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Ask HN: Share a product you loved using in 2023

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31–40 of 62 posts

Re: Ask HN: Share a product you loved using in 2023

#31
Kindle Scribe. I'm reading a lot more books on it because I find experience much better compared to the small ones. Don't really use handwriting notes functionality because I rely on pen and paper for notes.

Armytek Wizard flashlight. Joy to use on the runs and for walking around neighborhood in the evening.

Pacsafe Metrosafe X Urban Sling. Kind of expensive but has a very thoughtful design. Now I have my wallet, notepad and bunch of other small things in one place instead of being spread out across various pockets.

Re: Ask HN: Share a product you loved using in 2023

#32
GeForce Now. It's been amazing for being able to play AAA games for $20/mo. (Not so great for my social life.) I grew up building my own PCs with 3Dfx Voodoo cards, but honestly this is waaaaaaay better -- no heat or noise, and a way better GPU than I could afford. Combined with PC Game Pass or an Ubi or EA subscription, this is a great way to go through a bunch of great games for a month or two at a time.

Microsoft To Do is a simple, free, multiplayer to-do list app that runs on all the things: my Android, my iPad, my Mac, my partner's Windows laptop. No ads, no bullshit, it just works (thanks, Microsoft, this is probably the single best software you've ever written -- even more than TypeScript or VSCode). We use it for sharing grocery and other lists, and it's great being able to check things off in real-time as we shop different aisles.

My Airpods are still as comfortable and amazing as ever (even though I use Android). The M2 Mac is also awesome, but you knew that. The Magic Mouse is the only thing that doesn't give me cramps after a day of work.

Jetbrains IDEs continue to be worth it (in my case, as a web dev, Webstorm and RubyMine), even as VSCode keeps getting better.

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In the real world, probably my bicycles (Cannondale/Specialized especially, Canyon a little less so). All are great fun to ride. I wish I discovered this much younger (almost 40 now, didn't start cycling until my late 20s).

And good boxing gloves... I love my Hayabusas with their integrated wrist straps. I don't fight competitively or anything, just do it for a workout, but it's saved my wrists so many times. They make great training shin guards too. Perfect for this big ol' softy with fragile bones.

My Costco membership? After 2020, I'll never take toilet paper for granted ever again, lol. edit: oh yeah, and of course, my bidet!

Re: Ask HN: Share a product you loved using in 2023

#33

Steam Deck OLED. Runs much better than my 3 year old Dell laptop that cost $2k, for $500. Steam for gaming is great value as I already have a library of games, and you can play pretty much the entire switch library as well. Simple enough for my 6 year old to use, flexible enough to install mods and whatever. Don't do much gaming anymore due to life and kids, but this device makes it much easier to get started when I…

I will absolutely second this. Working full time and going to school full time, I never game anymore because the last thing I wanna do is spend more time at my desk. I was an immediate early adopter of the LCD deck, since I’d been waiting for a device like this for years. While I absolutely loved it, I can concede it still felt a bit half-baked, especially on battery life. The OLED version feels like the proper 1.0 o…

> Games that would drain the batter of my OG 512 model now run 3-4 times as fast.

Wait, really? How does that work? I thought they didn't really upgrade the specs much? https://www.digitaltrends.com/computing/steam-deck-oled-vs-s...

These benchmarks show a few FPS difference (maybe 10% at most), nowhere near 3-4 times faster?

edit: did you mean 3-4x as long? But that's also hard to believe... a 3-4x improvement in battery life for any device would be a HUGE upgrade that normally takes like a decade to achieve, not a year or two?

Re: Ask HN: Share a product you loved using in 2023

#34
post #12

- ChatGPT to replace a lot of small Google searches made annoying by the current state of the web. - My Macbook Air M2 to replace my 12" Macbook. Best laptop I've ever used! - Syncthing just works. It's always a bit messy to set up, but then it syncs everything unfailingly across Mac, Linux and Android. - Obsidian is great. I only use it for journaling (with Syncthing synchronization), but I love the idea. - Sublime…

> Sublime Merge. I use git in the command line, but since I edit markdown files for a living, diffing content changes so efficiently is a game changer. It works well with Sublime Text, another incredible product.

Hey, I love Sublime Text too! Have you compared Sublime Merge with other similar visual diff tools (like the ones in VSCode or IntelliJ, or Gitkraken, etc), especially for Markdown?

Re: Ask HN: Share a product you loved using in 2023

#35
post #23
post #12

- ChatGPT to replace a lot of small Google searches made annoying by the current state of the web. - My Macbook Air M2 to replace my 12" Macbook. Best laptop I've ever used! - Syncthing just works. It's always a bit messy to set up, but then it syncs everything unfailingly across Mac, Linux and Android. - Obsidian is great. I only use it for journaling (with Syncthing synchronization), but I love the idea. - Sublime…

Honestly I miss my MacBook 12”. I still have it but it too long in the tooth and will soon be converted to a Chromebook or sold. It's just a lovely size for traveling. I've never been able to convert over to iPad + keyboard for the same writing and hyper-productive working.

