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Ask HN: Favorite purchases of last two years?

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

#881

Plants. I didn't have many before covid/wfh, but they really make the place more liveable/ejoyable by just being there and this became increasingly important as i spent so much more time at home

Fungus gnats and aphids and making this hobby a living hell for me right now. I’ve been watering my veggies with BTI and spraying aphids with Spinosad(sp?), any tips on ending this infestation nightmare? I’m so close to calling it quits. Have about 12 different veggies going in raised planter boxes.

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

#882
When I sold my company, I bought a beach house. This was during the 2007 crash. It appreciated quite a bit and I never actually used it. So, I sold it.

I basically moved the money from an asset that appreciates to assets that I appreciate - by buying a number of collector cars. Best choice I made in a long time. The added bonus is that the cars continue to appreciate.

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

#883

I am a little reluctant, but I will add Kindle Oasis. I upgraded to Oasis from Kindle Paperwhite. But my favorite Kindle is Kindle Keyboard 3. It is the easiest to hold among all Kindles. As it doesn't have touchscreen, I never worry about inadvertently turning the page or activating some menu. Only reason I got Paperwhite was because I wanted waterproof and builtin light. PW is really awkward to hold especially when…

I agree. I was able to lessen the price by buying the previous gen (the one without the amber screen option) on letgo/OfferUp for $100. Monitored those apps as well as FB marketplace for a few weeks until I got a good deal. Sold my Apple TV before I bought which covered most of the price. Well worth it especially with Kindle -> Readwise -> Notion.

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

#884
I bought an Anker 40W USB wall charger originally for a Raspberry Pi cluster but now it just lives on my desk.

I thought I was doing just fine with the provided USB wall warts but having all of my charging cables in the same place is super convenient. It's smaller than expected. At the moment almost all of my gadgets are USB-A but I would be happy to upgrade to a version with USB-C in the future.

https://www.amazon.com/Anker-5-Port-Charger-PowerPort-iPhone...

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

#885

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 is so extremely versatile and durable. I’ve had this one iron skillet for 23 years and it just seems to get better with age. I would also highly recommend enameled iron cookware like pots and pans from Le Cruset (it doesn’t have to be that brand though, there are plenty of excellent off-brand alternatives that are just as good and a lot cheaper).

As for headphones, I obsess over the Sony MDR-7506s, which to my ears are the best sounding headphones ever made. These are old-school wired studio monitors and they outperform any hyped “high-end” overpriced headphones. They have a neutral, accurate sound and are surprisingly inexpensive. You can still get then new for about $100. They are my secret audio weapon.

Oh and I love Jetbrains tools. I specifically use RubyMine quite a bit. VSCode (with the Ruby and Rails plugins) is great, but RubyMine is just very mature and polished, and it feels professional.

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

#886

Logitech MX Master, I noticed wrist pain with the prolong use of the trackpad on my Mac. Instead of getting a generic mouse, I decided to take the leap and get the MX Master 2S. The ergonomics alone is worth all the hype and money. The extra buttons, excellent tracking is cherry on the top for me.

I really like the 2s. Besides just being an all-around excellent mouse, the scroll-wheel that just spins forever is probably my favorite feature - sometimes to scroll a long page - sometimes just as sort of a fidget spinner. I want the 3 for the USB-C but otherwise my 2s is still in excellent condition and I have a hard time justifying replacing it just for the USB port.

I have a 3 that I'm not using, maybe we can work something out?

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

#887
iPhone XR:

I've been deeply sceptical to anything Apple since I burned myself on a MacBook Pro from 2009 to 2012 (misplaced ctrl key, no proper alt-tab replacement, opening the file selector in one window would freeze other windows from same application)

18 or so months ago I was so tired of being burned by flagship and non flagship Androids that my job would give me: Samsung 3, two Notes, Sony (can't remember but the best there was at the time), and also Nokia 6.1 A droid One edition.

The last android phone I liked was Samsung Galaxy II.

Going to iPhone was fantastic:

- when I touch an icon that app just starts unlike on all my Androids after Galaxy II where the phone seemed to always have a reason to wait a bit first.

- upgrades doesn't install Amazon ads or anything (hi Sony! Once you've sold it it is not your phone anymore)

- iCloud is fantastic

- one less thing to worry about if Google decides it doesn't like me

Now I am wondering if I should get a Mac. It can't really be that bad anymore..?

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

#888

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…

That kind of headphones really was a significant upgrade for me. Being able to listen to something while still having environmental awareness is awesome. I do wish the max volume for the aftershokz where higher, and they didn't have the play/pause button trigger a redial when double pushed. I've accidentally done that multiple times (Including scaring my parents with a middle of the night call, due to 9 hours time di…

If you never use them for calling, you can go into Bluetooth settings and disable Calls/Phone access for that device. At least, this is possible on Android.

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

#889

Two things: * Apple Watch * Dynamax Running Pad (Light Run Treadmill) I started to put more emphasis on my personal health as I noticed that the COVID-19 pandemic has taken a lot of toll on both my physical and mental state. The watch has been quite amazing in tracking my movement, heart rate, # of times standing up in a day and overall, has been quite influential in motivating me to do more physical related activiti…

Yes, the Apple Watch was a fantastic purchase. I started noticing how much (or little) I was active some days. I started walking regularly the day after I got my watch, and it's been a slow build up since then. Obviously it wont' do the work for you, but it's a great tool if you're ready to get started.

I think Apple could do a lot of headway to trigger some neuro sensor motivation as wearing the watch throughout the day, then can likely get data and trigger when it knows you are more likely to do even a little exercise.

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

#890

I concur with the people who have mentioned robovac, instant pot, sony xm3/xm4, ooni pizza oven, MacBook m1 - all making my life better. Other things - door frame pull up bar, resistance band. Cheap, get a lot of use, don't take much space. One of those shiatsu machines with infrared - used one almost daily for a couple of years. Great for upper back/shoulder muscle tension release while sitting on the sofa in the ev…

> door frame pull up bar YouTube is riddled with those falling out of the door frames and people face-planting or falling on their back. Are all those failures from improper install/usage or what?

You can't do any kipping / front to back movement. Worth it IMO to get a beefier bar (see Rogue's above door offering) so that you don't break your tailbone falling off the door frame & can use resistance bands for added assistance.

https://www.roguefitness.com/rogue-jammer-pull-up-bar

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