I've abandoned all faith in reviews online. But the HN crew can give good advice and are extremely unlikely to shill garbage. Consumer Reports is great for finding which manufacturer/model to buy. But what product or service did you buy that you found really useful/entertaining?
I'll start: I caved and bought a robovac. Wow, unlike many techno-gadgets, this one really delivers. Real utility, not just taking up space. Low maintenance, runs while I sleep, and the floor is just cleaner.
Ear plugs (silicone). Don't waste your money on noise-cancelling headphones, I have $200 ones and they don't compare to simple ear plugs. If you live in a moderately noisy area and you want peace and quiet, get them. They basically just make everything quiet. 24 from CVS = $10.
OpenMove by Aftershokz - Bone-conduction headphones. Perfect for running and just good for listening to music. They work, they're way easier to wear and more comfortable than earpods, I haven't had any issues since I got them about 8-months ago. Plus, you can wear them with earplugs for music + noise cancellation. $99
Cast iron skillet. This is more of a personal preference. I hate getting new kitchenware and then worrying about breaking it or getting it all stained. But these are super easy to clean and AFAIK practically never wear out. Also very cheap (iirc $15).
Software:
JetBrains tools. Basically the only software I can imagine spending $250 a year on, and it actually being worth it.
Patreon and Github sponsors. Not much (I think $15 a month total). It's sad how few sponsors a lot of these projects have. I'm not rich, but I can afford donating $5/month here and there. I really think the world would be a better place if more people donate to open source and content creators they like.
I was (and to a degree still am) a big cast iron guy, but I find that these days I use my carbon steel pans much, much more frequently. They share many of the benefits of cast iron in terms of durability, oven safety, high temp cooking, natural non-stick, etc. However they can be much, much lighter and their heating properties make them superior for many, and I would argue most (but not all!), applications.
These days if someone said they needed 1 quiver killer pan, I would unquestionably recommend a carbon steel skillet over a cast iron one.
If you're someone who likes using cast iron, I think you are doing yourself a major disservice by not trying carbon steel.
It's now like 7 years later and my skillet shows no signs of giving up, and I don't think buying yet another kitchen device would make my wife happy. Should have gone with a bigger skillet to begin with.
Also, induction cooktops are amazing.
Anytime you are cooking something acidic, tomatoes, vinegar, wine. I try not to deglaze meat brownings into sauce in cast iron.
A stainless steel dutch oven is a great universal pan as well. For a "first pan" I'd probably suggest tri ply stainless over cast iron. The main thing I like about cast iron more is the pan temperature not dropping when I put something on it, so its great for reverse searing baked steaks inside the house. Most other things I find functionally equivalent in stainless and cast iron, including browning meat before I cube it or break it apart. (brown cuts of meat and ground meat whole!)
https://www.target.com/s/tri+ply+clad?Nao=0
https://www.walmart.com/search/?query=tri%20ply%20clad
Food stuck to the (Lodge) pan no end as well, even when I spent money on all the seasoning oils and seasoned it.
I'd rather just buy a new cheap modern pan every year. Chuck them in the dishwasher, job done.
But handling them now is just part of the ritual.
The biggest change I’ve had since starting using them a couple years ago is moving from the ball scrubby disposable two a Chainmaile ringlet style scrubby.
Using the chain mail has a different feel it slides easier and it washes clean much easier.
I recommend checking out the chain mail style scrubbers for cast-iron.
Contrast with fraying teflon (which you should immediately discard, of course) that we ought not ingest.
With the closed-back cups sealing over my ears, and the noise cancelling active, I can only just hear normal-volume conversation next to me. When also playing music, I can't hear any normal sounds around my house. With white noise and earplugs as well, I literally can't hear a baby screaming.
> With white noise and earplugs as well, I literally can't hear a baby screaming.
That's one benefit of headphones: if the earplugs aren't enough, you can do earplugs + headphones for ultimate noise-cancellation.
I do wish the max volume for the aftershokz where higher, and they didn't have the play/pause button trigger a redial when double pushed. I've accidentally done that multiple times (Including scaring my parents with a middle of the night call, due to 9 hours time difference.)
The preheat in the oven trick is good for steaks too.
Aftershokz are perfect.
Cast iron is awesome but I now have the reverse problem, constant fear I’m going to crack my counter top.
