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.
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-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).
I've tried a lot of different monitor setups for productivity - ranging from three 24" 4k displays to a single 49" ultrawide, and ultimately have found the best setup for me is dual 27" 4ks, each running at a "scaled" 2560x1440.
MacOS in particular does an excellent job of rendering 2560x1440 to a 4K screen, and the increased DPI over a regular 1440p 27" screen is very noticeable.
Another option if you're not a fan of 27" displays is a pair of 24/25" 4k screens which can be run at a scaled 2304x1296 resolution. This still provides a decent amount of space without text being too tiny. Alas, 4k monitors <27" are increasingly rare these days.
> MacOS in particular does an excellent job of rendering 2560x1440 to a 4K screen, and the increased DPI over a regular 1440p 27" screen is very noticeable.
MacOS in particular gets amazingly slow when you don't use a 1:1 or 2:1 scaling. I too have have two 27" 4k screens and they made the machine unbearably slow. It got so bad that I now treat them as 1440p screens and let the screens do the scaling. It's not pretty and slightly hazy, but at least the machine is usable.
macOS has secret modes that disable the 8x upscaling dance that happens in this situation. You access them by holding the option key while switching to scaled resolution from native. The text quality is very slightly worse but the performance is very significantly better.
There is a strange bug I've seen a couple of times where graphics, even simple things like scrolling a web page, get really slow even though it's supposedly using the GPU. Rebooting or logging out and in again seemed to fix the issue.
Also sometimes the virtual memory subsystem seems to get confused or overcommitted (e.g. after running a bunch of large VMs in VMware) and from that point on everything is just slow, even if you shut down every VM to relieve the memory pressure. It may be related to macOS's use of memory compression.
Then there are various background daemons (mdworker, syspolicyd, photoanalysisd, etc.) that occasionally wake up and decide to eat all of your CPU while simultaneously hammering your file system. The only effective response, short of disabling the offending service (which is much harder than it is on Windows or Linux, due to SIP) seems to be to let them run their course as they decide to scan every file they can find for the 100th time.
And when your laptop heats up, then macOS starts throttling the system via kernel_task processes that appear to be using all of your CPU.
My work laptop is a 2019 i7 MBP, it struggles with my 4k monitor regardless of scaling. I bought the cheapest mac mini last year to see what the M1 fuss was about, and it has no problem with the 4k screen, even with scaling.
Other OS's? Windows is passable until you start transitioning in and out of full screen. Linux...
My Windows games run at higher frame rates at 4k under Linux (Proton) than on Windows natively. I only had to set up the scaling once - just like I had to with Mac OS for the same monitor. Linux display issues are greatly exaggerated, IMO.
I was gonna say "Linux... what?" I have the least issues with any hardware on Linux compared to other systems. Monitors are no exception. And if something doesn't work out of the box, you have options, rather than just being SOL with other systems.
I've a 2019 16" MBP that I use for work, and it handles it fine as well; probably due to the discrete GPU kicking in once an external monitor is connected. Likewise, my M1 air sees no issues.
Maybe the M1s are better. I have a 2019 MacBook Pro. And two external screens, maybe that makes a difference. It was especially bad after upgrading to Monterey.
I don't "parrot" the claim. I've experienced the problem. It's day and night. After installing Monterey I couldn't run MS Teams on the external monitors anymore. It more or less locked up and I couldn't move the window back to the laptop screen. This was repeatable.
The whole problem went away when I selected 1440p (the "low resolution" one). It's fugly, but at least I can actually use my other monitors.
I also have the 2019 MacBook Pro and it's been a dumpster fire. I'm running 3x 4K monitors and it's completely unusable with the dedicated GPU (the 5500M).
I spent months trying everything I could think of: downgrading to Catalina, turning off transparency/shadows, running as few background services as possible, and not using scaling at all (which was the most effective solution). And this was only with 2x 4K monitors; I added a 3rd more recently.
Nothing worked. Thermal throttling and insufficient sustained power were two problems I was able to identify (the 96W adapter is not sufficient for the system's peak power load, so it uses the battery to get over 96W of draw).
Eventually, I broke down and bought an eGPU (Blackmagic eGPU) which solved the problem. For about ~$700, I'm now able to use my machine without a hiccup. Not a great or affordable solution, but it has made my $3,100 machine usable again.
I have an i9 2019 MBP 16” at work and also don’t notice a slow down when I bring it home. Maybe it’s a GPU bug?
I’m pretty sure my i9 model has the lower end 5300M.
Another question: what are you using to connect the monitor to your laptop? USB-C to DisplayPort, here. I formerly used HDMI off of a USB-C hub but it was a bummer.
Myself and my cofounder can reproduce the exact same issue every time with each of our MBP 2019 5500’s. Another team member with a 5400 running the exact same dev environment as me has never had the issue, so there’s something funky on that model.
It’s pretty bad the Apple still denies any issue, not being able to use an external monitor at all through covid suuuuucked
On windows , I have used over 25 different monitors over the years, I have found these two sizes to be the best:
32” at 4k (native res, 1:1)
30” 2560-by-1600 (native res, 1:1)
( few monitors support this physically, but two are my goto: old 30” apple studio displays , and a 30” old dell monitor. Both can be found on eBay at very low cost , but do use 2 to 4x the power draw as modern monitors)
Totally agree with this, I have mine(2x27" 4K) running in the same scaled way and I really miss it when I go back to the office with a crappy three screen 1080p setup.
An option that I think might be interesting is 3 displays side by side, but with the center display in portrait mode rather than landscape mode giving overall an inverted T shape to your combined display space.
When I am using 24" displays, I put one in landscape directly in front of me and one in portrait off to one side. Upper/lower half of the portrait monitor works well for terminals / email / chat. Entire portrait for reading documentation. Full-screen landscape for everything else.
I find this works well for the "adjustable height desk" systems one puts on top of a regular desk. They usually aren't wide enough to have two monitors with one directly in front of the user. The portrait monitor, if the cables are long enough, stays on the fixed-height desk.
