Lemmy needs a community dedicated to pointless debate over which flashlight is best. I’m about to permanently borrow somebody’s ThruNite T1 but it’s too heavy, I miss the mini Maglite I used to carry. Phone flash is fine, yes, but I miss a flashlight/torch without a fucking login procedure involved for fuck sake.
Just grab any of the single 18650 lights. Emisar D4V2, Zebralight, Lumintop, or any other brand. Some are better than others and there are advantages and disadvantages to each brand/model but they’re all awesome.
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.
I got hooked when I first laid hands on a friend’s Monotribe some years ago. Now I’ve been over a year & a half with the Dirtywave M8 handheld tracker and it’s my favourite workstation bar none. Instant on, multiple synth engines, sampler, amazing sequencer, and lovely effects, all in a Game Boy sized package with a lightning-fast 8-button workflow. Insane that technology has come this far.
I GASed hard for a M8 for a while, but importing one to Korea ended up being hard to justify the cost. Glad TE released the EP-133 recently. I jumped on that and got one just before they sold out.
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).
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+
I’ve been using a low power embedded-cpu server for proxmox+homeassistant+openmediavault+*arr stack, but I’ve recently built a new one with my desktop’s Ryzen 3600 CPU, 'cause I wanted to use Jellyfin. It’s gone from 35 to 60 W/h, but it’s got more drives, so I think the power consumption can be good with a more powerful server.
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.
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’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.
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.
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.
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.
What kind of maintenance is needed with something like this? Would I need to run a vinegar mixture through it regularly to clean like a regular coffee pot setup?
Yes, but not that often. The only thing actually going through the machine is water, so it takes a long time to get dirty at all unless you’re dumping bad water in it or not wiping off the group head after use. We did have to replace the group gasket once, which was a $2 piece of rubber I could easily put on myself.
This one seems silly, but one really useful cheap thing I bought that I use much more than I thought I would is an electric kettle. (I should point out I’m in the US) I use it to make iced tea, my wife uses it for hot tea, and we both use it for boiling water for whatever cooking project needs it. We have a gas stove, and it takes about twice as long to heat up a liter of water as this kettle. It uses a normal US 120v outlet and I think it draws 1,000w. (Edit: I looked it up and it’s 1,100 watts)
At 110V that’s a 20A kettle. So you aren’t getting that high of wattage kettle in the US. Most standard US residential breakers are only 20A (some are only 15A) and they aren’t designed to continuously run near the max amperage so the biggest we can run on a “normal” circuit is probably around a 1760W kettle but it would also have to be the only thing running on that circuit at the time.
Can’t say I know what that looks like, but the US is a big place. There’s a lot of different looks to it.
But even poor Poland Villages have electric kettles.
We do have them. You can get one at nearly any big box store. They’re cheap too. Most Americans still don’t own one because we have no particular need.
plus one and I use it for a lot of non cooking where you want water of a specific temperature. Unclogging drains and filling the carpet cleaner comes to mind.. Its like I want 135 degree water. Oh also nasal irrigation water. Its great for it to have a wide temperature setting.
Seconding an electric kettle, even a cheap one was a game changer over not having one at all. Crazy how 99.99% of people I know as an American don’t own one
A small fan with usb port for 10-20cad. I used to get hot in the summer, so I bought a fan, soon after I started using it at night while I was sleeping, and it worked perfect. Point it to my bed, set it to speed 2 and sleep.
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.
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.
Congratulations on the new kiddo, and good luck! The learning curve on that one is steep, and the return policy is draconic, but it’s still one of the most worthwhile things I’ve ever done.
Nah, that’s boomer humor. Since it’s not really expected that we have to get married, and divorce isn’t as frowned upon, generally speaking most people who are married nowadays want to be.
@Fumbles Bose Quiet Comfort 35 headphones. Though I suspect the noise cancellation doesn't work as well. Also it's been several years, I wonder if they make new ones like they used to.
On that theme: MegaBoom 3 (without Alexa etc) speaker. Awesome bass and volume for a portable, waterproof. Great for bike parties and frankly a shower radio.
If you asked me 10 years ago I'd probably not expect to love any Bluetooth devices.
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.
I got one recently too, and it’s already helping me with this. I hope you find joy in it :). I never buy myself anything so I was worried I’d regret it… but I really like it so far.
Check out “Dave the diver”. I’ve fallen out of love with gaming as well and I’ve been dropping a lot of hours into this game on my steam deck. Super unique and easy to pick up and put down. Feels fresh.
If you like platformers Bzzt just came out and would definitely run on the deck. For roguelikes I’d recommend Darkest Dungeon, Hades, or Rogue Legacy. For a straightforward RPG with 3D models but pixel art I’d recommend Octopath Traveller 2.
I also recommend Dave the Diver as well, fantastic game.
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
Along these lines, i’m thrilled with the ps portal as well. was only $200, but the ps online streaming is so good. i used to use it on ps4 on my ipad with an external controller from 1200 miles away at legit decent frame rate and latency.
ps portal’s display is crisp and beautiful, it looks so much more gorgeous than the steam deck (because all the rendering is done on the ps5), and there are some games that i don’t even really want to play on the big screen format that the portal has made awesome because they’re wonderful on handheld format.
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!
Physical Therapy! Do the exercises/stretches. If you need to go back and ask a doctor for another round, do it. I get it though.
Sometimes KT tape can do wonders, but it really really depends. Personally, the best was with knees and arms. I wear a different kind of brace for my ankle, a Trilok, but there are apparently a whole bunch of similar ones now.
Dude do it. I dealt with chronic pain for way too long and just accepted it as hopeless. I had tried stretches and exercises on my own with no luck so I wrote physical therapy off as pointless.
Eventually I gave in and 6 weeks in to physical therapy my pain is like 80% gone. I started noticing improvements after a week.