Microsoft Sculpt ergonomic keyboard
Ask HN: What're the best-designed things you've ever used?
161–170 of 1001 posts
Re: Ask HN: What're the best-designed things you've ever used?
#162The Kinesis Advantage contoured ergonomic keyboard. Once you've used it for a few weeks, regular keyboards feel awkward and uncomfortable. They are pricy and completely worth it.
Not for me. I've tried this (quite expensive) keyboard for two weeks. It was awkward to use and really, really complicated. The best non-mechanical keyboard I've used is a $20 Anker 84-key Wireless keyboard. It's extremely comfortable, and extremely portable.
That keyboard took me 3 months to use (to be fair I was also switching to Dvorak). Luckily (?) this was while I was sidelined in a bike to car a collision. I have struggled with RSI and it really changed my life. But I agree it's not for everyone. For starters you definitely need large hands!
Re: Ask HN: What're the best-designed things you've ever used?
#163The Kinesis Advantage contoured ergonomic keyboard. Once you've used it for a few weeks, regular keyboards feel awkward and uncomfortable. They are pricy and completely worth it.
Not for me. I've tried this (quite expensive) keyboard for two weeks. It was awkward to use and really, really complicated. The best non-mechanical keyboard I've used is a $20 Anker 84-key Wireless keyboard. It's extremely comfortable, and extremely portable.
You may have given up prematurely. It took me a month or so to get used to it. I used the Kinesis Freestyle before, still expensive, but lasted me for years and years.
Re: Ask HN: What're the best-designed things you've ever used?
#164Almost every bicycle. Our noblest invention.
great answer--had think think about it for a moment to realize this.
and still it seems it's potential is largely unrealized--eg, i wonder what would be happen to the incidence of leading chronic disease (obesity, diabetes) if the fraction of bicycle riders went up by let's say 10%.
Re: Ask HN: What're the best-designed things you've ever used?
#165I really enjoy my aeropress (https://aerobie.com/product/aeropress/) coffee press. The modern take on a French press, price, and availability on Amazon made me realize anybody can have a great idea, print it in plastic, and sell it to people - arriving two days later.
Plus the coffee that comes out is dope.
Re: Ask HN: What're the best-designed things you've ever used?
#166A properly designed kettlebell. The one below is what I use, but other companies also make good ones. The weight transfers around your arm naturally, it's very hard to injure yourself using it. Two indications of a good one are: handle is not flat, and pounds are in 18 pound increments (this comes from an old Russian unit of measure called a "pood".)
https://christiansfitnessfactory.com/cff-black-monster-russi...
Re: Ask HN: What're the best-designed things you've ever used?
#167Dyson vacuum cleaners. I have never once wondered "how do I do this?" when using my Dyson. From cleaning, to extensions, switching modes, and just plain using the thing, every inch of these vacuums is designed to the utmost degree to make them not only super powerful suction machines but also trivially easy to use.
I'm not the main user of ours, and every time I need to empty it I'm confused. And what's up with that filter in the top that just falls out?
Re: Ask HN: What're the best-designed things you've ever used?
#168The wok. A good 13 or 14" pao wok costs about $15. Add another $20 for a spoon, a cover, an wok ring and a steaming grill and you can make almost anything. The thing looks so simple, but it is part of a whole system and way of cooking that is amazingly fun and effective.
Re: Ask HN: What're the best-designed things you've ever used?
#169The Kinesis Advantage contoured ergonomic keyboard. Once you've used it for a few weeks, regular keyboards feel awkward and uncomfortable. They are pricy and completely worth it.
That's hard to believe, their Dvorak/Qwerty version has four or five different keys completely mislabeled, which made me return it because I couldn't trust the product any more.
Which keys? I didn't find that to be the case -- but even if it were, one of the features of this keyboard is you can remap any of the keys to your liking.
I had to train on it with https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Typing_of_the_Dead for about 2 weeks before I was beating my usual typing speed. But after that, there's no going back.
No more wrist pain, ever.
The only thing that sucks is the rubber keys, especially ESC, especially for vim users. In contrast, having meta+ctl keys on thumbs for emacs users is huge.
Re: Ask HN: What're the best-designed things you've ever used?
#170U.S. Constitution
Eiffel Tower
Bosendorfer 214CS piano
1986 Fender Performer guitar
1959 Fender Stratocaster
Yamaha YBL 321 trombone
Yamaha Q series alto sax
Any Zojirushi rice cooker
Vitamix
Sony SRF-M37w radio
Golden Gate Bridge (walk it)
Any Porsche 911
Toyota Sienna minivan
Any MacBook Air
Duluth Trading Longtail T shirts
web2py
C89
Visual Basic 3.0
Turbo Pascal 3.0
Visual Pascal
Vim
Eggs, bananas, bell peppers, cocoanuts, water
Fender Precision bass
Motorola StarTac
HN
Almost anything Frank Lloyd Wright