I'm unable to use two monitors side-by-side anymore. Working for hours with my head always turned to one side gives me headaches.
---
Edited to add note on desk-placed "adjustable height" systems.
How does this work? Will it just upscale or is e.g. text still rendered at 4K? Rendering not at native resolution results always in blurred edges in my experience.
Very well, in my experience. Apple has been doing what it calls "retina" display for a while now, whereby it keeps the display's actual resolution at a high native level but scales everything it renders so the screen is effectively a lower resolution... but really smooth because of it.
Here's an album with a pair of screenshots from my own 4k display: https://imgur.com/a/7AHZZZv -- the scaled one is how I normally use it.
It's sharp enough but when compared to a native 1x/2x scaling, it still looks blurry, and it's only seen physically for me. Currently I run my M1 MBA at native 2560*1600 (BetterDummy, non hiDpi), and my 27" 4k at native. Set default zoom on chrome to be 125/150%, and VSCode also at "zoomed". I mostly use Chrome and Electron based apps (Spotify), so the increase in text sharpness is worth it. Native apps (Pritunl, etc) UI becomes too small, but again it's worth it for me.
In macOS, the entire display is rendered at 4K no matter what you pick from the resolution box. Most apps have learned to provide 2x-3x “retina” icons so that their bitmap resources look crisp alongside the system UI resources at user-selected “resolutions”.
The Windows UI scaling slider behaves in exactly the same way, though fewer apps include 2x or 3x bitmap resources.
> In macOS, the entire display is rendered at 4K no matter what you pick from the resolution box.
This makes it sound as if macOS upscales a 4K render when displaying to (for example) 5K monitors, but on a 5K monitor everything is ultimately rendered at a full physical resolution of 5120x2880. But in the Displays Preference Pane, the logical resolution is set by default to 2560x1440 (2:1). One can choose a logical resolution of 5120x2880 (1:1), but I can't imagine anyone working like that.
Correct, in the 5K case the entire display is rendered at 5K, and ditto 2K etc. (I believe the internal canvas caps at 32K, but I don’t have the tools to find out for sure.)
Whatever-sized display viewports are just crop windows into it, and the crop window in internal canvas terms is scaled as necessary, and then it renders the vector canvas onto the raster viewport.
You're mentioning "Panel Lotto" in your blog post in relation to reviews being for IPS panels but then sending customers TN panels instead of IPS panels. I don't think that is what is commonly referred to as "Panel Lotto" (I'd call that straight up fraud and I'm sure most courts would be on your side).
"Panel Lotto" (as I know it at least) refers to the company's policy regarding returning a panel that had dead pixels on arrival. Some policies don't allow customers to return those displays even if it has a dead pixel, as it wouldn't count as a defect. That's why it's a "lotto", it's pure chance if you'll receive a perfect display or not, and if you do you have no recourse.
I'm not sure how it works out in practice, I've never received any display with dead-pixels on arrival.
It's called a lotto because what you get could be left to chance. This was a pretty common to have happen in the past and some tech news sites covered it too. I'm not sure if it's still happening a lot nowadays but it was certainly a real thing 10 years ago. Current day monitor manufacturers still do very questionable things like rating a 4k monitor at 120hz in its primary tagline / description / on the box but there's fine print that says "only when running at 1080p". It's taking advantage of folks who don't know a lot or do a bunch of research beforehand in order to sell more units.
To a lesser degree the "lotto" idea happens with CPUs too in terms of overclockability potential. Certain serial numbers performed better, it became a lotto unless you went out of your way to purchase specific ones. This feels a lot less wrong than the panel lotto aspect tho.
You are right in that it feels criminal, it's not even the same product.
I've come across models being swapped out (where only a letter is difference but the panel changed) in the wild before, or misleading marketing. But since you can overcome that by doing research, its no longer a "lotto", like overclockability with CPUs or the possibility of getting dead-pixel on arrival.
> Panel Lotto" (as I know it at least) refers to the company's policy regarding returning a panel that had dead pixels on arrival.
Like the Nintendo 3DS back than? Where you couldn't figure out, which screen(s) you would get pre-purchasing or Lenovo with their display panel and keyboard lotto?
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
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.
It was a Sony News Workstation, with an IBM branded grey scale monitor displaying 16 grey levels at 150 pixels an inch. Total display was about 1900x3600, a bit larger than an opened two-page newspaper spread. It was a CRT monitor, requiring two feet behind the screen for the back of the monitor and quite thick cabling. It was a Unix workstation, used to author R&D CD ROMs, back when the CD ROM itself was R&D.
I have the slightly better version of this. The only major difference is the stand AFAIK - but if you have multiple monitors you might as well get a good VESA mount to arrange them while keeping your desk clear.
I'm using a 43" 4K TV as a monitor now, and I really like it. It does take some getting use to at first, but with a tiling window manager I can split it up how I like and have the benefit of being able to use the whole screen at once for games and movies. Higher pixel density would be nice, because I still need subpixel text rendering to make the text look nice. But with 8K TVs coming out and getting cheaper, that would make a good combination of workspace size and decent enough pixel density.
> 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
People keep saying this but I don't.. see.. it. Everything scales great on my setup. I could make one letter cover the entire screen if I wanted to - the DPI is not really relevant in that sense. You still have to set size up to your liking. And I do not have great eyesight (contacts/glasses).
Admittedly, DPI does play a part when you have multiple monitors with different resolutions. I have solved that by wrapping my launcher with a script that detects the screen, reads the DPI and scales accordingly. Which, to be fair, is not something you should expect people to do :p
My desktop uses an LG-27GL850 and an LG-27GN950. One is 1440p, the other is 4k. Both are 144hz. I first bought the 1440p, which is great, then I bought the 4k one. I wanted to keep the 1440p one for gaming, but as it turns out, I don't game, so I regret not getting two 4ks.
I did extensive research before getting these, and after a year with them side by side, I can for sure see the difference when I read text. The fonts (and everything) just pop more.
