I just ran across a video on how those work (through the History of Information website -- a dangerous timesink but an absolutely fascinating site).
The flow of matrices, keyboard, roman and italic typefaces, justification, casting, and return mechanism for the matrices (keyed by teeth) is absolutely fascinating. A study in mechanical logic.
Even the automated linotype -- via punched tape -- was only a bolted-on (literally) extension of the original.
Love the Embody. It's something I recommend 100% when people have chair issues. Had it for probably 5 years and it should easily hit the 12 year guarantee they give.
Issue: cats love it too, so I often have a towel on it to protect against their scratching tendencies. Looks less sexy but whatever.
Thanks for the heads up! I had not realized that the handle was a common point of failure, and such a thing (if properly repaired ) wouldn't bother me in the least.
Any recommendations on what particular sub-model to keep an eye out for?
My jet black iPhone 7. A bit of a cop-out answer, but I'll be damned if it isn't the best looking, most comfortable (I use it without a case, and enjoy it), and best overall designed thing I own.
I almost completely agree with this. The camera is fantastic, but if it didn't stick out from the bottom (or if there were something to balance it on the other side) the iPhone 7 would be the perfect product. I don't like that it doesn't lay flat, and I can't fathom why the iPad Pro's were made in the same way.
And considering battery life is nowhere near a consistent full day, to the extent that people are regularly using portable batteries, there's no excuse for making it so thin the camera has to protrude.
My job prevents me from using my phone at my desk for PCI compliance reasons, so the battery regularly lasts 2 days for me. I even play 3D games at lunch (ex: X-Plane) and it holds up fine.
It reminds me a lot of the first time I held(/fondled) the very original iPod - it felt (at the time) like damn-near-magic alien technology. (Somebody else mentioned an eInk Kindle, for me that doesn't come close - sure that screen is really nice to read, but as an _object_ it feels, I dunno, plasticy and uninteresting...)
- The Palm Pre (1st edition). It is an absolutely amazing, brilliant piece of hardware (especially back in 2009) that fits just right in my hand like a pebble. The curved screen is brilliant to the eyes and to the touch. It also has an interface that is not cluttered and busy like shit in other mainstream OSes then, and now.
But I mainly like things that are designed for ease of maintenance:
- The iPhone 4s and iPhone 5. Like the iPhone or hate it, but the iPhone is a marvelous engineering feat. First, the amount of components it could hold. Second, how strong and robust it is for such a small body. Third, how easy it is to replace the most vulnerable component, the screen.
- The iPod Nano 2nd Edition. It is such a timeless design that is extremely small and practical. It is really easy to open up the iPod Nano should you need to replace the battery, too.
- Dell Chromebook 13 and Acer Chromebook 720: It took 8 screws to open them and get to the battery, CMOS, RAM, SSD, CPU, WLAN card.
- Sony Walkmans. It was an eye-opening experience to see a player that is barely bigger than a tape, with features packed in it in the era of tapes, moving motors, pulleys, cogs and such.
But my most admired understated design has to be the Thinkpad line.
About 10 years ago, when computers were hot, clunky, and easy to break; I had a friend asking me to look at her coffee spilled Thinkpad T42 or T43 (I think). I just moved to the US for college for a month and had only a screwdriver toolset. Thankfully to its brilliant design [1], it only took a single screwdriver to lift the whole keyboard and touchpad up and get to everything, including the CPU. And the keyboard was spill resistant, so not that much liquid leaked either. I asked my roommate to take me to the nearest Radioshack to get a tube of heat spreader, and dried the whole thing with a hairdryer. It worked like new.
I could still remember the horror of opening Dell D6x0 laptops at my college IT department. What a fucking joke of a design - there is nothing good I could say about those "business machines" on the inside. It got to the point that if anything went wrong with those computers, the IT department just called the "Dell guy" to go fix it.
5 years ago, I even bet my roommate to pour a cup of water on a running Thinkpad. It survived.
And the Thinkpads now are barely different from the Thinkpads then and the Thinkpads from the beginning. It says something about the design, does it?
I unfortunately dropped a T60 some time ago, on the right rear corner.
The system board and everything were all fine... but the LCD copped it :( only displayed sad rainbows (IIRC).
I'm not sure if I bent the heatsink slightly off as well;
I tried to fix it but I may have made it worse. The thermal design on the T60 is a disaster: the part of the heatpipe that extends over the GPU has nowhere to bolt it down (see http://i.imgur.com/lUOwImO.jpg - the rightmost part, see how there are no screws, it literally was not factored into the design, it's held down solely by the copper itself) and because my heatsink is fractionally misaligned, my GPU consistently idles at 75°C (!) and can reach 90°C (!!) if I actually try to do anything!