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Personally I think these are a waste of money unless you live in a house. Trying to season one of these smoked up our apartment for hours. Apparently we didn't do it right because it's still sticky even with oil, but there's no way we're going through the headache again until we have a house.
The cast iron community of the internet overthinks its care and usage. To season, just use it. To use it, don't restrict yourself (some recommend against tomato sauce because of the acidity, for. example). To clean it, get yourself as scrubber [1] to remove the high spots and wipe the remaining residue with a paper towel. Done.
It's a hearty hunk of metal that's been in kitchens for generations. It can withstand a lot.
[1]: https://www.amazon.com/Cleaner-Stainless-Chainmail-Scrubber-...
Ditched my cast iron in anticipation because the one I have has a rough bottom that would definitely scratch up the glass cook top of the electric stove.
Since I ditched the cast iron, honestly haven't seen much of a difference in how well I can cook things using a regular nonstick pan - my main use is cooking/frying up chicken thighs so the skin is nice and crispy.
Buying the cast iron did give me the original inspiration to start making these recipes though.
The real advantage is that they're so cheap relative to their utility. They heat evenly and stand up to incredible abuse at a fraction of the cost of a normal pan.
Edit: The cooking oil we mostly use is Ghee (clarified butter) to cook vegetarian dishes on our cast iron skillet.
Picked up a chainmail-like "dish rag" (it is truly just a swatch made up of links of metal) that beautifully cleans the skillet after meals but preserves the seasoning.
Yeah, iron skillet is our go-to now.
They’re not, and if seasoning is a concern, you can get preseasoned; you should almost never need to reseason with proper care.
Music is actually pretty unsatisfying at any volume above background levels in an otherwise-quiet room, since any significant bass through the conduction 'phones actually makes them jump out of contact with your head, resulting in a buzz you can feel + hear. Calls, podcasts, YT videos, etc. all work great.
As for headphones, I obsess over the Sony MDR-7506s, which to my ears are the best sounding headphones ever made. These are old-school wired studio monitors and they outperform any hyped “high-end” overpriced headphones. They have a neutral, accurate sound and are surprisingly inexpensive. You can still get then new for about $100. They are my secret audio weapon.
Oh and I love Jetbrains tools. I specifically use RubyMine quite a bit. VSCode (with the Ruby and Rails plugins) is great, but RubyMine is just very mature and polished, and it feels professional.
Least with Howard Light it's Greens<Pinks<Oranges. Greens should be more than enough and are 'softer' if you've got a smaller ear canal. All of them work well.
You have to ensure you're putting them in correctly. Read the box. Roll the plug in your fingers, reach your other arm over you head to grab the top of the opposite ear, gently pull on the top of your ear, and insert the plug. You should feel & hear it expand forming a seal.
You can reuse foam ones a couple of times(can even get them corded), but be very, very wary of infections. And always put the same earplug back in the same ear(thus you don't spread anything).
If you aren't singing or don't need to hear your own voice as well, you can also get away with cheaper percussion earplugs like these: https://www.musiciansfriend.com/accessories/vater-earplugs
I would say these are both good enough for the casual musicians / audience members. I would only upgrade back to electric ones if I were buying actual in ear monitors, but I doubt any of my bands will get to that point.
The best would be custom molded earplugs, but those are fairly expensive.
Foam earplugs are supposed to me more effective, but apparently harder to wear and sometimes less comfortable.
I also think they make the best earbuds on the market as well.
This was a big one for me. I donate ~2 to not just projects I happen to like, but to ones that I've used and have given me a good return on investment.
Honorable mentions: Vuejs, Bootstrap Vue
Just do a search for "noise reduction earmuff" for this option. They're obviously not a good solution for sleeping but work well for working.
Super cheap sound ... basically no bass response.
My brain got used to it thou and I still use them daily, listing to (mostly speech) podcasts on the (bike) commute.
It's the comfort + durability + awareness + good price + still decent sound quality imo, which makes them worth it to me.
I run a whole bunch, so it matters a lot. My favorite thus far have been surprisingly cheap ($20) "retro" JLab phones that look like the kind I used to run with before everybody switched to earbuds. Build quality is mediocre but I just want to be able to hear stuff.
I'd be willing to spend $79 on the OpenMove (that's what I see on their web site), but it's a very different approach so it's good to know that it works for you.