I would be completely fine with 1440p, that looks great as well, but since I am at my computer for the better part of my life, a few extra dollars was (and still is) worth it for me.
PS: 144hz was almost weird at first - the cursor and scrolling is so instant. Highly recommended.
It will probably be obscenely overpriced, but I'll probably get a few for work for people who don't like their curved ultrawides.
The 39" 4K I've been using since 2014 has spent many a year in pillarbox attempting to preserve my neck and eyes, but it's still ultimately too large. I'd love to replace it with some smaller high res non-widescreen panels.
I read your monitor selection guide and one thing that stood out to me was the distance you need to have from you monitor. Completely overlooked that one when I made my first upgrade to a larger monitor and it definitely lowered my use of that monitor. Sometimes i found myself using my second, older monitor more since the distance was more comfortable.
Which sizes were used there? I prefer 24” by a wide margin. Whatever resolution I have to accept at that size I will. I find myself moving my head around and moving my eyes around the screen too much with 27”+.
I cannot remember of the top of my head what the size was, but the problem was that it was around an arms length away from me and I had to move my head/eyes too much when using it. After that, checking how much space i have for my desktop became something I was much more conscious about. Before that it was just: this new monitor me like, me buy.
I've made the switch to the 2560x1440 monitors (27") about the same time as you and totally agreed about your observation. For TV and video I think Full HD at 1080p is the cut-off but for text reading and editing 2560x1440 is really a game changer. Everytime you go back to 1080p even for smaller 13" screen it's a very annoyingly noticeable with the jagged lines around the texts and is a bummer.
Amen to that. I recently bought a cheap Westinghouse display off Newegg that was 1440p@144hz, and it makes for an incredible primary display. I'm not exactly sold on "retina" pixel density, but having the extra screen real-estate is pretty lovely for productivity purposes. I'll definitely be considering a 4k display over the next few months, if I can get the kind of GPU to drive it reliably.
I have a 4k 32" monitor that I use at 1:1. Maybe not for everyone, but I find myself unwilling to work on smaller screens now. Only problem is it can be find to hard 144hz refresh rates in this size/resolution range, but the smoothness isn't worth the sacrifice in screen real estate.
Yeah...I tried using a 4k display, and I found the pixels too small. And programs ran slower because they had to render so many pixels. And using scaling didn't play well when moving windows between my other two regular monitors.
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.
Good solid-state storage has been the biggest quality of life improvement you can make to a single-disk device for the past decade.
I get a chuckle out of colleagues who ask for copious RAM today, and while I'll usually show them where they can put money to do what they actually need better, this kitchen analogy suffices for most of their use cases:
The hard drive, RAM, and CPU are like the fridge, the prep table, and the stove. In the days of high storage latency and low throughput mechanical storage, it took a few weeks to gather ingredients from the fridge and bring them back to your prep table, so it made sense to buy the largest prep table you could afford to save yourself the trip. However, your stove only had one or two burners, so you were still waiting around for one thing to finish cooking one thing so you could move on to another.
Today, high bandwidth, low latency storage like NVMe means you have an always-on instantaneous portal to the ingredients realm so there's no real need for the extra-large prep table. It's usually better to spend the money on more burners for the stove so you can keep it as busy as possible and get the most work out.
It's a vast over simplification, but I can't help but sigh when someone says they literally cannot do their job without 64GB of RAM and then choose a quad-core or some low-power series laptop.
> I get a chuckle out of colleagues who ask for copious RAM today, and while I'll usually show them where they can put money to do what they actually need better, this kitchen analogy suffices for most of their use cases:
Industry dependent, of course. Desktop processers are getting more and more parallel, and more cores requires more ram. I have a 32 core Threadripper in my workstation with 128GB RAM, and on full compiles I still OOM. My next upgrade to this machine will be 192GB.
Can I ask you which motherboard do you have? I'm thinking on building a PC, but the last time I did that was twenty years ago, so my knowledge is slightly obsolete.
I use pcpartpicker. It has a pretty good hardware compatibility matrix and pulls prices from a variety of stores online. Doesn't do a perfect job with packing hardware in small cases, but it warns you that it can't guarantee a fit. Your skills from 20 years ago will serve you well: download the manuals for the motherboard; they're more accurate than the specs listed on any other website.
Thanks for the advice, I'll check pcpartpicker out.
> Your skills from 20 years ago will serve you well: download the manuals for the motherboard; they're more accurate than the specs listed on any other website.
In ye olde times we didn't even had google, and the web was pretty empty. I had to buy the parts by shopping around in my neighborhood.
I've got an asus rog zenith ii extreme. I had an MSI board before that had trouble with the RAM and had a back and forth with MSI on before just sending it bacj.
As the other commenter pointed out, pcpartpicker is the way to go. My method was to find the CPU, chassis and amount of ram I wanted, enter them into pcpartpicker and pick out the test of the components with their help for compatibility except ram. When it came to ram, the motherboard providers have a list of "officially supported" sticks, down to the model number. I went through that list checking reviews and availability and ended up with some g skill ram.
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.
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.
SSDs gave my laptops longer effective life. Turns out that the main reason my laptops felt so slow after a few years wasn't software bloat. It was cruft in the file system.
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).
I always ran my dishwasher on the three hour power wash program because nothing would get clean otherwise. Then I watched this video and started using powder. Now the normal program works fine every time.
I only watched the first video, but I really can't see the difference between his experiment (with the soap at the beginning) and his control. I'm not convinced.
He addresses your concerns in the 2nd video. But aside from that, logically, you should be convinced by the fact that using tablets results in there being no soap soap in the first wash cycle.
The video pretty much says “use detergent in both pre-wash and wash receptacles”. Using the pods makes this hard. Using powder lets you do this easily yourself.
TLDW
Tablets aren’t bad but if you don’t fill your prewash compartment with detergent you’ll get worse cleaning. The prewash compartments are meant for loose powder or gel so might as well just use that detergent for both compartments
What are people washing that it doesn't wash off?! Or maybe it's just cheap machines that are that sensitive?
