Ergonomic everything. From hardware to wrist wrests. Transformed my life from bad carpal tunnel syndrome to none at all.
Ask HN: What work/office purchase transformed your life?
111–120 of 221 posts
Re: Ask HN: What work/office purchase transformed your life?
#112Walking pad (TR5000-DT3). Keeps me fit for the last 2 years and all back pains are gone since used daily.
Do you ever sit, I like the idea of this but I try to do half/half so moving this out of the way every time I switch feels like a pain
Re: Ask HN: What work/office purchase transformed your life?
#113CompareIt! [1] - It's an ancient diff program last updated over a decade ago, but I've never found a diff program nearly as useful. It is windows only, but it is fast, allows quickly setting manual anchor points (I miss this horribly when doing git diffs via vimdiff), and has converters for common file formats like doc and pdf (extracts the text and then does the diff). I use it for both work and home. In addition to…
I always request a Beyond Compare [1] license every job I have now, for similar reasons. [1] https://www.scootersoftware.com/
I remember trying Beyond Compare several years ago (after it was clear CompareIt! was abandon-ware) - it came close, but back then (for me at least) CompareIt! was a better experience. (It was also what I was already used to, to be fair.)
But I should probably take a look again and see how it compares now, because I can only imagine what vulnerabilities might lurk in CompareIt!'s stale PDF/Word/etc. viewers.
Almost any code movement/indentation changes seem to yield messy diffs in vimdiff, while CompareIt! (and others like Beyond Compare) could deal with huge movement and let you see what actually changed.
Re: Ask HN: What work/office purchase transformed your life?
#114Earlier quoted context omitted.
He's a guy from Odessa whose famous in Russian speaking spaces (and sometimes on Reddit) for having lots of pockets filled with things.
On the assumption that 'Anatomy' was a spellchecker distortion of Anatoly: everything in your reply was already obvious except 'Odessa'.
You're welcome.
Re: Ask HN: What work/office purchase transformed your life?
#115AirPods Pro without a doubt. It's the only item in my life that if it broke, I would immediately buy a replacement. I used them in the office to isolate myself from other people and when I'm walking outside to isolate myself from cars.
The mic quality is so poor though. I have to turn off Bluetooth to record voice notes to people. Also if you drop them the earbuds always go flying.
I got a case with a snap closure after having to crawl under the car multiple times to retrieve an earbud. I hate the bulk of it but beats the alternative. I used to keep an odd-sized wide rubber band around the case instead but lost it somewhere.
Re: Ask HN: What work/office purchase transformed your life?
#116AirPods Pro without a doubt. It's the only item in my life that if it broke, I would immediately buy a replacement. I used them in the office to isolate myself from other people and when I'm walking outside to isolate myself from cars.
My gen 1's had so many issues with the earbuds having crackling and squealing when set to anything but no processing mode. Swapped them through support I think five times before the program expired.
Bought the gen 2 USB-C ones as soon as they got discounted and love them. The noise cancellation is noticeably improved. I'm mostly fine with the stock tips but do have some of the Comply foam tips which give a little tighter seal.
Re: Ask HN: What work/office purchase transformed your life?
#117HM Embody. It's not "comfy", but after six months, a lower back condition that hasn't been corrected, only managed by years of PT improved enough for me to go off pain management. Bonus: It also solved a prostate issue I didn't know I had. RealForce R3S TKL, 30g. I returned a Kinesis 360 and got this instead. None of the reviews helped, and tbf, it's not easy to explain the difference or value of optical programmable…
Seconding three of four of these: Embody, high CRI lighting, air purifiers.
Thirteen years on my Embody so far, it’s doing fine.
Edit: Also, any 200+ ppi display. My old eyes need the extra pixels to read comfortably.
Re: Ask HN: What work/office purchase transformed your life?
#118I don't drive, so getting to and from work is often more work than the actual work, plus, a lot of what I do isn't desk work. I spend a lot more on on-the-go gear than office stuff. * Tile Trackers * Vacuum insulated water bottles, food jars, and a coffee mug * A decent phone * A MOLLE backpack(SOG Ninja) and accessories. * A headlamp (Sofirn HS10, it's tiny and USB-C rechargeable) * Zero drop barefoot shoes * An ult…
I bought a waterproof USB-C rechargeable headlamp after having to deal with a clogged gutter in a very heavy rainstorm. My non-sealed headlamps were useless and holding a sealed flashlight while up on a ladder sucked.
It's handy even when not on your head since you can angle it almost anywhere.
Re: Ask HN: What work/office purchase transformed your life?
#119Portable USB monitor for business trips. That second monitor when on the road does wonders.
For me this is where Apple's walled garden shines - my work laptop is a MacBook and I own an iPad for personal use. The iPad can connect to the laptop and function as a (high quality albeit small) secondary display. And then I have an entertainment device the rest of the time instead of just a monitor taking up bag space.
Great when it works, but I had so many disconnects from my iPad that I gave in and bought a portable 14" 2K monitor instead :(
Re: Ask HN: What work/office purchase transformed your life?
#120My first split keyboard, where I could also easily change the angle. That was an ergonomic game changer for me. I can really recommend a split keyboard to anyone. In my case, it's a Dygma keyboard. I use vim as my primary editor and I've never been able to type so fast and for so long without interruption