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

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

#243

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What's wrong with your tap water? Don't they have the same safety standards to meet? UK tap water is great (Well, outside of Greater London where it's basically limestone slurry). I've never bought bottled or filtered aside from the brief time I was in London. At least two brands of UK bottled water were bottling northern tap water and selling it. Business idea I wish I had thought of!

If I'm not mistaken he's talking about India. It's common advice (for travellers at least) to only drink bottled water in India.

He mentions 2 decades ago it being fine, so I presume not India. The advice to only drink bottled in India was common 20 years ago too.

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

#244

Chrome, the fast, stable, and lightweight alternative to Firefox. I don't know quite where it went off the rails...

I can't resist, it applies perfectly: Firefox, the fast, stable, and lightweight alternative to Netscape. I don't know quite where it went off the rails...

meh. incorrect cheap shot.

Firefox slogan always was Take Back The Web.

and it's still kicking at it. I'm using it on android now, with NoScript and httpsEverywhere just fine.

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

#245

Good old PalmOS handhelds, such as Palm Treo 650 or Palm Centro. I still use Centro these days, but there is nothing on the market to replace it with.

I loved my old Treo. We were one of the first companies in this country to set up ActiveSync to get 'real time' emails on those devices. We would get all smug showing off to our clients how 'Dick Tracy' we were, getting and responding to emails while out and about! :)

I was intrigued back then to see in the PalmPilot ActiveSync settings, that you could specify what times of the day and week you wanted to 'go quiet' and disable real time syncing. I snorted in derision as I questioned why anyone would want to stop this glorious flow of emails at any time.

Nowadays, I am staggered that most modern devices do not allow you to turn off the deluge. I know that there is now a movement among some web service companies to allow users to specify 'no work time', and I really really hope that trend catches on and it becomes ubiquitous in all internet connected devices.

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

#246
post #234

Earlier quoted context omitted.

While over at Android there already is. https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.access_com...

Yeah, I did point that out on my post. They let it languish for a good while and recently started updating it.

Gah, my bad.

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

#247
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.

Try the Pyra mini computer.

https://pyra-handheld.com/boards/pages/pyra/

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

#248
post #231

Fujaba (without eclipse) - From UML to Java and Back Again KPT Bryce (Kai Krause) Apple Newton handwriting recognition Apple ResEdit ICQ Usenet

heh. none of those things ever got close to working. the question was about things you used and now you miss, not things you wish :)

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

#249

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'm pretty sure pen and paper still exist, though :)

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

#250
post #116

A few things: Everything not being 4:3 screens. I found it better for programming than everything being cinematic screens. Back when monitor manufacturers were racing to make better / higher resolution monitors, instead of just leaving it at 1080p / 4k / whatever the current standard good enough for movies is. The GMail interface before it started auto-converting the textarea to HTML when edited externally. Console g…

> E-Mail before we lost the "text should be text and not goddamn HTML" war.

Keep fighting the good fight. I still use Mutt and haven't gotten around to finding a way to handle Office365 meeting invites and such. I'm also the only one in the company that connects to Slack via an IRC client (irssi).

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