The only time things ever come out dirty for me is when the rotor is obstructed and half the dishes don't get any water (or detergent) on them, and that's on eco mode.
The tablets have nothing fancy in them other than some dyes, they are just soap at a mark-up. Even the cheapy store brand stuff does just as good of a job.
Additionally, depending on the hardness of your water you may need less detergent than the tablets have in them which could leave a white residue on your dishes.
Finally, with the powdered detergent you may need to sprinkle a little in the door for a pre-rinse which you can't due with the pods. Check your washer instructions.
Since first lockdown in my country, when dishwasher tabs went missing in stores, I got used to use 1/2 a tab for each wash. Turns out dishes were just as clean as with a full tab. To this day I keep using 1/2 tab per wash.
To push your example even further, I once forgot to load anything and Imagine my surprise when I opened the dishwasher and everything was really clean, maybe except one plate.
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.
Bought a new fridge in 2020, relative decent one, around $2200. Works fine but the plastic shelf parts inside are just unbelievably cheap and shitty. And the replacement parts if you would happen to break one are correspondingly expensive. Meh.
The shelf is mostly used for butter in my fridge, actually, but the flappy lid thing is still useful as there's not much front lip on that shelf. That said, if I couldn't have fixed it with glue and stainless steel wire, I'd not be paying £35 for a new one!
Eggs indeed don't usually go in the fridge: in the UK, eggs aren't washed before sale, so the natural protective layer is still present. I hear that in the US, eggs must be washed, the layer is therefore lost and eggs required to be washed, the layer is lost and eggs need to be refrigerated.
Ditto. I was astounded when I read consumer reports’ test regimen for dishwashers - I recall a test that expected the dishwasher to clean out baked on brownie batter. No dishwasher I used until way too far into adulthood could do that or the equivalent.
The kitchen appliance that surprised me - my current house had a double oven when we moved in. The small top oven is just perfect - it pre heats as fast as a toaster oven and can fit a whole half sheet. It can toast just about anything in toast mode but takes up no counter space. We use it constantly. I would never have just bought one, because I would have focused on the two-oven aspect, which seems like an extravagance that would only come in handy at the holidays.
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.
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.
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.
Trying my friend's iPad Air is what sold me. I just went "oh".
I tried a Surface, thinking that I could also replace my laptop and pack lighter (I travel by motorcycle a lot), but it was unusable as a tablet, and... well as annoying as any Windows laptop. The Photoshop-like UI and the open-edit-save workflow (can't close an app without messing with the file dialogs) was so pathetic compared to Procrate and Notability. Then it locked itself up for 3 hours to install more Bing shortcuts on the task bar. That's when I returned it.
The new amount of control Apple gives you over notifications in the latest iOS'es is a game-changer. I literally just discovered I could bundle all notifications from certain apps and have them notify me at certain times of the day en masse, which is AMAZING.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
I had UHK and build Ergodox EZ since I wanted to try thumb clusters and vertically staggered layout. Honestly after UHK the Ergodox was too big. I am not able to reach most keys without pulling my hand. Even from 6 thumb cluster keys I was using only 2. Though I liked thumb clusters and vertically staggered layout hence switched to custom built Kyria split keyboard instead.
Just F2, but I had to get used to that already with my previous keyboard (Microsoft Sculpt). But I let all F keys bound to the Layer 2 as per the ZSA defaults.
And Alt + F4 is bound to a double tap of the right red thumb key :D
I tried with the Ergodox-EZ for 6+ months, but I struggled with using the Jetbrains software
They (PyCharm, PHPStorm, etc) use a load of multi-key shortcuts which include use of the function keys and it became a real pig to use and ultimately I gave up (expensive - I'd bought 2; one for home, one for work...).
How do others manage this? Have another layer with all the usual keys but replace numbers with function keys? I don't fancy remapping all the shortcuts.
Personally, I replaced caps lock with ctrl when you type and esc when you tap. ctrl, shift and alt are all vertically aligned that way so shortcuts are really easy in general.
I just don't use F keys, but for number I have a left thumb key that transform the right side into a num pad. You could do the same with functions keys. Or do what I did for any number and permanently remap the normal number positions to f keys as you said.
But the nice part is you get to adapt the keyboard to your own needs. If you only use one or two function keys, you could give them decicated buttons on the may layer. You can even have one button do the whole combo. For example I have one that does shift+insert so I can more easily copy into terminals.
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.
While air purifiers are a great idea I just want to put a warning out there about the current state of air monitors.
The current summary is that most of them are wildly inaccurate with false positives and you might just be better off checking your outdoor air quality from the EPA using their app.
Would love for someone to provide a better recommendation.
>The current summary is that most of them are wildly inaccurate with false positives and you might just be better off checking your outdoor air quality from the EPA using their app.
That's partially missing the point of air monitors. In most western countries the risk is less outside smog etc and more what you get up to. Fry some bacon and suddenly you're at 20x the recommended values.
A warning: the cheap air monitors don't monitor particle count, just CO2. If you're allergic to pollen you expose yourself to it by opening windows. I've had to help a couple friends who used this and ended up sneezing and sniffling like crazy.
You really don't need a 270 usd device for particle count.
A PM2.5 particle count sensor is like 25 bucks and temp/humidity/pressure another 10, so you can DIY this quite cheaply with a raspberry if so inclined.
I have both the Dylos and other sensors. The Dylos is a very sensitive instrument that reports raw counts every second. There is no smoothing, no translation to PM2.5 scale. For the paranoid type it works REALLY WELL for providing direct feedback on the impact of an air filter- or on the impact even of minor contractor work. PM 2.5 sensors- quality ones- have their place. But the difference is kind of like the difference between reading labels and following FDA guidelines on nutrient intake vs getting a blood screen. Sometimes you want the blood screen. Dylos is a good device for that.
I'd imagine the Dylos will have better components and better calibration, so should provide superior accuracy.
Not convinced they're all that different though - both laser based particle counters, and results correlate pretty well in studies [0].
Certainly wouldn't trust a cheap SDS011 sensor for anything that really matters, but wouldn't characterize it as nutritional label vs blood screen either.
