My espresso machine. They’re expensive. I do not know why they are, but they are. I hemmed and hawed for years about us getting one and finally decided fuck it. Im an adult, I want one, we can afford it.
In 2+ years the only times I have not made myself a cappuccino are when I have not been home to do so. It is one of my most used appliances. Espresso owns.
They’re expensive because a good one lasts forever. We’ve had our Gaggia Classic for over ten years now and it daily chugs out coffee like the day we bought it.
Which one you got?
Breville bambino plus. I love it. It’s quarky with the cleaning (when it decides you need to clean it you CANNOT skip the clean cycle) but honestly probably for the best since if I could I’d just skip it too often.
I suspect they’re expensive because they pull 9-15 bar of pressure. That’s kinda nuts for something that sits on your counter and makes coffee
I think you meant for something that sits on my counter and turns ground up bean powder into PURE UNADULTERATED JOY ❤️
3D printer. At any moment in time I could just print something out and it would be ready by the time I finish eating. The possibilities are endless, plenty of free models online or just learn how to design yourself.
Not for everyone obviously, but I developed a synthesizer habit some years ago, and right now is probably the best time ever for a beginner to get into it. Korg’s Volca series, Roland’s Aira compact, teenage engineering’s Pocket Operators, Arturia’s Microfreak, and Elektron’s Model series are all affordable and a great way for a beginner to start making some cool-ass music. Beware developing a habit though. It only stays affordable so long.
Cordless vacuum was a costly one but certainly made that chore a lot more easy and kinda fun. I planned to store it in a closet but I’d take it out every few days so eventually I started leaving it on the floor, it’s not in the way there either.
Yeah I got one of those Samsung ones with the dock you set it in when not in use. It charges it up and empties the canister into it’s own built in vacuum. I use it all the time to pick up the loose cat litter and quick vacuum jobs on the floors.
I just got one too, pricier as you say, but removing the activation energy needed to lug around and plug in the old one means I might actually use it.
If it counts, definitely the Steam Deck. With that and emulators, it’s like having almost every game I’ve ever owned in one portable machine.
Almost all my gaming is on my SD now. Love this thing.
In a similar vein, I love my ps vita. Hacked, it’s an absolutely amazing console, and is able to boast the “actually fits in my pocket” award.
Yeah i have a modded psvita, scene is suprsingly active. You got ensō?
I have whatever I set up with when I hacked it tbh. I don’t really do much beyond transfer games onto it at this point
Such a cool console. Sony butchered it, but theres still so much fun to be had with it. We got a GTA san andreas port by the community ffs
Sony wishing they didn’t make the vita is a double edged sword, because it also means you can be a completely obvious hacker, and Sony doesn’t give a singular fuck. And they still ban people for hacking on ps3, so it isn’t just age.
Similar here: Anbernic RG280V. Fits in a pocket. Plays everything up through PSX. I use it all the time!
I just got one so reading this makes me hopeful. Fallen out of love with gaming a bit in recent years
Also just ordered mine. Since I started working fulltime remote a year ago, I found myself not wanting to spend more time on my desk after work. That translated into me almost giving up gaming even though I used to love it. Moving to a place where I can have a second desk would cost me one Steam Deck per month so I just went with a Steam Deck lol
A wedding ring. Enlightens my life every day.
The one ring to rule them all?
You just need the ring?
I went the whole hog and got the package with wife/wedding as well. Like you, It brings me joy every day, but was probably a lot more expensive than just getting a ring.
Actually, the wife came for free. Got a complimentary upgrade from the girlfriend package from her… The fool. I’d paid all I had three times over for her. 17 days ago, she got me another upgrade with the “newborn son” addon. Can’t wait to see how that turns out in the long run. This one won’t be free though.
newborn son
In the short term you might regret that add-on but it definitely pays off in the long run.
Takes a while to configure its settings just right, especially when it frequently wipes them.
Those addons are fun for about 12 years, but then they become really expensive with micro transactions like crazy, and later ending needing an entire college DLC. Start saving.
I have a couple of the same addons. I’m on day four thousand and something. Can confirm those addons are not free.
Honestly?
A fidget cube.
Fidget toys got a bad rep, especially after Fidget Spinners became trendy for the younger generation.
But just having a little thing I can toy around with has been great for my pens and game controllers, as in the before times my grabby hands would fiddle with them whenever I was thinking about shit and it was bad for their durability.
For less than a dollar? (ay, currency exchange rates) Yeah, one of the best things I bought.
