDMI 2.1) should be even cheaper.
- mangoTangoBango 5y ago
  Which Model TV are you using? All I could find on bestbuy was a $1600 8k tv.
  - Kon5ole 5y ago
    The model name of mine is LG 55NANO956. Sadly it seems to be discontinued and all replacements are larger and/or more expensive. :( I can understand that actually, I don't think 8k at 55" makes much sense for TV content since you can't see the difference between 4k and 8k at normal tv distance when the screen is so small. It makes a ton of sense as a retina-resolution monitor though! I half suspect that was the plan for the panel, and that some other market factor caused it to end up in a small run of surprisingly cheap TV's instead.
    - mangoTangoBango 5y ago
      Hah, now I want one. Have you had any problems with burnin? Looks like something like this is 8k & still in stock https://www.bestbuy.com/site/reviews/samsung-55-class-q900-series-led-8k-uhd-smart-tizen-tv/6355633 https://www.bestbuy.com/site/reviews/samsung-55-class-q900-s....
mehphp 5y ago
A self-emptying Roomba. It's unreal how much time this has saved our family. Well worth the money, and it's been going strong for years now.
- yardie 5y ago
  I feel like you have to design your lifestyle with a Roomba in mind. For example, we have a hard floors in a single story flat. Perfect for a Roomba. But we also have a few area rugs with tassels on the ends. It would get snagged on the tassels so I would have to run around and collect the rugs before running the Roomba. Now I don't even bother; it just sits there charging because I can't trust it to run unsupervised.
  - jitl 5y ago
    Why not mark the region with tassels as a no-go zone? I got a Ecovacs N8 w/ docking station (~$500 on sale) [1] and trust it to stay away from small/thin no-go zones quite precisely [1]: https://camelcamelcamel.com/product/B08S7ND492?context=search https://camelcamelcamel.com/product/B08S7ND492?context=searc...
    - yardie 5y ago
      I've got an older Roomba that uses the IR towers for no go zones. Its also only 3 years old. Spending $500 every few years to get a new feature doesn't seem cost effective.
- jitl 5y ago
  This area is advancing at an incredible pace (in China). Roborock and ECOVACS (Xiaomi) advertise bots with computer vision cameras that can recognize and steer around obstacles like cables, shoes, books. These products typically come to China 6 months to a year before they have a US/western release. I am excited for docking stations that fill and drain ionized water and clean the bot’s mopping pads like the Ecovacs X1 Omni [1], released in Sept 2021 in China and announced for US release in March. And these features trickle down into low-end models quite quickly! 3-4 years ago a bot with LIDAR mapping, no-go zones, self-empty and 2-in-1 mopping were all quite expensive. Now you can get a good bot with those features for $500-ish from the midrange lines of these vendors. Watching the market feels a little like PC graphics in the early 2010s when vendors would release something twice as good every year for half the price. Although, a Chinese friend of mine recommended I wait for a later high-end model, which supposedly allows the docking station to connect directly to water/sewage lines and avoid dealing with bags & refills (other than air filters) entirely. [1] https://youtu.be/CQYUIVURDhk https://youtu.be/CQYUIVURDhk
rr808 5y ago
Ethernet cabling in the house, esp to desk and TV. Nice to avoid all wifi problems .
gspr 5y ago
Nitrokey [1]. Paired with the right software (pass [2]) it finally made password management sustainable and easy for me. [1] https://www.nitrokey.com/ https://www.nitrokey.com/ [2] https://www.passwordstore.org/ https://www.passwordstore.org/
PeterWhittaker 5y ago
There are three, maybe four. The 3, from least to most important, are: 1) My kneeling chair. Between the pandemic and a new job started a few months before, I am at my desk more than ever. I wondered about the ~acute angle between legs and torso in a regular chair, so I borrowed a kneeling chair from a friend. I figured I'd go easy on it/me and use it for just 15 minutes at a time at first. After a quarter hour or so, I switched back to my chair and was immediately all NOPE NOPE NOPE! Bought my own, adjustable one, later that day. Amazing. Best $100 ever spent. 2) My Delonghi bean-to-cup coffee maker. Had been looking for one after falling in love with the really high quality ones at European hotels, but didn't have a spare €7000. Found this Magnifica on sale at CostCo 5 years ago. Its nits and nuisances are so minor, I accept them happily: Great coffee, every time, exactly as I like it (grind and water volume are adjustable). Best $1000 ever spent. So good, it was one of only two possessions I wrote into my separation agreement. The other was.... 3) My Jeep. In 2009 I replaced my car with a old-style CRV and loved the extra height and clearance. I started to venture a little further afield. I had friends who off-loaded, and it intrigued me. Knowing nothing and knowing I wanted to try more serious off-roading, in 2014 I made myself the gift of a JKU Rubicon. Drove it through a swamp the first night and was hooked. It has literally changed my life. I did not know I was handy, or could be handy, now I wrench on it myself and like a lot of members of my club, I'm learning to weld (though more slowly than I would like), and I've gotten pretty good at trail repairs, macgyvering things well enough to get someone off the trail, whether that means just out of the way, or as far as a trailer, or maybe even home. I also did not expect to be really, really good at it. I've been a trail leader with my club for years, am club secretary, and am one of the guys who figures out new trails in our area, some of them, well, insane (really technical off camber climbs, high damage probabilities, etc.). And the people! Literally all walks of life and all views, and all amazing. King of the Hammers just ended; yesterday was my high holy day. My Jeep introduced me to KotH. My Jeep introduced me to some of my best friends, people who would drop everything at a moment's notice and help (my moving crew was all off-road buddies). My Jeep introduced me to going nowhere slowly, to rock crawling, and to discovering views otherwise accessible only by strenuous multi-day hikes. My Jeep is the reason my post-divorce house has an oversized garage stocked with tools. My Jeep is the reason I do so much of my own hands-on around the house. Between the relaxation that comes from really technical rock crawling and the confidence that comes from both doing that and from cutting holes in to and cutting things off of a very expense piece of machinery, and from the camaraderie and friendship and love within my off-road family, my Jeep has literally changed my life. Best never ending expenditure ever. Just Empty Every Pocket. (The fourth? Anti-climactic, but a set of Bose noise cancelling headphones. They were my daughter's welcome gift when she started a new job, but she already had a set, so she passed them on to me. I would never have believed they were anywhere worth the price, it all seemed such hype. I was wrong. They are very cool, very comfortable, and work very well. Best hand-me-down ever. :->)
Jare 5y ago
Wifi and SSDs
billfruit 5y ago
Induction stove, now my kitchen is totally free of combustion.
tbrock 5y ago
The 3dFX Voodoo2 - amazing leap in 3D gaming The oculus quest 2 - VR for the masses, so much fun, actually works well for the first time without $$$ The Intel Core CPU - multi core computing for the masses, huge performance and efficiency gains over prior gen merging pentium M tech Most recently Apple Silicon, specifically the Apple M1 MacBook Air: - it runs dead silent - it runs cool on my lap - it has a tiny charger - but mostly the performance blows away all non plugged in laptops besides other m1s and most desktops consuming many more watts at much higher temps and noise level Its amazing how much a difference having full performance while on battery makes compared to x86 counterparts. I was a linux on thinkpad guy for years but this made me flip back fullstop.
- ecf 5y ago
  Recently was given a 16” Intel MBP from 2019 for work after using my personal M1 Air for a few months and the damn Intel machine becomes warm simply by being on, idling away. It’s kinda ridiculous that we put up with Intel for so long.
- als0 5y ago
  I traded my M1 MBA for the new MBP 14 and I'm feeling regretful. The weight of the MBA and its 16+ hour battery life, just incredible.
  - chi_features 5y ago
    I definitely felt the same with the battery life, until I switched on "Low power mode" while on battery (System Preferences > Battery > Battery > Low Power Mode). I don't notice the drop in performance (even whilst intensively using it, such as compiling code) but what I experience is practically the doubling of its battery life. Enjoy!
    - als0 5y ago
      Hmm I have been using low power mode since day 1 and it still isn't doing as well as the Air. I guess fewer efficiency cores will do that. I've removed all the x86 apps to maximize efficiency, but I'm still just under 14 hours. Have to say that the screen is lovely, though.
louiswilbrink 5y ago
remarkable 2. I use the chrome extension to send HN articles and read it there mostly. It has cut down my article surfing/skimming significantly. As a writing pad, it’s a perfect set of functions and is the origin device of all my ideas.
brailsafe 5y ago
Big ass display, Microsoft Surface keyboard, fancy chair, silicone based lube
gmays 5y ago
Some things for me: - A large water bottle. I don't drink enough water and this has been game changing for me. I first got a 1 gallon (which I never finished) water bottle but learned that .5 gallon is the right size and I always finish it and often refill. I'd say pick one that meets your needs, but I've tested a number and can highly recommend this one: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B094X6N4PG/ https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B094X6N4PG/ It's easy to carry, has a built-in straw and cheap ($20). - Multiple MacBook chargers. I purchased additional charger for my MacBook Pro at different parts of the house where I sit for long periods of time. Not having to go get my bag and dig out a charger is surprisingly rewarding. - A second set of AirPods so I have one dedicated for work and one for the gym that I keep in my bag, rather than occasionally forgetting them. It also helps that I can swamp pairs if I have a particularly long day of meetings. - A robust case for my MacBook Pro. I take my MacBook to and from the office, use it all around the house and have small kids. I've been through multiple cases, including the sleek expensive ones. For me, nothing beats this cheap one I found on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B083XZ3HP3/ https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B083XZ3HP3/ - A rowing machine. The latest Concept 2 is ~$900 which is surprisingly cheap for a great workout I can do at how and relatively quietly while listening to a podcast or watching a game. - A lapdesk. I use this daily and have multiple around the house wherever I end up sitting. They have fancy ones, but I've found the simple one is the best: just a piece of wood and a pillow: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07K1L3RNK/ https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07K1L3RNK/
- mastermedo 5y ago
  This is some heavy duty stuff you listed here. On the point about drinking water, I bought a desktop water dispenser, much more convenient than having to refill the water bottle. Instead of the rowing machine, I'm considering a barbell with weights. On the multiple equipment point, I fully agree. I got myself multiple hubs, one for each desk. No more carrying cables!
- Cr0s 5y ago
  A water bottle of the right size I found is much more important than it seems. I had pretty much the same experience that you mentioned: too big and I don't use it, too small and I can't be bothered to refill everytime.
fortran77 5y ago
I remember when my husband brought a TiVo 1.0 to the house and hooked it up. This was 1999. I didn't understand why I'd need one. Within a few days, I couldn't live without it. I could pause Live TV, and watch shows when I wanted to. I can't imagine any other way. When I see my 88 year old mother watching "live" TV, I get frustrated. The second piece of hardware that was a "game changer" was a Toto Neorest toilet. No more wiping!
- plinkplink 5y ago
  Toto Neorest... don't those things cost like, $10k?
- thewebcount 5y ago
  I was going to say this same thing about the TiVo and then later AppleTV. I thought the TiVo looked cool, but I was like, “eh, I have a VCR. It’s good enough.” But doing stuff to live TV was incredible. And being able to find things by searching with an interface instead of looking things up in TV Guide or whatever, was also great. Instead of thinking, “I wonder what’s on at 7:30 tonight?” it became, “I wonder if anyone’s showing StarGate this week.” It was a world of difference. Downloading commercial-free shows on the original AppleTV was also awesome, and then once streaming started, there was no going back for me.
GrantZvolsky 5y ago
Opening my ThinkPad e590 all the way and using a pair of push up bars[1] as a stand. The result is an ergonomic workspace wherever I go thanks to the top of the screen being slightly above my eye level (it wouldn't work with a smaller laptop). [1]: https://www.alza.cz/sport/sharp-shaper-spiral-push-up-bar-d5158225.htm?o=5 https://www.alza.cz/sport/sharp-shaper-spiral-push-up-bar-d5...
t-3 5y ago
Wireless charger - it doesn't really save time, and I still have a ton of cables everywhere, but it totally eliminates battery anxiety and provides a surprising amount of peace of mind. Obviously, you have to have hardware that's capable of charging wirelessly, but it's becoming more common these days. Also, you never lose your phone anymore. Ebook readers - I've been using them for years, and recent models with flat bezels are very much designed to break, but it makes reading electronic documents so much nicer than bright backlit screens. I've resigned myself to buying a new one every year until the technology comes out of patent and readers get nice unbreakable screens like modern cellphones. Retractable metal poker - got this off Amazon for my weed paraphernalia, listed as a metal toothpick. It's incredibly useful and has saved my ass countless times. Need to poke that reset button? Scrape some gunk out of a USB port? Clean your nails? It's good for everything except picking your teeth, which is just unnerving. Fridge-magnet box opener - not really a game-changer, but very convenient!
- heavyset_go 5y ago
  > Retractable metal poker - got this off Amazon for my weed paraphernalia, listed as a metal toothpick. It's incredibly useful and has saved my ass countless times. Need to poke that reset button? Scrape some gunk out of a USB port? Clean your nails? It's good for everything except picking your teeth, which is just unnerving. This is what I use a set of precision knives for.
- Cr0s 5y ago
  Any specific ebook readers you would recommend? I have been thinking about getting one recently.
  - t-3 5y ago
    Right now, Kobo is the best, IMHO. Pocketbook is overpriced and underpowered, Onyx Boox run locked-down Android, Amazon is full of customer-hostile practices and spyware.
    - BuckRogers 5y ago
nicbou 5y ago
The latest iPad Mini. It was meant to be a Moleskine replacement. I draw a lot but I can't carry all sorts of pencils with me. I made it a dedicated drawing and reading device. No notifications, no emails, etc. Holy moly is it good. Procreate and Notability are incredible apps. Having different pens, layers and an undo button is fantastic. It replaced the paper pad next to my computer, as well as my Moleskine. The size is perfect. I carry that thing everywhere. I rarely leave the house without it. The best part is that it asks nothing of me. It never bothers me or does things worse than what it replaces. Oh and fully committing to USB-C. It saves a lot of luggage space, and everything is a power bank.
- phildini 5y ago
  Hard agree that the current gen of iPads are really incredible, and that Procreate especially is maybe the best creative app that's ever been made. They keep adding features under the same price point that make giddy with possibility.
- EVa5I7bHFq9mnYK 5y ago
  I recently discovered a device ... weights just one gram, foldable, biodegradable, battery holds for 1yr+, costs 2 cents. Stylus is replaceable and costs $1/dozen.
  - nicbou 5y ago
    Cool how many brushes has it got? Does it have an undo function or some sort of cloud backup option?
    - guessbest 5y ago
      It has a cloud option but it requires a lighter accessory and a flame install. Luckily there are no known bugs, but without a proper firewall you may experience total data lose of unconnected devices.
- joisig 5y ago
  I use the latest iPad Air similarly. Got it and an Apple Pencil as a more-capable replacement for my reMarkable tablet and my Kindle, turned off all notifications and did not install any distractions. It's a great device. For me the main apps are Bear and Concepts.
chrisweekly 5y ago
In terms of strictly personal "game-changing" impact, it's my ReMarkable2 tablet. Happy to explain why (when I have more time) if anyone's curious...
- pksebben 5y ago
  I'm curious. I've been wanting better tools for working in the sun forever, and I've had my eye on that one.
- christophilus 5y ago
  Please do. I’ve been considering one.
analog31 5y ago
1. Rechargeable everything. 2. Snow pants that I can pull on over my regular pants to keep warm during the winter. 3. Puncture resistant bike tires. 4. Carbon fiber bows for stringed instruments.
bitwize 5y ago
My Das Keyboard 3. I bought it in 2008. Still using it. So glad quality mechanical keyboards made a comeback. A four-input KVM switch. Lets me switch between my main machine, my work computer, and a couple of other things easily. The VIC-20 my parents bought me when I was 5. No games, just BASIC on that rinky-dink thing. But it made me a programmer.
ExtraE 5y ago
My cheap mandolin. Makes cutting things thin while cooking fast and fun, and isn’t dangerous if your fingers are connected to your brain.
- bloopernova 5y ago
  Related: cut gloves. Everyone should have a pair!
parkingrift 5y ago
Air purifiers and air monitors. It is shocking and disgusting how much dust and particles these air purifiers suck out of the air. The air monitors detect when to open windows for CO2, among other things. My allergies no longer exist. Edit: A few people have asked for recommendations. I recommend the Coway Airmega AP-1512HH for larger spaces and Blueair Blue Pure 411 for smaller spaces. For the air monitor I have the Qingping.
- megabless123 5y ago
  can you recommend a specific product(s)?
  - bluedino 5y ago
    Would like to hear some as well. Saw some at Home Depot but would like to hear some opinions.
  - CharlesW 5y ago
    I've been happy with the Wirecutter recommendation: https://www.nytimes.com/wirecutter/reviews/best-air-purifier/ https://www.nytimes.com/wirecutter/reviews/best-air-purifier...
- KaoruAoiShiho 5y ago
  Yeah please some specific recs. I bought one and it was useless, yes I did take the plastic off.
  - parkingrift 5y ago
    I added a couple recommendations.
    - KaoruAoiShiho 5y ago
      That's the one I have LOL.
sublatio 5y ago
Countertop air frier. It’s equally good for cooking and reheating food. In my household we use it about twice a day.
c54 5y ago
The new GaN transistor power brick charger thingies. Surprisingly small with high power output means no more carrying around a huge laptop power brick. Anker sells them on amazon under the “Nano II” brand
- owenversteeg 5y ago
  I can vouch for this. It's amazing - one of these tiny 30W chargers, barely larger than the 5W iPhone cubes, powers all my devices. Especially coming from a huge Thinkpad charging brick, this thing is magic. I have a PowerPort Atom 30W (about 1.5 inches on each side, or ~35mm.) It plugs into my M1 Air, and my iPhone charges off the Air's second USB-C port. Two cables and this tiny charger is all I need. There's a newer version, the Nano II, which is indeed slightly smaller, but some people claim that it has issues with various charging protocols so I don't see a reason to upgrade. My only complaint is that for whatever reason, these don't seem to exist with EU plugs. There are GaN EU chargers, but they're not nearly as compact, which is disappointing. The US/China designs (the plug types are similar) are hyper optimized for every cubic millimeter, which is cool, but the EU ones are just the US/CN ones bolted onto an EU plug, which obviously wastes space.
- solarmist 5y ago
  Yes! Being able to have a single small charger that can charge everything from my laptop to my headphone in a single device has simplified my life immensely. Similarly switching things to USB-c and having a USB charging hub in high traffic areas is huge too.
gpvos 5y ago
It's a fairly recent buy so I don't know how much impact it'll have, but I'm quite happy with my new keyboard without numeric keypad (they're also sold as "tenkeyless"). I never use the numpad, so this means my mouse is closer to my body and it's all more ergonomic.
- unnouinceput 5y ago
  My son has one. I hate typing on his keyboard when he needs my help, especially when I help him doing his math homework. You see I use the numeric keypad a lot on that hence the hate for his "tenkeyless" in that case. But he hates my large keyboard when he needs my computer, so that balances out, hihi. Each to their own I guess
  - Cr0s 5y ago
    I see a lot of people praising tenkeyless but I use the numeric keypad so often I can't bring myself to buy one, even if my current keyboard uses more space.
    - fomine3 5y ago
      I'm comfortable with dedicated keypad on the left of a keyboard rather than right, because of the right is where mouse locates. Don't you?
      - Cr0s 5y ago
        My keyboard and mouse are actually pretty far apart from each other so for me a dedicated keypad on the left wouldn't really work, especially since when i use it i do so mostly with my right hand. Interesting suggestion though, it hadn't crossed my mind yet to try that.
      - gpvos 5y ago
        In the past I've often worked with my mouse to the left. But when I do that I like to switch the mouse buttons as well, and then it's a hassle when someone else uses the mouse. Nevertheless, it's an option.
Retr0id 5y ago
A subwoofer. No matter how high end your headphones, bookshelf speakers, or studio monitors are, they will never be able to punch you in the chest in quite the same way as a decently sized dedicated subwoofer. It's a night-and-day difference for listening to music and watching movies, or even just listening to human voices in youtube videos. Just, be careful not to bother your neighbours with it.
- hackerfromthefu 5y ago
  Love my Bose L1 compact for sound quality!
- bluedino 5y ago
  This goes for your car, too. A small powered subwoofer is such a huge improvement.
- mastermedo 5y ago
  I can vouch it affects neighbours, I've gotten many complaints from neighbours in the apartment below me. Especially when watching a movie. Cue a helicopter flying into the scene.
- Cr0s 5y ago
  The bothering other people bit is what i feel is mostly stopping me from using anything but a headset. I do have experience with subwoofers and there is a certain joy when they hit you, but the thought of the whole neighbourhood hearing my excellent taste in music bothers me somewhat.
  - bredren 5y ago
    Have you looked into bass shakers? They are popular in home theatre enthusiast and driving / flight simulator crowds. Still niche, but can provide the sensation of heavy bass with near silent sound. I have a project integrating a wireless shaker system into the Herman Miller embody.
    - Cr0s 5y ago
yokto 5y ago
My ZSA Moonlander keyboard [1]. When I bought it, I was just looking for a sleeker and more ergonomic keyboard with a split design, but the ability to easily reconfigure every key on the layout brought a new meaning to the word "ergonomic" for me. It means that when a particular motion or shortcut that I frequently use is puts too much strain on my hands, I can simply change the layout to make the keys more natural too use. And it's just an overall incredibly well made product. [1] https://www.zsa.io/moonlander/ https://www.zsa.io/moonlander/
- armis 5y ago
  Can second to that, love my moonlander! However, I feel it's like configuring VIM - mixed feelings with the defaults but once you set everything "your way", then there's no way back. I couldn't believe how ergonomic tmux key bindings can be with moonlander's magic.
- whichfawkes 5y ago
  I love my Ergodox EZ. I'd recommend a split keyboard to anybody who has their fingers on keys for more than a couple hours a day. My shoulders and upper back feel so much better, and I swear I even look better because my posture has improved. Much less tendon pain as well. Furthermore, I'd recommend the EZ or the Moonlander to anybody who can spend the money. I'm sure you get a large part of the benefit from a cheaper split board, but the thumb clusters and custom keybinds are really really nice.
- deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]
- solarmist 5y ago
  This seems like a low-profile version of the ultimate hacking keyboard. https://ultimatehackingkeyboard.com/ https://ultimatehackingkeyboard.com/ I'd be interested to see a comparison between the UHK, Moonlander, and Dygma Rise. They all seem to be converging on the same design principles. I agree, though; having a good split keyboard has been a requirement for me since I first got the original MSFT natural keyboard.
knolan 5y ago
