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Ask HN: What did you purchase that measurably improved your quality of life?

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Re: Ask HN: What did you purchase that measurably improved your quality of life?

#441

Post by voisin »

throw51319 wrote: post #439
voisin wrote: post #89

Spin Bike. Unbelievable how much my life has changed by being able to exercise while I take calls (at low speeds!), read, watch Netflix, etc.

Which one did you get? I just want a barebones one for exactly what you're saying.

I bought a Schwann IC4 (Same as IC8 in Europe) which has the build quality of the Peloton and I use my iPhone combined with Kinetic app in the background to get all the stats I want. It was on sale at Best Buy recently. By all means there are less expensive ones and if this hadn’t been on sale I would’ve probably gone for one cheaper. It was $999 Canadian. Good luck!

Re: Ask HN: What did you purchase that measurably improved your quality of life?

#442

Post by olnluis »

martindbp wrote: post #390
rozab wrote: post #256

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For those who don't want to fund youtube, Youtube Vanced is a hacked version of the official client that provides all the features for free (no root required), and there are also various open source clients available.

I also use Youtube on Chromecast, and my phone. It's just easier to pay than to try to hack all different devices.

This, even assuming only your own devices. Now throw the technology unsavvy family's devices into the mix and then YouTube Premium becomes a no brainer.

I would very much like to set up a pi-hole but the moment something goes wrong pitchforks will be pointed at me.

Re: Ask HN: What did you purchase that measurably improved your quality of life?

#443

Post by chubot »

gcatalfamo wrote: post #371
chubot wrote: post #334

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well the physical comfort isn't really the main issue, but yeah I guess I don't like having something resting on my ears for more than say 30-60 minutes at a time. I would flip it on its head: Why headphones? To me the only advantages of headphones are (1) not disturbing people near you and (2) traveling. For everything else I would use speakers! The other things I don't like are: - the cable following me around, esp…

the problem with speakers - which I love - is that they don't live well with a microphone as two separate peripherals. How did you solve this?

Good point, that's another reason to use headphones -- if you're also using a microphone!

There's no way to really solve this! I think there are some hacks, but the music and TV pro solution is to use in-ear monitors.

Good thread where someone suggests using monitors to reduce fatigue on video conference:

https://twitter.com/samuelmehr/status/1309672535190102016

I haven't tried it, but it makes a lot of sense. Knowing how loud your own voice relative to others' is seems like a key benefit.

----

I use speakers to listen to lectures and podcasts, and it's 100% a win IMO, but yeah they don't work well if your voice also has to be recorded unfortunately ...

Re: Ask HN: What did you purchase that measurably improved your quality of life?

#444

Post by Nextgrid »

musicale wrote: post #360
Nextgrid wrote: post #327

Earlier quoted context omitted.

YouTube Premium still requires you to create a Google account and accept their ToS & privacy policy and provide them with validated personal & billing information. I am personally not comfortable with this and would rather have absolutely no business relationship with such a company. I’m using an Invidious ( https://github.com/iv-org/invidious ) instance instead.

Would you be willing to pay extra for privacy? Seems like that could be a business model. I wonder if the VPPA applies to Youtube?

I'm absolutely in favour of paying extra for privacy. However, it has to come from a company that I am willing to trust.

Google is an advertising company at its core and its bottom line relies on knowing as much about people as possible so that they can target better ads, thus I do not want to have any kind of business relationship with them. Their efforts to force users to opt into tracking (like dark patterns and the recent not-GDPR-compliant consent prompt) suggest me to steer well clear.

If they spin off YouTube as its own company, with its own account system (independent from Google) and ToS (that do not include anything regarding tracking - as it stands to sign up for YouTube Premium you do still need to agree to Google's ToS and privacy policy) I will definitely reconsider, but as it stands it is a hard no.

Re: Ask HN: What did you purchase that measurably improved your quality of life?

#445

Post by jonnydubowsky »

tck42 wrote: post #143
checkyoursudo wrote: post #131

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would agree with this. I had bad sleep and therefore bad everything else until I decided to get a better bed. Good sleep makes everything better.

Any advice (or links to advice) for something like this? I have been sick a lot lately and I feel like it's due to bad sleep, and I hate my bed, but buying a mattress is such a scam.

After the birth of our daughter my wife and I got the Beautyrest Black. The improvements to our sleep and general well-being have been amazing! https://www.beautyrest.com/black/k-class-ultra-plush-pillow-...

Re: Ask HN: What did you purchase that measurably improved your quality of life?

#446

Post by aleister_777 »

MatthiasVance wrote: post #340
amelius wrote: post #185

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Embarrassed to say but I use a normal toilet and sometimes I try to flush skid marks away using the shower head (from my bath-tub) in strong jet mode. However, this is often quite difficult, which makes me believe that the bidet isn't all that hygienic ...

Before you use the toilet, put in some toilet paper and everything just flushes out.

The "poo canoe".

Re: Ask HN: What did you purchase that measurably improved your quality of life?

#448

Post by yaveti »

paledot wrote: post #220

My wife and I both work, but our lifestyle does not require two incomes. So we've tried to find trustworthy charities to entrust my salary to. It's harder than it sounds, and we're only about 60% of the way there, but it has measurably improved the quality of life of many people - not just us. I also "purchased" a 4-day work week, which has had a substantial impact on my own quality of life.

Have you looked into Effective Altruism, The life you can save foundation, and/or GiveWell? They are all initiatives to make sure resources are used as effectively as possible when it comes to doing good.

Re: Ask HN: What did you purchase that measurably improved your quality of life?

#449

Post by arh68 »

tck42 wrote: post #143
checkyoursudo wrote: post #131

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would agree with this. I had bad sleep and therefore bad everything else until I decided to get a better bed. Good sleep makes everything better.

Any advice (or links to advice) for something like this? I have been sick a lot lately and I feel like it's due to bad sleep, and I hate my bed, but buying a mattress is such a scam.

A latex mattress topper works great, in my (& a relative's) experience, upon a good old mattress. 3", medium-firm, pretty reasonable cost, just lay it on top. I like using enough layers of sheets so as not to feel the dimples/holes. Natural latex foam, it's surprisingly cool and solid to the touch, like a chilled custard.

Re: Ask HN: What did you purchase that measurably improved your quality of life?

#450

Post by secretsatan »

sonofhans wrote: post #36
secretsatan wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I do love them, but the noise cancellation does bad things to bass and for my real low end stuff, produces a rattle? I turn it off when i want it full volume

The rattle is a defect. Apple will replace them. I got a pair months ago, after using gen-1 AirPods for a couple years. Soon the left AirPod Pro started rattling at certain frequencies. It got worse. I complained to Apple and they sent me a new left ‘Pod. Soon the right one exhibited the same behavior. This time, I could hear the rattle if I tapped gently on it. Clearly something was physically loose inside it. Apple…

I have heard these stories, i don’t doubt them, but maybe rattle wasn’t the right word in my case, the fact it happens only on noise cancellation makes me think it’s a software issue. It’s very few tracks, not a general issue, 99% of tracks sound great, just some tracks with real low loud bass and it triggers on the bass drum. I’m no sound engineer, but it sounded a bit like a glitch that spunds like a rattle of a speaker that can’t handle it. Maybe the bass gets boosted on noise cancellation? Like i say, turning off the cancellation stops it, and the bass come through just fine
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