Do the new Airs not meet this need? Are they too big, or...?

Re: Ask HN: Share a product you loved using in 2023

#36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I will absolutely second this. Working full time and going to school full time, I never game anymore because the last thing I wanna do is spend more time at my desk. I was an immediate early adopter of the LCD deck, since I’d been waiting for a device like this for years. While I absolutely loved it, I can concede it still felt a bit half-baked, especially on battery life. The OLED version feels like the proper 1.0 o…

> Games that would drain the batter of my OG 512 model now run 3-4 times as fast. Wait, really? How does that work? I thought they didn't really upgrade the specs much? https://www.digitaltrends.com/computing/steam-deck-oled-vs-s... These benchmarks show a few FPS difference (maybe 10% at most), nowhere near 3-4 times faster? edit: did you mean 3-4x as long ? But that's also hard to believe... a 3-4x improvement in b…

Yes! Sorry I meant 3-4 times as long. It’s not universal to every game, but for a perfect example, my husband and I both played Mario Kart 8 on CEMU (Wii U Emulator) and I can play for about 6 hours uninterrupted before needing to charge, whereas my husband only gets 1.5 or so on my old LCD deck.

Re: Ask HN: Share a product you loved using in 2023

#37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Games that would drain the batter of my OG 512 model now run 3-4 times as fast. Wait, really? How does that work? I thought they didn't really upgrade the specs much? https://www.digitaltrends.com/computing/steam-deck-oled-vs-s... These benchmarks show a few FPS difference (maybe 10% at most), nowhere near 3-4 times faster? edit: did you mean 3-4x as long ? But that's also hard to believe... a 3-4x improvement in b…

Yes! Sorry I meant 3-4 times as long. It’s not universal to every game, but for a perfect example, my husband and I both played Mario Kart 8 on CEMU (Wii U Emulator) and I can play for about 6 hours uninterrupted before needing to charge, whereas my husband only gets 1.5 or so on my old LCD deck.

Wow, I wonder what they did to make such a huge difference.

Re: Ask HN: Share a product you loved using in 2023

#38
post #12

- ChatGPT to replace a lot of small Google searches made annoying by the current state of the web. - My Macbook Air M2 to replace my 12" Macbook. Best laptop I've ever used! - Syncthing just works. It's always a bit messy to set up, but then it syncs everything unfailingly across Mac, Linux and Android. - Obsidian is great. I only use it for journaling (with Syncthing synchronization), but I love the idea. - Sublime…

> Sublime Merge. I use git in the command line, but since I edit markdown files for a living, diffing content changes so efficiently is a game changer. It works well with Sublime Text, another incredible product. Hey, I love Sublime Text too! Have you compared Sublime Merge with other similar visual diff tools (like the ones in VSCode or IntelliJ, or Gitkraken, etc), especially for Markdown?

I have not. I only tried Sublime Merge and it works really well. It also ran really smoothly on my old 12" Macbook.

Frankly, I'm not sure what more I could expect. It's fine for my purpose: seeing what I'm commiting, and splitting unrelated changes into multiple commits.

Re: Ask HN: Share a product you loved using in 2023

#39

mermaid.js - Excellent tool for creating architecture (and other) diagrams from text. Add to a markdown file with special syntax. Renders in GitHub natively. Has some bugs, but team seems to have a good head on its shoulders and should hopefully work them out soon. 8/10 VSCode - One of the few things Microsoft hasn't totally screwed up yet. Plug-in ecosystem is enormous. 9/10 Vim - At the other end of the spectrum. I…

Thanks for mentioning mermaid.js. I am bookmarking this and excited to try it.

I’ve always loved https://sequencediagram.org for creating sequence diagrams with text (highly recommend btw), but have also wanted to create other diagram types in a similar manner. Mermaid.js looks super intriguing.

Re: Ask HN: Share a product you loved using in 2023

#40
post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Sublime Merge. I use git in the command line, but since I edit markdown files for a living, diffing content changes so efficiently is a game changer. It works well with Sublime Text, another incredible product. Hey, I love Sublime Text too! Have you compared Sublime Merge with other similar visual diff tools (like the ones in VSCode or IntelliJ, or Gitkraken, etc), especially for Markdown?

I have not. I only tried Sublime Merge and it works really well. It also ran really smoothly on my old 12" Macbook. Frankly, I'm not sure what more I could expect. It's fine for my purpose: seeing what I'm commiting, and splitting unrelated changes into multiple commits.

OK, thanks for the response! I was just curious :)
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