I'm looking into getting a new watch, so maybe I'll get one that can play bluetooth audio to fix the bulkiness.
They're designed to be reusable and tend to be really comfortable. Some of them don't stick out of your ears like the plugs.
"audiophile noise dampeners" googled just give speaker isolation products, etc.
There's not a single brand new car costing, say, 75 K EUR or less that I'd have rather than that because the quality simply ain't there.
The ride comfort, soundsystem, sound insulation, interior quality, how it drives superbly (and can yet be used for some spirited drive if you fancy that), etc.
Best car I ever had. Next one is going to be another used Panamera, probably the plug-in hybrid. I tried the Porsche Taycan (their 100% EV) and it's amazing but I'll wait a bit until you can find used ones at bargain prices.
I'm a big fan of Tesla but, to me, the build quality simply ain't anywhere close: as in... It's not even remotely comparable. They are worlds apart. And as I don't rice at the greenlight, I don't care about the 0-60 perfs.
There's nothing better to cruise at 110 mph on the autobahn or to go pick up the kid at school.
It's high-end luxury with quality materials for less than the price of a new Camry.
https://youtu.be/EAezax2ugQU
By very far my favorite purchase of the last two years+.
Anyways - your mileage may vary, but I’ve been totally happy with this purchase. And driving and tinkering with it has offered great distractions from the otherwise gloomy year.
Sadly it does not go back 8 years. You could check the numbers on a 6-year-old Panamera vs a new Camry though: https://www.edmunds.com/porsche/panamera/2015/cost-to-own/?s...https://www.edmunds.com/toyota/camry/2021/cost-to-own/?style...
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Not traditionally an apple guy so didn't expect to like them, but the guy talked us into them while we were upgrading my wife's phone.
Wow. These things are just way better than any other earbuds and so much more convenient and comfortable than headphones. The Bluetooth just works even when switching between my Android and MacBook. The noise cancelling is great as well, way better than my Sennheisers.
AirPod pros sound very good. Not as good as a really good audio setup, but good enough for pretty much everyone out there. The noise cancelling is really good. And best of all they are so comfortable.
Idk if I’m gonna have some weird cancer in 40 years from wearing these all the time, but I love them so much.
I had Beats Pro headphones that got damaged after a good amount of use so I replaced them with non-Pro Airpods and have hated it. I have to constantly worry about them falling out while I'm exercising and the case gets all gunky. The handoff between the MacBook Pro and iPhone isn't reliable enough for me to trust it, so I always have to reconnect it if I'm at a quiet place like a co-working space. Also, within the first year one of them just randomly died and I had to send the whole thing back to Apple. Apple care covered it, but still.
I miss being able to do more with what's on my head. With Beats I could easily change the volume, pause, skip, rewind and they almost never came off. The only thing that kinda sucked was in the summer the skin around them would sweat.
Shrug. At least my MacBook Pro has been great.
Well, they didn't solve it, I sold them and went back to my non-Pro Airpods
But I'm on my third pair of replacement buds now and still experiencing issues. They no longer have the random squeaking issue that the first two pairs had, but still have issues with Bluetooth connectivity, failing to connect 10-20% of the time, dropping their BT connection during Zoom calls, etc. I'm sure some of this had to do with BT itself, but I was hoping that I'd see no pairing issues at all due to the W1 chip.
I still use them all the time, and I presume I'd have way fewer issues if I used them with a single device. I'd actually buy a second pair if I only had a Mac and iPhone, but with work + personal Macs, iPhone, iPad, and HTPC Mac Mini I'd still be dealing with issues on most of my devices.
Apple are a widely known brand and one of the first to release a product. In reality there are many other options each with different tradeoffs: https://crinacle.com/guide/tws/
Personally I find their battery life borderline, even with their rapid charge feature. Most of the time when the battery dies I'm in the middle of listening to something, instead of patiently waiting for it to charge I just grab some wired headphones instead.
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From work to chores to workouts, they live in my ears. Incredible value for the use I get out of them.
Second would be the M1 MBA. Much has already been written.
Third, I upgrade my home sound with KEF Q series for the L/C/R. Such a huge upgrade from an old set of speakers that were damaged from a move and rattled all the time.
They'd still be on my maybe top 5 list for recent purchases.