My Specialized Turbo Vado e-bike. I can get to work comfortably and get some exercise and not be constrained by the limited bus schedule or be stuck in car traffic burning expensive fuel and generating pollution. Also our Urban Arrow cargo bike. We can get our kids the 3km to school in a few minutes while everyone else looks for a footpath to obstruct in their SUVs.
baggsie 5y ago
Google Stadia - I got a free controller & chrome-cast in a promotion a while back and sceptically tried it expecting massive latency and poor image quality, but ended up being blown away. Being able to play RDR2 on my MB Air and then switching over to the TV (without any interruption) is something that never gets old. It's such a shame that the product seems to be in its death throes.
- BuckRogers 5y ago
  It’s Google, least trustworthy steward of all. Expect Microsoft to become the leader there with Xbox Cloud Gaming.
mittermayr 5y ago
Herman Miller Aeron (Remastered). It's a hefty price if you look at 'regular' chairs, but once you have had one for a while, you can't go back to anything else. The amount of time you spend in that chair is insane. So, naturally, that, and whatever it takes to get good sleep. Also, a Logitech MX Master 2S, again because I use it all day, every day. They tend to become a bit stiffer over time it seems like, so I've had to replace them occasionally, but far, far better than Apple's approaches to mice or touchpads.
- john-tells-all 5y ago
  Aeron: seconded. When I started WFH I was using a cheap Ikea chair, not designed for programmer's hours. My wife insisted I get a much better chair. The Aeron was not cheap, especially shipped, but the difference is night and day. Three weeks after I got mine, my wife got one for herself :)
- maccard 5y ago
  aerons and steelcase leaps are regularly available second hand shipped on ebay. I bought one for me and my partner during covid and spent <$800 on both. They dont come with the warranty but in 12 years of sitting on one, ive only ever had to replace the feet and the armrests in the two ive had.
- Cr0s 5y ago
  The MX Master is a surprisingly good mouse, specifically the side buttons which I honestly did not think I would use at the start. Only problem is the thumb button which dies every now and then, but it's fixable usually within 10 min.
- 6bb32646d83d 5y ago
  For people who want a good chair but don't want to spend that much, you can get a WorkPro 9000 or 12000 for under $500 new, and they're pretty close in term in comfort
barbazoo 5y ago
ESP8266. I've been tinkering with dev boards to control all kinds of dumb devices. It's also ubiquitous among smart devices and can easily be flashed and customized. Enabled me to build a nest little offline home automation system.
deepnotderp 5y ago
The Remarkable tablet
andruby 5y ago
I love my Fully Jarvis standing desk. It has a curved edge so I can “stand” into it. The Capisco Hag chair is even better. Tens of ways to sit/stand on it. Which is perfect for me since I can’t sit still.
- john-tells-all 5y ago
  Seconded on the Jarvis desk. It's quite comfortable, and holds two monitors and my notebooks easily. The legs and arms of the desk are much heavier/sturdier than I'd expected. The motor raising and lowering the desk is strong, smooth, and quiet. A fine investment!
pani5ue 5y ago
Guitar tuner I'm a beginner/intermediate hobby guitarist. Makes the guitar sound much better. Makes it easier to keep guitar tuned
- incognition 5y ago
  Alternatively tuner app on your cell
gottebp 5y ago
A whole house steam humidifier, if you live in cold climates. That feeling you have getting off a plane in a tropical zone, escaping the winter; you can bring that home. Sinus and allergy issues go down, mucus membranes stay healthy, and skin stops cracking.
- jcrben 5y ago
  Humidity kicks dust mites into hyper breeding mode, so not great if you have a dust mite allergy. I like to keep my home dry.
- owenversteeg 5y ago
  I totally agree, a humidifier is a game changer in dry climates. I imagine a number of people here will go ahead and buy the first thing labeled "humidifier" after reading this comment, so I'll be that guy and mention that ultrasonic humidifiers (not steam, as you mentioned) are potentially dangerous because they aerosolize not just the water, but everything in the water - minerals, bacteria etc. The idea is that these tiny particles of minerals are absorbed into the alveolar sacs and ducts of the lungs, where macrophages ingest these particles and trigger an inflammatory response. Enough of this inflammatory response causes silicosis and/or cancer, but exactly how much dust is needed is under debate. As far as the bacteria go, it's obvious why that's undesirable. In any case, it may be best to avoid ultrasonic humidifiers unless you can run them with distilled water. The EPA claims that impeller humidifiers also disperse large amounts of minerals and bacteria into the air, although I imagine the particle size is larger. The other two types of humidifiers are evaporative (usually use a filter) and steam humidifiers, which also have problems - for the former, you have to buy filters regularly as well as clean them carefully as they are also breeding grounds for bacteria. Unfortunately anything warm-ish and wet is a bacterial haven, so the EPA recommends that you dry and wipe down your humidifier every day, as well as a full scrub down once every 3 days, regardless of the humidifier type.
pmarreck 5y ago
3440x1440 monitor. I now own 3. :)
phlipski 5y ago
Radar cruise control is pretty awesome. It certainly reduces my stress levels when driving!
teleforce 5y ago
For me it is the Nintendo Wii Balance board [1]. It is still running strong even after more than 13 years of usage. I hope Nintendo will introduce a new balance board for the Switch console and together with the new Ring Fit it will be a blast for indoor fitness and exercise. [1] Wii Balance Board: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wii_Balance_Board https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wii_Balance_Board
- jerome-jh 5y ago
  Turns out last week I played Wii with my kids. We had great fun with Boom Blox. The combination of a pointing device and a motion sensor is what enables the Jenga-like mini-games. Something impossible on a Switch. Then I showed my kids the balance board, which is basically older then them and sat unused for a decade. Not a huge success. Personally I never got used to that gameplay. I think it is just dull, maybe because it remains completely static after all.
brysonreece 5y ago
Comma Three by Comma.AI Reduced my engaged driving time by like 90%. Coming from a history of <$1k vehicles, it’s amazing IMO that most of my trips to and from places now consist of me setting the cruise speed (even in midtown) and letting my vehicle worry about stop and go traffic. Could not recommend enough.
mastermedo 5y ago
For me, it was elgato key lights air. I can't tell you much more I enjoy spending time in front of my desk, and in my room in general. It's basically daylight during nighttime.
Arkanosis 5y ago
The list could be very long, but here are a few things which I have started using lately and which have proved more useful than expected: - A dish draining rack: that's very inexpensive and I'm wasting way less time and space than before arranging dishes. - A vertical desktop file sorter: exactly the same thing, but for papers. - Thin, fingerless gloves I can type with: while this has not solved my dry hands problem in winter, it has helped a lot. - Monitor and speakers stands: that has bought me a lot of desk real estate. - Pan lids: cooking is faster, smells less, and consumes less energy; also some food is less dry. And the thing I've been using for a few years now, but which has been waaaay above my expectations: - A headset with ANC and multipoint Bluetooth: a real life changer for work, gaming and phone calls; the most expensive item in this list, but definitely worth the price for me.
- odiroot 5y ago
  > Monitor and speakers stands: that has bought me a lot of desk real estate. Can you share what speaker stands do you use?
  - Arkanosis 5y ago
    Gator Frameworks Clamp-On Studio Monitor Stand: https://gatorframeworks.com/products/frameworks-clamp-on-studio-monitor-stand-gfw-spkstmndskcmp/ https://gatorframeworks.com/products/frameworks-clamp-on-stu... I've spent countless hours weighting the pros and cons of many stand models, and this one checks all the boxes except one (you can only tilt it in one way); no other model I've seen comes close. Also, they feel very solid: I use them with the 10 kg Edifier R2000DB (awesome bookshelf speakers, BTW) and it's not moving at all.
    - odiroot 5y ago
      Thanks for the link. They're not even that expensive, ~90€ over here.
- Cr0s 5y ago
  To comment on the monitor and speaker stands, even just a bit more desk space can be surprisingly useful once you have 15+ things on your desk. Feels like one of those things you don't learn to appreciate until you need them.
odiroot 5y ago
Amazon Kindle (only bought two devices over 10+ years of usage), even the cheapest version. I find myself reading much more, I love having dictionaries and Wikipedia built-in. Travelling is so much easier than even with a paperback novel. Bluetooth keyboard and wireless mouse. I have (maybe unreasonable) dislike for cables on my desk. Currently my Thinkpad is raised on a mount, with just one USB-C cable coming out. It hides nicely under the mount's arm.
bufordtwain 5y ago
Electric guitar - it's been a game changer. Fun and stress relief at a low price. I play along to songs on YouTube. This has opened up a whole new world of music.
zmower 5y ago
An ISO stick. Looks like a DVD player to the OS but loads ISO images off a micro SD card. So I have lots of images in a USB stick form factor that are read much faster than a real DVD drive does.
- sowbug 5y ago
  Not sure if this is what you meant, but Ventoy (https://www.ventoy.net/en/index.html https://www.ventoy.net/en/index.html) turns almost any USB drive into one of these.
jcarpio 5y ago
Some great answers here. Mine: Air Pods Pro. Takes the edge off of traffic and other city noises while walking around. Makes it easier to consume audiobooks/podcasts. Plane/bus/train trips++. Wool pants, shorts (with gussets) and boxer briefs (Wool and Prince). Gussets make movement easier (walking) and wool pants/shorts go longer between washes. BB can be hand washed in sinks while traveling and dry quickly. Bonus, you can wear wool wet in a pinch. Magic stuff. Wool t-shirts from Duckworth. Tilley Hat for beating the heat (SPF 50) (again, great for walking or biking). With straps so it doesn’t fly off in the wind. Handsome looks, not (that) dorky. Brompton folding bike. Resisted this for years because I love non-folders but this thing feels like a proper bike, better even. Get it with a generator hub and lights and the six speed gearing (absolutely fine for hills, like in San Francisco). USB-C 20 watt charger for the iPhone. My goodness this thing charges the phone (12 Pro Max) fast. Worth the money. Thanks for listening.
- niftywhip 5y ago
  +1 on Air Pods Pro. Sometimes all you want is quiet, and these are a step function in ease of access to less sound.
- elliottkember 5y ago
  I love all the wool recommendations. Wool was everywhere where I grew up and I’ve been introducing all my California friends to it. I bought a beautiful wool blanket a couple of months ago and it’s such a treat
sowbug 5y ago
A large, dark deskpad. It marks the area of my desk where only mouse and keyboard are allowed and other detritus is prohibited. Trying to use a mouse while subconsciously shoving junk aside can be done. But it's like coding while you have to pee: you won't be fully in the flow until you fix it (no pun intended). The dark color was unexpectedly useful because it provides a clean and dark but well-lit area for scanning documents with my phone, including checks for deposit on a banking app.
- flemhans 5y ago
  But are the documents allowed on?
  - sowbug 5y ago
    :) They get a temporary exemption.
effnorwood 5y ago
entropicgravity 5y ago
The Logitech MX Ergo "thumb ball" mouse. A normal mouse requires your entire arm to move to make the mouse operate properly. You might notice that the repetitive motion can cause muscle pain all the way from your shoulder blade, through your neck, down your arm to your wrist. A thumb ball requires just your thumb to move and makes life a lot easier on your arm. It takes two to three hours to transfer your motor memory skills from the standard mouse to the thumb ball and after that you're away to the races.
- Jackdanie1s 5y ago
  I use this but I still try to swap periodically with a normal mouse to give your thumb a rest.
anfractuosity 5y ago
I find this type of helping hand (made from flexible air nozzle tube) really handy for soldering - https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B07233QBBS/ https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B07233QBBS/ . I imagine there are heavier duty ones though, that use a mechanism other than that tubing.
dracodoc 5y ago
A good ink jet for printing photos and greeting cards. Previously I had bad experience with ink jet being the ink keep drying up, and laser is always better for black and white. However two use cases really make it worth to remember turn on ink jet and clean it regularly: - print photo by yourself, like passport photo, photo needed by forms. You may still need to adjust color/brightness a little bit, but it's way better than CVS. I didn't realize you can print 4x6 with this kind of quality. - print greeting cards. with quality paper it's looking very good. I use Cannon MX 922, regular 4x6 photo paper. For greeting card I use 44lb Epson Premium Presentation Paper MATTE.
owenversteeg 5y ago
Someone here mentioned a flashlight, so I'll mention what's by far the best headlamp I've ever bought, and I've tried a lot - the Nitecore NU25. Red LEDs, white LEDs, high-CRI LED, and it weighs under an ounce (although the headband adds 0.7 oz or so.)
MarkusWandel 5y ago
Years ago of course, but the original Core 2 Duo CPU (a Desktop E6300 in my case). Fast, power efficient and came with a nearly silent CPU cooler. Being able to assemble a (then) fast deskside machine that you could hardly hear was radical. Even earlier, the Canon EOS 300D "Digital Rebel" SLR. Single-handedly restored the joy in photography after a detour through early, limited digital cameras.
asciimov 5y ago
A tiling window manager. I settled on dwm. It helps me utilize more of my monitor. Gone are the days of overlaying windows, everything is front and center, and on it's own virtual desktop. A non-mechanical keyboard. I moved off of cherry style switches, and went with a topre clone. For me, the cherry mechanism makes too much noise when keys return back up. For me it was high pitched noise. A much more thocky keyboard actually keeps me from having noise induced headaches on heavy typing days. Blue light reduction apps on phones, tablets, and monitor and blue light reduction coating on glasses. This removed a ton of eyestrain. Yes, my phone and iPad now have a reddish brown hue to them, but most of the time, I don't care. I hardly notice it anymore unless I use my partners device. A color accurate monitor (with a good reader/blue light reduction mode). Having a monitor that wasn't close to having correct colors, even across the panel was maddening. Old LCD monitors are the worst. I don't need color correctness all the time, so the monitor needs a good mode to turn down the blueness. Having a setting in the monitor makes it a breeze to switch back and forth as needed.
- nonplus 5y ago
  Obligatory reply about linear (silent) cherry switches existing but mostly here to say I'm glad you found a keyboard you like. I think that's the takeaway I try to give people on input devices. Just get something you like and don't worry about what everyone else likes.
  - darkteflon 5y ago
    I’d never admit to it on HN, but my favourite keyboard for non-gaming stuff is Apple’s Magic Keyboard 2, tenkeyless version.
    - hfourm 5y ago
      Checkout logitechs low profile mechanical gaming keyboard, the tkl is rather pricey but I much prefer it
    - nonplus 5y ago
      Yeah I've found I care a lot more about the layout than the keys. I've learned I just want ANSI 60. It's minimal enough, the cognitive load is low/all keys that are not first class are one layout/fn press away.
alexdeloy 5y ago
A set of cheap magsafe style USB connectors for MicroUSB and USB-C I ruined one wireless headset by ripping out the usb socket from the PCB after tripping over the charging wire. After getting a replacement I put the "magsafe" micro USB connector in and not only is it trip safe now, charging is soo much easier since the cable can be oriented either way. After that unexpected success I also outfittet my MX Anywhere and my Kindle with them and just throw a few in my laptop bag for use on the go or to share with other people.
- captconstruct 5y ago
  I've had absolutely no luck with the cheap ones off of Amazon. What kind did you go with?
radu_floricica 5y ago
Oura ring. Stopped having to guess how much fuel I got for the day. My subjective feeling has a shit correlation with how productive I really am, but the stats from the ring are pretty spot on. I have chronic insomnia so it might help me more than others, but I take quite a lot of decisions based on it. Over 7 hours measured sleep is a good day, 6-7 is standard, 5-6 means modafinil for the day (which turns it into a very productive day), under 5 hours I just chill without any expectations. I also up or lower my meds based on multi-day trends. It's coping and not a cure, but it's very high quality coping. And I couldn't do it without something to measure sleep - bad nights often have me wake up wired, and 9 hours in bed don't mean much without knowing how much of that I tossed and turned, which I don't always remember.
- sodkmfkwegw 5y ago
  It sucks that the company screwed over their loyal customers by forcing future updates of the ring behind a subscription service. I was about to pull the trigger on the 2, and they announced the three the next day with the subscription service so I ended up never buying one.
JoelMcCracken 5y ago
I bought a greyscale eink tablet that I use as a monitor. It is fantastic. I find myself much more able to concentrate while using it.
- heavyset_go 5y ago
  I'm interested in hearing more about this. Does the tablet itself double as monitor, or was it a hack?
  - JoelMcCracken 5y ago
    https://onyxboox.com/boox_maxlumi https://onyxboox.com/boox_maxlumi This is the device It claims to not work on macos as a secondary monitor, but it does work for me, however the sides of the "screen" are invisible/cropped, so to use it I have to carefully arrange emacs and firefox inside the visible region. The refresh rate isn't perfect, but its more than good enough for my usage (emacs, looking at docs)
    - heavyset_go 5y ago
      Cool, thanks for the link. > The refresh rate isn't perfect, but its more than good enough for my usage (emacs, looking at docs) I really like the idea of an e-ink terminal and text editor.
      - JoelMcCracken 5y ago
        Feel free to send me an email if you want to learn more about it!
indiantinker 5y ago
Logitech Keys to Go keyboard is my absolute favourite device to type on mobile devices. I thought I won’t use it a ,but I find it quite handy. Most common occasions are : traveling, siting on a park bench, waiting in Metro or Airport. Most common tasks : Writing long email (i have this bad habit), replying/giving feedback on IM apps, Editing blog posts, Quick note taking, Transferring notes from pocket diary to digital software (Athens in my case)
ZeroGravitas 5y ago
Kinesis Advantage Pro ergonomic keyboard. Thumb cluster modifier keys. Staggered Ortholinear keys. Split, tented, cupped keywells. Remappable key assignments. Basically forcing you to touch type properly. Those are all individually amazing, but together a revolution. You can do better key remapping with software or qmk style firmware these days. There's more choice than ever for hardware variations with all or some of these features, but this was my entry point and I'll always be grateful.
solarmist 5y ago
A reverse osmosis water filter and a cheap glass pitcher. I've found that I'm pretty sensitive to the taste of water (good and bad). I don't mind the water in many places, but it can be very hit or miss. Over the years, the amount of water I would drink tended to change quite a bit from location to location. Instead, I use a reverse osmosis water filter to get completely neutral water every time I know there isn't anything reducing the amount of water I drink. It's HUGELY affected the amount of water I drink over soda, milk, tea, etc.
- jsrcout 5y ago
  That sounds intriguing. Any specific recommendations?
  - solarmist 5y ago
    I just bought whatever was at Lowes. This is completely commodity technology. Generic is as high quality as an brand name. I think it's the AO Smith one. https://www.lowes.com/pd/A-O-Smith-Clean-Water-Filter-with-RO-Boost-Brushed-Nickel-Faucet/1000559453?user=shopping https://www.lowes.com/pd/A-O-Smith-Clean-Water-Filter-with-R... It includes a 4th stage to add a known mineral mix back in, but I didn't like the flavor so I just skipped that final filter. It's all just hooked together with 1/4” tubing so it's super simple to customize.
bredren 5y ago
It is a bit of a combo, but the Blackmagic eGPU was way underrated and slept on. I use the standard Blackmagic eGPU. But the Pro, Vega 56, (which was removed from sale) still offers the greatest __Apple supported__ graphics performance available for non-pro macs. IIRC, the most beefcake macbook pros don't beat performance on that Apple-supported eGPU that only runs with Intel machines. There were many voices saying the dollars per performance weren't there, but they did not take into account the silent design and excellent stability of those products. Nor that there would be such a long wait for any officially supported alternative to get graphics to the Mini. I started with a 4k but then went up to the XDR Pro Display on the 2018 Mac Mini. It remains a monster setup in a small, near-silent footprint.
Havoc 5y ago
Small passively cooled home server with loads of RAM and a hypervisor on it. The amount of practical learning that has enabled has been so worth it. (Think ansible, gitlab ci/cd etc).
- darkteflon 5y ago
  I use a dedicated M1 Mac Mini for this - media, storage, Docker, gitlab, etc. For me, it’s the perfect solution (Docker on Apple Silicon growing pains notwithstanding). Silent, powerful, frugal.
sudosysgen 5y ago
A laptop with an R7 5800 series CPU (or M1 Pro if it works with your workflow). 10+ hours of battery life, absolutely silent outside of load, more powerful than my desktop, cheap, and works on any OS.
BerislavLopac 5y ago
Chromecast
gpvos 5y ago
I still use a mouse pad made of hardwood and a hempen cover, and find it by far the most pleasant mouse pad I have ever used, with its very slightly rough surface that feels natural to the hand. You can even put it slightly over the edge of your desk and it won't go floppy. Easily cleaned every few months with some water and dish washing soap. In the age of mechanical mice, it also kept the mouse ball clean, but it works fine with optical mice too. I have two, one at home and one for work, and must have used them for more than twenty years now. Very durable, I am sure there would be a market for these things, but I have never seen anything like it before or since. I bought it from the now-defunct Hober folk web radio, one of the earlier internet radio stations, which only recently finally turned off their stream. Here's an archive page describing the mouse pad: https://web.archive.org/web/20021013110318/http://banqa.uaqa.com/hober/catalog/pad002.html https://web.archive.org/web/20021013110318/http://banqa.uaqa...
- Tryk 5y ago
  mouse ball?
  - gpvos 5y ago
    Yes, it's in the second paragraph of https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computer_mouse https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computer_mouse
ed_balls 5y ago
headphones with noise cancellation (Bose). Remarkable 2. For reading and drawing stuff e.g. new kitchen arrangement.
baremetal 5y ago
learning to build your own stuff. its the only way to get quality when it comes to certain items.
steve_gh 5y ago
Reading glasses. An ergonomic Anker mouse that stops me getting RSI
milesvp 5y ago
Tennis balls. I get a lot of shoulder and neck pain and I don’t know how I managed before I discovered tennis balls for working out knots in my upper back. I lay on one, and move it around until I find the knots causing muscle strain in my neck. They have just the right firmness to give ratio to really work on tough knots near my shoulder blade that I used to use wall corners to try to work out.
anotherevan 5y ago
My Kobo ereader has been great. I read around 50-60 fiction books a year and they've almost entirely been in electronic format for a decade now. The Pocket integration has also been expectantly useful for reading various articles.
anotherevan 5y ago
A dog. Our previous dog passed away in November 2020 and we adopted a new family member late last year. It has been a joy watching his intelligence and personality blossom as he's gotten more comfortable with us (his previous living situation was not an entirely happy one.)
lioeters 5y ago
A pair of headphones: Sennheiser HD 280 Pro. I'm still using the same pair I bought years ago (maybe a decade?), but bought another pair recently because I like them so much. Clean sound, comfortable, and lets me enjoy and appreciate sounds, music, and even silence. (I often keep them on with no sound, haha..)
NomDePlum 5y ago
Microsoft Trackball Optical. Borrowed one 20-years ago when I hurt my shoulder snowboarding. The person who loaned it to me then left the company and told me to keep it. Still using it. Haven't had to use a mouse since. Never did like mice as used to find when overly focussed on something I'd end up half way across the desk without noticing.