> raw counts every second. There is no smoothing, no translation to PM2.5 scale.
Slightly confused as to what you mean by this. Particle measurements via laser are by necessity over time and thus smoothed. I guess you could look at raw counts in a given time, but people use per millions because its more meaningful...else you'd need to consider fan speed to make it comparable and manually adjust air pressure/temp yourself.
As a quick solution, rent a commercial grade ozone generator.
Run it while you’re not in the house as in the concentrations they can put out it is damaging to lung tissue.
This is how hotels clear out smoke smells in rooms for instance.
Once you run it for a few hours, you can open things up and air it all out and the smells should mostly be gone unless there’s an active source of smell.
I did it while restoring an old house previously occupied by a smoker and hoarder. Would just run it at night when nobody was there and open the house in the morning when ready to get back to work on renovations.
Can second that - I have four of them, they run 24/7 on medium and pull ~8 watts at the wall each, assuming my meter is accurate. Picked them up after the last big discussion on air quality here a few months back. They are the Wirecutter pick, I believe.
I keep an agent that monitors amazon pricing on the filters, and just buy a bunch when they dip abnormally low. Have you found any other ways to minimize cost on them? I have only used the ones sold by coway, as my pal tried some 3rd party and they were jenky.
Depending on where you live, filters are a once/twice a year expense, I believe (I’m only a few months in). Honestly my advice would be: just be diligent about maintaining them. I vacuum out the filter and charcoal screen once every couple of weeks. Takes a few minutes, pretty painless. Amazing how much dust they pick up in normal operation.
Incidentally, which agent are you using for Amazon?
Missed this reply--I use camelcamelcamel for Amazon. I'm not sure if they are able to handle the click-to-get-discount check boxes, though. I also don't know how timely they are.
Yes. I prefer the Lite. I don’t have any testing data about the accuracy, but it seems to react identically to my air purifiers. For example, if I light a match or blow out a candle my air purifier will turn on and the air monitor will go ballistic. Likewise with CO2 if I sleep with the door closed it will slowly ramp up overnight.
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.
> 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.
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.
My keyboard is never further away from my machine than the length of the cable, so I see absolutely no reason to complicate things by adding batteries to the equation.
My M50x's sit quietly awaiting the short spots where I use them for intense focus work.
There's two things I've made wireless on my desk: mouse and headphones.
I use trackballs, and the sheer donveni of being able to shift and adjust without worrying about a lead is mind boggling.
As for the headset: if you can swing it, pick up either the Arctis 7+ or Arctis 9 from Steelseries.
I have the 9 and absolutely make use of the split between normal audio and chat audio during calls. There is a quality of life improvement from my being able to walk in circles while I hear conversations go in circles.
+1 for Ikea standing desk. I'm using it sitting but now I know which exact height suits me. Btw. I only recently found out that in my case chair's armrests should be above the table. When they're below I quickly develop forearm pain from table's edge, except if table has round edges. And these are very rare around here, edges are usually sharp.
Ikea's other non-standing desks are also often adjustable, but with tools. So not good if you want to experiment with height, but if you know your preference they have better price/quality ratio.
I really like this approach! Some people want more, some people want less. There is no universal right answer! But monitors are so relativity inexpensive (when compared to their potential performance/quality-of-life increase) that if you work on a computer a significant part of they day, they are a no-brainer for optimization!
> 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.
Except there's no scroll wheel to zoom in/out. Which makes it difficult to use in programs like Inkscape and KiCAD.
Does anybody have a good alternative (external scrollwheel perhaps?)
The last time I used a Wacom pad, you could use pinch actions with your fingers to not only zoom in and out, but rotate and scroll. It differentiated between finger and pen actions quite cleanly.
> * Kinesys Freestyle 2 keyboard (wired, I hate wireless things, I never want to think about batteries)
I very much second that choice in keyboard, I had the freestyle 2, and now I also have the new mechanical version of it. I have really long arms, seemingly and most keyboards, even ergonomic split ones mean I either have to push my elbows together, or angle my wrists weirdly, or sit really far away.
With the Kinesis Freestyle, I can just arrange the halves wherever it feels right for them to be. And I tend to move them around relative to each other over the day, which apparently is a good thing, since it causes me to hold my wrists and elbows differently across the day, just like a dynamic sitting or standing posture.
+1 to having physical whiteboards around. They're super handy. I have three permanently mounted to the wall and a small magnetic one that I keep on my fridge.
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?
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.
Thanks for the suggestion. I looked up some devices, but all of them cater to musicians -- obviously -- and therefore don't have many different types of input. Korg nanokontrol and nanokontrol studio seem to be the best ones in this regard. I wish there was a device made for hackers with small and large knobs and buttons, horizontal and vertical sliders, touch panels, etc.
For Mac users, BetterTouchTool [0] allows assigning system-wide actions to MIDI inputs. I haven't used its MIDI capabilities, but I happily use its other features.
They cater to musicians because that's what midi was invented for. At the end of the day it's just a protocol and you can interpret it however you like. Any random midi controller will work great.
My relatively cheap keyboard has midi over USB and I was able to dump raw midi into a terminal after five minutes of googling.
I've played a little with a Behringer X-TOUCH MINI for controlling Darktable (I think midi support is now in stable), was pretty cool altering the exposure etc. with the wheels.
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.
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 :)
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.
> 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.
This is very, very smart advice.
The only thing I'd add is to learn proper knife techniques: how to hold food keeping your fingers away from the blade. Never take risks with a well sharped knife.
Cut with the claw or you'll be cutting with a claw.
Tuck your fingertips under and rest the flat of the blade against your knuckles. It should not be possible to reach the tip of a finger with your blade. Check some youtube videos and practice. Establishing good knife skills is not only good for safety but makes cooking faster and more pleasant.
The claw is such a simple but effective technique that I am sometimes surprised it's not more widespread. I can't remember the amount of times I saw people using knives looking like they are about to cut themselves with the next movement of the knife.
