Ask HN: Favorite purchases of last two years? • Hacker News Board

Re: Ask HN: Favorite purchases of last two years?

#791

Post by burntoutfire » Thu, May 20, 2021, 9:03 PM UTC

Humdeee wrote: post #454

kaybe wrote: post #17

- Noise-cancelling headphones (Sony 1000X-M3) are totally saving the rest of my productivity in home office. (The bluetooth does not work with my current Linux version, but I will not update that until my work is done just in case something else stops working. It does however work with my 10-year-old Nokia phone. But hey, there is an audio cable which also works fine. The next time I will probably buy Bose, but only…

I actually bought the Sony 1000X-M4 about 2 weeks ago. I love them and the noise cancelling is top notch. I figure why not since WFH could be much more common in the workplace. Should have made this purchase awhile ago.

I have them as well. Noise-cancelling is amazing, compared to another n-c headphones I had (large Jabra ones). However, the audio quality on bluetooth when connecting to my 2013 MacBookPro running Windows 10 is too bad to use it (it's totally fine when connecting to my iPhone SE2). Thank god for the audio jack, which I use every time I want to listen to something from my laptop - but it doesn't carry the microphone line, so it's not a solution for calls.

Another issue is microphone audio quality - it's worse than on headphones where microphone is on a boom.

Also, the switching between connected devices is a travesty (fails a lot of the time), I eventually turned it off altogether.

Re: Ask HN: Favorite purchases of last two years?

#792

Post by minimoose » Thu, May 20, 2021, 9:04 PM UTC

krat0sprakhar wrote: post #657

slimbods wrote: post #647

A very basic but effective home gym: A barbell and 140kg of bumper plates, Squat/bench stands, bench, slam ball, dumbbells and a small range of kettlebells. The whole thing cost about the equivalent of a year's gym membership but have lasted two years so far and show no sign of wear. Being able to lift something heavy on a regular basis over the last year has been a massive boost for my mental and physical health. Yo…

I wish I could do this! But alas, living in an apartment in the city this will remain my pipedream.

a 25 lb kettle bell will do wonders - but like anything powerful caution is advised:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cKx8xE8jJZs

Re: Ask HN: Favorite purchases of last two years?

#793

Post by tonfreed » Thu, May 20, 2021, 9:09 PM UTC

Line 6 Variax guitar. It's good enough that I haven't even thought about buying another guitar since because it's so versatile.

Re: Ask HN: Favorite purchases of last two years?

#794

Post by SAI_Peregrinus » Thu, May 20, 2021, 9:11 PM UTC

Knipex Pliers-Wrench set. Basically replaces all other adjustable wrenches and most fixed wrenches.

Re: Ask HN: Favorite purchases of last two years?

#795

Post by cbHXBY1D » Thu, May 20, 2021, 9:20 PM UTC

iyn wrote: post #321

kaypro wrote: post #30

Kobo Forma. I'm an avid eBook reader so the little things add up. Going from the Kindle to the Forma was a huge upgrade. Font rendering, warm light, larger form factor, and Pocket integration amongst a host of other little niceties make it pretty much a perfect experience for me. https://us.kobobooks.com/products/kobo-forma

+1, really good reader. I recommend installing KOReader, which is an alternative firmware with more customization options: https://koreader.rocks/

I like Plato, too. Plus it's written in Rust!

https://github.com/baskerville/plato

Re: Ask HN: Favorite purchases of last two years?

#796

Post by avidal » Thu, May 20, 2021, 9:26 PM UTC

agent86 wrote: post #694

This is a bit outside the HN box, but I love our Kindling Cracker[1]. We made a little outdoor seating area with a fire pit and then realized we needed to figure out how we were going to fuel it. Plenty of downed trees around us, but we came to realize that logs didn't burn well unless they were split. I did not trust myself to start swinging an axe around and went looking for alternatives. I found this and gave it a…

These things are very cool. I buy wood from a local wood yard every year or two (I don't use much here in Texas, but we do love our firepit and fireplace when it's cool enough), but the splits I get are often too large to easily burn. I'll often buy a bag of kindling when I pickup fire wood, but the kindling doesn't last long.

The main reason I didn't get a kindling cracker is because I don't have a stable base to mount it, although I suppose I could manufacture one next to the wood rack. I did, however, get a hydraulic wood splitter[1] which at least helps split some of the really large logs into something more manageable. It's pretty simple to use and very effective, even on the very knotty and hard oak wood out here.

[1] https://www.harborfreight.com/lawn-garden/outdoor-power-tool...

Re: Ask HN: Favorite purchases of last two years?

#797

Post by cyberbanjo » Thu, May 20, 2021, 9:27 PM UTC

gmac wrote: post #663

cyberbanjo wrote: post #28

Aeropress, coffee maker.

Is it really better than a small cafetière/French press?

I think what makes it so magical is that it's airtight and so the pressure inside goes up when you brew it, also most French presses I have used have just a steel mesh instead of a coffee filter so you get silt in it.

Re: Ask HN: Favorite purchases of last two years?

#798

Post by codezero » Thu, May 20, 2021, 9:37 PM UTC

teddyh wrote: post #638

Like I wrote here two years ago¹, I have a Sage “ The Tea Maker ™” (a.k.a. Breville BTM800XL), and it is indeed, as far as I can tell, the top of the line in tea makers. 1. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21074519

I'm not into tea, but my wife is and she swears by this kettle.

Re: Ask HN: Favorite purchases of last two years?

#799

Post by codezero » Thu, May 20, 2021, 9:39 PM UTC

Jakobeha wrote: post #128

Material goods: Ear plugs (silicone). Don't waste your money on noise-cancelling headphones, I have $200 ones and they don't compare to simple ear plugs. If you live in a moderately noisy area and you want peace and quiet, get them. They basically just make everything quiet. 24 from CVS = $10. OpenMove by Aftershokz - Bone-conduction headphones. Perfect for running and just good for listening to music. They work, the…

Fun fact, you can put bone conducting headphones on your mouth and hear through your teeth :)

Re: Ask HN: Favorite purchases of last two years?

#800

Post by omoikane » Thu, May 20, 2021, 9:43 PM UTC

hawski wrote: post #758

omoikane wrote: post #632

Hand-crank flashlights, which were put to good use during the multiple power outages we had last year.

Sounds useful even without outages. How much one has to turn to make it work for an hour? Or is it in minutes?

For these ones: https://www.amazon.com/ThorFire-Rechargeable-Collapsible-Fla...

I can crank for a few seconds and it will last a few minutes. They become gradually dim after that, and I never measured how long it took for them to go completely dark.