171 points by Cr0s 5y ago

I'm looking for things that help more than expected or in ways you wouldn't expect. It could be a second monitor, a really good mouse or even a microplane.

epolanski 5y ago

12" tablet with a pen like samsung galaxy s7 fe. I can read programming books in the top half while taking notes or running code in a repl in the bottom one. It's also okay coupled with gitpod or github teams (via codespaces) for "entertainment" or light coding.

taeric 5y ago

I'm rather fond of my RollerMouse. Not sure I can claim it is a game changer. But, the stable position of it relative to keyboard is quite comforting.

Trias11 5y ago

One Mix 4 micro laptop. I bought i5 version of it on aliexpress however amazon has higher end version of it (i7) available. 9" or so screen, full blown windows 11 laptop, extremely well built, solid. I upgraded it to Windows 11 Pro myself just for fun so I could RDP to it and control it remotely. I bought it for narrow use case (need to control hardware device that doesn't have mobile app) and extremely pleased on how fully functioning, well built it is. It could fit into large enough pocket and if you're in need of SMALLEST device as fully featured Windows-based computer - that's the answer. Drawbacks: no webcam (this is plus for me actually) and small battery life (ask me which power bank i chose to solve this issue).

zzzzzzzza 5y ago

switching from a gaming chair to a couch

stonecharioteer 5y ago

A mmotorized standing desk. Clamp style monitor mounts. A laptop mount adapter for the VESA bracket. Bone conduction headphones. I can wear these all day and not feel my ears hurt. A Samsung Galaxy S7 Plus tablet. It's got the most screen size for any tablet and I love reading tech books on it. A kindle Oasis. I've used the Kindle Touch and Paperwhite but the Oasis is something else. A grill-style sandwich maker. I can heat up anything and grill just about anything with it. It's amazing.

fomine3 5y ago

Galaxy Fold3 -- I can use tablet every time when I had used smartphone.

toastal 5y ago

A colorimeter. I bought a ColorMunki a few years back to correct the overly blue display on my only Razer Blade and it fixed so many issues with my photography and having color discussions with my designer--giving me the confidence to know it's not my screen that was the problem. I've since had friends borrow it and even TN panels can really use the color improvement. I've also used it to correct hotel TV color recently and you'd be amazed at how much of difference it can make. I know it's a WIP, but the color management in Wayland cannot come soon enough to me.

omnipath 5y ago

Dishwasher. Never really had one growing up, and never managed to rent an apartment with one, or one that worked. I'm now finally in a place with a working dishwasher, and it makes life so much easier. I don't feel guilty about not doing dishes immediately after using them (I only have a set for 2, so if I don't clean it immediately, I'll quickly run out of usable dishes in a day.) Folding Shopping Carts. Literally only had a car for the past 3 years so I could go grocery shopping (Before pandemic, took train to work. Parking wasn't free.) Now that I live in a place near a grocery store, I purchased a shopping cart, and don't really need the car anymore, which I sold last year. So, I don't care about gas prices, don't have to worry about maintenance, no insurance, and most importantly, I don't have to worry about parking!

santa_boy 5y ago

If it qualifies, Apple M1 series has been a real game changer for me. Its doesn't interrupt my thought process due to computing overload. Very rarely hangs and makes my idea to implementation and visual feedback process very seamless. My productivity is up so much that I bought two M1s (one for office and one for home)

kokizzu2 5y ago

steamdeck '__') PC as handled combined with monitor + keyboard + mouse can be main development PC also as portable game station

kokizzu2 5y ago

steamdeck '__') PC as handled combined with monitor + keyboard + mouse can be main development PC also as g

threshold 5y ago

oculus quest 2 - product of the decade

sincarne 5y ago

Two things stand out for me: A really good daypack. I was using book bags for family days out, but they were uncomfortable and impractical. When the National Trust reopened their outdoor spaces during the pandemic, I sunk £80 into an Osprey backpack. It has made a huge difference. I used to get very sweaty, and I have a broken collarbone that would ache. These are no longer issues for me. It has made being out in nature for a full day even more enjoyable. Bose Sleepphones II. I got them for a good deal on open box clearance. I usually listen to a sleep story on Calm.com to get to sleep. I have these for if I wake up in the middle of the night. They're comfortable, and great at blocking sound. I don't love the sounds–they're a bit overcompressed and some have really obvious looping points–but the things work.

sleepingadmin 5y ago

Raspberry pi was quite a game changer. It pushed the creation of so many similar cheap boards; which proliferated around the world and enabled IOT, it enabled so many things. SSDs will inevitably destroy spinning rust. The war was over long ago but spinning rust is still a thing. The next one that's happening right now is digital cameras. Consumer film is roughly around 87 megapixels. The pros use stuff that's in the gigapixels but 88 megapixels is the line to beat. Samsung S22 Ultra 5G has 108MP rear cam. This is a new generation that will make waves and it's happening now. Film still matters for your stanley kubricks but its not anymore.

throwaway889900 5y ago

Talalay latex pillow. Memory foam sucks in comparison.

deleted 5y ago

[deleted]

uniqueuid 5y ago

This might not be what you want to hear (i.e. too little tech), but here's a list from Bruce Sterling's talk at Reboot 11 (2009) [1] that stuck with me: * Number one, a bed. You're spending a third of your life in the thing. * Get a chair. I shouldn't have to tell people who work with computers to get a chair. * (things that go on your skin like clothes and cosmetics) * Apart from that, beautiful things, emotional things, tools. His (minimalist) message is to get rid of everything else. [1] https://www.wired.com/2011/02/transcript-of-reboot-11-speech-by-bruce-sterling-25-6-2009/ https://www.wired.com/2011/02/transcript-of-reboot-11-speech...

ncmncm 5y ago
I used to use a chair. Now I use a stool. I get up to walk around more often, now. In "Pushing Tin", Billy Bob Thornton's character took his folding chair with him wherever he worked. That must have been based on some real character.
- pj-bs 5y ago
  Maybe Glenn Gould, a pianist that used the same chair. https://youtu.be/5SHtyGc8pfk https://youtu.be/5SHtyGc8pfk

brtkdotse 5y ago

1) Got rid of my second monitor and use just one 27” 4K monitor. My neck feels better and I’m less scatter brained. 2) whenever possible, I try to buy used pro/prosumer/premium things. They will usually last for years and years, be more comfortable/pleasurable in use and will be repairable/maintainable when they do break down.

have_faith 5y ago
> Got rid of my second monitor Did this also a long time ago. I still have my laptop connected which I flip open to use the webcam occasionally but I feel much more focused using 1 monitor.
- AussieWog93 5y ago
  Same here. A decently-sized 4k display allows you to have documents open next to your main work app when necessary, but equally lets you use the full real-estate when you don't want to. With two monitors, I just found myself shoving shit on the second screen and getting distracted.
wil421 5y ago
I got rid of my 2 4K monitors and got an ultrawide. I’ll never look back. One 4K monitor was never enough for me. My ultrawide is basically 2 1440p monitors stuck to each other.
- nullwarp 5y ago
  I just did the same thing, replaced 3 24" 1080p monitors with a single 49" ultrawide and it's been a damn game changer. Can't believe I waited so long to do it.
whatch 5y ago
I thought it would be a great idea to have two big monitors but I really hated that when I purchased the second one. And then I just put one of my monitors right in front of me and now rarely use the second one. But when I need a second monitor I'm really happy I didn't sell it. So layout makes a really big difference.

esun 5y ago

I finally gave in to reality and got reading glasses for coding. Didn't realize how much I was suffering.

notreallyserio 5y ago
How did you decide which brand to get and at what strength? I wear glasses every day (nearsighted) and have been thinking about getting reading glasses for work but the ones I tried at the grocery store were way too strong. I somewhat recently upgraded to a larger monitor and have scaled up my fonts but I still feel like I am straining a bit.
- falcolas 5y ago
  I recommend a sub 1.0 strength. It will let you read a screen comfortably. They’re effectively a consumable for me, so I have pairs scattered throughout my house.
- nicoburns 5y ago
  Go to an optician/optometrist to get your required strength measured. The brand is likely not too important.
zeke 5y ago
I got a prescription for monitor distance, about 30in or 70cm, and ordered the glasses from Zenni. It makes my computer time much better.

threeseed 5y ago

a) Satechi Dock5 Station - holds and charges your phone, tablet, computer and AirPods. Wake up and everything is charged. b) Bose Sleepbuds II - comfortable, tiny earbuds that last all night and play white noise or repeating melodies. c) Anker PowerConf - video conferencing speaker which means you aren't having to fiddle with headphones and the giant red light makes it easy to see when you're muted. d) Mogics Power Donut - combination travel adapter, power extension board, extension cable and USB hub in one tiny device.

huffmsa 5y ago

Impact driver

bluedino 5y ago
To add: cordless electric 1/2" impact
deleted 5y ago
[deleted]

libertine 5y ago

I really enjoyed getting a mechanical keyboard (Keychron K2), it has a really nice typing experience when compared to membrane keyboards. There's something to the tactile + sound feedback that triggers some emotional response in us, it just feels good. It also improved my posture a lot from writing on a laptop (but for this objective, any keyboard would do the job ofc).

kyriakos 5y ago
I started getting pains in my fingers and after some time I realised they were caused by the keyboard. I bought a keychron and never had a problem with my fingers again. Really good devices for the price.

ssss11 5y ago

A good coffee machine at home. Unbelievable ROI, one of my favourite purchases.

kqr 5y ago
Yup. My wife and I got one when we moved in together before we were married. At the time we were very poor students and it was not obviously the right call. But we have gotten an insane mileage out of that thing from the day we brought it home. Easily worth it many times over.
BiteCode_dev 5y ago
Brand?
- gehsty 5y ago
  I got a sage (breville I’m the US) barista pro and love it, no heat up time as it uses a heat pump, great grinder and easy to clean. I make at least two coffees a day, every day for over a year and it’s never missed a beat.
- ssss11 5y ago
  I have a delonghi. Only a few hundred dollars but the support service has been fantastic which I didn’t really expect either. I’ve noticed a few responses to my post mentioning drip coffee machines - the one I have steams milk, makes lattes etc
dudeinjapan 5y ago
Bonavita makes some good ones--recommend BV1500TS or BV1900TS. Ditch the default stainless steel carafe and upgrade to double-walled glass.
alias_neo 5y ago
My Rancilio Sylvia E has really gotten a workout since lockdown. When it's not making coffee, it doubles as a very therapeutic thing to clean and maintain for a couple of hours every couple of months.
5y ago

fersarr 5y ago

- a wrist support brace: no more wrist pain when using a keyboard/mouse

Jackdanie1s 5y ago
Any recommendations?
- fersarr 5y ago
  I am using this one now: "Actesso Breathable Wrist Support Brace Splint" but tbh all of the ones I tired before (they lasted a few years) worked too.

deleted 5y ago

[deleted]

alanfranz 5y ago

A very large display. I got a 4k 43” display, with a bit of retina magnification, and I can sit properly without slumping, my back fully straight on my seat. I don’t suffer back pain anymore.

alias_neo 5y ago
How far are you sitting from that monster? I've never understood having large format displays for work (programming in my case). I once (before children) had 3x28" 4K displays but they had to wrap pretty tight around my sitting position otherwise I had no chance of seeing what's at the far ends.
- alanfranz 5y ago
  I think my desk is about 90cm deep, I’d say I stay about 100/120cm from my eyes to the display. Sometimes I just don’t place things to the edges or the very bottom. A 37” or 40” display would suffice but I didn’t find any, and 32” is too small imho.
  - alias_neo 5y ago
    Oh yeah a metre plus is pretty far. I sit about 30-40cm from my screen unless I'm sitting back in my chair.
    - alanfranz 5y ago
      But the whole point IS sitting back in your chair. Much better posture! Btw I performed some measurements and real distance is more like 90cm.
      - alias_neo 5y ago
        That makes sense. When I say "sitting back" I mean leaning back, which is closer to the real distance I should be. I downsized my desk significantly when we had kids so that's the reason for sitting so close. We're currently working on resolving the space situation then maybe I too can switch to a monster sized monitor!