This is exactly what I have. An IKEA knife I’ve had for the past 20 years or so. I’ve always kept it sharp, but the game changer in the past few months was reading advice to sharpen it every time I use it. I do that now, just a little bit, and over time what you end up with is an insanely sharp knife. I also have a sharpening steel, like the kind used in commercial kitchens, but I much prefer the stone.
Agreed, I've had both the ceramic and diamond "steels" handy for the last decade, and basically every time I use a knife I spend 30 seconds running it over one of these, and my kitchen experience is better for it. Of course, I'm the only one in my household that does this, but I use them frequently enough that generally it keeps them pretty good.
Was recently prepping some food at someone else's house, and they didn't even have a sharpener. It was a terrible experience, even after using the bottom of a coffee cup to help the knife out.
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.
I actually have a cheap King stone (the 1000/6000 combo), but parent is right.
1000 grit gets you more than sharp enough for daily use while still being coarse enough to fix up a well-maintained knife in about 20-30 strokes per side.
Higher grits make the knives too sharp, to the point where they're dangerous to handle, especially if you're cooking drunk/tired. (That's not to say I never use it, but it's always for fun at that point).
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.
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.
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.
If you want to stay away from the Apple ecosystem, or just don't like the aesthetics of the Apple Watch, I've found Whoop to be great for tracking sleep quality and activity. There is a monthly fee but it's minimal if you're using the data it collects. Not worth it for something passive, or if you're sedentary outside of work.
There are also some good points raised in the comments. In particular, I like this comment:
> I’m probably biased because I’ve used Polar for 20 years and Whoop for over 4 years now. I like where Polar has got to on their new Vantage products in terms of activity load, sleep, recovery etc. I started using Whoop because I was frustrated with how far behind the curve that Polar were on the V800 and I liked what Whoop were trying to do.
> Fast forward 4 years and Polar results correlate the closest with how I feel and perform and also with other recovery measurements I use e.g. HRV4Training and Elite HRV. I find Whoop the least reliable in terms of accuracy of data and also correlation with how I actually feel. I like the way Whoop presents data but I have little faith in it due to the accuracy of the sensor etc. YMMV.
That said, I like wearing a mechanical watch, and I'm not a huge fan of wearing a smartwatch, so I'd much rather wear something like the Whoop than a Polar Vantage watch or an Apple Watch. So if someone here wants to defend the Whoop and convince me the data is decent enough, I'd love that :)
Same, I really like mechanical watches as well so that sort of limits what options I have :)
I have noticed a bit of a disconnect between how I feel and what the whoop says, but not so much that I'd think it's wrong. Just eyebrow raising every now and then. I've never tried a Polar though.
Yessss I have a Garmin Instinct and I love it, easily my favorite Smart watch. It's got just enough smart stuff that I'd use without a bunch of extras I'd never use.
And I charge it once a week if I'm biking a lot and using the GPS.
Yes it does. I found it pretty enlightening. It tracks almost perfectly with how I feel in the morning and helped me get a sense of how alcohol in particular affected me.
Could you get by if you just charged while in the shower? Also, do you think your current use is lower than normal due to COVID/WFH/lack of travel?
I've considered getting one but hate the idea of having to charge my watch every day. My Pebble still gives me what I need, so I'm holding onto it for as long as the battery is in decent shape.
Could you get by if you just charged while in the shower?
How long of a shower do you take? :-) A very related question is just how intensively will you use it. Here are some guidelines from Apple: https://www.apple.com/watch/battery/
My Series 6 watch is on my wrist for up to 23 hours a day. My battery is usually above 50% after a full day of use. I charge every day but for less than 30 minutes. (I usually take it off the charger before it is completely charged.)
Depending on your work and living arrangement (e.g. I'm mostly home) it's also so easy to drop onto the charger for just a few minutes. E.g. I can top-off the watch while I go into kitchen for a cup of coffee or a snack. So no need to devote a 30 minute continuous block of time.
I have low battery use because I mostly use the watch for notifications and activity tracking. I keep the display off by default (which is probably the main power draw).
The aluminum watch with sport loop is very light and comfortable. It's easy to forget you're wearing it.
Recommendations for apps to track sleep ? Preferably without subscription but just a one time payment. Petty Apple does not provide a sleep tracking app.
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.
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.
I am still at the design stage, but I am looking at something like:
- AuraSound AST-2B-4 Pro Bass Shaker Tactile Transducer
- Nobsound Mini Bluetooth 5.0 Power Amplifier
- TalentCell Rechargeable 12V 3000mAh Lithium ion Battery Pack
My biggest concerns are custom mounting of the transducer(s). Not sure where will give the best effect without damaging the chair.
My goal is for it to be wireless, splitting bluetooth audio into channels for AirPods Max and this receiver.
Concern there is I don't know what the latency will be like, or if I'll need to introduce delay into say the headphones channel. I have a few of the Rogue Amoeba tools, including Loopback that I'm planning to bring into the mix if necessary. Another idea is to separate the amp and BT receiver, getting something more professional like the Fiio BTR5.
The MVP should probably just be a wired connection to the chair, so maybe that can prove the mounting and potential first.
That's where I am at. But I have the same concerns as you, I don't want loud I have great headphones, just more immersion and more bass feel.
Oh yes, I also have a SubPac, which made me fall in love with tactile transducers aka. bass shakers.
I ended up attaching bass shakers to my chair too. Custom setup with two Reckhorn BS-200i, a cheap TDA7498E amplifier from AliExpress (more than powerful enough, and sound quality doesn't really matter), and EqualizerAPO for the software part. It cost me around $200 and a few hours for the full setup.
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.
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.
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.
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.
* 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.
On the topic of drying rack: I bought this ceiling-mounted drying rack[1] and it's been fantastic.
I live in an apartment with high ceilings (upwards 3 meters), so it worked out really well. It saves up the space a standard drying rack would otherwise occupy (both when used and unused/folded), and I installed it right above my washing machine so I don't need to carry the wet laundry around!
