The Joys of Being a Late Tech Adopter • Hacker News Board

Re: The Joys of Being a Late Tech Adopter

#51

Post by ianai » Sun, Sep 01, 2019, 2:28 PM UTC

spodek wrote: post #26

Besides phones, other applications: - Wait for movie hype to end to avoid crap movies with great marketing. I usually wait to borrow them from the library. - I buy all my computers used from Craig's List. I'm typing on one I paid $500 for that would have been $2,000 new. - Latest news about "superfoods" or nutrition. I heard about someone who waited 5 years to act on food trends. None lasted that long before more lat…

Computers definitely peaked in performance almost a decade ago, but this might change with more parallel software and core counts - but emphasis on parallel algorithms.

Superfood is also marketing hype. But I’d say there is an underlying truth: fresh, whole foods are more nutritious than spliced up or fried options and a diet lacking nutritious food can easily be deficient. Herbs are pretty crazy packed with (sometimes unique) beneficial compounds though.

edit-possibly it’s that plants pack nutritional compounds into their fruits, leaves, and bodies and the smaller the whole component of a plant is the more densely packed it will be.

Re: The Joys of Being a Late Tech Adopter

#52

Post by ryl00 » Sun, Sep 01, 2019, 2:36 PM UTC

davnicwil wrote: post #28

I think particularly with phones, 5-10 years ago it was necessary to get a flagship model to get something that at least wasn't awful, and you wanted to upgrade that flagship as often as possible to get to 'good' as soon as possible. The last 5 years we reached 'good' for all flagship models, and so you bought one to get that but could then just keep it until it broke. Now, and going forwards, I think we're in the ph…

> Now, and going forwards, I think we're in the phase where non flagships are reaching 'good' too

This will obviously vary from person to person, but I felt we already reached this point 4-5 years ago. After getting an unlocked Moto G2 in 2014 for roughly $200 new, I no longer felt like I was sacrificing so terribly much at that price point.

Re: The Joys of Being a Late Tech Adopter

#53

Post by iamnotacrook » Sun, Sep 01, 2019, 2:46 PM UTC

klingonopera wrote: post #24

EliRivers wrote: post #7

“We’re in the golden age of smartphones,” he said. “Your smartphone from two years ago still works great and will continue to work for a while.” If this is where smartphones peak - usable for two and a bit years - we need to take ourselves out to the car park for a strong conversation.

Samsung Galaxy S5+, bought used November 2018, running LineageOS 16.0 (Android 9). I don't know, it's a 4/5 year-old model by now? Enough for browsing, listening to music, texting, I don't play games on my phone (if I ever do, I might consider installing chess, but the need never arose). I've my sights set on a new Fairphone 3 once my current phone gives up. The ease of repair, stock Android, great software support,…

You can play chess via the lichess site - no need for an app as it works great on mobile.

Re: The Joys of Being a Late Tech Adopter

#54

Post by iamkroot » Sun, Sep 01, 2019, 2:47 PM UTC

spodek wrote: post #26

Besides phones, other applications: - Wait for movie hype to end to avoid crap movies with great marketing. I usually wait to borrow them from the library. - I buy all my computers used from Craig's List. I'm typing on one I paid $500 for that would have been $2,000 new. - Latest news about "superfoods" or nutrition. I heard about someone who waited 5 years to act on food trends. None lasted that long before more lat…

It shocks me how many people get upset when you tell them that you avoid following the latest daily outrage that the news media presents us. A while back I realized that exactly nobody spends time "catching up" on daily news if they are required to unplug for any significant amount of time, so why should I bother to follow it in real time?

Re: The Joys of Being a Late Tech Adopter

#55

Post by alexashka » Sun, Sep 01, 2019, 2:54 PM UTC

iamkroot wrote: post #54

spodek wrote: post #26

Besides phones, other applications: - Wait for movie hype to end to avoid crap movies with great marketing. I usually wait to borrow them from the library. - I buy all my computers used from Craig's List. I'm typing on one I paid $500 for that would have been $2,000 new. - Latest news about "superfoods" or nutrition. I heard about someone who waited 5 years to act on food trends. None lasted that long before more lat…

It shocks me how many people get upset when you tell them that you avoid following the latest daily outrage that the news media presents us. A while back I realized that exactly nobody spends time "catching up" on daily news if they are required to unplug for any significant amount of time, so why should I bother to follow it in real time?