mikewarot 5y ago

Long, LONG ago I got a MicroSolutions 300 Megabyte External Hard drive, you could plug it in to a parallel printer port, boot the driver disk, and BAM... all of your tools were available. A decade ago, I got my first SSD drives, those were game changers. Boot times dropped like a rock, and performance went through the roof. I got a 32" HDMI monitor just before Covid hit... I'm VERY glad I did so. I've been stuck at home with Long Covid for almost 2 years now, it makes it so much easier to see what's going on. It was well worth the money. As for software, GIT is the best thing since Turbo Pascal. I assume you use it already. Oh, and consider getting a 3d printer of some form, along with a CNC router. Those might come in handy for home projects.

y4mi 5y ago
> I got my first SSD drives And to experience it all over again with proper nvme drives was very enjoyable indeed. Cold boots in about 5s now vs 20-60s with the old ssds of back then really makes shutting down/starting up into a very different experience again
- ldoughty 5y ago
  > And to experience it all over again with proper nvme drives was very enjoyable indeed. Second this... Felt exactly the same as getting SSDs for the first time.

trinovantes 5y ago

A 3rd monitor lets me see live preview, documentation, and code all at once. I'm out of desk space to test the effectiveness of a 4th An nvme drive made everything boot faster A good chair (either herman miller or steelcase) fixed my back pain

AussieWog93 5y ago
>A good chair (either herman miller or steelcase) fixed my back pain Mine too! If you're on a budget, there are plenty of individuals on Facebook Marketplace and similar that sell used Steelcase/Herman Miller chairs for about a third of retail price. The more reputable used dealers will repair them before sale, as well.
- paco3346 5y ago
  Also check out the Herman Miller company outlet store- https://www.officeoutlet.net https://www.officeoutlet.net

AussieWog93 5y ago

If a microplane counts as "hardware", then I can't not bring up my whetstone! Cost all of around $40, is a genuine joy to use, and keeps all of my knives sharper-than-sharp. I started out with a very expensive knife (Wusthof classic 8", around US$150 or so at the time) but nothing to sharpen it with, and this was a mistake. If I could do it again I'd recommend young cooks on a budget start out with a $20 IKEA knife and a stone to keep it sharp. You'll get better long term results than you would with an expensive knife on its own any day of the week.

hellcow 5y ago
America's Test Kitchen recommends the Victorinox knives for every skill level and budget, including professional chefs. It's just a damn good knife, and it happens to be cheap at around $50. Go with this rather than Ikea if it's in the budget :)
- rdtwo 5y ago
  Fantastic starter knives, otherwise spend 150-200 on a Japanese gato/r/chefsknives has good recommendations. The mass market knife block sets are actually worse than the victronix and cost more.
  - toiletfuneral 5y ago
- more_corn 5y ago
  My first Sous Chef gave me his Victorinox from when he went to Culinary Institute of America. I still use it even though I've since bought a Wusthof. I like how it is thinner, it holds an edge well and has good ergonomics.
swalsh 5y ago
I bought this Global Classic Flexible Boning Knife a few years ago, this one knife changed my whole game. I like to buy Chicken thighs, take the center bone out, keep the bones for some amazing stock and render the skin into schmaltz. It's a process that used to take quite a long time, but this knife has made it super quick.

kqr 5y ago

An Android phone with a physical keyboard. It's a night and day difference for me with fat fingers and who likes to look at the text I'm writing, not the keyboard I'm using to write. RIP BlackBerry Key2.

zakki 5y ago
What is the keyboard you are using?
- kqr 5y ago
  I'm using a Blackberry Key2 phone which has a keyboard built in. Sadly, I've just learned they are no longer being made. Not sure what I'll do when this one breaks.

rgoulter 5y ago

A keyboard where the keys are symmetrical, and allow greater use of the thumb (and allow less usage of the pinky fingers). -- Maybe it's not for everyone, but I wish I'd gotten a keyboard like this years ago.

Aachen 5y ago
So like enter in place of caps lock? I genuinely have no idea what you mean by symmetrical keyboard.
- rgoulter 5y ago
  ZSA's moonlander[0] or their planck-ez[1] are a couple of examples. Where standard keyboards have staggered rows, the planck-ez is "ortholinear", and the moonlander has staggered columns. (I have seen designs which are symmetric and retain staggered rows, too). Though I think older keyboards in this category would be like the Maltron, Kinesis Advantage. And also recently, there's been a surge in custom mechanical keyboard designs, like the Sofle keyboard[2]. [0]: https://www.zsa.io/moonlander/ https://www.zsa.io/moonlander/ [1]: https://www.zsa.io/planck/ https://www.zsa.io/planck/ [2]: https://github.com/josefadamcik/SofleKeyboard https://github.com/josefadamcik/SofleKeyboard
bikingbismuth 5y ago
I “tried out” a Planck on a whim for a month in 2017 and never looked back. I currently use a Levinson and it just about perfect (I wish I could find a solid aluminum case and then it would be perfect).

cushychicken 5y ago

A floor heating pad. $30 and my feet will never be cold at the computer again!

dudeinjapan 5y ago
This was gonna be my answer. I got one a few weeks ago after using a kotatsu heated table at a traditional hotel in the mountains here in Japan.
- qubyte 5y ago
  There's life before one has experienced a kotatsu, and life after.
  - dudeinjapan 5y ago
    This is really true. I spent my day in Shirakawa-go in the snow and when I got to the hotel it was freezing. I put my legs under the table and... WOW!!
  - cushychicken 5y ago
    #snugLife
lostmsu 5y ago
My wife just wears slippers. They work in the entire house.
tra3 5y ago
Can you share which one you have?
- cushychicken 5y ago
  I legitimately don't remember. Just search "foot heating pad" on Amazon.

op00to 5y ago

Bidet.

wly_cdgr 5y ago
Hard to beat this one. Now whenever I use a bathroom that doesn't have one I feel like a filthy barbarian

david_allison 5y ago

Anker PowerCore 26800 (26800mAh) - 3 USB outputs, 2 inputs for charging. Removed away all worry about not having phone charging capability if you're on the move. There's likely better options available now with USB-C inputs, but the product is still fantastic. Oral-B Genius 9000 - looked like an overpriced & gimmicky toothbrush (with AR + Bluetooth). It is, but the carry-case is useful to double as an extra shaver->USB option, it's got a long battery life, and it has a good number of modes for brushing. Oculus Quest 2 - initially I wasn't sure if it'd be a gimmick, but it's an effortless & fun way to burn calories

alias_neo 5y ago
I have a RAVPOWER 26800mAh with USB PD. It has 2 USB A (Out) and a USB-C (In/Out), I can charge my Nintendo Switch, phone, wife's phone, tablet, kid's tablet, Earbud case and XPS 13 (@30W) on the go. I also use it to power my Pinecil when I'm working away from a plug socket. Very handy when we're out and about without the car. It's also the max size you can carry on a plane for travel (100Wh is the max in many places) at 99.3Wh.
notreallyserio 5y ago
Do you bring your battery with you when you're out and about? How do you carry it (if you do)? I have a battery and it is pocket sized, but it's not exactly comfortable to carry along with my wallet and phone.
- david_allison 5y ago
  Depends if I think I might be needing it. Tote bag/leather satchel for everyday (especially because it lets you carry USB & lightning cables); backpack for longer trips. It's a big battery and wouldn't be feasible to carry in my pocket
- ajolly 5y ago
  Drop leg bag

fit2rule 5y ago

Zynthian audio/synthesis platform: I got it to act as an FX processor, and it has become an extremely rich resource for creative instruments and digital music-making. Not just an FX box, its really more like an entire studio. Synthstrom Deluge: so incredibly deep and complex, it also started life as a simple tool that is now becoming a lynchpin in my studio operation - not just for drums and sequencing, also for recording quick takes and samples and so on. This machine has replaced the DAW for pure creative modes. NORN+Grid: Again, was purchased for one thing and is now being pressed into use for so many other purposes, un-dreamed of previously. Arturia AudioFUSE Studio: THIS was just supposed to be a neat desktop mixer that fit on the table, but it has become so, so much more - the STUDIO in the name is no nonsense! Again, way more power than expected, and it has expanded beyond the original purpose of having a quick desktop mix available - now practically everything in the studio is going through it (ADAT for the win) and it is the central console for production. I haven't touched the other mixers in weeks ..

adhesive_wombat 5y ago

A good dishwasher. I resisted getting one for years because the one I had growing up was pretty bad. Nothing would dry, items would come out dirty all the time and it was loud and would "chug" for hours. However, a good (not even fancy, just mid-range from a competent manufacturer) modern dishwasher is night and day. Doesn't even need special tablets, it just gets things clean, even on the eco mode, which is the only one I use. Its not the quietest on the market by a dB or two, but its basically not noticeable. So much better than having a huge pile of dishes taking up the entire draining rack until dry enough to put away, getting splashed with more water every time the sink is used (and the water is medium-hard so that makes a mess, but the dishwasher has a water softener).

BiteCode_dev 5y ago
How long have you had it?
- adhesive_wombat 5y ago
  About 5 years or so. It's probably done well over 1000 cycles since then. It's had one breakage, which was a heat pump, which was repaired with a part from ebay. Other than that, its going strong.
brtkdotse 5y ago
People over here are insane and remodel perfectly fine kitchens when moving in to a new apartment, and sell all the appliances for a pitence. I picked up a year old Miele for 100€, it’s been chugging along like a tank.
- adhesive_wombat 5y ago
  My mum has a Miele washing machine that is almost 30 years old. As far as I know, it's never needed a repair. Which is probably just as well as Mieles can always be repaired, but the cost of parts is, let's say, dramatic. My fridge has a broken egg tray lid and a dent in the door. Replacing the former is £35, a freezer door is almost £300 (nearly half the cost of the whole fridge freezer). The fridge door is almost £700, as much as the whole thing! The egg tray lid is particularly annoying as the plastic part is actually not well-designed and clearly has obvious weak points where a modest redesign would both make a breakage less likely in the first place, and allow the most obvious failure mode to be repaired with a small sacrificial part (that, moreover can be shared amongst all fridge models, so it's not even a major SKU count increase) rather than the whole lid.

agumonkey 5y ago

A tiny bluetooth adapter for good old earphones. I know analog + wires is often simpler, but tangled broken wires are hell, being tethered removes opportunity for simple multitasking.

threeseed 5y ago
If you are looking for a Bluetooth adapter then would recommend Qudelix 5K. Has the advantage of a built-in parametric EQ which can make a big improvement for even the worst tuned headphones.

timpattinson 5y ago

A decent fabric mousepad. Night and day difference.

grujicd 5y ago
There are even large ones wide enough to suit both keyboard and mouse. You don't have pad area anymore, mouse works everywhere. It's also more comfortable for hands when typing. Mine is Asus ROG Sheath, 990mm x 440mm.

cik 5y ago

I've spent a long time engineering, and adapting my workspace. It's at the point now that going to an office is a horrible experience, compared to my home office. Here's my setup * Ikea Standing desk (I never sit). I know plenty of people who use these for sitting, simply because the height of the desk is finally suited to their specific frame. * As many monitors as will make you happy (to each their own, but I'm happy with 2) * Kinesys Freestyle 2 keyboard (wired, I hate wireless things, I never want to think about batteries) * A laptop stand to lift my laptop - it turns out this made an enormous impact to my neck * Monitor stands - most monitors are stationary, but the wrong height, even when compared with arm layout in an ergonomic setup. * Kensington Expert Mouse * Wacom One tablet - Now I can draw on digital whiteboards in Zoom, or even on shared websites and it's significantly better than the mouse experience. * Sony WX-1000XM3 headphones - I use it for both music and the noise cancelling. Just having in on an cancelling noise has been an incredible improvement * Whiteboard - This is by far the most important one in this list.

frogulis 5y ago
> wired, I hate wireless things, I never want to think about batteries It's funny, I feel exactly the same. When friends have asked me to explain why, I struggle to justify it. It's just a minor feeling of security -- one less thing to maintain. The only piece of hardware I've considered moving to wireless is a headset for gaming with friends, but it hasn't happened thus far. Maybe if the End Times come and my ATH-M50x stop working.
- grujicd 5y ago
  To be fair, batteries for Logitech wireless keyboard (K270, non-fancy one, without backlight) last for years. Same for their Marathon mouse. Battery is not the reason to skip these devices. Connectivity might be, I had some interference with multiple sets nearby. But if you're solo they work very reliably.
- _carbyau_ 5y ago
  Wires also double as safety tethers for angry people who like to throw their mouse/keyboard. Yes, I have intentionally purchased wired stuff for others with this in mind. Yes, they needed to get their shit together and they did.

shafyy 5y ago

Air quality monitor and air purifier. Helps me to have cleaner air at home by e.g., reminding me to open the windows more regularly.

grech 5y ago
Are the monitor and purifier one device or two separate devices?
- shafyy 5y ago
  Two separate devices. I have the Awair air quality monitor and a Coway air purifier.

sambeau 5y ago

These super-cheap headband/earphones https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B09NPL7V7R/ https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B09NPL7V7R/ The sound quality is surprisingly OK, they are more than good enough for Audible & podcasts, and you can comfortably lie on your side. I bought them on a whim after considering options that cost 10x the price. I've tried listening to speakers (can't hear when lying on my side), my phone (falls between pillows, gets tangled in my limbs), regular headphones (can't lie on my side, wake up with them being squashed beneath me). These stay put, are comfortable and actually work. I won't wear them in public (for, hopefully, obvious reasons) but in the privacy of my own bedroom they've been a game-changer. Did I mention they were only £17?

hestefisk 5y ago

1) A coffee grinder and espresso machine. Keeps me going. Wasn’t expensive ($200 all up) 2) A good chair with proper back support 3) Two screens, 27” each. Nothing fancy but makes me quite productive

sofixa 5y ago

* an Onyx Boox Nova Air. It's an Android tablet with an e-ink display which i use mainly for reading web articles and RSS feeds, although I've tried the note taking ( with stylus and OCR) and it's fine, but not really my thing ( I like taking notes with my keyboard). * A small waterproof speaker for the bathroom which i use to listen to short podcasts ( like Revolutions by Mike Duncan, in the 20-30 minute range) during my morning routine, shaving, taking showers, etc

bikingbismuth 5y ago
Bathroom speaker has been definite life improved for me. Side note: I try to find ones that don’t have really annoying “my battery is low” noises. I had one that played this terrible bell sound and it destroyed my morning vibe.
- sofixa 5y ago
  I'll definitely look into that next time I'm buying one ( the current one's battery is no longer in great shape), the beeps are very annoying and long.

BiteCode_dev 5y ago

https://shadow.tech/ https://shadow.tech/ I love the laptop factor, but I need a good GPU sometimes. There are ways to plug one using USB-C, and I wanted to go for that first. But my little bro, a gamer, told me it was a waste of money. For $29 a month, I can get a remote beast of a computer with Windows 10 on it and use it as much as I want. At first, I wasn't convinced. Primo, I'd have to upload all of my stuff. Secondo, what about the latency ? Well, I'm not playing multiplier online games, so it turns out the latency is imperceptible for my use cases. It's not your typical VNC setup, they optimized their client and protocol and I sometimes forget I'm not on a local machine. Second, OVH is behind the brand, so their uplink is crazy good. Which means uploading and downloading things is very fast. Sometimes it's even better to stream movies from the shadow and watch it remotely than to use my local connection O_o Eventually I saw the $2000 GPU I wanted to buy, and realize that it would take me more than 5 years of shadow usage to reach that price. After which my GPU would get old anyway, and I would need another one. Bonus: it takes no space on my desk, doesn't make noise, doesn't heat, and I can use it when I travel, so I have the buffed up GPU at my disposal at my clients sites, in holidays, anywhere with decent wifi. Because yes, the latency is good enough that I actually don't bother to plug my ethernet cable anymore: wifi works fine. Hotel wifi sucks though :) Unlike gaming streaming services, you are not limited to a gaming provider, you can reuse your steam account or gog games. You are actually not limited to game, you have a full Windows 10 at your disposal. You can do video edition, model training or 3D rendering. Not crypto mining though, according to the terms of use. In fact, nothing that requires background tasks as the computer shuts down as soon as no human use it (I assume they make money by sharing the hardware). But if you do want to play, it's nice. I tested Borderlands 2 with all settings cranked to the max, it works smoothly, including a with a controller plugged with BT into the laptop! It's not without any problem, obviously: - one or twice a day, the image will glitch, and I will lose control for a few seconds. So don't do remote surgery or bank your MMR on it. - the linux client just doesn't work on the lastest Ubuntu. I have to reboot every time to my windows session. - I'm in France, so YMMV, since I have no idea how good the ping to their server is from the US. Work fine from Germany. - if you alt tab for too long the shadow client (from the laptop windows, not the shadow windows), it will consider you are not using the machine and disconnect (probably part of their business model). I lost data this way. - the GPU you get depends of where you are. Some get a P5000 with 16GB GDDR5X, some a GTX 1080 with 8GB GDDR5X and some a RTX4000 with 8GB GDDR6 - if it gets through, it can act as a VPN. Unfortunately, the ports it uses may be blocked. - their support is google-level terrible. If the answer is in the FAQ, you are good to go. If not, you are on your own.

maxwelldone 5y ago

A QMK or a similar programmable keyboard. Often found in mechanical ones. I believe QMK supports 32 layers. So far I've only needed 4 or 5 but the boost in productivity is night and day.

awiesenhofer 5y ago
Looks interesting, how do you use it?
- bikingbismuth 5y ago
  I use an Ortholinear keyboard and I remapped all the brackets to make more sense (to me). I also have few very common programming symbols on another layer like “:=“, “if __name__ …”, “try…except”. I have a layer that is my “network numpad”. The right side of my board (a Levinson) in this mode is: EF789(Del) CD456(Macro to type 255) AB123(Enter) __0.: I also have a HID device attack mode layer that has payloads for popping shells, adding accounts to windows machine, grabbing wifi passwords, etc. This one is just fun stuff from my previous life in red team InfoSec. Some of this is overkill but it shaves a few seconds off my day and I had a lot of fun building it.
- maxwelldone 5y ago
  How do I use it? Let me give some examples (from my current driver - 68% board): 1. The bottom left key (Cntrl) is L1. I chose it because it's easy to just lean on it by the side of my palm as opposed to pressing it which is a hard to reach point. It controls commonly used hotkeys like window management, media (vol, play/pause), clipboard etc. 2. A layer for symbols & fn keys. 3. A layer just for VS Code keys. For instance, Ctrl + Page Up/Down behaves like mouse scroll (on Mac), so I've dedicated layer keys around home row. It's naturally placed near home row navigation. I also have some handy macros like that will type language specific stuff like "() => {}" and move cursor inside parenthesis, etc. 4. Another layer for pretty much everything else. Like, locking & unlocking my Mac (bad practice to have pwd in macros, I know), opening "about:logins" in FF, tagging files (Ctrl 1,2,3...) etc. Pro Tip for newbies: 1. Get comfortable flashing new configs (which shouldn't be a problem these days) 2. Don't over optimize layers & macros - go with something decent that will solve major pain points. 3. While using, make a note of things that work, things that feel odd and things you never use. Then, make incremental modifications. Rinse & repeat. For people considering Mech boards: It need not cost an arm & a leg. The first board I bought was Tada 68 which cost around 120 bucks. Getting a board with swappable keys might be tricky at this price point - but if you know what sort of key you want, this shouldn't be a big problem. As with SW development, start simple & expand based on necessity.

