For me, it’s an electric toothbrush. It doesn’t matter if you go with Sonicare or Oral-B, once you start using an electric toothbrush, regular toothbrushes don’t ever feel like they clean your teeth properly. The smooth plaque-free top layer of your teeth that you can feel after using an electric toothbrush can’t be replicated with a regular toothbrush.
Honestly, my favorite purchase of the past years is the Steamdeck. Can take it to work, play in my lunch break. Can take it on trips, play in the plane or train. Also got a dock at home, where I play coop games with my kid. So I guess if you are a gamer not playing any not supported games (there aren’t that many), go for it.
I bought a used one and it gave me the confidence I needed to move over to Linux. I tried Pop os and wasn’t really feeling it, and now I’m on Mint and I’m mostly happy. I want to build a desktop and do cachy os instead of getting a PS6.
Steam deck is an impressive little thing, but it’s not quite powerful enough for what I’d like to do with it. I would trade the portability for more power. But a handheld PS4 is absolutely nothing to sneeze at!
I was going to say the same thing. I regret waiting so long to buy one. Between that and Bazzite I never play my consoles anymore.
I am currently in the process of making an arcade cabinet for my Steam Deck! I bought it for my wife, but she basically stopped gaming for now. So, I decided to turn it into an arcade cabinet instead. Love that thing
Any coop game recommendation?
Untitled Goose Game is definitely a blast. Pizza Possum is just crazy fun. Moving out is also great.
We just started playing KeyWe, seems short but so far pretty fun too.
To play with a kid? Untitled Goose Game, Lovers in a Dangerous Space Time, River City Girls.
Robot vacuum. My floors are spotless except for some areas you’d never walk on and I only need to do some spot cleaning every month or two.
Dishwashers are awesome too, watch Technology Connections’ video on YouTube if you think your dishwasher doesn’t do a good job. It’s likely just how you’re using it. Priming the hot water before running, using powder detergent instead of liquid or packs (booo), and using the pre-wash and rinse aid will have even the gnarliest dishes coming out spotless.
Love my robot vacuum! As someone who works 12+ hours a day, it’s such a life saver. We have had our Roborock for 4 years now and it has 0 issues. Any issues I had were easy fixed by just opening the thing up and cleaning inside.
Absolutely love watching Technology Connections. Dude improved my dishwasher game by 400%
My first roborock met the fate of dog poop and an idiotic husband who thought he could just hose it 🙃 my second one is doing great.
Second husband, presumably.
While I did get a divorce, it was not over there vacuum 🤣 we’re still besties just not in love
My Roborock actually also went through diarrhea, but I was able to open it up completely and clean it up with a lot of rubbing alcohol and paper towels. Never had an issue with it again
When I cleaned it I also had no issues. He wasn’t as smart about it lol.
I was so excited when first got a roomba 5 or 6 years ago, but that faded so fast after it turned into an endless stream of notifications that it was caught under furniture, stuck on a cliff (the edge of a rug), full of dirt, couldn’t find its base, or trapped under a maze of dining room table legs.
I love the idea, but man that was $500 wasted. I’m sure they are better now, but I cant bring myself to buy another one.
Later gen w/ lidar has way better mapping and avoidance. I am 100% satisfied with my roborock.
Electric kettle. Fast at boiling water, especially if your stove heats slowly. Great for things like tea or instant noodles/lunches.
This is quite a strange comment to see as there isn’t a single house in the UK that doesn’t have an electric kettle in it.
Over here, you’ll find a pot of water on the stove more common. Our regular outlets are 120v, but our stoves are typically 240v. A water kettle here would be about half as fast as our stoves (generally speaking). Over there, yeah, with 240 being the standard, a kettle makes a lot of sense.
At least here in Finland a decent amout of stoves are 400v. Still, even at 120 a kettle is faster than an electroc stove. An induction stove is a different story
400 is crazy for residential service! That actually sounds awesome.
Even with 120v the kettle is still faster. Pot on the stove has a wild amount of waste heat. Perhaps excepting an induction stovetop.
Are we both thinking the same kind of kettle or is it British/American English different? What I’m talking about is a pitcher with an electric heating unit in the bottom?
Yeah that’s the one. Literally every household.