The X240 (and probably X250/260, no way they changed much) is pretty easy to take apart. Just a few screws and there's just one board, with easy access to disk, RAM and mini-PCIe. I haven't seen the old ThinkPads in person, but I have seen e.g. big-ass HP Pavilions that look like a nightmare to disassemble.
I'm not quite sure how to feel about my T43 now. I was given it by a friend a while ago as I can't get my hands on anything else right now, and... I'm starting to wonder if I'll be hugely disappointed when I can get something newer.
I must admit that it doesn't Chrome too well though. It copes but it swaps a LOT and I can literally see garbage-collection happening - typing or scrolling locks up for 300ms every ~10 seconds. And it can't do >360p video.
I can't recommend them enough to Web developers who want to build fast, responsive websites, however. :D (So many sites that cram 1080p MP4s into their page backgrounds.....)
Indeed! I had to struggle with a consumer hp dv65xx for a few years before I finally got my hand on a thinkpad. Opening it up was a nightmare, and I broke random plastic things everytime I opened it up.
Vertx tactical trousers / shorts - cargo without the bulk, inner magazine pockets hold phones steady rather than flailing around, gussets and pleats for flex
Hario V60 coffee cone - perfect results, cheap
Ball tritium watches - a watch you can always read in the dark, even after 14 hours of Arctic night
I have never once wondered "how do I do this?" when using my Dyson. From cleaning, to extensions, switching modes, and just plain using the thing, every inch of these vacuums is designed to the utmost degree to make them not only super powerful suction machines but also trivially easy to use.
3-4 years ago maybe? DC 33 I think is what I had. The little hose that connected to the bottom near the spinning brush wouldn't stay connected... I had to put duct tape on it... And one of the wheels came out of it's little "axel" and wouldn't stay in... had to super glue that. The canister button broke... had to use like a paper-clip to wiggle that open.
And what I think was a major design flaw... When I turned it on, it took like 30 seconds to actually get any suction... when I contacted support on that they said it had to build up pressure. So I would turn the vacuum on, let it sit for a minute before I could use it. Total joke. I wasted time taking it to a repair shop that offered to replace the motor... for basically the cost of a new one. Dyson wouldn't cover it.
Anyway they don't make that model any more... and if you're happy with what you got, I'm happy for you. I wasn't happy with what I got and Dyson made me take it back to Costco instead of offering to stand behind their product. I want to say it was something like $400... seems like for that price they should stand behind it.
I'm fairly certain there was something wrong with the motor. The fact that the support rep told me it had to build pressure... and wouldn't just default to, "Let's RMA it!" is the real issue. $400 vacuum that supposedly had a 5-year warranty but no clue what the warranty actually covered after talking to their support team.
Costco though, I know a store isn't thought of as a product, but the fact you can return anything there -- no questions asked -- that's really nice! I started having issues with the vacuum 2-4 months into owning it (the hose disconnecting all the time was the first issue), returned it to Costco about a year after I bought it.
Sorry to hear about that. When we were shopping for a vacuum, I had concerns that the dyson's construction looked fragile so we went with something else. Good to know we made the right decision.
Mine's 12 years old and still works great. Anecdotally I've heard other people complain about the newer ones too, so maybe the quality control is slipping?
I have a DC02 (1995) and that's still working. Only thing that ever broke was the handle which cracked with time, Dyson sent us a replacement for about £15.
Also have a DC25 (2009) and that's been great too. Nothing broken or cracked, works good as new.
I will grant you - you can't treat a Dyson like a shop vac. Trundling it down the drive way to vacuum the car is a no-no. It'll probably break apart on gravel or flag stones but that's why I have a Dyson hand held :)
Meh. Overpriced bagless vacuum. The bag variety will almost always perform better, be easier/cheaper to maintain, and filter the air better. Something like a miele provides much more value than a Dyson.
Very very cleverly designed. Take one apart. The way the hoses which bend tightly are all removable so you get a straight line of sight to find any blockages. Genius.
I have to chime in here because, half a year ago, I would've given the same answer.
My first vacuum cleaner was the DC-5, a superb machine that served me well for 14 years. When it broke, the Cinetic Big Ball had just been released, so I got one.