btschaegg 5y ago

If you play an instrument as a hobby: A proper König & Meyer sheet music holder (10068). It's not foldable, but very stable. If you only ever used foldable sheet music holders, you don't even realize what misery you could simply avoid. Beside not dealing with falling sheets all the time, you can also properly write on it without descending into madness. If you have to deal with larger pieces, something like the Berolina Manufaktur Magic Music Board will also come in handy. Alongside with that: A magnet ring you can put your pencil into, so you can attach it to the underside of your sheet music holder. This way, it won't get into the way of flipping pages. Or, if you have to deal with the finicky ones, you can increase the stability of your sheets with it by fixing them with the pencil somewhat.

grujicd 5y ago
If you play a guitar, get something like Hercules GS414B stand. It locks the guitar when you put it, so it's very hard to be knocked out by kids or yourself. Then it's safe to keep the guitar near the place where you usually sit and then you'll play much more often.

atc 5y ago

Rice cooker - so convenient Ducky One S2 mechanical keyboard - compact but a delight to code on

wly_cdgr 5y ago
+1 for rice cooker. So versatile and so convenient

christophilus 5y ago

80% mechanical keyboard (Vermillo). Fountain pen. 5k monitor.

db48x 5y ago

An Intel Optane NVME SSD. <10µs latency for both reads and writes even at low queue depths. There are newer NVME SSDs with more IOPS, but only at high queue depths, and their latency is a lot worse. If you put your swap on your Optane drive, you can use hundreds of gigs of swap without making your machine unresponsive. Makes a great place to put a database too. Check out this screenshot http://db48x.net/temp/Screenshot%20from%202019-12-09%2013-27-07.png http://db48x.net/temp/Screenshot%20from%202019-12-09%2013-27... See where it says “avio 3.53µs” and “avq 0.61”? That’s 284,000 IOPS even with nothing queued up. With any other drive you would be lucky to get a tenth of that at QD1. Even better, this is a mixed read and write workload; most drives are fastest when you are only reading or only writing.

timando 5y ago
Intel discontinued Optane for consumers.
- awiesenhofer 5y ago
  You can get the enterprise ones used on ebay
ncmncm 5y ago
I had an Intel nVME SSD. It failed catastrophically after only a year. I posted about it, and somebody from Intel said, not surprising, that model was crap. Apparently the only products Intel goes to any effort to make reliable are the ones meant for data centers. So, no more Intel for me.
randomopining 5y ago
How does this compare to a Hynix p31 gold nvme?
- db48x 5y ago
  Probably very favorably. I’ve never used that particular SSD, but if you have one you could measure the latency and IOPS under a similar work load and find out for sure.

dividedbyzero 5y ago

- Airpods Pro: Sound really good, walking around freely during calls has been great, solid noise cancelling. Most useful and fun pair of headphones I've ever owned by a long shot. - A single 27" 2569x1440 screen on a monitor arm. Had a 34" Ultrawide, an Apple Cinema Display and several combinations of multiple displays, but that's my sweet spot. Would love to have 5k, but these are still too pricey. - Metabo PowerMaxx BS 10.8v cordless drill. Almost as powerful as a big one but so small and light that it's suitable for delicate work and cramped corners. I've used it to screw small servos to an acrylic robot backplate and drill 12mm holes through 100mm of wood. - Philips Hue: I'd never have thought how much of a difference being able to have warm, dim light in the evening and cold, bright light in the afternoon makes, but it's huge. Also makes it easy to have half a dozen dimmed small lamps instead of a single big one. I have LED strips behind my screen that have cured my nightly headaches. - A small Victorinox Alox knife with just a blade and bottle/can opener/flat screwdriver. Lives permanently in my coin pocket and I wouldn't have believed just how often this comes in handy. It's also totally non-threatening, which is a must in an office environment. - A tiny flashlight on my keychain. I use this a lot in the darker months, it's so much quicker to get to than fumbling with my phone. - Victorinox Bike Tool: A 6mm or so hex key, a bit adapter that goes onto either end of the hex key, a number of metric bits (hex, philips, torx) and a pair of plastic tire levers. Snaps together into a package so lightweight and small that I actually have it with me when I need it and versatile enough to be useful, with bits for just the screw heads I actually have on my bike. - A tarp poncho for summer/fall hiking. Much airier than a rain trousers/jacket combo, keeps me dry even in torrential downpours, backpack fits underneath, plus it doubles as a simple shelter in a pinch with a few tent lines and a hiking pole. Has saved the day more than once. - A proper microphone (Elgato Wave 3), turns out I sounded like shit on calls and such but no one had the heart to tell me, but finally someone did and I got that microphone, mostly because it has an integrated pop filter (that also works). I've compared recordings with the old setup and the new microphone and it's night and day. I can't quantify it, but I believe not sounding awful has made at least some positive difference in how people interact with me. These days, audio is often as not the only way people get to perceive me. - A TS80P USB-C soldering iron. I run this off a spare Macbook power adapter, so my soldering setup hardly takes up any space now. Being able to dial in just the temps I need has made for much better and more consistent solder joints, and I haven't even started digging into custom firmware.

j4yav 5y ago

The Apple Watch surprised me in how much awareness of my health it generated - mainly how much and what quality sleep I was getting, but also other general signals. It helped me pay more attention and make some good health improvements. Presumably any other smart watch offers similar benefits.

dkobia 5y ago
Second this. I was highly skeptical of the watch until I received it as a gift for Christmas. It has made me more acutely aware of how sedentary I’ve been during a typical work day. Closing the rings is now an obsession and I’m better for it.
- tzs 5y ago
  Mine too. I currently have a streak of 1004 consecutive days of closing all three rings going on. > Closing the rings is now an obsession and I’m better for it So far I've not become obsessed about it. It is more that I've changed my habits so that I'm more active. There have been a few times where before the watch I might have skipped my morning walk due to something like waking up with a sore ankle, without even checking to see if it was a "you slept on it wrong and the soreness will go away when you move it a little" kind of soreness or a "OK you actually did hurt it yesterday and should just stay off you feet all day" kind of soreness. Now I check, and so far it has always been the former. I'm thinking of intentionally taking a day off and missing closing all the rings just to keep from accidentally becoming obsessed over the length of the streak.
  - d3nj4l 5y ago
    Congrats on the streak!
  - kemayo 5y ago
    I'm on day 1,805 of my streak. I find that this is well past the level where people just make fun of you if you tell them about it. ;-)
dividedbyzero 5y ago

tmaly 5y ago

A Blue Yeti microphone on a Rode shock mount arm paired with Bose speakers. This has made meetings from home amazing. No headphones or mic issues.

kyriakos 5y ago

Xiaomi roborock. Amazing how much dust it collects and how easily it works unattended.

smoyer 5y ago

I spent more than I should have for a pair of ErgoDox Infinity keyboards ... they've made a tremendous difference in the health of my hands, wrists and elbows!

edude03 5y ago

A Mac Pro (2019) - I was/am using the 2019 Macbook Pro, but under heavy load (compiling rust/flutter mostly) the machine would get slower and slower as it became more and more heat saturated, and worse, when driving an external monitor the GPU would get hot as well and the whole UI becomes slow. The mac pro is ~2.5x as fast in compilation but more importantly it doesn't lose responsiveness when the CPU is fully loaded, so I can still browse the web while waiting :D EDIT: I said 2016 MacBook but it's the 2019 16" (2.3 GHz/8Core/i9) and to be clear, I know the 8-core Mac Pro on paper, has faster clocks, but it's surprising how much of a difference the thermal headroom makes to responsiveness and productivity

throwawaynay 5y ago
sounds kind of insane that a 2-3k$ laptop can't compile stuff and allow you to browse the web at the same time lol
- jeromegv 5y ago
  That’s a 6 year old laptop. Highly dependant on what you compile as well.
  - edude03 5y ago
    Sorry, I said 2016, but I meant 2019. I was (in my head to be fair) comparing an 8 core Mac Pro 2019 to a 8 core 2019 MacBook. I did later upgrade to 16 cores though

Bandrsnatch 5y ago

In the early 1990's I worked for a communications company and I recall saying that the cell phone was a game changer and that it would be used for more things than the current computer which was the biggest tech item being purchased at the time. Flash forward to 2022 and I am travelling across the world and I noticed that everything one needs to do requires a cell phone app from seeing a menu (QR codes) making reservations, to ordering tickets, ordering an Uber ride, to getting directions, getting on a plane, showing your vaccination status, checking your health vitals, face timing appointments. EVERYTHING! The cell phone became more important and powerful than I ever imagined and the cell phone has still not reached full maturity as a communications device.

sys_64738 5y ago
Yeah, I remember using the internet back in 1991 for the first time and thinking if only I could use this at home or on the train. I saw my first mobile phone and pager back in 1994 then it kind of made sense. I remember trying to explain it to others but nobody grasped the internet existed outside academia.

jonathanstrange 5y ago

A simple Pok3r mechanical keyboard, I think mine has blue Cherry switches. I recently changed to an even cheaper (ca. $40) mechanical tenkeyless. People might flame me for saying this, but it really doesn't matter to which mechanical keyboard you switch when you're used to cheap rubberdome keyboards. Typing is so much better on any of them.

cehrlich 5y ago
I agree completely. I bought a Keychron because they're reasonably cheap and have ISO layouts available. I hear online that the case feels cheap, the keycaps are low quality, etc. The only explanation to me is that these things are written by people who don't actually use them as the tools that they are. I've been typing on mine for about 6 months now and it has been great other than the RGB occasionally turning itself back on for some reason.
fanf2 5y ago
The thing that really impressed me about mechanical keyboards is the QMK firmware and the VIA configuration tool. Superlative examples of open source hardware and software.

squaresmile 5y ago

The Logitech G305 mouse for $40 (or any current gen wireless gaming mouse). I don't play game competitively but I have always felt latency with previous gen wireless mice. The recent wireless mice feel like wired to me. It's quite nice to use a wireless mouse with a large mousepad. A large desk is also a must imo.

cracrecry 5y ago

Midi devices. I have lots of the cheap ones for controlling my software with hardware wheels: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=umO-Bwzl3f0 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=umO-Bwzl3f0 I also control software like blender using those, even my emacs use that. It is always in the same place and once you learn it, you are so fast. I also use sheets of paper and color pens.

n4bz0r 5y ago
That's MIDI devices as-in devices with MIDI port (like synthesizers), right? The video looks interesting, haven't seen joysticks/controllers being used in such a fashion. What kind of devices (brands/models) do you use if you don't mind sharing?
- crtasm 5y ago
  I see a korg nanokontrol2 in the video clip, not sure about the others. midi controllers run over USB nowadays.
awiesenhofer 5y ago
I'm intrigued - how do you control emacs with it?
laserlight 5y ago
Can you give some pointers? I’m interested in using non-traditional input devices but don’t know where to start.
- hiptobecubic 5y ago
  At least in linux, midi devices can be read just like any other character device. It's not a ton of work to read the midi data and translate it to keypresses or whatever else you want. I used to have a Griffin Powermate and did something similar with it. It was a ton of fun.
  - laserlight 5y ago

snowwrestler 5y ago

Switching from a mouse to a multitouch trackpad completely resolved my wrist pain, and I find gestures essential to productivity now. I started off with a Fingerworks trackpad; this is the company Apple bought to bring in multitouch technology. Then when Apple’s trackpads got big enough and supported enough gestures, I switched to those.

capableweb 5y ago
I've been eyeing the Apple trackpads for some time now, as the experience of their trackpads are like no other (for laptops at least). How well does the standalone trackpad work with Windows and Linux? Those are my main OSes I switch between, and it's very nice that mouse input is exactly the same for both so muscle memory works perfectly well, would the same be true for using a Apple trackpad?
- 555h 5y ago
  I recently got the Apple Magic Trackpad 2 for use on linux. I use it on the left side of my keyboard, so my right hand isn't taking all the RSI wear from using a mouse. Overall, it works very well. It's basically plug-and-play. I only use it wired (with the included lightning-to-usbc cable), so I can't speak for the bluetooth experience. I'm using KDE5 on xorg 7.7, and the multi-touch features work fine (two- and three-finger click). I haven't tried setting up gestures (three-finger swipe, etc) yet, so I'm not sure how well those work. One issue is kinetic scrolling, where the page keeps scrolling with inertia after your input (like on a phone, or on macs). Without this, two-finger swipe scrolling will just emulate sending individual scroll wheel clicks to the app, which I find very unsatisfying. At least on my setup, kinetic scrolling doesn't work by default. Maybe more bleeding-edge distros, or Wayland, or GTK DEs have better support for this -- not sure. I got firefox to support it by starting it with MOZ_USE_XINPUT2=1. Chrome, Libreoffice, Konsole, and other apps still use the scrollwheel-type behavior. I haven't really spent much time looking into kinetic scrolling for them. I think this is probably the biggest drawback, but my impression is that it's not specific to the Apple Trackpad.
- snowwrestler 5y ago
  I’ve only ever used the Apple trackpad with a Mac. The Fingerworks trackpad worked great with Windows. Basically you map gestures to keyboard shortcuts (it came with a bunch out of the box), so anything you can do with key combos, you can do with gestures instead: app switching, opening and closing things, cut/copy/paste, etc.

hrgiger 5y ago

This year we moved new apartment, so I had opportunity to renew most of the staff I was planning, from multi-monitor stand, some powerfull homelab server to robocleaner. From all of this, the cheap trash box I bought with sensors always make me smile whenever I use, I didnt even notice I needed before. Its quite big so enough storage for 1-2 day and when your hands get closer even in dark it opens automatically.

nickjj 5y ago

A 2560x1440 monitor running at its 1:1 native resolution. The screen real estate improvement over 1080p is substantial. You get so much more vertical space and you can easily fit 4 side by side code windows at 80 chars. At 24" or 25" the PPI is also quite nice for reading text. I wrote up a very big monitor selection guide at https://nickjanetakis.com/blog/how-to-pick-a-good-monitor-for-software-development https://nickjanetakis.com/blog/how-to-pick-a-good-monitor-fo..., I try to keep it up to date by supplying alternatives to the ones I've purchased. Some of the monitors I recommended were $330 when I bought them but are now $500-700, although sometimes they come back in stock at $350ish. I made the switch around 5-6 years ago and still think it was one of the biggest upgrades for general quality of life improvements when using a computer. The only reason I haven't gone 4k is because using one at 100% scaling at 27" or less isn't really feasible due to how small the text is and using a 36" one to be able to comfortably view it at 100% scaling feels too big for using it in a normal desk environment. Personally I'd rather have the flexibility of 2x 24-25" 2560x1440 monitors, plus 120hz / 144hz 2560x1440 monitors are very abundant if you're into games (although you can make a strong case that 120hz+ is very noticeable and useful for general usage too).

trabant00 5y ago
Wait till you get a 32 inch 4k one. I am shocked a lot of IT professionals still use 1080p when the above can be found for as low as 250 usd with discounts
- bsenftner 5y ago
  I have four 4K screens, and it is heaven. I got spoiled early in my career by a Unix system that had a greyscale newspaper layout monitor in the early 90's. That monitor could crispy display an unfolded two page newspaper layout with space on the left and right for tool/editing interfaces. For a while, 4K monitors were landing right near US $300, so I got 4 over a period of months. Simply being able to array references around my work, with space to spare for communication and music interfaces. It is lovely to hit stride and before I know it the day is over, and a ton of work accomplished.

heavyset_go 5y ago

A vertical mouse did amazing things for my wrist.

rdtwo 5y ago
10$ vertical mouse was a life and wrist saver

bemmu 5y ago

Adjustable stand for your phone (gorilla stand or tripod). Helps to position your phone during video chats such that everyone is in the picture. When buying make sure it supports both vertical and horizontal.

Waterluvian 5y ago

Not exactly the question, but disabling my doorbell and my answering machine. Absolutely not joking. My life has improved so greatly. I am not a thrall to the interrupting whims of others.

mastermedo 5y ago
Exactly, I disabled all notifications on my phone except the actual phone aspect. The only notification I get is at 10am and 6pm to check my mail. A true life changer.

khaledh 5y ago

The switch from a mechanical HDD to a SDD was the biggest gain in performance I've seen from any piece of hardware. I still remember the time when HDDs were the norm and the agony of waiting on loading/accessing something from disk was real.

heywire 5y ago
I do a lot of work with virtual machines at <dayjob>, and don’t have enough room on the internal ssd to hold them all. I usually swap them in and out as I work on different projects, but every once in a while I’ll boot one direct from an external usb3 HDD. I can’t believe we used to work that way. I couldn’t imagine going back. An SSD can breathe new life into a 10+ year old system easily, too.
- ColonelPhantom 5y ago
  What OS are you running inside the VM's? I was quite late with upgrading to an SSD, and Windows 10 was unusably slow, while Linux was quite usable. Sure, it still got quite a bit faster with an SSD, but it was far from as life-changing as it was for Windows.
dlhavema 5y ago
I cannot agree more. This switch breathed new life into my home ( Windows 10 ) computer. If only i did it with a larger drove though... Im atruggling through my system drive on a 90gb ssd...
- stevezsa8 5y ago
  Given how cheap SSDs are now, unless you are living below the poverty line, buy a 500GB MX500 for ~60USD. You deserve it :]
- pmarreck 5y ago
  this is waaaaaay too small. you can definitely afford something larger now
5y ago

dustractor 5y ago

About ten years ago, I lived in an area where power outages were a common occurrence, sometimes lasting up to a week. Naturally, during those times, I found it necessary to own some sort of flashlight or headlamp, along with whatever batteries it took. Unfortunately, being that this was in rural America, all of the available headlamps (coleman/energizer/craft, at walmart, at lowes, at DG, etc) are of such low-quality that they basically start out being trash. As a rule, they take three AAA's, and also, as a rule, they flicker out all the time so you have to give a technical-tap every few minutes to jiggle the loose connections, and that's when they're actually working. Over the course of two years, I went through five headlamps. I had one explode on my forehead after only five minutes of use. It made me very sad, that we as a species appeared to have forgotten how to build a simple apparatus consisting of a light-bulb, a switch, batteries and wires. So then I got a Fenix. It's machined out of a single block of aluminum and it takes 18650 cells instead of triple A's. I've used it on a regular basis for the last decade and it still works every time I need it, the whole time I need it. No more technical taps.

rdtwo 5y ago
Yeah a nice 60-100$ flashlight is a pleasure to use
Cr0s 5y ago
Just opened my drawer to check on my flashlights after reading this. 3 out of 4 appear to be dead.
btschaegg 5y ago
Ah, yes. I also have a heap of defunct flashlights around. Took me a while to find some good ones. My modern preference: One of the Olight Baton series. I've got an old one (I see the new ones even allow recharging batteries without removing them). The magnet in the back can be really useful if you need an improvised stationary light for working in the dark. Also, if you need a detachable front light for your bike: Consider the Busch & Müller Ixon IQ Premium. This is the only sane detachable front light I was able to find. It provides enough light (10 and 80 lux, a rarity nowadays) and runs on replaceable batteries with a standard form factor (AA) that can be recharged without taking them out.