All the android ones look massive in your ears.
Unfortunately, you can't have both cats and plants at the same time.
Bonnie Plants Organic Husky Cherry Tomato Dwarf Indeterminate https://bonnieplants.com/product/husky-cherry-red-tomato/
Bonnie Plants Organic Globe Tomato Compact Determinate https://bonnieplants.com/product/organic-globe-tomato/
I also got a Serano Hot Pepper plant https://bonnieplants.com/product/serrano-hot-pepper/.
All three starter plants were about $4 at my local big box store.
Apart from these, I planted some green bean seeds and one of them has sprouted.
Last year, I bought a dwarf Meyer lemon tree which has lived up to its promise of growing well in a container and providing abundant fruit year-round.
I also bought solar-powered garden decor. These stakes look pretty during the day but at night they are absolutely magical. https://www.target.com/p/gerson-international-43-inch-high-s...
Ladybirds (you can buy larvae which you can release in about 10 days) also works for aphids, they gobble them up.
So we decided to buy one plant per month instead. Plants are great, they look nice, can turn any boring room into a cozy space, and there is also a lot of geek factor when researching plants, maintaining proper watering and feeding routines but unlike fish tank, plants can survive when you are on vacation or accidentally over-water.
Shark brand vacuum cleaner. Kind of self cleaning, and mandatory because my wife has thick hair. I have spent thousands on vacuums but this is the only one that lasts an entire floor of the house without stopping to cut out the hair, which I hate doing. Then a second shark vacuum cleaner at the office, which is large and 2 floors. I also like the shark because no bags. I am much more likely to do spot cleanups when I won’t waste time going to the other side of another floor.
Rolling wire laundry basket from the Container Store that we use for indoor trash cans. They look great and rolling them where needed is a huge plus. Bought a bunch of those for house and office.
Watch out for (common) front axle failures & other wheel problems. Replacements are near-unobtainium now and after two times having to do so in short succession we finally put ours in the junkyard.
Miss the hell out of that van though. Drove it fully loaded across the country 10 different ways a couple dozen times. Ran that thing to dust.
We've also used it as a great family country-touring machine with all benches in (8 kids), and the kids have taken it around the country a couple of times with friends.
Can't recommend them more. Just a basic V6 diesel, but Mercedes does build solid trucks.
(The only drawback being that the roof a/c gaskets always break on these things at great expense (1600usd), out of warrantee. They even settled a class action suit about that exact problem, but only up to 2015. I suppose we'll have to start another to cover 2016 and up...)
If I get a Mercedes truck though it's going to be a Unimog.
"VW Transporter is not sold in the US market because it is classed as a light truck, accruing the 25% chicken tax on importation." - US is missing out on these.
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My husband must have watched every James Hoffman video on youtube before picking it out, but it's been an awesome tool for getting into the world of espresso. We've probably been using it every day for the past 6 months, and it's probably the main reason we were able to break our former addiction to sugary, expensive espresso drinks. Turns out that well-made espresso is actually amazing on it's own, with tons of variance between different beans - but a lot of coffee shops ruin it.
It did take a month or two to get consistently good at pouring shots (again James Hoffman videos were a huge help), and having a good grinder and beans is supposedly another a important factor. We used a LIDO hand grinder at first, which was awesome because it was relatively cheap, but it takes a bit to grind - so we did recently invest in a nice electric grinder. Now that we're able to have friends come over again, that makes it a lot easier to pour a bunch of shots back to back. If you're just making one at a time, a manual grinder is not so bad.
Couple tips to future owners: 1. You can make the grind size more fine by taking the bean hopper off, and changing the dials on the burr(?) itself. Theres a couple of videos on YouTube that explain it better.
2. Buy a bottomless portafilter. Makes coffee a bit messier if things aren't tamped right, but the actual portafilter is way easier to clean, and it's a lot easier to troubleshoot shots (you can more easily tell if there's channeling or something else going on).
3. Let the machine run once or twice before pulling your shot, get everything warm.
That's the lesson I've learned years of trying to improve my brewing skills and watching James Hoffman videos. I just want a decent espresso or regular coffee. I do not want another hobby, especially one I'd have to do before my morning coffee.
It took a long time, any many expensive espresso related products, but come to the realization that I can be happy with the kind of coffee I can make with a minimum of fuss, and that feels good.