Now don't get me wrong; it's a marvelous piece of engineering. Extremely high sucking power and a completely filterless design that suits my allergic needs. But the UX s much much worse than the old DC-5 model.
It's death by a thousand cuts: For example, the power button is on the back of the machine, even though I'm in front of it when operating it. And it's a tiny button, whereas the DC-5 had a large pedal. The tube has a curved, rigid section near the grip that always gets in the way when I try to clean furniture. And so on.
I actually came here to post the Numatic Henry vacuum cleaner. A big simple cylinder with a face on it. Fantastic suction. Super long cord. Hand crank retractor (those spring loaded ones always wear down over time). Easy to unblock, the pipe unscrews at both ends.
The Kinesis Advantage contoured ergonomic keyboard. Once you've used it for a few weeks, regular keyboards feel awkward and uncomfortable. They are pricy and completely worth it.
That keyboard took me 3 months to use (to be fair I was also switching to Dvorak). Luckily (?) this was while I was sidelined in a bike to car a collision. I have struggled with RSI and it really changed my life. But I agree it's not for everyone. For starters you definitely need large hands!
You may have given up prematurely. It took me a month or so to get used to it. I used the Kinesis Freestyle before, still expensive, but lasted me for years and years.
I had one for around 6 months and always found it frustrating to use. Eventually gritted my teeth and started to use it all the time and it's been a huge relief on my hands. Considering getting another one for home so I don't have to lug it back and forth to the office.
That's hard to believe, their Dvorak/Qwerty version has four or five different keys completely mislabeled, which made me return it because I couldn't trust the product any more.
Which keys? I didn't find that to be the case -- but even if it were, one of the features of this keyboard is you can remap any of the keys to your liking.
The only thing that sucks is the rubber keys, especially ESC, especially for vim users. In contrast, having meta+ctl keys on thumbs for emacs users is huge.
I tried to like it but returned it because it made a loud ping noise whenever a key was pressed and hit the back plate. They layout was fine but the construction just did not feel like $400.
The Reddit app on IOS. Something has always bothered me about most of the apps on IOS but I couldn't put my finger on it until I started using the reddit app. The UX is so good that it makes everything else feel awkward. I think that everything else was actually awkward and that's what I didn't like.
Cutco knives. All my life I've known what makes a good knife and that you should pay a lot. I think this is fine in the rare case that you have some someone to sharpen and hone them for you every day. Since getting Cutco knives I've come to realize that no other knives are for regular home use where you never have the time or skill to properly care for "other" knives.
Fixed gear bikes. I ride bikes a lot and when I finally got a fixie it was like that was finally the bike that felt like an extension of myself. I watched some videos about how cassettes work and understand the effect of being directly connected is what I'm feeling.
I dunno about the cutco thing. You could get a really nice chefs knife, paring knife, bread knife, boning knife, honing steel + a set of 5 steak knives + the best electric sharpener for less than the price of their small set ($682). I would say most people never bother to send in their knives for sharpening (or know/care that they're not sharp anymore), plus shipping knives is a pain and you are out those knives while they're being sharpened.
Plus the "guilt trip your neighbors/friends/parent's coworkers into a sale" strategy doesn't really sit well with me.
That's exactly what I mean. I've spent hundreds of dollars on "great" knives that I never bothered to send in for sharpening that I never use. The ones that I STILL DO NOT send in for sharpening and remain ultra sharp are the ones I use constantly.
Again the reality, for me, is I don't take them in to be sharpened. One does not sharpen their own knives, one hones their own, and takes them to professionals to sharpen.
The reality is that most people have never even seen a sharp knife.
Unfortunately, sending them in to be sharpened is not likely to give you a sharp knife either, most sharpening services are crap. There is no way to really sharpen a knife for $5. A specialist who does hand sharpening is going to cost at least $30.
To reliably have truly sharp knives is best to sharpen them yourself. Start with a decent blade, eg an entry level Japanese gyuto something like a Fujiwara FKM, JCK Carbonext, Tojiro DP, or a Sugimoto cleaver. Sharpen with Japanese waterstones. Diamond is bad for the knife, oilstones and ceramics are way way too slow for modern hard knife steels. Get a medium (1000-2000) and a fine waterstone (5000-6000), the Bester 1200 and Suhiro Rika 5000 are excellent and not very expensive. Then learn how to sharpen. It takes a bit of study and practice and will feel awkward at first, but once you get it, it is not at all difficult or time consuming.
