Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Ask HN: What work/office purchase transformed your life?

news.ycombinator.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

201–210 of 221 posts

Re: Ask HN: What work/office purchase transformed your life?

#201

Post by philwelch »

lazyeye wrote: post #198
philwelch wrote: post #179

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What levels are you seeing?

1100-1200. I believe in the mining industry anything over 800 inside a truck cab is considered unsafe. Fresh air is 470ish. I try to keep my room around 600 but not always possible.

If that's in ppm you're nowhere close to any limits I'm aware of. OSHA limits start at 5000ppm, which is approximately where the ISS and most submarines are kept. It's possible that 3000ppm would be a safer upper limit, but you're still at less than half of that.

It’s interesting because I’ve seen this CO2 anxiety on HN and Twitter before but I’ve never found any solid rationale for people to worry about CO2 concentrations at those magnitudes. Part of me wonders where this idea came from. Hopefully it isn’t just a ploy to sell CO2 monitors.

Re: Ask HN: What work/office purchase transformed your life?

#202

Post by KyleJune »

bluefirebrand wrote: post #85
benrapscallion wrote: post #35

Logitech MX Vertical mouse

Yeah, I went from lots of wrist pain to none by switching to a vertical mouse. I don't think I'm ever moving to a trackball though. I think a split keyboard will be my next investment, based on the comments in this thread.

Yea, I've tried a lot of different types of mice. The Logitech MX Vertical mouse has been the best for me so far. For split keyboard, I was using Microsoft Sculpt but after having my second one break, I decided to go up market to the ergodox ez. I think it's worth it but it is harder to get adjusted to.

Re: Ask HN: What work/office purchase transformed your life?

#203

Post by natdempk »

cbovis wrote: post #12

I don't know if "transformed my life" would be the right term but I always harp on to colleagues about my Polycom. I was skeptical when originally buying it but the purchase has ended up being one of my favourite things on my desk. My laptop is docked and closed so using the built in mic and speaker isn't a great experience on remote calls. I don't like the experience of using headphones for a call because of the eff…

If you ever want to go back to headphones, open-back headphones can avoid basically any issues with voice perception.

Re: Ask HN: What work/office purchase transformed your life?

#204

Post by lazyeye »

philwelch wrote: post #201
lazyeye wrote: post #198

Earlier quoted context omitted.

1100-1200. I believe in the mining industry anything over 800 inside a truck cab is considered unsafe. Fresh air is 470ish. I try to keep my room around 600 but not always possible.

If that's in ppm you're nowhere close to any limits I'm aware of. OSHA limits start at 5000ppm, which is approximately where the ISS and most submarines are kept. It's possible that 3000ppm would be a safer upper limit, but you're still at less than half of that. It’s interesting because I’ve seen this CO2 anxiety on HN and Twitter before but I’ve never found any solid rationale for people to worry about CO2 concentr…

I can certainly personally feel the difference health-wise between 600ppm and 1200 ppm.

This is what ChatGPT has to say on the subject:-

The difference in acceptable CO2 levels between submarines and office buildings is due to different environmental and operational constraints.

Enclosed Environment: Submarines operate in a highly enclosed environment where air cannot be easily exchanged with the outside. This leads to a natural accumulation of CO2, making higher levels unavoidable.

Air Filtration and Recycling: Submarines are equipped with advanced air filtration and CO2 scrubbing systems to manage air quality. These systems can handle higher CO2 levels effectively, unlike typical office HVAC systems.

Occupational Health Standards: Office buildings adhere to civilian occupational health standards that prioritize comfort and long-term health, aiming to minimize any impact on cognitive functions and overall well-being of the occupants.

Operational Necessity: Submarines often have to remain submerged for extended periods without venting or taking in fresh air. The operational demands and limitations necessitate tolerating higher CO2 levels.

Adaptation and Training: Submarine crews are trained and gradually adapted to higher CO2 levels, something that is not feasible or necessary for office environments.