I went on a bit of a thing collecting manual brewers. I've got stove top vacuum pots, a french press, a delter press and a couple of coffee siphons (which are awesome because they make you feel like a mad scientist) but for ease of use and cleanup when making a single coffee, the aeropress beats them all.
It's slightly more advanced than the Robot, but only just. Pavoni have been making them for 60 years or so, and they haven't fundamentally changed at all during that time. The thing is built like a tank, too; it'll likely outlive me if taken care of.
The good thing is that this summer I can take it with me on vacation and I don't have to drink my awful in-laws coffee.
It's really hard to make a bad espresso with this thing. I sometimes hand-grind but mostly have been using pre-ground espresso in cans from Lavazza, Illy, and (latest discovery, cheaper and surprisingly good) Medaglia D'Oro.
For the summer, the heat pumps have replaced our terribly inefficient whole-house central AC. We have a PV solar electric system, so we can use the electricity we produce to run them, and once I started paying attention to energy use in our home it was clear that the old central AC had to go.
The modern mini-splits are pretty much maintenance-free, and are warrantied for 12 years. Best off all? The compressors are very quiet. You can have a normal conversation standing right next to them.
We didn't know the AC company we chose didn't normally do them. They told us about it, sold us on it, and then royally screwed up the installation. We had them fix it a few times, then they had to basically replace all the inside heads. And even after that, they still aren't right. Some of it is simple incompetence, but some of it had to do with knowing how to install a minisplit in particular.
We're now paying another company to completely replace it, just 2-3 years later. The manufacturer's warranty is gone (Don't buy Lennox! 2 year warranty and garbage hardware!) and the free (warranty) labor from the AC company isn't worth the time and hassle.
If you want to save a little money, Daikin is almost as good and a little cheaper. Below that you’re rolling the dice on service calls.
If you're comfortable putting a hole in your house for the line and running power, it can really save a lot of money.
Insulation matters more with heat pumps, especially ceiling for cold starts (for descending heat build up from the top) as low temp air heating is not as radiative as IR from traditional heating appliances, or the conventional oil radiators that move air passively.
CO² heat pumps are less impacted due to the much higher air temperature but they are very uncommon for split system (dangerous), and usually used for water heating in AIO unit in a basement.
Had a house electrical failure recently with solar, ran one 18k BTU unit for 60m² on a tiny 5hp Diesel generator sipping 0.4L/hr. (2-4L for Diesel burner in comparison)
These models need proper installation as they use a synthetic proprietary lubricant compared to the commonly used mineral oil, moisture or contamination during tubing installation is a big deal for twin rotary compressors which may reduce service life.
HVAC companies push multiple mini-splits these days because they're faster to install, and have better margins, even though they're technically not the best solution versus centralized air.
Work fantastic in the summer, quiet, work really fast, and pull humidity out as well. In the winter they are great because they allow each room to be its own temp, key for pandemic months where my wife, son, and I all like specific temps.
Here's a pair of really great videos about heat pumps and what they can (and could, in the future) do:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7J52mDjZzto
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7zrx-b2sLUs
[Others have also said AirPods Pro. Spectacular little earbuds.]
I'd advise people to check their current bulbs and make sure the lumen rating is the same before replacing them, if I recall correctly most connected bulbs are around 1000-1200 lumens, and top out at 1600.
I much prefer having an even light around the whole room rather than a couple bright ceiling lamps.
Only one of the lights, which uses a dimmer switch, changes automatically, but only if I turn it off and on again.
Other than that, the quality of the light is good.
I'm not aware of any automagic way to achieve this result. You'll need to use all4hue, which is basically a wrapper app around the Hue API, to set up rules by hand.
Basically, you'll have a set of rules which update a variable based on the time of day. Then use this variable as a condition in every rule that turns on a light, and have another set of rules triggered by changes to this variable when a light is on. Not complicated, just tedious to program as you'll need 4 rules per light(group) for each of these categories.
But the results work with lights that stay on, lights turned on by dimmers, as well as with motion sensors. And most importantly, the entire thing runs on the bridge so no HomeKit needed. Well worth the effort IMO.
Definitely a lot to set up though.
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Of course this quickly escalated to maintaining a full blown Home Assistant installation...