I see posts talking about good BIFL items but I don’t hear much about the other side of products that are bad or products you bought but don’t even use.
My Amazon Kindle books. I figured out way later that I didn’t actually own them! How absurd.
You can pirate books. Use Calibre and build your library. I have over 2000 books. Doesn’t take much storage either.
And you can still read them on your Kindle, too. You just convert the epubs to the kindle format (using Calibre), then plug your Kindle into your computer. So easy, why would I ever buy a book again?
Or even better setup your kindle e-mail address in Calibre and e-mail the books to the personal document cloud. That way the books will sync to all your kindle devices and the kindle app.
Wow, I didn’t know this was possible!
You can just send epubs to your kindle.
That’s what I do. Wanna share some? Maybe we could do a swap of our favorite 10 or something.
Countless video games.
I bought a Steam Deck so I can play games while on the go. I just kind of forgot I’m never actually on the go, so 90% of the time it’s just gathering dust on my nightstand, because I’d rather play on my proper gaming PC when I’m at home.
This is the same reason I’ve never bought one. I love the concept, they are so cool. I use Linux on my desktop at home and at work. The thought of a powerful handheld Linux gaming PC for gaming on the go is so enticing, and I want to support Valve and the development of proton and gaming on Linux. But in reality I’m rarely “on the go”. I read articles on my phone when I’m on the train on my way to work. I watch videos on my android tablet when I’m flying on a plane for work. I have a Nintendo 3DS and an ODroid Go Ultra ARM emulation handheld gathering dust on my nightstand. I’d hate the thought of adding a steamdeck to the pile.
I think you’re making the right call. I bought a used Steam Deck and I love it and don’t regret it at all, but I think I’m more of the target demographic than you are. I built a PC 15 years ago when Windows 7 was launching and then upgraded it a few years later, and then replaced that with a gaming laptop that’s now very outdated. I’m sorta kinda tech savvy; a fucking doofus compared to somebody like you but a goddamn genius compared to most people I meet.
The Steam Deck proved to me that if/when I build a desktop, (and I want that to be soon but I keep getting surprise expenses lol,) then I’m ready to jump over to Linux as my OS. I was thinking Chimera for something that could effectively be a powerful modern Steam Machine with UI similar to Steam Deck, but Nobara looks more versatile for being a full PC instead of being a console that has PC capability. I have more faith in Nobara to be able to run a big project in a DAW like Reaper, plus I want the ability to stream on Twitch or do some basic video editing too, and it seems to be pretty accessible to a long-time medium-level Windows user like me.
Right now, most of my Steam Deck use is on the couch. My wife never really tried Skyrim, so she’s playing a file on the PS5 and I lay my head in her lap on the couch and play a different Skyrim file on the Deck. But I also play it on a train or take it with me when I go somewhere overnight. It can’t keep up with a modern PC or PS5, but it blows me away that it’s a handheld PC that’s about as powerful as a PS4. People bitch about the battery, but tweaking a few simple sliders can double or even triple battery life with relatively little compromise. It’s amazing but it’s a waste of your time and money lol.
I just got one and deciding to get one is very situational. I’ll sit outside with my dog for hours and I can’t bring my desktop outside. For me it’s been great. I wouldn’t recommend one to someone unless they know when they’ll use it.
I thought I’d use it commuting too, but I don’t. It’s just a little too awkward to bring on my commute.
I use my steam deck because I want to play on the couch or in bed or something and I can just instantly start playing when I pick it up. I’ll leave it suspended in a game, so I hit the power button and 2 seconds later I’m back to playing.
Same thing here, but I bought it when winter was coming. I’m nomadic during the warm season so the true test for me will be when that happens.
I purchased it purely as an all-in-one indie game player for the television, that had a nice form factor. Was easy to connect with controllers, and relatively high-end.
I don’t really like playing on it’s joysticks and buttons, but that doesn’t matter when I only really use it docked.
It’s nice with a relatively high-end console when on the go. I usually bring a controller along for this, though.
It was expensive, but performs exactly as advertised.
I had the opposite happen. I thought a steam deck may help me be more on the go as well, however it just helped me be even lazier in bed…
I almost never use mine on the go, but I love it for playing on the couch or in a hammock.
I got a switch to play games in bed but it pisses off my girlfriend.
I bought an immersion blender on like prime day or black Friday with grandiose plans of using it for all kinds of things. 3 years later, and it’s still in the box
The Slap Chop was a huge disappointment after the slam dunk that the Sham Wow ended up being. It was the same pain as buying the rushed and terrible Megaman Battle Network 4 after playing and loving the classic masterpiece that came before it.