They are shocked you are not like them, you are shocked them are not like you.

The loop feeds itself unless one of the parties ceases being shocked. I've found it easier to cease being shocked on my end, than waiting for the universe to change to suit my fancy.

Re: The Joys of Being a Late Tech Adopter

#56

Post by alexashka » Sun, Sep 01, 2019, 3:00 PM UTC

This may be sensible advice if being educated is not an option you're not interested in.

Blanket advice is great for dummies. We have the internet, with every opportunity to become knowledgable. You don't even have to read! Youtube alone has a dozen excellent tech channels that'll break it all down for you, in a somewhat entertaining manner too.

Re: The Joys of Being a Late Tech Adopter

#57

Post by Scoundreller » Sun, Sep 01, 2019, 3:09 PM UTC

jotm wrote: post #23

pentaxy wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would put all hardware in the same bag - can be good as new after 5+ years - but whatever electronics you want to buy today (be it a phone, "smart" TV, even a car), if you have any experience you know that vendors are now mostly in the business of providing a service, not just a physical product. And that's what you'll want to look up and pay most for. If the stuff becomes incompatible or not secure for everyday us…

Thankfully, it's still possible to update software yourself. If that's impossible, well, good bye from me. I'm not going to be forced to buy new stuff because the perfectly good old one is not going to be updated.

I can’t wait for people to start JTAGing their smart TVs.

Re: The Joys of Being a Late Tech Adopter

#58

Post by segmondy » Sun, Sep 01, 2019, 3:09 PM UTC

spodek wrote: post #26

Besides phones, other applications: - Wait for movie hype to end to avoid crap movies with great marketing. I usually wait to borrow them from the library. - I buy all my computers used from Craig's List. I'm typing on one I paid $500 for that would have been $2,000 new. - Latest news about "superfoods" or nutrition. I heard about someone who waited 5 years to act on food trends. None lasted that long before more lat…

You're just cheap like me. :D I'm frugal, which makes me adopt tech late but that's because I'm waiting for the price not because I don't believe in new tech. Late tech adopters are more skeptical in the beginning and almost end up adopting it because everyone around them have adopted. It's not necessarily the price that gets in the way.

Re: The Joys of Being a Late Tech Adopter

#59

Post by ianai » Sun, Sep 01, 2019, 3:33 PM UTC

paulryanrogers wrote: post #40

drevil-v2 wrote: post #32

I treated myself to the 2019 Kindle Oasis and compared to my two year old Kindle Paperwhite (which has been donated to a grateful family member) it is miles ahead. The larger warmer screen is just incredible and I have no regrets. On the other hand I am quite happy driving a 15 year old car and would not spend money on a brand new fancy car even though I can afford it. No Tesla or BMW or Merc for me. It's different s…

Sometimes waiting can lead to lost opportunities. I bought a used original Kindle for text to speech. Newer models dropped the feature. (I think only the Fire tablets still have TTS, but only as part of accessibility.) Sure they can still be had used, for now. Once all break or Amazon drops support then it'll probably never come back. Multiplayer games suffer from a wave-like network effect. If you wait too long to t…

Blows my mind that a feature as useful as TTS would be removed. Just screams abuse of market power.

Re: The Joys of Being a Late Tech Adopter

#60

Post by ianai » Sun, Sep 01, 2019, 3:36 PM UTC

paggle wrote: post #49

drevil-v2 wrote: post #32

I treated myself to the 2019 Kindle Oasis and compared to my two year old Kindle Paperwhite (which has been donated to a grateful family member) it is miles ahead. The larger warmer screen is just incredible and I have no regrets. On the other hand I am quite happy driving a 15 year old car and would not spend money on a brand new fancy car even though I can afford it. No Tesla or BMW or Merc for me. It's different s…

Even a ordinary new car like a Toyota Corolla will be vastly safer than your 15 year old car, even if the old one is a luxury brand.

Agree. I was driving a 2003 car around until I got a rental for a couple weeks. The new features in cars make it worth it to be current: rear back up camera and “adaptive” cruise control. They have both saved me countless near misses and probably spared me an accident in just the last two years. I’m also able to parallel park comfortably too.