bikingbismuth 5y ago

A small macropad, in my case a CU7. I’ve mapped keybindings that I commonly forget like mute/unmute for Teams, delete/archive for Outlook, and I have a macro for putting in my username and username+work email. Makes signing into things a bit faster.

logicalmonster 5y ago

Open ear headphones that use what they describe as bone conduction technology really added some value to my life. It's tough to go running in normal headphones because you can't hear danger (cars, animals, people, etc) but it's a lot easier to push yourself with some good background music. This gives the best of both worlds.

tmikaeld 5y ago
Which headset is good enough? I backed some kickstarter years ago which failed, so i never tried bone conduction again.
- derwiki 5y ago
  Not GP but I like my Aeropex by Aftershokz
- scatters 5y ago
  Aftershokz Aeropex. It's worth trying them out though; see if a running store near you will let you try them out on their treadmill.
- verst 5y ago
  I've run thousands of miles with Aftershokz Trekz Air. Battery Life is still great after years. Just yesterday I ran 21 miles and listened to 3 podcasts while doing so. Afterward the headphones still reported a battery level of "high". Sure you don't get amazing music quality, but it's good enough for the distraction and I always hear every bicyclist approaching me from behind.
  - tmikaeld 5y ago
    Thank you, I’ll check them out, sounds great
mateuszf 5y ago
> It's tough to go running in normal headphones because you can't hear danger There are some noise reducing headphones (like Airpods Pro or Sony Wh-1000xm*) which have ambient mode - mixing music with external noises which also work great for that scenario.

tezza 5y ago

* streamdeck (with AutoHotkey) saves more hot loop critical tasking than i could have dreamed of * Microsoft X6 keyboard - the original hot action key - svn st, svn diff, svn ci -m “”<space><back><back> as an example of the very frequent things replaced by a discrete key each

abducer 5y ago

And 18650 powered flashlight, such as one made by Fenix. (Also note they make a keychain flashlight which could stand in for the device in another toplevel comment.) The 18650 is more your standard flashlight though. I used to have a flashlight, who doesn't? But now I consistently take one when hiking, looking for stuff, etc. The brightness and even cast of the beam, plus the long battery life, mean it has a lot of utility for working at night or in a poorly lit space. You can use it as a lantern, too, just stand it up or hang it. Bonus points for USBC charging. An insulated mug. I didn't think it would change the way I drink tea. Now I can bring it to my desk and take small sips. This helps me get back to work and stay focused, and probably reduces my overall consumption because I don't feel like I have to chug while warm and then go brew more.

needSomeCoffee 5y ago

Makita Brushless 5amp drill combo set. I have used a wide variety of battery powered drills and drivers for decades. If you do a lot of home projects building things, you will use these tools often. Never was dissatisfied with other brands (Ryobi, Bosch), but decided to treat myself one year as I believe Makita Brushless is top of the line today and I wanted more powerful batteries. Best decision ever. So much power, the 5 amp batteries last so long. I have driven 1/2 x 6 inch lag bolts into fence posts with the driver and it did not complain. Just an amazing upgrade (notably because of the 5 amp batteries). If you are starting out building a tool set, splurge and get these. Just remember to store them in your house not the garage as heat/cold cycles can really reduce the batteries cycle count. Only negative is that the driver is so powerful one must be careful when driving smaller screws. Also, spend the extra money to get a good set of bits. I went with Makita for this as well, and the bits are very, very good relative to the many, many others I have used (Dewalt, Milwaukie, etc.) Links (I bought the drill/driver set at a good price thru Amazon with the smaller/lighter drill which proved a very good decision for me): https://www.makitatools.com/products/details/XT269T https://www.makitatools.com/products/details/XT269T https://www.makitatools.com/products/details/E-01644 https://www.makitatools.com/products/details/E-01644

bsenftner 5y ago

Make your own giant, the entire wall, whiteboard for practically nothing. Go to your local lumber, home building supply store and purchase "laminated particle board, shower wall panels". Last time I did this, they were about US $23 for a 6'x9' panel. Two of these completely cover an ordinary single bed sized room from wall to wall. I just drill the thing right into the wall, and grab white-board markers. I showed the building maintenance manager this trick at an animation studio I worked, and in a week the entire studio's walls, every wall, became a whiteboard. Scribbling ideas, any idea, on one's wall is liberating.

dlhavema 5y ago
Thats cool, white board paint is crazy expensive still
Cr0s 5y ago
This is actually genius. How often do you use it?
- bsenftner 5y ago
  Daily. It's a blast to scribble on the wall anytime ya want.

tkuraku 5y ago

A 43" monitor from Dell. https://www.dell.com/en-us/shop/dell-ultrasharp-43-4k-usb-c-monitor-u4320q/apd/210-avke/monitors-monitor-accessories https://www.dell.com/en-us/shop/dell-ultrasharp-43-4k-usb-c-.... It's wide enough that you can comfortably have three panes of code side by side and also tall enough that you can see a lot all at once. It's 4k, but it's so big you don't need much scaling to be comfortable.

namibj 5y ago
Iiyama also has both a digital signage and a desktop monitor as competition, both using MVA panels (the former's is even rated at 5000:1 typical static contrast). They might well be cheaper; I switched to the digital signage one as my daily driver because my old 40" 4k's backlight PSU has become too weak to be useful and that model of screen got EOL'd (the desktop variant I mentioned above was released 2~3 months after I bought mine). But unless you can color-calibrate yourself on the source, I'd recommend against the digital signage models as they don't offer any color profiles/factory calibration.

type0 5y ago

In no particular order: Trackball, mechanical keyboard, IPS display, SSD, coffee bean grinder, e-ink reader, nifty fifty lens, electret XLR mic, DAC for stereo system.

Turing_Machine 5y ago

The Amazon Kindle has completely transformed the way I read for pleasure. It is not as satisfactory for technical books, or anything with a lot of illustrations, but for standard novels it was a real game-changer.

pull_my_finger 5y ago
I've heard this a lot, but when you get good at formatting your ebooks it becomes nice for them as well. I generally use a combination of briss[1] and k2pdfopt[2] to crop the margins and sometimes split on columns etc for pdfs and it makes all the difference. Sometimes it can require a fair bit of manual tweaking, but you only have to do it once and it's very much worth it in reading experience. [1]: https://sourceforge.net/projects/briss/ https://sourceforge.net/projects/briss/ [2]: https://www.willus.com/k2pdfopt/ https://www.willus.com/k2pdfopt/

brenainn 5y ago

Probably my split keyboard running QMK. It's a Sofle I built from a kit. It forced me to learn to touch type, and after taking some time to setup layers I can now reliably type code at 65+ wpm. That's a big improvement for me, and more importantly I can now type without the interruption of having to look at the keyboard.

adriand 5y ago

Because a knee injury has prevented me from running, which was my go-to exercise previously (and because it’s too cold and snowy right now to cycle), I purchased a kettle bell on a whim. I find working out with it is much more enjoyable and challenging than I expected. It’s super small and compact, so it takes up no space in my home, and it is always there in my office waiting for me whenever I need to blow off some stress.

zoba 5y ago

I have enjoyed my DJI Mini 2 far more than I expected. Drones over 250g need registration/certification in many places (including the US). The Mini 2 weighs 249g and has a 4k camera. You do mostly get the same shots in one area so if you don't move around much it might get boring quickly. If you take weekend trips, or are nomadic, it will be a lot of fun.

qchris 5y ago
I believe that DJI just opened up their developer API for it, so some third-party apps (or maybe your own, if you're technically inclined?) will hopefully start offering things like waypoint missions as well!
- zoba 5y ago
  Yes the Litchi app already takes advantage of this on Android. Seems DJI will make the iOS apis available at the end of March and then there will be waypoint modes and tracking features on iOS as well.

d387afe03f 5y ago

cehrlich 5y ago

A bunch of 1L glass bottles with wide openings so that they're easy to clean in the dishwasher - has reduced the friction to getting enough water in, and I can't remember the last time I felt that type of tiredness that comes from dehydration. BenQ ScreenBar Plus - It's just a light that goes on top of your monitor, but it makes working much more pleasant. There's probably a clone that's cheaper and does the same thing, but I'd buy this one again without hesitation. About $200 worth of home workout stuff (exercise mat, adjustable dumbbells, resistance bands, pullup bar) - I had to stop running for a while due to some injuries and I hate going to the gym, so this has been a game changer in terms of staying fit.

Cr0s 5y ago
Yeah, home workout equipment can be surprisingly cheap but useful, especially if you can't or won't go to the gym. Problem is that I tend to just stop using my pullup bar, exercise mat etc. sometimes. I don't even realize it's been a few day without me touching them
GordonS 5y ago
I tried a BenQ ScreenBar and a clone, and found the clone brighter, while being a lot cheaper. It's a great device that lights the desk area nicely - I'm going to use the se forever now! I'd prefer to buy the BenQ, since AFAIK this whole concept was their idea - but the price is just so excessive that I couldn't justify it.
- baristavibes 5y ago
  Could you please post the name of your clone? I'm interested in this if it helps reduce eye strain
  - GordonS 5y ago
    Sure, it's Quntis: https://smile.amazon.co.uk/dp/B08HMLKS2N https://smile.amazon.co.uk/dp/B08HMLKS2N

drakonka 5y ago

* An ereader (Kindle, now Kobo) * Stadler Form George air washer. Not a full on humidifier, but does help keep humidity up in my dry bedroom. Also judging by the state of the water during my weekly cleaning it really does help to "clean" the air somewhat. * More recently, a high quality drying rack (inspired by the drying rack article linked here a few weeks ago). Helps me keep humidity up in my apartment and prevents me from trying to hang partly-moist laundry on my doors. In general makes laundry day a lot more tolerable. Didn't realize it'd make such a difference to laundry satisfaction. * A Roomba, currently S9 with the self-empty base that I've had for a couple of years. * A Litter Robot. No more scooping, cats always have a fresh box.

Calamitous 5y ago
I’m curious why you switched from kindle to kobo? I’ve used a few kindles over the years, what does the kobo offer that’s better?
- drakonka 5y ago
  Aside from the already great points made by others, I am trying to move away from the Amazon ecosystem a bit as both a reader and a writer, since I do not think Amazon is good for writers (in the long-term). Since I also plan to start publishing my fiction "wide" (ie on stores other than Amazon), it was a good time to get a non-Amazon reader to preview my books on.
- Haegin 5y ago
  I'm not the person you asked, but I switched from Kindle to Kobo when I realised I could get ebooks from my library on a Kobo. Now pretty much everything I read is from the library and I've not turned on my Kindle in well over a year.
- madvoid 5y ago
  Recently switched from a Kindle to a Kobo and here are my findings so far: Kobo Pros: * Natively handle .epub files * Overdrive integration for library books * Dropbox integration so it's quick to transfer files from my laptop * Pocket integration. Being able to read long form web articles on an e-ink screen is a game changer for me. * OS is generally better * Minor, but I like seeing the book I'm reading on the sleep screen Kobo cons: * Buttons are slightly worse than the Kindle's * For the Sage, the battery life is worse than the Kindle. I've heard the other models are better though.

habibur 5y ago

A raspberry pi when the GPIOs are used. So much of your home can be automated with such a cheap hardware. Plus the ability to ssh in and tune the code anytime.

derwiki 5y ago
What have you automated with a rpi? In case any of us are looking for inspiration

Kon5ole 5y ago

Wireless ANC earbuds. (Airpods pro or similar) Having high quality silence and/or music available in my pocket at all times was definitely more of a game changer than I expected. Using a 8K 55" tv as a monitor. I usually run it scaled, so I have basically the pixel area of a 4k screen but with retina resolution. Everything is crisp and large enough that even content placed in the corners is easy to read. Truly a game changer for work, so much so that I am puzzled why there are basically no 8k proper monitors available at sensible prices. This TV was manufactured and shipped halfway across the world where I bought it brand new for less than 1000 usd. And its a TV, with a TV OS, remote control, TV tuners and whatnot - HDR even. A normal monitor without all the TV stuff and sensible inputs (I have to use HDMI 2.1) should be even cheaper.

mangoTangoBango 5y ago
Which Model TV are you using? All I could find on bestbuy was a $1600 8k tv.
- Kon5ole 5y ago
  The model name of mine is LG 55NANO956. Sadly it seems to be discontinued and all replacements are larger and/or more expensive. :( I can understand that actually, I don't think 8k at 55" makes much sense for TV content since you can't see the difference between 4k and 8k at normal tv distance when the screen is so small. It makes a ton of sense as a retina-resolution monitor though! I half suspect that was the plan for the panel, and that some other market factor caused it to end up in a small run of surprisingly cheap TV's instead.
  - mangoTangoBango 5y ago
    Hah, now I want one. Have you had any problems with burnin? Looks like something like this is 8k & still in stock https://www.bestbuy.com/site/reviews/samsung-55-class-q900-series-led-8k-uhd-smart-tizen-tv/6355633 https://www.bestbuy.com/site/reviews/samsung-55-class-q900-s....

mehphp 5y ago

A self-emptying Roomba. It's unreal how much time this has saved our family. Well worth the money, and it's been going strong for years now.

yardie 5y ago
I feel like you have to design your lifestyle with a Roomba in mind. For example, we have a hard floors in a single story flat. Perfect for a Roomba. But we also have a few area rugs with tassels on the ends. It would get snagged on the tassels so I would have to run around and collect the rugs before running the Roomba. Now I don't even bother; it just sits there charging because I can't trust it to run unsupervised.
- jitl 5y ago
  Why not mark the region with tassels as a no-go zone? I got a Ecovacs N8 w/ docking station (~$500 on sale) [1] and trust it to stay away from small/thin no-go zones quite precisely [1]: https://camelcamelcamel.com/product/B08S7ND492?context=search https://camelcamelcamel.com/product/B08S7ND492?context=searc...
  - yardie 5y ago
    I've got an older Roomba that uses the IR towers for no go zones. Its also only 3 years old. Spending $500 every few years to get a new feature doesn't seem cost effective.
jitl 5y ago
This area is advancing at an incredible pace (in China). Roborock and ECOVACS (Xiaomi) advertise bots with computer vision cameras that can recognize and steer around obstacles like cables, shoes, books. These products typically come to China 6 months to a year before they have a US/western release. I am excited for docking stations that fill and drain ionized water and clean the bot’s mopping pads like the Ecovacs X1 Omni [1], released in Sept 2021 in China and announced for US release in March. And these features trickle down into low-end models quite quickly! 3-4 years ago a bot with LIDAR mapping, no-go zones, self-empty and 2-in-1 mopping were all quite expensive. Now you can get a good bot with those features for $500-ish from the midrange lines of these vendors. Watching the market feels a little like PC graphics in the early 2010s when vendors would release something twice as good every year for half the price. Although, a Chinese friend of mine recommended I wait for a later high-end model, which supposedly allows the docking station to connect directly to water/sewage lines and avoid dealing with bags & refills (other than air filters) entirely. [1] https://youtu.be/CQYUIVURDhk https://youtu.be/CQYUIVURDhk

rr808 5y ago

Ethernet cabling in the house, esp to desk and TV. Nice to avoid all wifi problems .

gspr 5y ago

Nitrokey [1]. Paired with the right software (pass [2]) it finally made password management sustainable and easy for me. [1] https://www.nitrokey.com/ https://www.nitrokey.com/ [2] https://www.passwordstore.org/ https://www.passwordstore.org/

PeterWhittaker 5y ago

There are three, maybe four. The 3, from least to most important, are: 1) My kneeling chair. Between the pandemic and a new job started a few months before, I am at my desk more than ever. I wondered about the ~acute angle between legs and torso in a regular chair, so I borrowed a kneeling chair from a friend. I figured I'd go easy on it/me and use it for just 15 minutes at a time at first. After a quarter hour or so, I switched back to my chair and was immediately all NOPE NOPE NOPE! Bought my own, adjustable one, later that day. Amazing. Best $100 ever spent. 2) My Delonghi bean-to-cup coffee maker. Had been looking for one after falling in love with the really high quality ones at European hotels, but didn't have a spare €7000. Found this Magnifica on sale at CostCo 5 years ago. Its nits and nuisances are so minor, I accept them happily: Great coffee, every time, exactly as I like it (grind and water volume are adjustable). Best $1000 ever spent. So good, it was one of only two possessions I wrote into my separation agreement. The other was.... 3) My Jeep. In 2009 I replaced my car with a old-style CRV and loved the extra height and clearance. I started to venture a little further afield. I had friends who off-loaded, and it intrigued me. Knowing nothing and knowing I wanted to try more serious off-roading, in 2014 I made myself the gift of a JKU Rubicon. Drove it through a swamp the first night and was hooked. It has literally changed my life. I did not know I was handy, or could be handy, now I wrench on it myself and like a lot of members of my club, I'm learning to weld (though more slowly than I would like), and I've gotten pretty good at trail repairs, macgyvering things well enough to get someone off the trail, whether that means just out of the way, or as far as a trailer, or maybe even home. I also did not expect to be really, really good at it. I've been a trail leader with my club for years, am club secretary, and am one of the guys who figures out new trails in our area, some of them, well, insane (really technical off camber climbs, high damage probabilities, etc.). And the people! Literally all walks of life and all views, and all amazing. King of the Hammers just ended; yesterday was my high holy day. My Jeep introduced me to KotH. My Jeep introduced me to some of my best friends, people who would drop everything at a moment's notice and help (my moving crew was all off-road buddies). My Jeep introduced me to going nowhere slowly, to rock crawling, and to discovering views otherwise accessible only by strenuous multi-day hikes. My Jeep is the reason my post-divorce house has an oversized garage stocked with tools. My Jeep is the reason I do so much of my own hands-on around the house. Between the relaxation that comes from really technical rock crawling and the confidence that comes from both doing that and from cutting holes in to and cutting things off of a very expense piece of machinery, and from the camaraderie and friendship and love within my off-road family, my Jeep has literally changed my life. Best never ending expenditure ever. Just Empty Every Pocket. (The fourth? Anti-climactic, but a set of Bose noise cancelling headphones. They were my daughter's welcome gift when she started a new job, but she already had a set, so she passed them on to me. I would never have believed they were anywhere worth the price, it all seemed such hype. I was wrong. They are very cool, very comfortable, and work very well. Best hand-me-down ever. :->)

Jare 5y ago

Wifi and SSDs

billfruit 5y ago

Induction stove, now my kitchen is totally free of combustion.

tbrock 5y ago

The 3dFX Voodoo2 - amazing leap in 3D gaming The oculus quest 2 - VR for the masses, so much fun, actually works well for the first time without $$$ The Intel Core CPU - multi core computing for the masses, huge performance and efficiency gains over prior gen merging pentium M tech Most recently Apple Silicon, specifically the Apple M1 MacBook Air: - it runs dead silent - it runs cool on my lap - it has a tiny charger - but mostly the performance blows away all non plugged in laptops besides other m1s and most desktops consuming many more watts at much higher temps and noise level Its amazing how much a difference having full performance while on battery makes compared to x86 counterparts. I was a linux on thinkpad guy for years but this made me flip back fullstop.

