A controller frame for my phone. I’m now carrying around a DS, N64, PS1, SNES, and GBA with me everywhere I go. I’m looking forward to adding Gamecube and PS2 and 3 to the list in the future. I can also play PC games in my bed, but can’t quite take that around with me because it’s streaming from my PC.
Which one did you get?
a gamesir x2. It’s got an absolutely awful name (i think they were trying playing off of the gameboy’s name?) but it’s narrow enough to fit in the pocket while in its case, and that’s good enough for me. I also got it pretty cheap, so i’m not worried about it getting scuffed or stolen while taking it out and about either.
Sounds cool. How do you like the streaming from your PC?
its kind of bad, because I’ve got some pretty garbage internet. Steamlink works well enough for slow paced games like balatro and stardew, but anything like skyrim or binding of isaac has noticable problems and multiplayer games are right out.
I’ve heard of people running SF6 sets with no trouble though, so ymmv
That’s unfortunate. I play mostly platformers and action rpg’s, I kind of wonder if those types would do alright on a setup like that. I’ve also been considering something like a steam deck or handheld pc. I haven’t been doing much gaming for a while now, mostly because my accessibility/comfort is too low I think. I’d like that to change though.
A goddamn dishwasher. I used to wash a lot of dishes by hand growing up so it took until my 30’s before i realized that dishwashers are a wonderful invention.
Several things:
- Bidet. ‘Nuff said.
- automatic litter box. Took a lot of training for our one dumb cat but since then … life changing.
- ebike. So many times I used to drive because I was feeling lazy or woke up just a smidge late… now I can just dial up the assist a notch and it’s no problem.
Be careful which ebike brands to trust. Avoid Rad Power Bikes. Even though the brand’s American, its customer service and reliability’s a complete joke. I had a lightly used Rad Runner who’s battery died a little after a year of light use. Their warranty only covered up to a year and they said their only solution is to buy a new $600 battery that doesn’t even come with a warranty itself.
Gazelle. Sold by my local bike shop which I trust.
Little pricy and all in all I’d prefer something more open than Bosch. But… so far so good.
A raspberry pi.
Installed Pihole on it and now get almost no ads on all devices at home.
SBCs are pretty cool. ESP is pretty cool too.
Back in the day, a smartphone was a major upgrade. They continue to improve which is just amazing. I came from an age of wall phones and dial-up internet.
Wireless ear buds.
I was pretty adamant that I was absolutely never going to get any, preferring wired and really looking for a phone that still had the jack. Then when new phone time came, I ended up having to choose between a micro sd card slot and the headphone jack. I tried for a bit with a USB-C to headphone adapter but ended up seeing some ear buds on sale and giving them a shot.
They last way longer than I expected, and the carrying case as the charger means I hardly need to worry about keeping another device charged. The freedom of not having the cord is really nice, especially when going for a bike ride or jog. I upgraded to a pair with a little over-the-ear hook and use them probably 10hrs a day every day they are great
dunno how old you are but all my friends that were heavy audiophiles with headphones are near def now.
I still have a 5 year old Jabra Elite Active 65t that is still trucking. I had a few glitches starting a year ago like the right earbud dropping in volume or it being stuck in a hung mode where they had to be completely depleted over a few weeks to reset them, they wouldn’t even charge.
However, they still work fine and are super convenient with hear-through for office work compared to wired IEMs way better for all fitness activities too, just not as good for really listening to music.
Battery life is still 3-4 hours after 5 years not including the case recharge (the case battery has degraded significantly more than the earbuds themselves, probably due to the high quality VARTA cells in the earbuds)
I am going to wear them into the ground, but jabra is doing a stock sellout before their new version of buds come out, so I bought the €140 Jabra Elite 4s for €60 for when these bite the dust, but they seem to be going strong still.
I’m the opposite. I have to have music, and Bluetooth just sucks on Android. I’ve used Bose, air pods, Samsung beans, generic, etc, on multiple versions of Android, and they just suck so hard. lag all the time, can turn my head to the right without connection stuttering. I’ve tested pockets, hoodies, with and without my watch, naked, nothing works. Bluetooth just blows.
recently got a pair of jvc explosivs that I had a decade ago and couldn’t be happier. and I used my Bose headset with the cable too.
Samsung S9 for anyone wondering. have gone through multiple Samsung phones, an LG, tablets, etc.
have wiped. removed belt buckle, changed pockets. it does work better in back right pocket, but that’s my wallet pocket. I’m just so confused why it sucks to badly.
I haven’t noticed Bluetooth being that bad on either pixel I’ve had, 3a and now 6.
I certainly get lag in my pixels but no disconnects.
yeah, no dcs, but man it stutters bad. can’t turn my head or walk
Bluetooth has a general lag of several milliseconds, tens of milliseconds probably, for me. But it’s close enough to not bug me when watching videos. And I never have cutouts, not unless I walk very far away. Just tonight at work I was using my pixel buds, left my phone on the desk, walked to the bathroom probably 40 or 50 feet away and through at least 3 walls, didn’t miss a beat 🤷♂️
My old BT headphones back in the day couldn’t go 20 feet across the room line of sight.
BT has definitely gotten way better in recent years.