The one from the polish store[1] was the only cheap one I could find, all the others were upwards 200€[2]
That looks really nice. My ceilings aren't that high, but in a previous apartment I had a ceiling mounted one above the bathtub and it worked very well. The current one I have is just a foldout floor one.
I've only used it three times so far, but it's been able to hold full loads of laundry along with sheets with no problem. I also like how the top two platforms are angle-adjustable, so I can position them tilted up or down as convenient.
Links? I use drying racks, but I'm curious what you consider high quality? Mine are just target specials I've put lock tight on the screwsto keep them from falling apart.
Is the Litter Robot really good? Most reviews I've seen said all those auto-cleaning litter boxes are meh at best, but man this is one chore I could really do without.
The Litter Robot is (in my experience) the one auto-cleaning litter box that 100% lives up to the hype. Totally worth the (high) price to never have to scoop cat poop again.
For me, yes. The price tag is exorbitant, but for me worth it to never have to scoop and know that my cats (one of whom has had urinary problems) always have a perfectly fresh box to go into.
Doing a monthly or bimonthly deep clean can be a bit of a hassle with such a big item, but for me preferable to daily scooping.
The litter robot is great as long as you empty the tray every few days. It runs into issues (like many things) if you let it go too long.
I've owned two. Once you get past the sticker shock, it's quite convenient. I also used regular kitchen trash bags for the tray. Was perfectly serviceable.
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.
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.
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.
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.
> 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.
I have not tried those. Maybe they work great, but I'd find it harder to psychologically trust my environment if my ears were covered. Having my ears open to the environment means that I don't have to merely trust that some kind of noise mixing technology works perfectly.
As far as anything like an earbud goes, I don't know if the shape of my ears is a bit unusual, but I cannot run with anything like an earbud without having the earbud slip out frequently. I need something like a headphone to avoid having to constantly fidget with my ears.
AirPods transparency mode isn’t as good. Idk if mine are broken or what, but if the volume is above 50% I still can’t hear anything. Comfortable listening volume for me is about 75%. That said, I do like using the AirPods while riding my motorcycle.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
I picked up one of those crazy ultra wide monitors (34" MSI optix 21:9 something-or-other) to replace a 27" qnix POS and an ancient 17" 4:3 LCD. It's been a game changer for me. I now arrange my windows mostly in columns: one 50% wide center column for my primary tool (browser, Xcode, vscode, slack (ugh)) and two tall single-tab terminals on either side. The terminals are more than 80 columns wide so they provide plenty of space for everything I need to do. I use Divvy on macOS to move and scale the windows from my keyboard but there are a lot of other options.
Dual monitors were nice for quite a while but I don't think I can go back now that UW is available.
* eta: somehow didn't see wil421's comment before mine.
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.
Yeah. I also have one monitor centered in front of me and the second on a side and angled. I actually have to turn my head a bit to see the second. Makes it easier to concentrate on the first.
I have a single 28” 4k monitor and is great. At my work desk I had 3 displays and I don’t think I appreciated how much trouble it was for me. I use multiple desktops to split my focuses, but my single monitor helps me have just enough in front of me.
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.
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
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.
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
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.
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.
- 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/ 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/
- 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/
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.
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.
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
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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 :)
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.
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
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
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.
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!
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.
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.
Most of your examples are not actually the big leaps. I had a Diamond Monster 3D 4MB and then a Voodoo 2, and the revolutionary one was the original.
You mentioned the Pentium M which was the accurate choice.
The M1 has a better argument as being first but I probably would’ve selected the A series chips since the M series is really an extension of how great those are.
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!
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/XT269Thttps://www.makitatools.com/products/details/E-01644
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.
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).
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.
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.
It was QMK that actually motivated me to build my own macropad (well, it was a rotary controller) which was ton of fun even though I was just following simple tutorials. But as a software guy, building something physical sourcing all the parts myself opened a new realm of pleasure.
I totally understand the joy of building something. I made a bunch of “sensor turns on an LED” projects, but nothing scratched my maker itch like building something I actively use everyday.
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.
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.
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!
I like the wireless chargers, but until Apple added the MagSafe to ensure your alignment was correct I wouldn't have recommended them to people.
My wife and I had too many times where we'd put our phones on the charger and in the morning realize it hadn't charged.
...not sure how that leads to never losing your phone though? I don't see the connection. How would wireless charging affect that? You still have the hardware you connect to.
> 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.
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.
You can't sideload on the Onyx? I've been comparing Kobo to Onyx and I saw that Onyx does support the Google Play Store, which is good enough for me. I'm guessing what you're alluding to is no sideloading of apks.
You can sideload, but the interfaces are weird and it's not anywhere near as open as a normal stock Android, let alone LineageOS or a real Linux like Kobo/Pocketbook (my older Kindle Paperwhite also runs some flavor of *nix IIRC, but not as easily hackable, and no idea about newer versions).
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.
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!!
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.
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
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.
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.
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.
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.
> - 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.
I've spent countless hours weighting the pros and cons of many models back in 2018, and ended up buying the Jabra Evolve 75 for myself. I've been so happy with it that I bought it for my significant other, who enjoys it as much as I do.
Sound quality is good over USB and more than OK over BT; it's fairly comfortable; BT range is good; ANC is good (I use it in noisy open offices and public transportation); I've never run out of battery during my work day, despite using it sometimes for hours; there's a sturdy transport case that allows me to take it with me everywhere (and I move a lot). I'm using it mostly over BT with Linux, Windows and Android and it's very easy to pair.
That's an expensive item, but I've been using it pretty much every day for almost 4 years now and it's showing no signs of wear, so I'd say that for me at least it's worth it.
I must stress out that this is a very good work / gaming headset, but while it's very decent for music listening over USB, I wouldn't recommend it for a primarily audiophile usage (especially not over BT). Also I wouldn't recommend it for sports.
There have been new models since 2018, so I'm not sure if this is still the best value in 2022. On paper, the Jabra Evolve 2 85 looks great, but I haven't tested it myself. I'd definitely welcome an upgrade over the Evolve 75 with better sound quality over BT — it's really not that it's bad, but the difference with USB is very noticeable. It could also be more comfortable while wearing glasses, but I've yet to see a model that is.