ecf 5y ago
Recently was given a 16” Intel MBP from 2019 for work after using my personal M1 Air for a few months and the damn Intel machine becomes warm simply by being on, idling away. It’s kinda ridiculous that we put up with Intel for so long.
als0 5y ago
I traded my M1 MBA for the new MBP 14 and I'm feeling regretful. The weight of the MBA and its 16+ hour battery life, just incredible.
- chi_features 5y ago
  I definitely felt the same with the battery life, until I switched on "Low power mode" while on battery (System Preferences > Battery > Battery > Low Power Mode). I don't notice the drop in performance (even whilst intensively using it, such as compiling code) but what I experience is practically the doubling of its battery life. Enjoy!
  - als0 5y ago
    Hmm I have been using low power mode since day 1 and it still isn't doing as well as the Air. I guess fewer efficiency cores will do that. I've removed all the x86 apps to maximize efficiency, but I'm still just under 14 hours. Have to say that the screen is lovely, though.

louiswilbrink 5y ago

remarkable 2. I use the chrome extension to send HN articles and read it there mostly. It has cut down my article surfing/skimming significantly. As a writing pad, it’s a perfect set of functions and is the origin device of all my ideas.

brailsafe 5y ago

Big ass display, Microsoft Surface keyboard, fancy chair, silicone based lube

gmays 5y ago

Some things for me: - A large water bottle. I don't drink enough water and this has been game changing for me. I first got a 1 gallon (which I never finished) water bottle but learned that .5 gallon is the right size and I always finish it and often refill. I'd say pick one that meets your needs, but I've tested a number and can highly recommend this one: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B094X6N4PG/ https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B094X6N4PG/ It's easy to carry, has a built-in straw and cheap ($20). - Multiple MacBook chargers. I purchased additional charger for my MacBook Pro at different parts of the house where I sit for long periods of time. Not having to go get my bag and dig out a charger is surprisingly rewarding. - A second set of AirPods so I have one dedicated for work and one for the gym that I keep in my bag, rather than occasionally forgetting them. It also helps that I can swamp pairs if I have a particularly long day of meetings. - A robust case for my MacBook Pro. I take my MacBook to and from the office, use it all around the house and have small kids. I've been through multiple cases, including the sleek expensive ones. For me, nothing beats this cheap one I found on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B083XZ3HP3/ https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B083XZ3HP3/ - A rowing machine. The latest Concept 2 is ~$900 which is surprisingly cheap for a great workout I can do at how and relatively quietly while listening to a podcast or watching a game. - A lapdesk. I use this daily and have multiple around the house wherever I end up sitting. They have fancy ones, but I've found the simple one is the best: just a piece of wood and a pillow: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07K1L3RNK/ https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07K1L3RNK/

mastermedo 5y ago
This is some heavy duty stuff you listed here. On the point about drinking water, I bought a desktop water dispenser, much more convenient than having to refill the water bottle. Instead of the rowing machine, I'm considering a barbell with weights. On the multiple equipment point, I fully agree. I got myself multiple hubs, one for each desk. No more carrying cables!
Cr0s 5y ago
A water bottle of the right size I found is much more important than it seems. I had pretty much the same experience that you mentioned: too big and I don't use it, too small and I can't be bothered to refill everytime.

fortran77 5y ago

I remember when my husband brought a TiVo 1.0 to the house and hooked it up. This was 1999. I didn't understand why I'd need one. Within a few days, I couldn't live without it. I could pause Live TV, and watch shows when I wanted to. I can't imagine any other way. When I see my 88 year old mother watching "live" TV, I get frustrated. The second piece of hardware that was a "game changer" was a Toto Neorest toilet. No more wiping!

plinkplink 5y ago
Toto Neorest... don't those things cost like, $10k?
thewebcount 5y ago
I was going to say this same thing about the TiVo and then later AppleTV. I thought the TiVo looked cool, but I was like, “eh, I have a VCR. It’s good enough.” But doing stuff to live TV was incredible. And being able to find things by searching with an interface instead of looking things up in TV Guide or whatever, was also great. Instead of thinking, “I wonder what’s on at 7:30 tonight?” it became, “I wonder if anyone’s showing StarGate this week.” It was a world of difference. Downloading commercial-free shows on the original AppleTV was also awesome, and then once streaming started, there was no going back for me.

GrantZvolsky 5y ago

Opening my ThinkPad e590 all the way and using a pair of push up bars[1] as a stand. The result is an ergonomic workspace wherever I go thanks to the top of the screen being slightly above my eye level (it wouldn't work with a smaller laptop). [1]: https://www.alza.cz/sport/sharp-shaper-spiral-push-up-bar-d5158225.htm?o=5 https://www.alza.cz/sport/sharp-shaper-spiral-push-up-bar-d5...

t-3 5y ago

Wireless charger - it doesn't really save time, and I still have a ton of cables everywhere, but it totally eliminates battery anxiety and provides a surprising amount of peace of mind. Obviously, you have to have hardware that's capable of charging wirelessly, but it's becoming more common these days. Also, you never lose your phone anymore. Ebook readers - I've been using them for years, and recent models with flat bezels are very much designed to break, but it makes reading electronic documents so much nicer than bright backlit screens. I've resigned myself to buying a new one every year until the technology comes out of patent and readers get nice unbreakable screens like modern cellphones. Retractable metal poker - got this off Amazon for my weed paraphernalia, listed as a metal toothpick. It's incredibly useful and has saved my ass countless times. Need to poke that reset button? Scrape some gunk out of a USB port? Clean your nails? It's good for everything except picking your teeth, which is just unnerving. Fridge-magnet box opener - not really a game-changer, but very convenient!

heavyset_go 5y ago
> Retractable metal poker - got this off Amazon for my weed paraphernalia, listed as a metal toothpick. It's incredibly useful and has saved my ass countless times. Need to poke that reset button? Scrape some gunk out of a USB port? Clean your nails? It's good for everything except picking your teeth, which is just unnerving. This is what I use a set of precision knives for.
Cr0s 5y ago
Any specific ebook readers you would recommend? I have been thinking about getting one recently.
- t-3 5y ago
  Right now, Kobo is the best, IMHO. Pocketbook is overpriced and underpowered, Onyx Boox run locked-down Android, Amazon is full of customer-hostile practices and spyware.
  - BuckRogers 5y ago

nicbou 5y ago

The latest iPad Mini. It was meant to be a Moleskine replacement. I draw a lot but I can't carry all sorts of pencils with me. I made it a dedicated drawing and reading device. No notifications, no emails, etc. Holy moly is it good. Procreate and Notability are incredible apps. Having different pens, layers and an undo button is fantastic. It replaced the paper pad next to my computer, as well as my Moleskine. The size is perfect. I carry that thing everywhere. I rarely leave the house without it. The best part is that it asks nothing of me. It never bothers me or does things worse than what it replaces. Oh and fully committing to USB-C. It saves a lot of luggage space, and everything is a power bank.

phildini 5y ago
Hard agree that the current gen of iPads are really incredible, and that Procreate especially is maybe the best creative app that's ever been made. They keep adding features under the same price point that make giddy with possibility.
EVa5I7bHFq9mnYK 5y ago
I recently discovered a device ... weights just one gram, foldable, biodegradable, battery holds for 1yr+, costs 2 cents. Stylus is replaceable and costs $1/dozen.
- nicbou 5y ago
  Cool how many brushes has it got? Does it have an undo function or some sort of cloud backup option?
  - guessbest 5y ago
    It has a cloud option but it requires a lighter accessory and a flame install. Luckily there are no known bugs, but without a proper firewall you may experience total data lose of unconnected devices.
joisig 5y ago
I use the latest iPad Air similarly. Got it and an Apple Pencil as a more-capable replacement for my reMarkable tablet and my Kindle, turned off all notifications and did not install any distractions. It's a great device. For me the main apps are Bear and Concepts.

chrisweekly 5y ago

In terms of strictly personal "game-changing" impact, it's my ReMarkable2 tablet. Happy to explain why (when I have more time) if anyone's curious...

pksebben 5y ago
I'm curious. I've been wanting better tools for working in the sun forever, and I've had my eye on that one.
christophilus 5y ago
Please do. I’ve been considering one.

analog31 5y ago

1. Rechargeable everything. 2. Snow pants that I can pull on over my regular pants to keep warm during the winter. 3. Puncture resistant bike tires. 4. Carbon fiber bows for stringed instruments.

bitwize 5y ago

My Das Keyboard 3. I bought it in 2008. Still using it. So glad quality mechanical keyboards made a comeback. A four-input KVM switch. Lets me switch between my main machine, my work computer, and a couple of other things easily. The VIC-20 my parents bought me when I was 5. No games, just BASIC on that rinky-dink thing. But it made me a programmer.

ExtraE 5y ago

My cheap mandolin. Makes cutting things thin while cooking fast and fun, and isn’t dangerous if your fingers are connected to your brain.

bloopernova 5y ago
Related: cut gloves. Everyone should have a pair!

parkingrift 5y ago

Air purifiers and air monitors. It is shocking and disgusting how much dust and particles these air purifiers suck out of the air. The air monitors detect when to open windows for CO2, among other things. My allergies no longer exist. Edit: A few people have asked for recommendations. I recommend the Coway Airmega AP-1512HH for larger spaces and Blueair Blue Pure 411 for smaller spaces. For the air monitor I have the Qingping.

megabless123 5y ago
can you recommend a specific product(s)?
- bluedino 5y ago
  Would like to hear some as well. Saw some at Home Depot but would like to hear some opinions.
- CharlesW 5y ago
  I've been happy with the Wirecutter recommendation: https://www.nytimes.com/wirecutter/reviews/best-air-purifier/ https://www.nytimes.com/wirecutter/reviews/best-air-purifier...
KaoruAoiShiho 5y ago
Yeah please some specific recs. I bought one and it was useless, yes I did take the plastic off.
- parkingrift 5y ago
  I added a couple recommendations.
  - KaoruAoiShiho 5y ago
    That's the one I have LOL.

sublatio 5y ago

Countertop air frier. It’s equally good for cooking and reheating food. In my household we use it about twice a day.

c54 5y ago

The new GaN transistor power brick charger thingies. Surprisingly small with high power output means no more carrying around a huge laptop power brick. Anker sells them on amazon under the “Nano II” brand

owenversteeg 5y ago
I can vouch for this. It's amazing - one of these tiny 30W chargers, barely larger than the 5W iPhone cubes, powers all my devices. Especially coming from a huge Thinkpad charging brick, this thing is magic. I have a PowerPort Atom 30W (about 1.5 inches on each side, or ~35mm.) It plugs into my M1 Air, and my iPhone charges off the Air's second USB-C port. Two cables and this tiny charger is all I need. There's a newer version, the Nano II, which is indeed slightly smaller, but some people claim that it has issues with various charging protocols so I don't see a reason to upgrade. My only complaint is that for whatever reason, these don't seem to exist with EU plugs. There are GaN EU chargers, but they're not nearly as compact, which is disappointing. The US/China designs (the plug types are similar) are hyper optimized for every cubic millimeter, which is cool, but the EU ones are just the US/CN ones bolted onto an EU plug, which obviously wastes space.
solarmist 5y ago
Yes! Being able to have a single small charger that can charge everything from my laptop to my headphone in a single device has simplified my life immensely. Similarly switching things to USB-c and having a USB charging hub in high traffic areas is huge too.

gpvos 5y ago

It's a fairly recent buy so I don't know how much impact it'll have, but I'm quite happy with my new keyboard without numeric keypad (they're also sold as "tenkeyless"). I never use the numpad, so this means my mouse is closer to my body and it's all more ergonomic.

unnouinceput 5y ago
My son has one. I hate typing on his keyboard when he needs my help, especially when I help him doing his math homework. You see I use the numeric keypad a lot on that hence the hate for his "tenkeyless" in that case. But he hates my large keyboard when he needs my computer, so that balances out, hihi. Each to their own I guess
- Cr0s 5y ago
  I see a lot of people praising tenkeyless but I use the numeric keypad so often I can't bring myself to buy one, even if my current keyboard uses more space.
  - fomine3 5y ago
    I'm comfortable with dedicated keypad on the left of a keyboard rather than right, because of the right is where mouse locates. Don't you?
    - Cr0s 5y ago
      My keyboard and mouse are actually pretty far apart from each other so for me a dedicated keypad on the left wouldn't really work, especially since when i use it i do so mostly with my right hand. Interesting suggestion though, it hadn't crossed my mind yet to try that.
    - gpvos 5y ago
      In the past I've often worked with my mouse to the left. But when I do that I like to switch the mouse buttons as well, and then it's a hassle when someone else uses the mouse. Nevertheless, it's an option.

Retr0id 5y ago

A subwoofer. No matter how high end your headphones, bookshelf speakers, or studio monitors are, they will never be able to punch you in the chest in quite the same way as a decently sized dedicated subwoofer. It's a night-and-day difference for listening to music and watching movies, or even just listening to human voices in youtube videos. Just, be careful not to bother your neighbours with it.

hackerfromthefu 5y ago
Love my Bose L1 compact for sound quality!
bluedino 5y ago
This goes for your car, too. A small powered subwoofer is such a huge improvement.
mastermedo 5y ago
I can vouch it affects neighbours, I've gotten many complaints from neighbours in the apartment below me. Especially when watching a movie. Cue a helicopter flying into the scene.
Cr0s 5y ago
The bothering other people bit is what i feel is mostly stopping me from using anything but a headset. I do have experience with subwoofers and there is a certain joy when they hit you, but the thought of the whole neighbourhood hearing my excellent taste in music bothers me somewhat.
- bredren 5y ago
  Have you looked into bass shakers? They are popular in home theatre enthusiast and driving / flight simulator crowds. Still niche, but can provide the sensation of heavy bass with near silent sound. I have a project integrating a wireless shaker system into the Herman Miller embody.
  - Cr0s 5y ago

yokto 5y ago

My ZSA Moonlander keyboard [1]. When I bought it, I was just looking for a sleeker and more ergonomic keyboard with a split design, but the ability to easily reconfigure every key on the layout brought a new meaning to the word "ergonomic" for me. It means that when a particular motion or shortcut that I frequently use is puts too much strain on my hands, I can simply change the layout to make the keys more natural too use. And it's just an overall incredibly well made product. [1] https://www.zsa.io/moonlander/ https://www.zsa.io/moonlander/

armis 5y ago
Can second to that, love my moonlander! However, I feel it's like configuring VIM - mixed feelings with the defaults but once you set everything "your way", then there's no way back. I couldn't believe how ergonomic tmux key bindings can be with moonlander's magic.
whichfawkes 5y ago
I love my Ergodox EZ. I'd recommend a split keyboard to anybody who has their fingers on keys for more than a couple hours a day. My shoulders and upper back feel so much better, and I swear I even look better because my posture has improved. Much less tendon pain as well. Furthermore, I'd recommend the EZ or the Moonlander to anybody who can spend the money. I'm sure you get a large part of the benefit from a cheaper split board, but the thumb clusters and custom keybinds are really really nice.
deleted 5y ago
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solarmist 5y ago
This seems like a low-profile version of the ultimate hacking keyboard. https://ultimatehackingkeyboard.com/ https://ultimatehackingkeyboard.com/ I'd be interested to see a comparison between the UHK, Moonlander, and Dygma Rise. They all seem to be converging on the same design principles. I agree, though; having a good split keyboard has been a requirement for me since I first got the original MSFT natural keyboard.

knolan 5y ago

My Specialized Turbo Vado e-bike. I can get to work comfortably and get some exercise and not be constrained by the limited bus schedule or be stuck in car traffic burning expensive fuel and generating pollution. Also our Urban Arrow cargo bike. We can get our kids the 3km to school in a few minutes while everyone else looks for a footpath to obstruct in their SUVs.

baggsie 5y ago

Google Stadia - I got a free controller & chrome-cast in a promotion a while back and sceptically tried it expecting massive latency and poor image quality, but ended up being blown away. Being able to play RDR2 on my MB Air and then switching over to the TV (without any interruption) is something that never gets old. It's such a shame that the product seems to be in its death throes.

BuckRogers 5y ago
It’s Google, least trustworthy steward of all. Expect Microsoft to become the leader there with Xbox Cloud Gaming.

mittermayr 5y ago

Herman Miller Aeron (Remastered). It's a hefty price if you look at 'regular' chairs, but once you have had one for a while, you can't go back to anything else. The amount of time you spend in that chair is insane. So, naturally, that, and whatever it takes to get good sleep. Also, a Logitech MX Master 2S, again because I use it all day, every day. They tend to become a bit stiffer over time it seems like, so I've had to replace them occasionally, but far, far better than Apple's approaches to mice or touchpads.

john-tells-all 5y ago
Aeron: seconded. When I started WFH I was using a cheap Ikea chair, not designed for programmer's hours. My wife insisted I get a much better chair. The Aeron was not cheap, especially shipped, but the difference is night and day. Three weeks after I got mine, my wife got one for herself :)
maccard 5y ago
aerons and steelcase leaps are regularly available second hand shipped on ebay. I bought one for me and my partner during covid and spent <$800 on both. They dont come with the warranty but in 12 years of sitting on one, ive only ever had to replace the feet and the armrests in the two ive had.
Cr0s 5y ago
The MX Master is a surprisingly good mouse, specifically the side buttons which I honestly did not think I would use at the start. Only problem is the thumb button which dies every now and then, but it's fixable usually within 10 min.
6bb32646d83d 5y ago
For people who want a good chair but don't want to spend that much, you can get a WorkPro 9000 or 12000 for under $500 new, and they're pretty close in term in comfort

barbazoo 5y ago

ESP8266. I've been tinkering with dev boards to control all kinds of dumb devices. It's also ubiquitous among smart devices and can easily be flashed and customized. Enabled me to build a nest little offline home automation system.

deepnotderp 5y ago

The Remarkable tablet

andruby 5y ago

I love my Fully Jarvis standing desk. It has a curved edge so I can “stand” into it. The Capisco Hag chair is even better. Tens of ways to sit/stand on it. Which is perfect for me since I can’t sit still.

john-tells-all 5y ago
Seconded on the Jarvis desk. It's quite comfortable, and holds two monitors and my notebooks easily. The legs and arms of the desk are much heavier/sturdier than I'd expected. The motor raising and lowering the desk is strong, smooth, and quiet. A fine investment!

pani5ue 5y ago

Guitar tuner I'm a beginner/intermediate hobby guitarist. Makes the guitar sound much better. Makes it easier to keep guitar tuned

incognition 5y ago
Alternatively tuner app on your cell

gottebp 5y ago

A whole house steam humidifier, if you live in cold climates. That feeling you have getting off a plane in a tropical zone, escaping the winter; you can bring that home. Sinus and allergy issues go down, mucus membranes stay healthy, and skin stops cracking.

jcrben 5y ago
Humidity kicks dust mites into hyper breeding mode, so not great if you have a dust mite allergy. I like to keep my home dry.
owenversteeg 5y ago
I totally agree, a humidifier is a game changer in dry climates. I imagine a number of people here will go ahead and buy the first thing labeled "humidifier" after reading this comment, so I'll be that guy and mention that ultrasonic humidifiers (not steam, as you mentioned) are potentially dangerous because they aerosolize not just the water, but everything in the water - minerals, bacteria etc. The idea is that these tiny particles of minerals are absorbed into the alveolar sacs and ducts of the lungs, where macrophages ingest these particles and trigger an inflammatory response. Enough of this inflammatory response causes silicosis and/or cancer, but exactly how much dust is needed is under debate. As far as the bacteria go, it's obvious why that's undesirable. In any case, it may be best to avoid ultrasonic humidifiers unless you can run them with distilled water. The EPA claims that impeller humidifiers also disperse large amounts of minerals and bacteria into the air, although I imagine the particle size is larger. The other two types of humidifiers are evaporative (usually use a filter) and steam humidifiers, which also have problems - for the former, you have to buy filters regularly as well as clean them carefully as they are also breeding grounds for bacteria. Unfortunately anything warm-ish and wet is a bacterial haven, so the EPA recommends that you dry and wipe down your humidifier every day, as well as a full scrub down once every 3 days, regardless of the humidifier type.

pmarreck 5y ago

3440x1440 monitor. I now own 3. :)

phlipski 5y ago

Radar cruise control is pretty awesome. It certainly reduces my stress levels when driving!

teleforce 5y ago

For me it is the Nintendo Wii Balance board [1]. It is still running strong even after more than 13 years of usage. I hope Nintendo will introduce a new balance board for the Switch console and together with the new Ring Fit it will be a blast for indoor fitness and exercise. [1] Wii Balance Board: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wii_Balance_Board https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wii_Balance_Board

jerome-jh 5y ago
Turns out last week I played Wii with my kids. We had great fun with Boom Blox. The combination of a pointing device and a motion sensor is what enables the Jenga-like mini-games. Something impossible on a Switch. Then I showed my kids the balance board, which is basically older then them and sat unused for a decade. Not a huge success. Personally I never got used to that gameplay. I think it is just dull, maybe because it remains completely static after all.

brysonreece 5y ago

Comma Three by Comma.AI Reduced my engaged driving time by like 90%. Coming from a history of <$1k vehicles, it’s amazing IMO that most of my trips to and from places now consist of me setting the cruise speed (even in midtown) and letting my vehicle worry about stop and go traffic. Could not recommend enough.

mastermedo 5y ago

For me, it was elgato key lights air. I can't tell you much more I enjoy spending time in front of my desk, and in my room in general. It's basically daylight during nighttime.