The difference is everything. For example, the reason you cry cutting onions is because your dull knife is crushing the cells and spraying onion juice aerosol everywhere. A sharp knife does not do this. Chives cut with a dull knife turn mushy right away because of the tissue damage but will keep hours if cut with a sharp knife.
Alternatively, get a $15 two sided whetstone and try sharpening whatever knives happen to be present.
Cheap knives even tend to be softer steels which are easier to sharpen.
This won't lead to the very sharpest knives, but for most people it will still produce a vast improvement in sharpness and it's only $15 gone if they decide they'd still like better stuff or to throw the stone in the trash.
It's takes a few multihour sessions and ~$200 in whetstones but you can become a good home sharpener.
Once you can get your own knives from "crushes tomato" to "I didn't even realize I'd take off the the tip of my thumb until I realized there was blood everywhere, doctor" in ~20 minutes of work on the stone you'll never want to go back.
Just don't fall down the straight razor hole. It will consume you and turn you into a shaving bigot.
Unless you really need a lot of processing power or ram, the backlash against the new MacBooks is overblown. I was hesitant to get one, but I've been very happy with it. The screen is incredible,the keyboard is excellent, and it's by no means a slow computer for most tasks. The touchbar is a wash as far as I'm concerned, it doesn't add much, but it doesn't hurt much either.
I do miss the MagSafe from my old Air, but I like being able to power the Pro from either side. It means the cable isn't put under tension or draped across my knee when I'm using it on my lap and the outlet is inconveniently placed.
I made the jump from a late 2011 MBP to the late 2016 MBP with touch bar. While I wouldn't recommend it to just everyone, I've been very pleased with it. If you're the kind of person that regularly needs all of the ports that the new MBP lacks (specifically without dongle or dock) then it's not the computer for you.
I grabbed one of the last ones back in ~September - and am still pretty happy with that decision. I've got 16Gig or (aftermarket) RAM, a 512Gig SSD and 2TB of spinning rust - for almost a grand less than the new ones. Sure my CPU is slower, and my SSD is "only" running at 6G speeds, and I've not got a retina display - but it's a remarkably useful machine in this configuration...
Odd answer, but probably a Blackberry Passport. Clean and sturdy design, OS is on point (assuming you dont use many 3rd party apps), keyboard is brilliant - it leverages the benefits of a physical keyboard and adds the flexibility of touchscreen keyboards. Not to mention the screen, never thought I'd enjoy using a 1:1 screen but it's so good for reading on.
Outside of technology, probably my old man's Eames Classic. I don't even know how old it is, he's had it since he moved out of home 40+ years ago so it's definitely not new. Still comfortable, leather is still in good condition (although it does need cleaning), and it's as solid as a tank.
+1 on blackberry. Their keyboard is the most intuitive and comfortable keyboard I have used. BB OS10 was the best designed OS, guestures were intuitive, design was beautiful. It's unfortunate they didn't make it as a dominant platform in the smartphone era.
I agree, I'd love to see another BB OS phone or two but I think the Passport was their last stand. The Android phones are good and the BB apps work well even on other phones, but it's just not the same. I'll still follow the Mercury very closely because it looks promising, but I'm not sure I really trust Android to begin with.
Apple MacBooks are the best laptops that I have ever used. Nothing comes close to them. Even my Surface. It's a great device (by far the best Windows laptop/convertible available), but it misses on some details (light bleed on the edges, kickstand doesn't align all the way)
I agree. I have a mid-2009 15" MBP to which I long ago maxed-out the RAM and replaced the HDD with an SSD, and it's still my daily driver.
About the only time I notice its age is when I do something involving very heavy disk i/o. While it is an SSD, it's still only SATA II. The vast majority of the time I don't even notice. It's been a great machine.
My old Snow Leopard MBP was pretty much perfect in its day. It's long in tooth now but with a new battery and an SSD upgrade would still be well and truly usable as a general web-and-email machine.
I still have my white 13" MacBook with Snow Leopard. Using it is a bit nostalgic: remember when Apple made a super stable OS that optimized for getting actual work done? I don't remember it ever crashing, not even once!
Yeah, I have a mid-2011 Macbook Air that I've been using heavily since day one, and it still performs like a champ. I've never owned a non-Mac laptop that I didn't want or need to replace within two years.
The Macs are legendary for their design, but I have to say the winner is the MacBook Air. We have one at home, specifically the 2011 model MacBook Air. Such a fine piece of equipment and it still works pretty today as well as it did 6 years ago.