But did you love his nuts? https://youtu.be/iIgEWRb61IQ?si=9SOOO0YNj0JVl3qL
No that thing sucked both his left nuts.
Here is an alternative Piped link(s):
https://piped.video/iIgEWRb61IQ?si=9SOOO0YNj0JVl3qL
Piped is a privacy-respecting open-source alternative frontend to YouTube.
I’m open-source; check me out at GitHub.
Sonos speaker. I have Google Home speakers around the house and we use them to play music. Sonos almost never get used
What don’t you like about them? I’ve just gotten a set for my TV and really look forward to expanding to the rest of the house.
They’re expensive, but they sound amazing and they’re so easy to use.
I have a small standalone speaker, not good for TV. I doesn’t want to link with my Google profile, so no voice control from Assistant. So the only way to use it is from their app, or maybe casting
Not the original commenter but for me it was that they didn’t integrate well into my multi-device management platform and instead required you to use Sonos’s platform and products to play on multiple devices. The sound was decent but I only had one and it didn’t work with my other speakers so it rarely got used.
Yeah, the thing about the Sonos system is that they’re made to work together with other Sonos speakers. You either go all in or not at all.
Also the Google speakers are usually good enough, and way cheaper.
Our family is an Apple family and I’ve found the Sonos works quite well with AirPlay… just cast to everything in the house and the Sonos and the
AirPodsHomePods all work together seamlessly.
My apple watch. So much on that watch either doesn’t work as it should or I was straight lied to by an apple employee of how it worked. Will never buy one again.
Mine is five years old and I haven’t missed wearing it for a day. There are so many little features that I like (controlling my HomeKit home, finding my phone, playing my music with AirPods on a run, heart rate alerts, taking calls) and I’ll replace it when it’s gone, but I have a hard time recommending to anyone at that price point. I can’t get over that I need to buy a third party app to see my step count and it doesn’t even sync regularly.
Built-in step count is in the activity app! Just keep scrolling, it’s after the stand hours. Noticed it the other day, I think it’s easy to overlook.
Thank you for the response, but that’s the thing, I don’t want to scroll. Steps are a basic function and they should be available on the watch face.
Ooooh that makes sense! I totally agree with you on that, I would much rather have it at a glance.
I also, am interested in your expectations of its functionality, as I have been pondering one for some time.
this is for you and @[email protected] since you both asked the same question.
this is a long comment so bear with me.
When I bought the watch I specifically asked how the step counter works. Not just a cover/generic question. I asked does it count if you are just moving your arms or how does it now if you are actually walking/taking steps? I explained that at my job I stand all day and my arms are moving a lot but I’m not actually walking and I wanted to know if the counter was even close to accurate.
What they told me (at an Apple Store) was that it uses a GPS to figure out if you are moving. (that is a Lie, no it doesn’t). As my hands and arms are going back and forth across the desk. It is counting steps. If i move my hands from right to left (for example) from one pile of papers to another on my left, it might count that as a step. It might count it as a step as my hands go from right to left AND then from left to right(might be counted as a step). It might count the round trip as 1 step, or 2 steps or maybe 5 steps.
It should not be counting it at all.
I can have thousands of extra steps counted. If the step counter is wrong, then the calorie counter is wrong. That also means the apple movement app is worthless. Think of all the health things it can monitor but are tied to the movement/calorie counter/step counter… they are all worthless because the base section isn’t working as I need it to.
I assumed what would happen if you got on a treadmill was you would have to hit something on the watch because it would need to know that you are walking in place, or maybe it counted the bounce/movement of your body as you were actually walking.
Apple music is another thing that doesn’t work as it really should. Now this could be a design choice by the maker or maybe it just doesn’t work as intended… I’m not sure.
I will have my iphone connected via bluetooth to a speaker. My watch is connected to my phone. If I grab my phone and start a playlist everything looks and sounds like it should. The phone will show the song playing and the watch will show the song playing. I can skip to the next song by tapping my watch and hitting skip… so far so good.
Here’s where things go side ways. If I use my watch to go back to the playlists and try to choose a different playlist, the watch will say I’m sorry but your watch isn’t connected to anything(the speaker). to which I say… bull shit. yes it is. The watch is connected to the phone and the phone is connected to the speaker. Everything is connected. I was told the watch would act as a remote control for the phone. So why is it saying the watch isn’t connected to a speaker? It should access the playlists on the phone and let me choose a new playlist and start playing a new playlist. (this is just logical that it would work that way.) I shouldn’t have to walk over to my phone and choose a new playlist.