I think they would be more popular in the US if they worked as quickly here. I have one, but it takes about 4 minutes to heat 2 cups to boiling. It’s still worth it to me, but it’s not much faster than the stovetop for us. There’s something about the electric service in the UK that allows electric kettles to heat much faster there.
240V vs 120V. For an equivalent amount of current, 240V supplies twice the amount of power to the heating element.
Is no one going to post the Technology Connections video???
Okay, then
Also https://youtu.be/RpoXFk-ixZc
And maybe channeling electro boom: https://youtu.be/INZybkX8tLI
I can confirm, pretty much every UK household has one of those, they’re just one of those things you have in the kitchen.
Not a fan of microplastics or extra unnecessary gadgetry…
Seems like silly waste to be the next lemming without any substantial difference to the age old system of boiling water, same with rice cookers.
Unless I don’t hav a stovetop they’re basically not needed, a waste of money and another point of plastic contamination.
They heat efficiently rather than transfer through the stove and the pot, etc. And so fast.
i was always totally with you on the rice cooker, then i got a tiny one from aldi for my partner who doesnt cook much. now i use it all the time. haha
Australia also. It’s like owning knives and forks. It’s a basic necessity
I think this must be an American thing, because I have actually never known anyone who doesn’t own an electric kettle. It’s just so much more efficient!
Does a bicycle count? Changed my life.
As a Dutch person I would assume everyone already owns at least one bicycle.
_At least _ one.
DNS filtering. I’m using NextDNS, because I can’t be bothered to be my own server admin.
Why? It does a great job at filtering out ads, tracking the rest of internet cancer on mobile devices. Works no matter where you are. With pihole, you get the filtering only when you’re at home, not when you’re scrolling funny cat videos while waiting for the train.
DNS adblocking is awesome! The other day I found it blocks ads in some OTT apps too lol. I use Mullvad DNS btw. Only problem is the server goes down now and then. I keep switching between Mullvad and Adguard.
How do I use NextDNS? I use DNS over TLS since it doesn’t require an app and can’t find the addresses for NextDNS when I searched.
I know it’s an annoying cliche answer at this point but I really do love my air fryer, it got me out of a cooking rut and made me more creative. I’ve had it for a year and a half an use it 3-4 times a week.
I am firmly of the belief that people with ADHD should be prescribed an air fryer.
It is such an incredible tool because it almost destroys the mental barrier that something like the oven has. I actually make myself food now!
Without having to fry. My executively dysfunctional ass has resorted to cooking (frying veg and tofu) the same meal every day so I don’t have to think about ir
I just discovered the joys of the ninja double basket one. You can set the timer for both sides but then also set both sides to finish at the same thing. Crazy awesome.
Even just throwing tater tots into the air fryer makes 'em crispy on the outside with zero use of oil. About as healthy as you can eat potatoes and as easy as a microwave. Love it.
Aren’t those ultra processed potato nugget things? Why not mashed potato
Depends on how they are produced
If you’re reheating a pizza without an air fryer, you’re just plain doing it wrong.
2-5 minutes, no preheat, and it tastes better than the night before.
Most bar food reheats well in it too lol
Sorry but the correct way to heat up pizza is in a covered frying pan.
It’s nice to have 2 extra mini ovens and my kitchen is small.
A dedicated portable audio player with support for high-res files (that’s NOT running Android).
You can’t just doom scroll all day, no one can call you, you won’t get any spam texts or emails on it. It’s just you and your music.
Any recs?
I’ve bought a Hiby R3 Pro II a while back and it’s amazing. The build quality is top notch, the battery lasts for 20+ hours and it has basically everything one could need; USB-C, Bluetooth with Apt-X and LDAC, a good screen and a balanced output with plenty of power.
Even rudimentary support for Tidal and Qobuz. The only downside is that there’s no storage built-in, but you can use microSD cards up to 2TB.
You probably want to pick something supported by the Rockbox firmware, in case the native firmware is so-so.
Mechen! Love it plus it’s pretty
I regret giving away my iPod Touch to my sister. I wish I still had it so I can take it on walks without all the notifications from my phone
If you can find anything which can play standard 16/48 FLAC files then that is all you need. https://people.xiph.org/~xiphmont/demo/neil-young.html
Instantpot. I live in a teeny studio apt and the Instantpot puts in work daily.