Got the some model here. Even though I now also own a 13" rMBPro which is barely heaver, there's something about the MBAir's design that makes it FEEL so much lighter to carry around. It's much easier to hold, and it looks much thinner on a table as well thanks to the curved shape.
A truly amazing design.
If the screen on the Air wasn't so shitty, I would still be rocking that thing. It had legendary battery life and an amazing keyboard, all while being super light.
I think that the MBA the best MacBook they've ever designed. No compromises, light enough to forget about and lasts long enough to almost never need charging.
I seriously wished they re-released that with a Retina screen.
Shitty? The Air screen is pretty good. Yes, it is not retina but I'm happy with the other bits such as color depth, view angle, brightness, and just general quality.
Yep, they're built to last too. I have an old white plastic MacBook I handed down to my nephew that's still chugging away after seven years. It runs like it's practically brand new and it's built like a tank.
The only major problem is the keyboard layout which IMO is close to inexcusable. Swapping fn and ctrl with no way of fixing it is thoughtless at a level that a company like Apple shouldn't tolerate.
I feel like ThinkPads are severely underrated even for their time. Their user-serviceability may not help sell units, but for anyone who's actually owned, used, and needed to repair one, the design was genius.
They aren't designed to need that kind of servicing. They're designed to last long enough to justify a replacement, and the 2008 and 2009 MacBooks we have under our bookcase continue to prove this.
Another odd one, but my Honda Fit 2nd Generation. So many things about that car are so well thought-out, and even more expensive/luxurious cars miss things that the Fit designers included. Some examples:
- Cup holder on the dashboard to the left of the steering wheel. As a left-handed person, this is amazing.
- Window power remains on after turning off the car as long as doors haven't been opened, allowing you to close the windows even if you forget to close them before turning off the car.
- Rear seats can fold completely flat, thanks to the fact that the fuel tank is below the front seats
- Large, unique-feeling tactile buttons and knobs to control the AC heating, and audio systems. So many cars use tiny identical buttons that are impossible to distinguish without looking.
Agreed-- the flexible interior layout is particularly incredible. It feels like the inside is bigger than the outside. It's crazy that I can fit a dining table, or a load of 2x4s, or five adults and their camping gear, in a subcompact car that I can also parallel park in even the tiniest spots. If you have a roof rack and a rear hitch you can really turn it up to 11.
On the subject of car ergo, a 2000 Miata NB. As someone who is 6'+, I'm consistently amazed at how comfortably I fit. It makes you realize how much wasted space there is in most car interiors.
Almost this. I'm 6'2", can't sit in the NB without bumping my head on the roof bars when closed. But had a 1995 NA for about 5 years and that was just incredibly comfortable. Could fit a remarkable amount in the boot too.
This. The controls design on this car is essentially perfect. And the interior space use is amazing. When we moved my son to go to college in another city we had the whole living room piled with his stuff, yet some how it all went into the Fit. The TARDIS of small cars. Pretty nice to drive too.
car and driver was convinced that a lot of the performing characteristics that made the 2nd gen a fun economy car have been messed up but as an appliance car it's still extremely practical
Yeah, it's the one thing that nearly put me off buying one - I'm six foot and it didn't quite feel right. I'm glad I took the plunge though: I got used to the slightly more upright driving position, and I love the car. The upside of the slightly more restricted seat rails, btw, is that rear passengers always have great leg room, even in such a small car.
There are many hatchbacks safer (ahem) than the Pinto. IIRC it had a particular design flaw in addition to the gas tank in the rear, though I've lost the details and wikipedia doesn't seem to be helping.
I had several Fiat Panda's (1st generation). It's automotive mobility boiled down to the bare essentials. A 50-year old motor design that has been completely finetuned to the point where it's unbreakable and economic (the 1.0 Fire motor). No power steering (not needed since the car is so lightweight), no brake assist, no power windows, no A/C. Just one windshield wiper, one heater and turn signals, that's it.
I love how simple and intuitive these cars were. Super dependable (lack of options make it so that nothing much could break down anyway), economic and yet some smart mechanical features: the light switches off when you turn the motor off, it's impossible to lock yourself out of the car and the best thing: the back seat is basically a hammock that converts to a bed. Since the car is so boxy it's easy to transport big things like fridges or large IKEA-packages.
I had several of these since they were so cheap (400 euros 5th-hand, but no mechanical issues). Only downside is the rust and the fact they're not very safe.
