[deleted]
Ask HN: Any piece of hardware that was more of game changer than you expected?
571–580 of 592 posts
Re: Ask HN: Any piece of hardware that was more of game changer than you expected?
#572Earlier quoted context omitted.
I have the forerunner 245 music. It lasts days (at the worst) and can sync offline spotify playlists
Thanks! Does it include body battery too? Do you find it useful?
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.
Re: Ask HN: Any piece of hardware that was more of game changer than you expected?
#573Midi devices. I have lots of the cheap ones for controlling my software with hardware wheels: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=umO-Bwzl3f0 I also control software like blender using those, even my emacs use that. It is always in the same place and once you learn it, you are so fast. I also use sheets of paper and color pens.
Can you give some pointers? I’m interested in using non-traditional input devices but don’t know where to start.
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.
Re: Ask HN: Any piece of hardware that was more of game changer than you expected?
#574Earlier quoted context omitted.
> - 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. Ooh, have a recommendation for this?
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…
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.
Re: Ask HN: Any piece of hardware that was more of game changer than you expected?
#575Earlier quoted context omitted.
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.
Oh yeah a metre plus is pretty far. I sit about 30-40cm from my screen unless I'm sitting back in my chair.
But the whole point IS sitting back in your chair. Much better posture!
Btw I performed some measurements and real distance is more like 90cm.
Re: Ask HN: Any piece of hardware that was more of game changer than you expected?
#576Earlier quoted context omitted.
Which headset is good enough? I backed some kickstarter years ago which failed, so i never tried bone conduction again.
I've run thousands of miles with Aftershokz Trekz Air. Battery Life is still great after years. Just yesterday I ran 21 miles and listened to 3 podcasts while doing so. Afterward the headphones still reported a battery level of "high". Sure you don't get amazing music quality, but it's good enough for the distraction and I always hear every bicyclist approaching me from behind.
Thank you, I’ll check them out, sounds great
Re: Ask HN: Any piece of hardware that was more of game changer than you expected?
#577Earlier quoted context omitted.
Can you give some pointers? I’m interested in using non-traditional input devices but don’t know where to start.
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.
[0] BetterTouchTool. https://folivora.ai
Re: Ask HN: Any piece of hardware that was more of game changer than you expected?
#578Earlier quoted context omitted.
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…
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.
Re: Ask HN: Any piece of hardware that was more of game changer than you expected?
#579Earlier quoted context omitted.
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…
Why not mark the region with tassels as a no-go zone? I got a Ecovacs N8 w/ docking station (~$500 on sale) [1] and trust it to stay away from small/thin no-go zones quite precisely [1]: https://camelcamelcamel.com/product/B08S7ND492?context=searc...
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.
Re: Ask HN: Any piece of hardware that was more of game changer than you expected?
#580Earlier quoted context omitted.
https://onyxboox.com/boox_maxlumi This is the device 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)
Cool, thanks for the link. > The refresh rate isn't perfect, but its more than good enough for my usage (emacs, looking at docs) I really like the idea of an e-ink terminal and text editor.
Feel free to send me an email if you want to learn more about it!