I live in a tiny studio and am considering some sort convenient cooker. What do you cook with it?
Not the person you’re asking but when I used to travel for work all the time and I was so sick of out food, I got the smaller instant pot and brought it with. I made rice, beans, potatoes (a lot of potatoes lol), spaghetti, I think I made taco meat in it a few times, and a few other things I can’t think of.
Most of them have settings for rice, for simmering, pressure cooking and some other fun stuff. Instant pot and air fryer, you can make just about anything.
Agreed. If you get an instant pot that is part airfryer, you will be set
I forgot they made one that was both! I just have one of each
Thanks
I used a slow cooker when renting a bedroom. Leave it it on all the time and just top it up with ingredients after having a portion.
Lol “perpetual stew”.
Yeah, works pretty well in a slow cooker. Plus without a fridge it’s the only real way to store meat which is nice when the corner shop is selling a pack of sausages for £0.19 at 23:45
- Warm white christmas lights. Diffuse lighting is so much better.
- Induction cooktops. Because gas cooktops are toxic both inside and outside the home.
I found gas struggles to do low temps too, minimum power in the smallest ring is still too hot for rice unless you want to keep stirring it. Induction I just get it to a boil then leave it on low and it won’t burn without stirring and leave it for 15 mins.
Second the warm white Christmas lights.
They can quickly make a depressing apartment feel like a warm home.
I still suggest a plug-in induction burner, because they have temperature and autooff timer.
There’s actually a pretty cool community sort of tangentially related to this! !buyitforlife@slrpnk.net
Anyway, my pick is definitely just a GOOD mp3 player. Whether that be an open hardware one you can crack open and repair, a proprietary one that can at least be Rockboxed, or bare minimum a proprietary one with a good iFixit rating.
An analog watch. Nothing fancy, just a cheap Casio or Timex or whatever.
Ive had the same Timex for about 20 years now. Had to replace the strap a couple times and the battery, but the time keeping works like a charm and keeps perfect time. Mine is the leather strap with a white face and also shows day of the week and date. Not bad for a watch that cost me $20 a lifetime ago.
I do use a smart watch when im exercising though.
An analog watch is the one thing I can’t leave home without.
Stick blender! I delayed buying one because I thought the regular blender I had was enough, but this one is so convenient for sauces and soups.
e-reader: another item I delayed buying for too long because I believed paper books were better. I bought a Kobo and ended up reading more often.
I can FLY on an eReader. I bump the font up a bunch and just go, baby. Love reading ebooks (i read them on an ipad mini). I was also Mr. Physical Books Forever. Boy was I wrong about that.
Pressure Cooker. I have one from Fissler and it’s my go to for so many dishes that normally would take ages to cook.
It’s also so convenient to throw dried lentils in there and have them ready in half the time lol.
I just got a pressure cooker as a gift and have no idea when to use it! I did read it makes chicken tender?
It does! I will admit it sucks to find good recipes that use it but you can just cook anything you want in it as long as it normally takes a long period of time. Think sauces, beans, lentils, meats, etc. Things that normally take hours can take 30 minutes for example. Rice is also great and easy to make in it if you don’t have a rice cooker.
So basically if a recipe calls for you to cook something for a long time - throw it in a pressure cooker! Reddit is a great source for info and your pressure cooker should have come with a manual on how long every ingredient should take to make.
I very often make a quick meal with bulgur and some veggies for example. Also try Indian cooking, a lot of it uses pressure cookers!
Just mentioned this in another thread, but the XTEInk X4 is one of the most focused and portable e-readers I’ve come across. Less than $100 and isn’t locked down so you can load custom firmware on it. For anyone like me who finds most e-readers go unused because they don’t go with you, I’ve yet to find a better option.
I was gonna say my jailbroken kindle. But that affordable mini e-reader has definitely caught my eye.
With I knew this before buying a new nook
This is more of a tool, but I have a set of 4” knipex cobra pliers that are perfect for around the house. Just small enough to fit into about any space, super grippy, and you can easily make minute adjustments to the plier spacing. I’ve used them more than any other tool I own.
Oh, and noise-canceling headphones (ideally over-the-ear). Instant quality of life upgrade.
