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

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

#231

Post by tomlagier » Thu, May 20, 2021, 3:30 PM UTC

silicon2401 wrote: post #216

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…

> cast iron skillet Personally I think these are a waste of money unless you live in a house. Trying to season one of these smoked up our apartment for hours. Apparently we didn't do it right because it's still sticky even with oil, but there's no way we're going through the headache again until we have a house.

You can just use it like a normal, heavy duty pan. The difference in use and flavor between seasoned and unseasoned is pretty minor, IMO.

The real advantage is that they're so cheap relative to their utility. They heat evenly and stand up to incredible abuse at a fraction of the cost of a normal pan.

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

#232

Post by gordon_freeman » Thu, May 20, 2021, 3:31 PM UTC

silicon2401 wrote: post #216

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…

> cast iron skillet Personally I think these are a waste of money unless you live in a house. Trying to season one of these smoked up our apartment for hours. Apparently we didn't do it right because it's still sticky even with oil, but there's no way we're going through the headache again until we have a house.

Totally agree. They are not easy to clean and need to season properly with a bit of oil and mine always smells of cooking oil that is stuck on it and never comes off how much I wash it.

Edit: The cooking oil we mostly use is Ghee (clarified butter) to cook vegetarian dishes on our cast iron skillet.

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

#233

Post by baby » Thu, May 20, 2021, 3:31 PM UTC

The ipad pro. It’s just my favorite device, and has been for the last 2-3 years. I draw and take a lot of notes on it, I read a lot of pdfs and epubs, I watch movies and videos, etc. I like that it allows me to focus, as the os is limiting, and I like that it’s so portable that I can easily take it with me anywhere. I can also hold it well when I’m in bed, in the plane, etc.

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

#234

Post by mynameisash » Thu, May 20, 2021, 3:31 PM UTC

shireboy wrote: post #214

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…

Second cast iron. We use ours daily - and it's a handmedown from my grandmother who also used daily for 20+ years. Once seasoned properly, it is non-stick, cleans easy. We just be sure to put a little oil on it after each use. Really the only skillet you need.

I bought a cheapy Lodge skillet -- 12", I think? -- a while back because I succumbed to the cast iron craze and really wanted to try cooking on induction. I figured I'd just upgrade to a bigger skillet when necessary.

It's now like 7 years later and my skillet shows no signs of giving up, and I don't think buying yet another kitchen device would make my wife happy. Should have gone with a bigger skillet to begin with.

Also, induction cooktops are amazing.

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

#235

Post by Humdeee » Thu, May 20, 2021, 3:31 PM UTC

corysama wrote: post #211

An OLED TV. I work in computer graphics and the image quality of my TV makes me smile every day. HDR is a much bigger deal than 4K. The pure blacks of OLEDs make them hard to beat. Not only for the global contrast level. The pixel by pixel contrast level and absence of light leaking at bright edges greatly improves the clarity of the image. I picked up an LG C9 a while back. There have been two more generations since…

> some other brands have obnoxious ads in their UI

Can anyone explain this? Are TV manufacturers now dishing out ads themselves and not the cable company?

I have a not-so-good dumb TV and have not bought a new one for a long time. I'm completely out of the loop here.

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

#236

Post by josho » Thu, May 20, 2021, 3:31 PM UTC

wyldfire wrote: post #193

lbotos wrote: post #42

Anova Sous Vide. Cooking perfect Chicken or pork chops every single time is an absolute joy. I don't eat as many steaks but also cooks them just the same. It's one of my go-to kitchen gadgets, and I cook most of my meals with it.

Why sous vide? Does the food taste better or prepare faster or ...?

Another name for the gadgets is 'precision cooker'. You have perfect control over the temperature of the meat. So, you'll end up with perfectly tender meat, every time.

I don't use my sous vide often, but when I do the results are fantastic. I'm a bit of a BBQ purist, and will even confess that everything comes out better when I use the precision cooker then brown the meat on the grill.

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

#237

Post by LanceH » Thu, May 20, 2021, 3:31 PM UTC

skrtskrt wrote: post #81

A massage gun. I got something called the LifePro Sonic Pro X or something like that, but it looks like the same gun is sold under different brands. I have back issues (muscular, not skeletal thank god) and combined with a sitting-heavy job I can get really tight and wound up in a way that fucks up my posture, my walking gait, and my ability to get a good workout in at the end of the day. The massage gun reallly lets…

I bought the hypervolt hyperice. I was somewhat skeptical about massage guns in general until I started using it and it is amazing. It can really dig into hip flexors, legs muscles and the lower back where the old-style massagers are much more surface level.

I also got a tv with bluetooth so I can watch action movies full volume on the headset while people in the house sleep. It also makes up for the terrible acoustics in my bedroom which seems to dampen all sound (great for sleeping, bad for tv).

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

#238

Post by oauea » Thu, May 20, 2021, 3:31 PM UTC

baby wrote: post #203

gjstein wrote: post #116

Philips Hue lights. I had wanted them for a little while for the novelty of it, but upon buying a couple my wife and I converted nearly all of our small apartment (except the bathrooms) to use their color-changing bulbs. Being able to change the light color and temperature has been surprisingly nice and has made our home much "cozier" under quarantine. We change the lights to dim reds and blues during movie nights or…

It’s nice but it quickly becomes gimmicky I found (besides the ability to easily say “hey google turn off the lights”)

I've had smart lights for a few years now, and I'm pretty happy with them. I can turn them off remotely, dim them as a group and change them to a soft red at night to not blind myself.

Of course this quickly escalated to maintaining a full blown Home Assistant installation...

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

#239

Post by Cyril_HN » Thu, May 20, 2021, 3:31 PM UTC

fsloth wrote: post #174

Kettlebells and specific simple work program (The book "Simple and Sinister" by Pave Tsatsouline). I've never been much to exercise. No nonsense - only TWO different movements. I'm 40 and getting visible muscles first time in my life.

Yeah. 100 kettle bell swings and 10 get-ups, in 20 minutes, sounds pretty brutal.

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

#240

Post by enobrev » Thu, May 20, 2021, 3:32 PM UTC

contriban wrote: post #168

fisherjeff wrote: post #140

Easy: * Oxo Compact Cold Brew Maker[0] * Rad Power RadWagon[1] [0] https://www.oxo.com/categories/coffee-tea/brew/coffee-makers... [1] https://www.radpowerbikes.com/products/radwagon-electric-car...

$30 for the cold brew machine seem reasonable, but I’ve been pouring coffee in plastic bottles to make my cold brew. $0, I don’t even filter it as it just deposits at the bottom, but I don’t know whether the machine is somehow better.

I've found using a french-press with luke-warm water for about 12 hours works great. Probably not as strong as the cold-brew machine, but perfectly fine for my needs in the summer time.