Arkanosis 5y ago

The list could be very long, but here are a few things which I have started using lately and which have proved more useful than expected: - A dish draining rack: that's very inexpensive and I'm wasting way less time and space than before arranging dishes. - A vertical desktop file sorter: exactly the same thing, but for papers. - Thin, fingerless gloves I can type with: while this has not solved my dry hands problem in winter, it has helped a lot. - Monitor and speakers stands: that has bought me a lot of desk real estate. - Pan lids: cooking is faster, smells less, and consumes less energy; also some food is less dry. And the thing I've been using for a few years now, but which has been waaaay above my expectations: - A headset with ANC and multipoint Bluetooth: a real life changer for work, gaming and phone calls; the most expensive item in this list, but definitely worth the price for me.

odiroot 5y ago
> Monitor and speakers stands: that has bought me a lot of desk real estate. Can you share what speaker stands do you use?
- Arkanosis 5y ago
  Gator Frameworks Clamp-On Studio Monitor Stand: https://gatorframeworks.com/products/frameworks-clamp-on-studio-monitor-stand-gfw-spkstmndskcmp/ https://gatorframeworks.com/products/frameworks-clamp-on-stu... I've spent countless hours weighting the pros and cons of many stand models, and this one checks all the boxes except one (you can only tilt it in one way); no other model I've seen comes close. Also, they feel very solid: I use them with the 10 kg Edifier R2000DB (awesome bookshelf speakers, BTW) and it's not moving at all.
  - odiroot 5y ago
    Thanks for the link. They're not even that expensive, ~90€ over here.
Cr0s 5y ago
To comment on the monitor and speaker stands, even just a bit more desk space can be surprisingly useful once you have 15+ things on your desk. Feels like one of those things you don't learn to appreciate until you need them.

odiroot 5y ago

Amazon Kindle (only bought two devices over 10+ years of usage), even the cheapest version. I find myself reading much more, I love having dictionaries and Wikipedia built-in. Travelling is so much easier than even with a paperback novel. Bluetooth keyboard and wireless mouse. I have (maybe unreasonable) dislike for cables on my desk. Currently my Thinkpad is raised on a mount, with just one USB-C cable coming out. It hides nicely under the mount's arm.

bufordtwain 5y ago

Electric guitar - it's been a game changer. Fun and stress relief at a low price. I play along to songs on YouTube. This has opened up a whole new world of music.

zmower 5y ago

An ISO stick. Looks like a DVD player to the OS but loads ISO images off a micro SD card. So I have lots of images in a USB stick form factor that are read much faster than a real DVD drive does.

sowbug 5y ago
Not sure if this is what you meant, but Ventoy (https://www.ventoy.net/en/index.html https://www.ventoy.net/en/index.html) turns almost any USB drive into one of these.

jcarpio 5y ago

Some great answers here. Mine: Air Pods Pro. Takes the edge off of traffic and other city noises while walking around. Makes it easier to consume audiobooks/podcasts. Plane/bus/train trips++. Wool pants, shorts (with gussets) and boxer briefs (Wool and Prince). Gussets make movement easier (walking) and wool pants/shorts go longer between washes. BB can be hand washed in sinks while traveling and dry quickly. Bonus, you can wear wool wet in a pinch. Magic stuff. Wool t-shirts from Duckworth. Tilley Hat for beating the heat (SPF 50) (again, great for walking or biking). With straps so it doesn’t fly off in the wind. Handsome looks, not (that) dorky. Brompton folding bike. Resisted this for years because I love non-folders but this thing feels like a proper bike, better even. Get it with a generator hub and lights and the six speed gearing (absolutely fine for hills, like in San Francisco). USB-C 20 watt charger for the iPhone. My goodness this thing charges the phone (12 Pro Max) fast. Worth the money. Thanks for listening.

niftywhip 5y ago
+1 on Air Pods Pro. Sometimes all you want is quiet, and these are a step function in ease of access to less sound.
elliottkember 5y ago
I love all the wool recommendations. Wool was everywhere where I grew up and I’ve been introducing all my California friends to it. I bought a beautiful wool blanket a couple of months ago and it’s such a treat

sowbug 5y ago

A large, dark deskpad. It marks the area of my desk where only mouse and keyboard are allowed and other detritus is prohibited. Trying to use a mouse while subconsciously shoving junk aside can be done. But it's like coding while you have to pee: you won't be fully in the flow until you fix it (no pun intended). The dark color was unexpectedly useful because it provides a clean and dark but well-lit area for scanning documents with my phone, including checks for deposit on a banking app.

flemhans 5y ago
But are the documents allowed on?
- sowbug 5y ago
  :) They get a temporary exemption.

effnorwood 5y ago

entropicgravity 5y ago

The Logitech MX Ergo "thumb ball" mouse. A normal mouse requires your entire arm to move to make the mouse operate properly. You might notice that the repetitive motion can cause muscle pain all the way from your shoulder blade, through your neck, down your arm to your wrist. A thumb ball requires just your thumb to move and makes life a lot easier on your arm. It takes two to three hours to transfer your motor memory skills from the standard mouse to the thumb ball and after that you're away to the races.

Jackdanie1s 5y ago
I use this but I still try to swap periodically with a normal mouse to give your thumb a rest.

anfractuosity 5y ago

I find this type of helping hand (made from flexible air nozzle tube) really handy for soldering - https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B07233QBBS/ https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B07233QBBS/ . I imagine there are heavier duty ones though, that use a mechanism other than that tubing.

dracodoc 5y ago

A good ink jet for printing photos and greeting cards. Previously I had bad experience with ink jet being the ink keep drying up, and laser is always better for black and white. However two use cases really make it worth to remember turn on ink jet and clean it regularly: - print photo by yourself, like passport photo, photo needed by forms. You may still need to adjust color/brightness a little bit, but it's way better than CVS. I didn't realize you can print 4x6 with this kind of quality. - print greeting cards. with quality paper it's looking very good. I use Cannon MX 922, regular 4x6 photo paper. For greeting card I use 44lb Epson Premium Presentation Paper MATTE.

owenversteeg 5y ago

Someone here mentioned a flashlight, so I'll mention what's by far the best headlamp I've ever bought, and I've tried a lot - the Nitecore NU25. Red LEDs, white LEDs, high-CRI LED, and it weighs under an ounce (although the headband adds 0.7 oz or so.)

MarkusWandel 5y ago

Years ago of course, but the original Core 2 Duo CPU (a Desktop E6300 in my case). Fast, power efficient and came with a nearly silent CPU cooler. Being able to assemble a (then) fast deskside machine that you could hardly hear was radical. Even earlier, the Canon EOS 300D "Digital Rebel" SLR. Single-handedly restored the joy in photography after a detour through early, limited digital cameras.

asciimov 5y ago

A tiling window manager. I settled on dwm. It helps me utilize more of my monitor. Gone are the days of overlaying windows, everything is front and center, and on it's own virtual desktop. A non-mechanical keyboard. I moved off of cherry style switches, and went with a topre clone. For me, the cherry mechanism makes too much noise when keys return back up. For me it was high pitched noise. A much more thocky keyboard actually keeps me from having noise induced headaches on heavy typing days. Blue light reduction apps on phones, tablets, and monitor and blue light reduction coating on glasses. This removed a ton of eyestrain. Yes, my phone and iPad now have a reddish brown hue to them, but most of the time, I don't care. I hardly notice it anymore unless I use my partners device. A color accurate monitor (with a good reader/blue light reduction mode). Having a monitor that wasn't close to having correct colors, even across the panel was maddening. Old LCD monitors are the worst. I don't need color correctness all the time, so the monitor needs a good mode to turn down the blueness. Having a setting in the monitor makes it a breeze to switch back and forth as needed.

nonplus 5y ago
Obligatory reply about linear (silent) cherry switches existing but mostly here to say I'm glad you found a keyboard you like. I think that's the takeaway I try to give people on input devices. Just get something you like and don't worry about what everyone else likes.
- darkteflon 5y ago
  I’d never admit to it on HN, but my favourite keyboard for non-gaming stuff is Apple’s Magic Keyboard 2, tenkeyless version.
  - hfourm 5y ago
    Checkout logitechs low profile mechanical gaming keyboard, the tkl is rather pricey but I much prefer it
  - nonplus 5y ago
    Yeah I've found I care a lot more about the layout than the keys. I've learned I just want ANSI 60. It's minimal enough, the cognitive load is low/all keys that are not first class are one layout/fn press away.

alexdeloy 5y ago

A set of cheap magsafe style USB connectors for MicroUSB and USB-C I ruined one wireless headset by ripping out the usb socket from the PCB after tripping over the charging wire. After getting a replacement I put the "magsafe" micro USB connector in and not only is it trip safe now, charging is soo much easier since the cable can be oriented either way. After that unexpected success I also outfittet my MX Anywhere and my Kindle with them and just throw a few in my laptop bag for use on the go or to share with other people.

captconstruct 5y ago
I've had absolutely no luck with the cheap ones off of Amazon. What kind did you go with?

radu_floricica 5y ago

Oura ring. Stopped having to guess how much fuel I got for the day. My subjective feeling has a shit correlation with how productive I really am, but the stats from the ring are pretty spot on. I have chronic insomnia so it might help me more than others, but I take quite a lot of decisions based on it. Over 7 hours measured sleep is a good day, 6-7 is standard, 5-6 means modafinil for the day (which turns it into a very productive day), under 5 hours I just chill without any expectations. I also up or lower my meds based on multi-day trends. It's coping and not a cure, but it's very high quality coping. And I couldn't do it without something to measure sleep - bad nights often have me wake up wired, and 9 hours in bed don't mean much without knowing how much of that I tossed and turned, which I don't always remember.

sodkmfkwegw 5y ago
It sucks that the company screwed over their loyal customers by forcing future updates of the ring behind a subscription service. I was about to pull the trigger on the 2, and they announced the three the next day with the subscription service so I ended up never buying one.

JoelMcCracken 5y ago

I bought a greyscale eink tablet that I use as a monitor. It is fantastic. I find myself much more able to concentrate while using it.

heavyset_go 5y ago
I'm interested in hearing more about this. Does the tablet itself double as monitor, or was it a hack?
- JoelMcCracken 5y ago
  https://onyxboox.com/boox_maxlumi https://onyxboox.com/boox_maxlumi This is the device It claims to not work on macos as a secondary monitor, but it does work for me, however the sides of the "screen" are invisible/cropped, so to use it I have to carefully arrange emacs and firefox inside the visible region. The refresh rate isn't perfect, but its more than good enough for my usage (emacs, looking at docs)
  - heavyset_go 5y ago
    Cool, thanks for the link. > The refresh rate isn't perfect, but its more than good enough for my usage (emacs, looking at docs) I really like the idea of an e-ink terminal and text editor.
    - JoelMcCracken 5y ago
      Feel free to send me an email if you want to learn more about it!

indiantinker 5y ago

Logitech Keys to Go keyboard is my absolute favourite device to type on mobile devices. I thought I won’t use it a ,but I find it quite handy. Most common occasions are : traveling, siting on a park bench, waiting in Metro or Airport. Most common tasks : Writing long email (i have this bad habit), replying/giving feedback on IM apps, Editing blog posts, Quick note taking, Transferring notes from pocket diary to digital software (Athens in my case)

ZeroGravitas 5y ago

Kinesis Advantage Pro ergonomic keyboard. Thumb cluster modifier keys. Staggered Ortholinear keys. Split, tented, cupped keywells. Remappable key assignments. Basically forcing you to touch type properly. Those are all individually amazing, but together a revolution. You can do better key remapping with software or qmk style firmware these days. There's more choice than ever for hardware variations with all or some of these features, but this was my entry point and I'll always be grateful.

solarmist 5y ago

A reverse osmosis water filter and a cheap glass pitcher. I've found that I'm pretty sensitive to the taste of water (good and bad). I don't mind the water in many places, but it can be very hit or miss. Over the years, the amount of water I would drink tended to change quite a bit from location to location. Instead, I use a reverse osmosis water filter to get completely neutral water every time I know there isn't anything reducing the amount of water I drink. It's HUGELY affected the amount of water I drink over soda, milk, tea, etc.

jsrcout 5y ago
That sounds intriguing. Any specific recommendations?
- solarmist 5y ago
  I just bought whatever was at Lowes. This is completely commodity technology. Generic is as high quality as an brand name. I think it's the AO Smith one. https://www.lowes.com/pd/A-O-Smith-Clean-Water-Filter-with-RO-Boost-Brushed-Nickel-Faucet/1000559453?user=shopping https://www.lowes.com/pd/A-O-Smith-Clean-Water-Filter-with-R... It includes a 4th stage to add a known mineral mix back in, but I didn't like the flavor so I just skipped that final filter. It's all just hooked together with 1/4” tubing so it's super simple to customize.

bredren 5y ago

It is a bit of a combo, but the Blackmagic eGPU was way underrated and slept on. I use the standard Blackmagic eGPU. But the Pro, Vega 56, (which was removed from sale) still offers the greatest __Apple supported__ graphics performance available for non-pro macs. IIRC, the most beefcake macbook pros don't beat performance on that Apple-supported eGPU that only runs with Intel machines. There were many voices saying the dollars per performance weren't there, but they did not take into account the silent design and excellent stability of those products. Nor that there would be such a long wait for any officially supported alternative to get graphics to the Mini. I started with a 4k but then went up to the XDR Pro Display on the 2018 Mac Mini. It remains a monster setup in a small, near-silent footprint.

Havoc 5y ago

Small passively cooled home server with loads of RAM and a hypervisor on it. The amount of practical learning that has enabled has been so worth it. (Think ansible, gitlab ci/cd etc).

darkteflon 5y ago
I use a dedicated M1 Mac Mini for this - media, storage, Docker, gitlab, etc. For me, it’s the perfect solution (Docker on Apple Silicon growing pains notwithstanding). Silent, powerful, frugal.

sudosysgen 5y ago

A laptop with an R7 5800 series CPU (or M1 Pro if it works with your workflow). 10+ hours of battery life, absolutely silent outside of load, more powerful than my desktop, cheap, and works on any OS.

BerislavLopac 5y ago

Chromecast

gpvos 5y ago

I still use a mouse pad made of hardwood and a hempen cover, and find it by far the most pleasant mouse pad I have ever used, with its very slightly rough surface that feels natural to the hand. You can even put it slightly over the edge of your desk and it won't go floppy. Easily cleaned every few months with some water and dish washing soap. In the age of mechanical mice, it also kept the mouse ball clean, but it works fine with optical mice too. I have two, one at home and one for work, and must have used them for more than twenty years now. Very durable, I am sure there would be a market for these things, but I have never seen anything like it before or since. I bought it from the now-defunct Hober folk web radio, one of the earlier internet radio stations, which only recently finally turned off their stream. Here's an archive page describing the mouse pad: https://web.archive.org/web/20021013110318/http://banqa.uaqa.com/hober/catalog/pad002.html https://web.archive.org/web/20021013110318/http://banqa.uaqa...

Tryk 5y ago
mouse ball?
- gpvos 5y ago
  Yes, it's in the second paragraph of https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computer_mouse https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computer_mouse

ed_balls 5y ago

headphones with noise cancellation (Bose). Remarkable 2. For reading and drawing stuff e.g. new kitchen arrangement.

baremetal 5y ago

learning to build your own stuff. its the only way to get quality when it comes to certain items.

steve_gh 5y ago

Reading glasses. An ergonomic Anker mouse that stops me getting RSI

milesvp 5y ago

Tennis balls. I get a lot of shoulder and neck pain and I don’t know how I managed before I discovered tennis balls for working out knots in my upper back. I lay on one, and move it around until I find the knots causing muscle strain in my neck. They have just the right firmness to give ratio to really work on tough knots near my shoulder blade that I used to use wall corners to try to work out.

anotherevan 5y ago

My Kobo ereader has been great. I read around 50-60 fiction books a year and they've almost entirely been in electronic format for a decade now. The Pocket integration has also been expectantly useful for reading various articles.

anotherevan 5y ago

A dog. Our previous dog passed away in November 2020 and we adopted a new family member late last year. It has been a joy watching his intelligence and personality blossom as he's gotten more comfortable with us (his previous living situation was not an entirely happy one.)

lioeters 5y ago

A pair of headphones: Sennheiser HD 280 Pro. I'm still using the same pair I bought years ago (maybe a decade?), but bought another pair recently because I like them so much. Clean sound, comfortable, and lets me enjoy and appreciate sounds, music, and even silence. (I often keep them on with no sound, haha..)

NomDePlum 5y ago

Microsoft Trackball Optical. Borrowed one 20-years ago when I hurt my shoulder snowboarding. The person who loaned it to me then left the company and told me to keep it. Still using it. Haven't had to use a mouse since. Never did like mice as used to find when overly focussed on something I'd end up half way across the desk without noticing.