The higher tolerance for CO2 in submarines is a trade-off between operational needs and environmental constraints, whereas office buildings prioritize occupant comfort and health under normal environmental conditions.

Re: Ask HN: What work/office purchase transformed your life?

#205

Post by swah »

solardev wrote: post #67

OK, cheating a bit here, but: My Jetbrains IDEs. It's a huge productivity boost for me over VSCode, with batteries included out of the box (great diff engine, gitlens like visual git, built in postman like client, SQL query editor and table browser, amazing indexed searched, awesome refactoring). I've paid for an individual sub for a decade and will probably keep doing it for life. Really great product that's useful…

What environmnts are you using it for ? I guess it shines more on languages other than webdev/react...

I enjoy it, but don't feel that many advantages over VSCode for my flow. (unfortuntely)

Re: Ask HN: What work/office purchase transformed your life?

#206

Post by eternityforest »

ted_bunny wrote: post #171
eternityforest wrote: post #6

I don't drive, so getting to and from work is often more work than the actual work, plus, a lot of what I do isn't desk work. I spend a lot more on on-the-go gear than office stuff. * Tile Trackers * Vacuum insulated water bottles, food jars, and a coffee mug * A decent phone * A MOLLE backpack(SOG Ninja) and accessories. * A headlamp (Sofirn HS10, it's tiny and USB-C rechargeable) * Zero drop barefoot shoes * An ult…

Shoe recs? My Feiyues are crucial to me but they look kinda junky.

I've been wearing Unshoes sandals and Xero Hana shoes when it's winter or I'm going to work.

I've been really thinking about getting a pair of Keen Sparta 2 work shoes though because I keep randomly doing stuff where safety toes would probably be a good thing.

I also spend probably under $50 a year, total, on all clothes and shoes together, so I'm not exactly an expert.

Re: Ask HN: What work/office purchase transformed your life?

#207

Post by ElevenLathe »

mortallywounded wrote: post #196
ElevenLathe wrote: post #134

Arctis Nova Pro Wireless Headset. I can stay connected to both my workstation (with enough range to cover my house and some of the yard) and my phone at the same time. This allows me to wander/pace away from my desk during meetings, and also answer calls without taking it off. It's super comfy, and comes with two batteries so the base can charge one while the other is in use, meaning you never have to plug it in to c…

How's support on Linux?

I haven't tried it on a bare metal Linux workstation but afaik it doesn't require any drivers on Windows -- it just looks like a standard USB sound card, so probably it would be fine?

Re: Ask HN: What work/office purchase transformed your life?

#208

Post by coldtrait »

solardev wrote: post #67

OK, cheating a bit here, but: My Jetbrains IDEs. It's a huge productivity boost for me over VSCode, with batteries included out of the box (great diff engine, gitlens like visual git, built in postman like client, SQL query editor and table browser, amazing indexed searched, awesome refactoring). I've paid for an individual sub for a decade and will probably keep doing it for life. Really great product that's useful…

I feel like using IntelliJ for Java really made me like the process of writing code more, as opposed to having used Eclipse in the past. This was way before VS Code was a thing, to be fair. Now I have VS Code and I tried Cursor, but I keep coming back JetBrains IDEs for development.

Re: Ask HN: What work/office purchase transformed your life?

#209

Post by disgruntledphd2 »

blackhaj7 wrote: post #174
kopos wrote: post #40

My Remarkable 2 E-Ink notebook for sure. I'm a pen and paper notes taker - R2 has been extremely useful in freeing me up from the pen and paper books. And my notes are searchable and tagged!

How close does it feel to pen and paper? I loathe the idea of paying a subscription for a device I am already paying money for but I find pen and paper way more liberating than a computer. I am very tempted by e-ink notebooks as they feel somewhere in between the two

I find the Remarkable is pretty much exactly like pen and paper, but it syncs to the desktop which makes it way handier.
Post reply on HN