If I don’t use the phone to start a playlist and just tap the watch and try to start a playlist that won’t work because it will tell me the watch isn’t connected to any devices. Umm yes it is. It’s connected to the phone.
When I purchased the phone I specifically said i think I have a sleeping problem and I need a device that will help to monitor (or at least give me an idea if there is an issue).
Middle of the night it will check one of my vitals (that’s good) but it will vibrate and wake me up. WTF?! Who would design a device that would wake a person up in the middle of the night after checking one of the vitals? The watch should be able to figure out via blood pressure and oxygen levels that “huh this guy is probably asleep” so it shouldn’t vibrate. It should look at what I have set as my normal sleep schedule combine that with my vitals and figure out I am asleep and not vibrate after checking a vital. This is either a broken system or just plain bad design.
Sometimes it will go for days and not check anything. Again what is the point?
I was straight lied to by an apple employee
If you live in an area with good consumer rights, this is usually a valid reason to return a product. Statements made by an employee are treated the same as statements made in an ad, and it’s not legal for either to misrepresent a product.
The USA does not have good consumer rights.
Very true on everything you said, sadly by the time I realized the issues the return window had expired,
I’ve bought every single generation of an Apple Watch, and I returned it every time.
I wanted to love it so much, but I couldn’t.
It’s just a glorified notification system.
Anytime I got a notification on it, or wanted to use it for something, it was faster and far more convenient to just pull out my phone and do whatever I needed to.
The only thing I found it good for was controlling music from a distance, but that’s not an important use case for me and definitely not worth the price tag, plus the recurring data plan. It’s a money and attention hog, just like any other smartphone.
I’m the exact opposite. Didn’t wear a watch for years after getting my first cellphone. Didn’t see the need for a watch when the smart watches started coming out. Can’t remember why I ultimately got an Apple Watch, but I’ve really liked it.
Well, what do you expect it to do?
Yea, I had a series 3, hated it coming from a galaxy watch. Daily charging, dies on 24h shifts tons of useless features that I never use, looks weird for a watch, no always on display (granted not a problem for newer ones I gather). And the goddamn screen got scratched so fast, even more so when I started bouldering.
I was a actually kinda glad I busted the screen and could justify getting a Garmin Instinct 2 Solar. I was a bit apprehensive about how it would play with an Iphone, but it is pretty damn good.
Best watch I have owned, even the galaxy watch pales in comparison. I can actually track sleep because the battery lasts 2 weeks with nightly pulseox (should be 3 without), potentially a lot longer but the sun is a foreign concept this time of year. It gives me what I need and nothing more (although it is a bit off the mark on a few things. The fitness tracking is great, it is actually a lot better for bouldering. No annoying touch stuff, actual physical buttons, that while take a bit of adjusting to, are perfectly adequate for reaching all the functions quickly. Seems sturdy as hell too.
The only feature I miss a little is answering calls on it. Was useful 3 times a year or so when I used it while I was busy but could have a conversation on loudspeaker. Besides this I cant get it to track additional sleep episodes properly (say on my 24h shifts when I get multiple short bursts of sleep or just general naps). The sleep tracking is semi auto - you set a sleep time, the watch only tracks sleep in sleep mode. Theres no automatic workout tracking (I guess there is a weird half tracking thing), although I hated auto tracking on the galaxy watch, I was fine with apple but never used it. Now granted all of the above is a mild annoyance at best, for me.
My $500 laptop I panic bought after an employee started talking to me
It’s incapable of anything and stutters when I start Firefox. I have a freebie laptop I got from Telus 10+ years ago that runs better than this off-the shelf laptop.
I couldn’t in good-conscience sell this to make my money back either… sigh… at least it keeps me focused on work…?
I read somewhere that GoPros and other action cameras are one of the least used purchases, so I figured “that should mean there’s plenty on eBay”. So grabbed up second hand bargain, played around with it for a couple of weeks, bought some extra batteries and other accessories, and since then it’s sat in the cupboard except for a single occasion.
Turns out you don’t need an action cam if you’re not getting any action.
I won one at an office Christmas party, took a time lapse of my chia pet, put it in a drawer for a year and felt guilty, then sold it to a ski instructor. It’s kind of like taking a video of fireworks or a concert. Unless you’re doing some wild extreme sports, who’s editing and rewatching that kind of video?
Do people actually use those to—erm—document the proceedings?
I’ve seen it done!