A Blunt Metro umbrella. Makes me happy every time I get to use it. It’s aesthetically pleasing, it oozes quality, it’s easy to bring with you.
a good compact umbrella is a core piece of kit. can just live where it is most accessible and can pop out when most needed. getting caught in a downpour is a good way to ruin a day
And now the downpour brightens my day 🙂
WTH is a blunt metro umbrella? (Retorical I am about to search it but still …)
I’m guessing some sort of collaboration with Snoop Dogg? 🤷♂️
A bedside arm for mobile phone. No more uncomfortable phone holding for bedtime youtube session.
Your physiotherapist and your sleep doc will both agree that watching or reading your phone in bed is a bad idea.
You may rock out a rebuttal that sounds like “I know driving drunk is bad but I need to”, or so, but your bed is for sleeping and sometimes play-dates.
So many people who want to play farmville in bed.
Hey. That’s between you and your doctor if you’re an adult and can make your own healthy choices. You can, right?
Who needs to rebut you? Your over the top nannying will just go unheeded.
Cool, except I have one room that I rent so the bed is really the ony option as far as relaxing goes. If the physiotherapist and sleep doc want to pitch in and help me buy a house I’m more than happy to switch to a couch though.
Hanklight D4K for $50 was my first portable enthusiast flashlight. I’m currently 4 hanklights deep and they’re loads of fun out in the country for spotting wildlife and general use with the open source Anduril 2 firmware (yes, flashlights can get firmware updates).
Ooh. I have an Olight Arkfeld Pro every day carry flashlight that I love. It’s kind of flat and has a good clip for your pocket. Brightest mode is 1300 lumens and also has a blacklight and a 5mw green laser. Built solid as can be and has a lifetime warranty, including the built in battery. Love the thing.
Hank makes great lights, but I love OLights. I have 3 of those damned Arkfelds - I loved the UV one so much I got the laser version, and then they came out with the tri-function version!
It’s such a great light! The UI is fantastic, the battery indicator is pretty, the UV is incredibly bright, and kudos to them for choosing a laser color other than red - green was a good choice. The battery lasts forever, the rectangle form factor is super comfortable to pocket-carry, and (of course) the 5-mode light is bright and clean. Oh, and that tail magnet is a beast! It’s the only flashlight I carry, anymore.
That said, I’d give up some of that huge battery to slim it down. The original Arkfelds are OK, but the new tri-function is chonky. Doesn’t stop me from carrying it, but it’s right on the threshold. I could go for a smaller tri-function; the current battery is IMO overkill.
While I like the magnetic charger, I do wish it had a USB-C charge port. As is, having to travel with an extra bespoke charge cable sucks. It’s my only real beef with OLights; contact charging is nice, but I’d trade it for versatility.
The proprietary charger is my only real negative about it. If not for that, I would take a slimmer version, like the old one over the bigger battery, but since I don’t have as much access to my proprietary charger like I do with USB c all over the place I’m good with the bigger battery.
A custom cane. I know it’s silly but I get a lot of compliments on it. It’s hand crafted in Ukraine and it has a steel sculpture of Thors face adorned on the front.
If you’re someone like me that is going to need that for the rest of your life, why use some cold looking medical device or that stupid “hurry cane”? Nah I’d rather it be as beautiful as it is functional.
I’ve taken it on all my travels so far and it makes for a great conversation piece and a great way for others to broach the uncomfortable topic of my accident or walking impairment. Most people will ask about the cane first before asking me why I need it. Prior to owning the custom cane nobody asked me about anything.
I’ve been struggling with gout in my knee and ankle off and on. When it gets bad I’m almost immobile and I broke down and finally bought a cane to help me hobble around when it’s at its worst.
Mine also came from Ukraine and like you I wanted something with personality. I got an oak, ball top style stained cherry and I love it!
Same. It’s awful. It’s not gout obviously but the stiffness in my knee and ankle is the most debilitating. Ironically I didn’t break my ankle or my knee. My hip was broken and keeping my foot still for the better part of a year has been problematic for movement ever sense.
The hip aches a lot but I can tolerate that by modifying my walking and using the cane. I still haven’t figured out how to get the stiffness out of my ankle and knee.
I got one made of holly, with a phoenix feather core. It’s very nice and supple.
did you pick it or did it pick you?
It’s hand crafted in Ukraine and it has a steel sculpture of Thors face adorned on the front.
Now that is a B1tchin’ cane.
Bitchin’
A countertop water boiler. It turns out I go through just about 4L of tea a day and now I spend a lot less time boiling water. And when you refill it and it comes to temperature it plays Fur Elise
edit: typo
You mean a kettle? How did you not already have one?
It’s because the USA power standards are not suitable for kettle life. The 110 voltage on their power means it takes ages to come to the boil. The idea of putting a few cups of water into a kettle, pushing a button and having boiling water inside a minute does not exist.
That’s why these tabletop things are useful: yes they take ages to initially boil, then they maintain that temperature. 110 volts is fine for that task.
