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Ask HN: What are the best-designed things you've ever used?

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Re: Ask HN: What are the best-designed things you've ever used?

#951

Post by alpha_ori »

GordonS wrote: post #631
wh313 wrote: post #61

My Aeropress coffee maker. It feels more convenient than a french press, and much cheaper than an espresso machine. https://aeropress.com/ Also a bidet. Americans really need to start using it more.

It looks like a one-cup French press - what I missing that makes this better?

They appear functionally similar, but the coffee made is very different. A standard french press requires a coarse grind and you can only adjust extraction by changing the steep time. The Aeropress pushes coffee through a paper filter with an airtight seal. You can vary both grind size and steep time. Not only that, but you can vary extraction across the brew by very slowly pushing the coffee through the filter. (This is a very important feature of pressurized brewing methods such as espresso.)

These controls allow you not only to better tune for different beans, but to successfully make different styles of brew for a single type of coffee. (For instance, you can adjust those variables to successfully make a shorter, more espresso-like brew or a taller, more pour-over like one from the same coffee beans.)

Re: Ask HN: What are the best-designed things you've ever used?

#952

Post by alpha_ori »

jamesdhutton wrote: post #595

Bit of a random one but I give kudos to the winged corkscrew. That's the type that has two levers on each side, which you push down to raise the cork. Wikipedia tells me it was invented by one Domenick Rosati and patented in 1930. Why do I like it? Makes pulling a cork easy, and the design is simple and elegant.

There's a lot wrong with this design. It is perhaps reasonable to use on new wine with pristine corks. But corks are a natural material, so they have a lot of variability, and they do degrade over time. If you open a lot of wine (e.g., if you are a waiter or sommelier) or you drink wine at many ages (e.g. if you are an aficionado or collector) then you need more control in where you place the worm in the cork and how you control the extraction of the cork (for instance giving lateral pressure). This is why you will never see people who routinely open wine as part of their jobs with a wing corkscrew.

(Even worse, wing corkscrews are most likely to have an auger type of worm rather than an open helix. This is not inherent in the design of the corkscrew, of course; many wing corkscrews have open worms. Just something to watch out for if you are buying one.)

Re: Ask HN: What are the best-designed things you've ever used?

#953

Post by fomine3 »

alok-g wrote: post #347
grech wrote: post #151

This may be a normie response - but Apple Airpods Pro are one of the best products I've used. After years of using several bluetooth headsets that get finicky (with connections that is), having a set that just connects and works every single time is refreshing. They really changed my behavior - I went from not liking phone conversations at all (getting agitated after a few minutes)to comfortably having long phone cal…

I hear the latency is high, which is a challenge for all wireless earphones. So good for music and calls, but not for videos, games, singing. Do I understand correctly? :-)

I wonder why latency issue on video playback isn't solved in major platforms. Just also delay video along with audio.

Re: Ask HN: What are the best-designed things you've ever used?

#954

Post by noir_lord »

portpecos wrote: post #945
noir_lord wrote: post #571

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The AK-47 is an interesting example because while the base design was amazing it also has had numerous design changes over the years that kept it (somewhat) competitive with "state of the art" designs - the original design was so good that it allowed that to be the case. In addition to its linear descendants, it was widely copied and some of the copies where arguably better (the Isreali Galil, the Finn RK62, Vector R…

>the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed vs >I think civilian ownership of guns is fine if very heavily regulated and with a purpose Your heavy regulations is the infringement the 2nd amendment was designed to protect against.

I’m British. Your 2nd amendment means nothing over here.

Additionally interesting you left the militia part out of your quote, seems to happen a lot.

Re: Ask HN: What are the best-designed things you've ever used?

#955

Post by fomine3 »

TulliusCicero wrote: post #100
wly_cdgr wrote: post #11

You said things, so I am excluding software (like the original version of the Square web app) JVC Flats GBA SP (the pocket clamshell one) Retro microwave with the original-ipod style single knob controls More generically, forks Grand Prize Winner: wood Staunton chess set - beautiful, durable, affordable, practical. The piece design is exquisitely balanced between representation and abstraction

GBA SP would be great except for the lack of headphone jack. What a bizarre omission.

It's not "truncated" but not exist from the beginning of GameBoy.

Re: Ask HN: What are the best-designed things you've ever used?

#956

Post by fomine3 »

dmurthy wrote: post #643

The ring/silent switch on an iPhone. It just works.

I miss rotation switch on iPad. It's the best way to change orientation on tablet. Enabling/disabling auto rotation in control center is horrible UI. What I should do is open, enable, close, rotate, open, disable, close. Android's rotation icon when rotated is acceptable.

Re: Ask HN: What are the best-designed things you've ever used?

#957

Post by wy35 »

Oddskar wrote: post #888
wy35 wrote: post #814

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I own a Kinesis Advantage 2, a Lily, and a Corne, and tried a Dactyl Manuform. IMO the Kinesis still wins hands down. I’ve tried dozens of keyboards but the Kinesis is the one I will always go back to. Why? To be blunt, I don’t care at all about fancy keyswitches, or wirelessness, or portability. I’m simply looking for the most comfortable input device possible. If non-ergonomic rubber dome keyboards feel like plasti…

What do you think makes it different from the others then? Is it the keywell?

The curves of the keywells, the integrated wrist rest, the thumb buttons placement, the tenting angle, etc. is unmatched.

Re: Ask HN: What are the best-designed things you've ever used?

#958

Post by SomeHacker44 »

djsbs wrote: post #339

- HP products before Corina took over. Especially the HP-28s and HP-48GX Hp basically put a lisp machine into your hands. The 28 is better than the 48 except for I/O, battery door, and screen and CPU speed. (What can I say. I love the clamshell) - mechanically, anything by Honda - Lada Niva. A relative has one in S. American. While out w/ him a cop pulled us over just to tell my uncle that he had better: “take good c…

I came here to say the same about HP calculators from the 35 to the 48. I have almost every one. The 42 is a great daily driver, and the 41 a workhorse. The 28 was my first and the 48 or 49 may be the best IMO.

Re: Ask HN: What are the best-designed things you've ever used?

#959

Post by SomeHacker44 »

Diesel555 wrote: post #84

My most useful watch for daily life and my job (pilot) has been a Citizen Navihawk JY8035. I have many styles between the Apple Watch and a Garmin Fenix to a 5$ Casio. The functionality is amazing both day and night. Features I wanted: Automatic time updates to the second Analog face Digital second readout Solar Visible at night Secondary time without any button presses (I use UTC) I list it because it is the best de…

I have had the blue angels version for many years. Now that I am old and need reading glasses, the watch has lost its appeal. I still keep it charged and ready to go, though.

Re: Ask HN: What are the best-designed things you've ever used?

#960

Post by kyawzazaw »

wyclif wrote: post #902
kyawzazaw wrote: post #217

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can add this Google Flights Leg Room extension on Chrome to see legroom on each flight too. https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/legrooms-for-googl...

It's great that exists (I have long legs), but an extension for...legroom? Why is something that important treated as esoteric and not a native search feature or setting?

Because they get paid by airlines
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