Smart watch.
Ask HN: What did you purchase that measurably improved your quality of life?
61–70 of 530 posts
Re: Ask HN: What did you purchase that measurably improved your quality of life?
#62A dedicated high-end under-counter ice machine.
Most of my family members and I tend to drink water all day long.
We have a reverse-osmosis water filter setup, which is great. For years we used it to fill up bottles that we stored in the refrigerator so we could have cold water through the day. But we had to constantly clean and refill the bottles, and it takes some time for them to get cold.
With a good ice machine, we just get some ice in a cup or thermos mug and we can instantly have as much cold water as we want. The high-end machine makes nice clear ice that does not taste any different than normal water when it melts. It's just like store bought ice.
The fact that it is under the counter means it's super easy to open it up, scoop some ice, and then fill the cup up with water from the reverse osmosis spout right behind it.
You end up with really great tasting cold water, instantly, and as much as you want. The thing apparently makes 35 lbs of ice per day.
It's also nice for visitors, if they want pop or something and we didn't think to put it in the refrigerator beforehand.
Unlike refrigerator ice, it never has a smell or taste to it. It's just ice.
Re: Ask HN: What did you purchase that measurably improved your quality of life?
#63Books. A few handfuls of them, combined, made a magnitude of a difference in my quality of life. An incredible amount of similar content is available now in video and text form for free, but I think that the same ideas non-book form wouldn't have had the same impact on me.
My variation on that is realizing that I know have enough money to buy the expensive, specialized, books I want to read without having to debate it with myself.
Getting one or two book I love every month fills me with both joy and knowledge.
Re: Ask HN: What did you purchase that measurably improved your quality of life?
#64Owning my own home has improved my life in every way imaginable.
How so?
Re: Ask HN: What did you purchase that measurably improved your quality of life?
#65We installed screens on the double doors on our “sun room” so that we could keep them open all summer. It was an inexpensive change that really improved our quality of life, as we’re at home much more.
Re: Ask HN: What did you purchase that measurably improved your quality of life?
#66Adguard. https://i.imgur.com/CCLHQTT.png
I use uBlock Origin and PrivacyBadger (which are both free). Does Adguard work better/differently to justify the cost?
Not original poster but I recommend Adguard for your DNS: https://adguard.com/en/adguard-dns/overview.html I changed the router settings for the house six months ago and have had no complaints. We've got 3 teenagers doing online high school or university and no issues.
Once in a great while I get a message from a site that says "we've detected you're using an adblocker" but really no issues.
There's no control over what is blocked or not blocked. That worried me but has turned out to work just fine. There are other solutions that do allow you to maintain a list but charge an annual fee.
https://duckduckgo.com/?t=ffab&q=adblocking+dns shows a lot more options than there were six months ago.
Re: Ask HN: What did you purchase that measurably improved your quality of life?
#67The best mattress you can afford is the single best investment you can make in your life. You spend 1/3 of your life asleep. Getting more high quality sleep has a direct impact on your mood, general health and personal productivity/effectiveness.
A $5000 mattress for someone that can afford it really won't make a big difference compared to a $500 one. What mattress you sleep on doesn't really matter as long as you sleep well.
Re: Ask HN: What did you purchase that measurably improved your quality of life?
#68The best mattress you can afford is the single best investment you can make in your life. You spend 1/3 of your life asleep. Getting more high quality sleep has a direct impact on your mood, general health and personal productivity/effectiveness.
I find this very difficult. Every time I buy a mattress I buy one that I think is perfect, I sleep great on it, and then 10 months later I can't seem to sleep on it without back pain.
Re: Ask HN: What did you purchase that measurably improved your quality of life?
#69Cordless vacuum
I prefer the joy of using a great lightweight cordless vacuum over having a robot vacuum. Vacuuming has been one of the household chores that was delegated to me as a kid growing up, and the difference compared to extremely heavy corded vacuums makes the experience feel like house magic.
Re: Ask HN: What did you purchase that measurably improved your quality of life?
#70Earlier 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 had noticeable distortion on mine. Used chat to talk to Apple tech support and they had me reset them and that made the distortion go away.
I do get a squeal when pushing them into my ear canals which is a known problem with having noise cancellation on.
I find the Airpods Pro stay in my ears much better than the Airpods. And they seem pretty water resistant - the left one survived a bath in the dog's water bowl when I was filling it.