There are 240v outlets in the USA, but they’re usually only used for things with heavy power draw (clothes dryers, EV chargers, electric hot water heaters, etc). Some areas have 208v instead of 240v though.
But yeah, boiling water is slow in the USA and a lot of people do it in the microwave (whereas I never saw anyone ever do that in Australia). We’ve got a Breville espresso machine that has instant hot water, which is useful for some of the use cases we’d use a kettle for.
Very uncommon in the US at least.
No, I mean the things I linked to. They’re like small countertop hot water tanks. I also do have multiple kettles.
They’re a little different. Kettles are small (1-2 liters) will heat water until it’s boiling and then shut off(or have the user disconnect the heat source)
Water boilers hold a larger amount of water (3-5 liters) at a consistent temperature with a button to dispense it.
I upgraded from a kettle to a zojirushi water boiler and I’ve never looked back. The thing is incredible. Absolutely worth the price.
Second whoever said massage gun, nail on the head.
I however developed an addiction to 3D printing, it’s as frustrating as it is fun but damn have I been busy…
I’d like to mention a combo:
A Nvidia Shield TV 2019 Pro and a Synology NAS, they really are the perfect combo to sail the seas, or watch legal streams if you want to.
Both gadgets have been used daily since the day they were purchased, and that is a good sign lol.
The Shield TV uses hardware since 2015, and even when some could say it is failing into the enshitification territory due to the usual crappy decisions regarding putting ads in the stock launcher, it is to applaud that Nvidia still supports this thing officially though.
About the NAS, I have a two bay unit (bad decision) but it supports Docker and it has helped me to feel attached to Linux again.
Your usual multimedia selfhosted program that you have running in your overpowered server/rack, you name it, I could probably be using it too in my humble DS218+
If I had to choose only one I’d say the Shield, because along with Smart Tube Next already is 80% of my total usage lol (plus I had my NAS turned off for months because a recent fuck up, and I didn’t have a PC to check it out, which is kinda solved now).
I have a two bay unit (bad decision)
I started out with a DS220+ and soon bought a 4 bay DS920+ for my media center with the 220+ on backup (as in system backup) duty 😁
I’m on board with this. I did something similar putting a Synology 920+ and an Asus NUC style machine running Ubuntu in place of my old OptiPlex and WD MyCloud setup.
I’m now the primary content provider for a bunch of my family!
It is truly amazing how you can put a decent multimedia provider with minimal hardware, heck, my two units act as a PMS each, and it serves well enough my usage, my girlfriend and the one user that actually uses it remotely lol.
For sure! The only reason I upgraded is because the OptiPlex costs a lot to run in terms of electricity.
For stuff I pretty much run 24/7 I really wanted better power efficiency.
You can run Plex on a Raspberry Pi if you disable transcoding!
You don’t really need a NAS if you get a Real Debrid account plus an app that supports it, like Weyd, Syncler, or Stremio + Torrentio. You can run a Plex server directly on the Shield, too.
Only for content that you’re legally allowed to watch, of course. Nobody would ever pirate content over the internet!
regarding putting ads in the stock launcher,
This was Google’s decision, not Nvidia’s. It’s in the base OS and Nvidia have no control over it. I replaced the stock launcher with flauncher which is basic and lightweight - just what I wanted. I used “Method 2: disable the default launcher” from the flauncher Readme to disable the default launcher and it worked well on both of my Shields.
You don’t really need a NAS if you get a Real Debrid account plus an app that supports it, like Weyd, Syncler, or Stremio + Torrentio. You can run a Plex server directly on the Shield, too.
Yeah for sure, and that has actually helped me to offload a lot of storage of my NAS as well, but RD can fail, and it is good to have something offline too.
This was Google’s decision, not Nvidia’s. It’s in the base OS and Nvidia have no control over it. I replaced the stock launcher with flauncher which is basic and lightweight - just what I wanted. I used “Method 2: disable the default launcher” from the flauncher Readme to disable the default launcher and it worked well on both of my Shields.
I understand, I actually decided to just rollback the launcher to the old stock UI, it works pretty well to me.
I understand, I actually decided to just rollback the launcher to the old stock UI, it works pretty well to me
I didn’t even realise that was possible! How do you do it?
I’d start with deleting updates of your launcher, that way you’ll have it in its original state, then deactivate automatic updates.
I downgraded to 8.2.3 just to be extra safe it won’t change back because of the server side update thingy… Plus seeking for a better performance/less clunkiness.
I love nvidia shields so much I have 1 in each of my 4 rooms with tvs.
I’d have more if I had the cash ngl.
I bought during 2020 when everyone in the US was getting $600+ a week in unemployment
Well, I never felt so disappointed to not be a US citizen.
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