Getting nice in-ear monitors with replaceable cables is so much better than wireless for me. Great sound quality and they weak link that always breaks (the wires) is now no longer an issue. I’ve had the same IEM now for 10 years and just change the cables every couple of years.
My NAS, having access to all my files anywhere at any time is great
RAM update. Doubling your RAM on most low/medium -end consumer PCs will noticeably improve responsiveness and multitasking.
I’ve literally never felt the need for more RAM, except on an old netbook that had 1GB and struggled with opening a website.
Clearly you haven’t had the joy of having 10 tabs on Firefox, a film playing on VLC, the torrent client running, and trying to open up a large Solidworks assembly file on a 16GB Windows 10 PC. It gets eaten up fairly quickly.
No. I can’t look at 10 browser tabs, a film, and a Solidworks assembly file at the same time, so doing that makes no sense to me.
Recently had my RAM died on me and bought a new pair. I had a 16gb and the 32gb ones were on sale. Really felt the difference lol
My e-book reader (Tolino).
As I got older and had problems with my eyes, this was a game changer. I had basically stopped reading books and now I do it daily. I can choose the font and letter size, background color, and backlighting based on what works best for my eyes that day and the light where I am.
Being able to hold a very light device with a big screen when I would have to balance a heavy weight as a paper book is also great, and I take the reader with me everywhere, whereas a big book would stay at home most of the time.
The reader has a bigger screen than my phone and the battery lasts longer.
The reader works flawlessly with my library, so I don’t have to buy books, which keeps costs down, and I don’t have to leave the house to get a new book.
Calibre helps us share books in our family, which is one reason we’ve stayed away from Amazon’s Kindle, so we’ve all gone to “.epub”.
Besides upgrading to an SSD like another person said, I guess an electronic pressure cooker was a pretty sweet upgrade. It’s incredibly multi purpose, cuts cooking time dramatically, allows me to walk away and forget about cooking with no consequence, and often only requires cleaning a single pot for an entire meal.
Like ya know those old TV ads for kitchen gadgets that try desperately to convince you it’ll change your life, but you never actually use them? An electronic pressure cooker is one the few cooking gadgets that actually lives up to the hype.
I got an insta-pot a couple years back, but basically only use it for cooking up grains, and beans. What else do you use your’s for?
It’s great for making chili, since 7 minutes of pressure cooking replaces an hour of simmering, It can make quick rice based meals with the addition of a handful of ingredients like a rice cooker can, and replaces a slow cooker for any meals that require it.
It also can make yogurt, though I haven’t tried that yet myself.
Baked potatoes, mashed potatoes, pasta, yogurt, steamed veggies, lots of rice dishes, pulled pork, chicken, venison, Thanksgiving turkey breast when it’s just the 3 of us
It’s extremely helpful when I forget to thaw meat for dinner (which is more often than not)
There is a trick to the pasta, but it saves me from panic dashing into the kitchen when the pot boils over because I forgot to check it
I cook most of our meals in it. We even have 2 so I can cook the meat separately since I’m vegetarian
But wait! There’s more! (not really, I just know I sound like an infomercial)
How much would you pay? Don’t answer! You also get…
LoL
The game changer is stock. Keep a bag of vegetable waste (and bones if you’re doing that) in the freezer. Fill to the max line then add cold water to that line as well. Add peppercorns, mustard seeds, whatever and 30 minutes gets you as good as the best store bought for ~free. An hour gets you restaurant style and 1:30 gets you basically rich, dark soup base. I used to roast bones and vegetable bits before boiling to get more color but that’s not required with the instant pot and you also aren’t running a big ol pot on the stove for hours.
Most people don’t make their own stock because it takes so long and is heavily tied to frugality. When you’re getting basically a kitchen defining ingredient for free at the press of a button the calculus changes and also anyone you give food to will be genuinely amazed.
The yoghurt function is good. I don’t eat enough yoghurt to use it but you’re getting homemade for basically the cost of milk.
Mashed potatoes are fast too.
It was an air fryer for me.
I’m disabled, so I’m usually home alone, or cooking one meal for me and my kid. The oven takes about 10 minutes to preheat, and most things take 20 - 30 minutes to cook after that. The air fryer takes about half the time and doesn’t need me to turn things.
On top of that, I get memory issues, probably related to ADHD, and sometimes forget that I’ve got something cooking. The air fryer has a timer and switches itself off. I literally can’t burn the food and risk a fire. At worst it goes cold again 🤷🏻♂️
VR, it was janky and barely worked, I still can’t wait for the future of AR.
A Fujitsu Lifebook U9310x convertible laptop.
It’s my main computing device, which doubles as a tablet.
It’s light enough to take anywhere, has over 12h of battery on Linux, and holds up better mechanically than my Thinkpad.Does corrective eye surgery count? Because it fundamentally changed my daily quality of life
Beetlecrab Audio Tempera is the most inspiring electronic musical instrument I own. I got it in April, and I’m still finding new ways to use it. It does so much.
Oxi One really is the hardware sequencer to rule them all. Though I’m sure you could get by with a Hapax or Deluge if you don’t mind spending twice as much.
Not a purchase, but Csound has always been an invaluable companion to my music making process. It’s also entirely free and open-source.
My 486. With colour screen and speakers!
Keep on answering those emails!