This is what I came to see. I've been using wireless gaming headsets and the problem with them is comfort and battery life. I like that the Jabras allow you to walk really far away; almost the entire house I've heard.
> the Jabras allow you to walk really far away; almost the entire house I've heard
I guess it depends on the size of the house and the thickness of the walls; maybe also of the BT quality of the device it's paired to.
Anyway, I indeed have no issue going to another room in the office or in the small apartments I'm working / gaming from. After two (thin) walls between the devices, the sound quality starts to deteriorate, so I don't have very high expectations across a large house.
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.
I'd appreciate you sharing your dish drying rack recommendation. I've still got the one I bought in college. Never occurred to me there might be better versions.
I haven't spent that much time weighting the options for this one, so I don't really feel like I can recommend this model over others, but here it is:
https://www.amazon.fr/gp/product/B01FWIJ25S
I'd say the right one really depends on your needs. In my case space was an issue, so I took a really small one. It's OK for 1 / 2 people, but I wish I could put a little more cutlery in it.
Anyway, I'd definitely recommend any model over not having one.
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.
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!
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.)
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.
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.
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.
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!
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.
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.
>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.
A 43" monitor from Dell. 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.
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.
Maybe tangential, but would most folks be likely to discern the difference vs. a glass French press? Most drip coffeemakers I’ve used are both more expensive and make worse coffee (not to mention harder to clean), so I’ve largely given up on the category, but admittedly haven’t done proper research in quite a while.
It looks like you can make the difference since you prefer a glass French press. There is no "superior" brewing process, and if you like the French press, use the French press. Arguably, the pourover method is strictly better than drip coffee, in term of quality, but it is more involved, and you need to know what you are doing. With drip coffee, you just have to press a button, you can even run the machine on a timer and have coffee ready when you wake up, which is not a negligible advantage.
Personally, I have an espresso machine, which is by far the way I prefer coffee, but the machine (+ grinder) is expensive and it gives you a new hobby.
Really, it is all up to you, there is no bad answer. The French press is a perfectly good brewing method, so is drip, and many others: moka pot, Aeropress, etc...
I splurged on a moccamaster and it's my favorite thing ever. It's practically pour over, but I don't have to do any work before I've had a coffee (which is a hard line for me)
Usually manual coffee making can be just as good or better than a machine, or at least much cheaper for the same quality. You can make very very good coffee with a $40 pour-over or french press.
French press doesn't really have a machine equivalent that I can think of though, it's sort of in its own category of coffee.
IMO a good burr grinder is good to have no matter how you make your coffee. If you don't already buy whole beans they're much fresher, and if you do but use a blade grinder the burr grinders do a better more consistent job at it.
It depends on the flavor you like. The espresso flavor is much more mellow in my opinion. Drip can be great but you need to have a preference for that style
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.
I've been a huge AeroPress fan for years (at least 15 I think), but recently moved to a house with a massive kitchen and bought a good mid-range espresso machine and I have to admit, I'm in love with it. I got this one [0] for reference and it's filled with really clever design touches. Only the quality of the steam control dial lets it down, in every other respect it's superb. The AeroPress has gone in a drawer and not been seen since.
Edit: Meant to add, actually the entire flow including steaming the milk is faster and less messy than the AeroPress too.
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.
* 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
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.
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.
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!
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.
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.
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).
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].
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.
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.
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?
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.
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.
Yeah agreed. Just being able to throw your hand at the Trackpad and start a cursor move anywhere, rather than carefully grab a mouse, is huge.
I use BetterTouchTool to add extra gestures to move windows to different places on my monitor. It feels like magic and any time someone’s watching me they ask how I’m doing that.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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!
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
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
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.
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.
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).
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.
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
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.
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.
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
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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)
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...
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.)
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.
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
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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).
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.
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.
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.
I know someone who would love to use this for a game that doesn't run on their own devices, but it's US$ 40.60/month in the UK ("starting at £29.99"). That's too much just to play one game a few hours a week. (A $2000 GPU is also too much).
Looks like a great service, and if you use it every day professionally it seems justifiable. But for gaming from time to time, with the machine shut down the rest of the time, that's a high price even by cloud GPU server standards.
If it were hourly pro rata, on the other hand, I'm pretty sure they'd subscribe today.
I've spent many hours gaming using their Windows offerings, although always strategy games so the latency hasn't been noticeable. I'm not sure how well it would work for FPS (probably reasonably, to be honest).
They have a large number of general computing/graphics-specific machines you can spin up, and you can either pay per hour or per month.
I've also started to get into Blender more, so I'll probably use one of those machines to render complex scenes instead of using my MacBook Pro. Same for machine learning tasks.
I haven't, thanks you for bringing it to my attention.
Is your machine state persistent between connections ?
EDIT: well, I tried to join and the signup ask me for my phone number. I already disliked that, but tried anyway. Every time I tried to setup a machine, the site answered:
"This machine type has not been approved for this account yet. Tell us a bit more about your use case and we will prioritize your request. A member of our support team will approve your request shortly".
Yeah, my request is that I'm a paying customer, I don't want to justify myself for the privilege of paying for their service, thank you very much.
Sorry to hear about your frustrating experience with them. I think they ask about the use case to avoid things like crypto mining and such. I've typically just responded with "graphics rendering" or "gaming" and I get approved within an hour.
To answer your earlier question: yes, the machine state persists. I think I pay $5 per machine per 50GB drive space per month. So it works out around $5 per month, plus the hourly cost of the machine.
I hope you're able to persist and try them out. I've been very impressed when I've needed to use it.
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.
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.
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)
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.
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..)
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)
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
- 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.
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. :->)
Thanks. I ended up splurging a bit on the Varier Balans. Have only had it for a week, but it's been great so far; really seems to help my posture/comfort when sitting.
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 ..
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.
I wrote up a very big monitor selection guide at 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).