I have the same thing with a drone
I use my GoPro a ton and thought I could add a drone into my videos but I haven’t really been able to try it yet. I did get my drone license though and might have some paid work coming up which is nice.
It’s cool and all, but I guess it’s not for me. The novelty wore off quick
Many lemmy users have the same thing with a wife
ha ha women objectification funny
Oh damn I totally forgot about that one. My dad bought a go pro and I could’ve used it to film my scuba diving event but we couldn’t figure out where to mount it.
Dick mount.
The good thing is GoPros are still good years later. Most of the action my GoPro 4 has seen was in the last 2-3 years after sitting for a really long time.
I had one that must’ve fallen out of my pocket when I got out of the car, because a few days later I found it half embedded in the dirt driveway after getting ran over. It was scuffed and scratched, but still worked! I don’t think the battery holds a charge anymore, but it is like 10 years old now
i bought some tortillas a month ago, but never got the craving for burritos. I should probably throw them out now…
I kinda regret buying my 3d printer. Not because it sucks, it’s more because it reminds me I don’t have any free time to do something this time consuming.
Another one is the cast iron wok. I love my cast iron pans, but the wok is just to damn heavy and it you can’t really use it like one would use a normal lightweight wok.
I think most traditional woks are carbon steel, seasoned similarly to a cast iron but much lighter. You could give that a try?
Yeah I asked my family for a wok a few years ago and got this beautiful one that was cast iron and way too heavy. I ended up getting a carbon steel one which was about a third the weight
I thought about that a few times, but my wife doesn’t want another wok that’s taking space. So would need to fine a new home for old one, which doesn’t seem to easy.
Thrift store. It’d be an absolute find to someone who loves buying weird kitchen shit there
I recently got a glazed ceramic pizza stone for $2 at my weird kitchen stuff thrift store and have been having a blast with it.
Might be a good idea. I hope I find one in my area. Thrift stores aren’t that common here.
You could look into a carbon steel wok: You can season them like cast iron but they’re much lighter.
I have a 3d printer. It used to be a big hobby of mine, but now its just a tool like anything else. I print out practical stuff that i need when i need it, and when the printer is having issues i swear and curse at it like any regular paper printer.
Most recently ive been using it to print out new belts out of flexible filament for my rock tumbler.
I love my 3d printer…when it works. I have a major bed leveling problem from when I was cleaning the bed and forgot to put the plate on so the extruder came down and ripped off the magnetic sheet underneath. Been having problems ever since. I also can’t get the damn thing to print petg.
I already fail at investing the time to level the bad and such stuff. I really would love to use it. But next to work, trying to bootstrap and family time there is not really time left.
I always wanted to print stuff for build small robot parts for Arduino and raspberry pi. Maybe one day when the kids are older…
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Get an induction plate.
These are great till you live somewhere with shitty electric. On the days when my ecig takes 6 hours to charge I can’t cook as the hot plate won’t even turn on. Fucking slumlords.
It killed me when Charlie responds to “boilerplate language” with “Yep, we’ll all be getting back to our hotplates soon enuff!”
Filibuster.
[Scratches sweaty forehead awkwardly] Do you…do you know wat that means? Ya, wats it mean?
Maybe need to get induction instead of radiant? Induction is much more efficient.
I bought a cheap induction element after my landlord replaced my cooktop with one that I hate because the elements are tiny. It is so much better than a standard cooktop that I pretty much use it exclusively.
I brought a drain snake for 3x the price of liquid drain unblocker and it got stuck in the drain and won’t come out.
Hotdogger. Doesn’t work as advertised.
Back in the early 10’s I paid $200 for a year subscription license to Adobe Flash Pro, as I had convinced myself I was gonna learn to use it to produce sprite animations like the ones I grew up enjoying on Newgrounds. Never booted it once.
If you’re still up for some animation practice, Blender’s grease pencil is fantastic, free, and integrates with the rest of Blender very well
Blender has got to be one of the most hilariously vertically integrated apps I’ve ever seen. Next thing I’ll hear is it can file my taxes.
I’m confident there’s an addon for making motion graphics out of your taxes
For a free piece of software it has no right being as good and as easy to use as it is.
Flash as an embedded media platform was a blight on browser security. But strictly as an animation tool, it was pretty nifty. You can even use tools like Swivel to render Flash animations to video.
In the year of our lord 2024 there are probably way better tools than Flash ever was to do this sort of thing. But back in circa 2011 it was the best tool of its kind I knew of.
I’ve still yet to find a vector tool that works as well and easily as the one in flash. It was amazing. Ignoring the security, it was really way ahead of its time.
