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Ask HN: What's the best tool you used to use that doesn't exist anymore?

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221–230 of 891 posts

Re: Ask HN: What's the best tool you used to use that doesn't exist anymore?

#221
Norton Utilities 8.0 and Norton Commander.

I loved the DiskEditor which enabled me to recover lost files by manipulating the FAT table, hack byte codes to bypass copy protection in the days when copy protection was done by reading in bad sectors in floppy disks.

Norton Commander for the ease of use to navigate file system in DOS days. I use TotalCommander now which is the best $40 I ever spent.

Re: Ask HN: What's the best tool you used to use that doesn't exist anymore?

#222
post #127

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You missed the point. Sure, there is a risk of inflation, but you can act immediately for your own good if there a slight warnings on the horizon. You can't do anything if it's out of reach like in recent history as the banks closed all ATMs like they did in Cyprus and Greece. But I wrote about daily usage of money, and not be limited or tracked in any way, like you are with non-cash money. About ownership, you misse…

>You missed the point. Sure, there is a risk of inflation, but you can act immediately for your own good if there a slight warnings on the horizon. [...] About ownership, you missed the point, London is a bad example, as it's very expensive own a house there I think you are missing the point, because you're not seeing the connection between these symptoms. Property in London is so expensive because our culture values…

You wrote about the housing bubble, I wrote about cash money. You wrote about theoretical licenses, I wrote about that you practically own something.

Example: I buy a DVD, I can play the DVD as many times I want until it physically breaks. I some states it's also allowed by law to create a backup copy in case it breaks. And while you are allowed by law to do things, it's not possible with new paradigm like used in Win10, John Deer traktor or Tesla S car - so even if you are by law allowed to do things like sell your own stuff, you simply can't do that with such dongled stuff that also tracks you all the time as extra bonus.

And it's not about electronic cash per se, it's about centralized systems. I am unsure about Bitcoin but it sounds at least better than a system controlled by the state. Anyway cash money is still the way to go. It's like electronic voting, at the moment there is no realistic way to build a system that is secure and also don't record who voted what and making it easier to mass-manipulate votings - that's why still many states disallow electronic voting or reverted back to voting on paper. Of course many lobbyists from voting machine manufacturers would say the opposite.

Re: Ask HN: What's the best tool you used to use that doesn't exist anymore?

#224
post #177

The Psion Series 3 handhelds: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psion_Series_3 A (tiny, but) usable, physical keyboard on a device that lasted _ages_, fit into a suit pocket and was eminently practical. The age of the PDA is long gone (heck, I'm typing this on an iPad mini), but we still haven't caught up with some of its best bits.

The way i see it, the vanishing of the physcial keyboard marks the shift of mobile tech from production to entertainment. This because using all the face of the device for screen allows for better video and photo viewing.

Re: Ask HN: What's the best tool you used to use that doesn't exist anymore?

#226

Writing, with a pen. I never do it anymore, but it worked great until I got a PC, a Psion 5, and especially after my first Macbook. Since then I barely write with a pen, and if I do it's cramped.

College student here. I wish I could relate. My CS course exams in which you must write code..with a pen..on paper made me hate writing even more.

Re: Ask HN: What's the best tool you used to use that doesn't exist anymore?

#227

Writing, with a pen. I never do it anymore, but it worked great until I got a PC, a Psion 5, and especially after my first Macbook. Since then I barely write with a pen, and if I do it's cramped.

I use it for productivity :) On a blank A4 page there are no notifications, popups, battery issues, constraints of input fields.

I find it really useful to have the project outline beside my monitor. It's joy to physically cross out todo items :)

Re: Ask HN: What's the best tool you used to use that doesn't exist anymore?

#228
post #151

Google Reader. There are no replacements that a) update fast enough, and b) allow search for free. I know, I tried all of them. Firefox had an amazing plugin called "Ubiquity", which was basically like command line for your browser and you could write custom scripts for it. It was seriously better than anything that exists today. They stopped developing it for some reason. Tab Groups is another feature that's now aba…

+1 for Google reader. Never found anything like it.

I am very happy with Feedbin but I know what you mean – and Feedbin of course cannot be free. I am nevertheless glad that alternatives sprang up, the first weeks after the end of Google Reader were difficult.

Re: Ask HN: What's the best tool you used to use that doesn't exist anymore?

#230
post #200

Graffiti on Palm handhelds. I owned the original PalmPilot and a couple of other models up to the Vx, and can still write Graffiti faster than I can type on a touch screen. Discounting the Newton (which I tested but didn't own), there still isn't anything else that even came close in terms of practical "handwriting", and even though there's an Android keyboard that does Graffiti, ACCESS is sitting on the IP and has d…

While over at Android there already is.

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.access_com...

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