Yep. Just bought a 2011 Sport manual last month. I do mostly city driving and don't typically carry more than one passenger so I was kicking around the idea of a small pickup so I'd have the ability to carry around things like my PA system or camping gear or grab large items at the Depot, etc. instead of renting a pickup/van.
The problem is that there don't seem to really be many light pickups made anymore (like the size of the old S10 for example) and even the used ones in good shape were a bit on the pricey side for my frugal nature.
Well, I unexpectedly needed to buy a car last month and found a 2011 Fit with only 39k miles and got them to sell it for $9500. May have been able to talk them down a bit more if I had the luxury of time but it was within the market value given by several resources so I was OK with it.
Only down side was some minor wear-and-tear maintenance that the previous owner likely traded in to avoid dealing with (and the dealer wouldn't cover under warranty) but I still feel reasonably OK with the overall cost.
And of course the car is great. Moved out of my old place around the same time and only needed to rent a cargo van for the largest furniture items. Everything else has packed easily into the car with the seats folded flat. I love how the passenger seat can fold back as well so you can fit a 7-8 foot ladder or other long items like standing lamps.
Clutch feels a little "chattery" on cold mornings but apparently this is common on many Honda and Acura cars. Either way, my overall impression is that it's still quite a bit of car for not a whole lot of dough. Being able to just buy it for cash may have improved my overall enjoyment as well.
Have you had to replace the coil packs yet? That's the maintenance thing I mentioned having to deal with. Seems to be a common issue and I actually suggested it to my mechanic when I started getting rare, intermittent cylinder misfire codes after a few weeks.
To the mechanic's credit, they didn't want to replace them off the bat because they couldn't reproduce the issue and they had me drive for another week to see if it threw the error code again. Of course it did and when I brought it back the second time they swapped the coils and all has been right since.
It just seemed like a common issue when I searched for the OBD-II code online and I guess I just added another data point.
We have a winner! I bought one in 2010, and I've loved it. The only nitpicks I have are: 1) weak front stabilizer control links that don't stand up well to Illinois potholes, 2) no long mode or refresh mode seat settings (you need the first- or third-generation model for those), and 3) top gear (manual transmission) is too short - 3500 RPM at 70 MPH.
But for all that, it's amazingly roomy inside, good on gas, fun to drive even if it won't win races, and just a great car in general. Controls are well laid out, entry and exit are easy, four full-sized adults can sit comfortably in it, the engine is a gem, and when the rear seats are folded down it can handle a lot of cargo.
What brewing method do you use the grinder for? I've been using a blade grinder for French press, and the grind is so uneven that part of me feels like it probably doesn't matter, but the other part feels like a barbarian.
The point of the Lido 2 is that it's incredibly consistent (I do French press myself). I'd highly recommend that if you have a standard (presumably electric) blade grinder that you consider an upgrade to say the basic Bodum burr grinder. It makes a world of difference.
Upgrade to a burr grinder would be the first step - this one from Krupps[0] I've had for about 4 1/2 years, got as a present but can be had for under £40. The increase in consistency is worth it.
Thanks for the recommendation! I think I was looking at that exact grinder, but was deterred by a review that said it obliterated everything to too fine a grind for French press. I'll definitely have to pick one up.
No worries - I'll admit I'm not the best at-home coffee connoisseur, however, this one has served me well for everything from fine espresso powder through to "pretty much still whole beans", with the size dial.
One flag, bought one for my dad about 18 months ago, and whilst still functional and holding its own, feels a little less well made.
For what it's worth I use the same grinder and had the same concerns but the coarse setting works fine with my press - it doesn't clog or allow any of the grounds through.
It was definitely a challenge to go with it! It's not popular enough to have spawned knock offs, but the various Eames chairs have (particularly the black leather lounge chair). The main distinction between knock offs and the real thing comes down to materials: the colors will fade, the foam will compress, etc. but comparing $X00 to $X000 means you probably won't mind. If there are consignment or vintage shops in your area, you can often get a really good price on a great piece of furniture that just needs a new foam cushion. Best of luck!
> Trains in Switzerland (including the great app!)
For any train lovers out-there I'd heartily recommend visiting Switzerland just for that. Yes, the country is quite expensive to visit (I paid almost 20 euros for a pizza at a so-and-so restaurant in Geneva), but if you're into trains you won't be disappointed.
It really is fantastic to take a three or four segment train trip with only a couple minutes connection time in between. As for your experience on food: never cheap out in Switzerland, you're still going to pay the same amount on dinner, you just get to decide if it sucks or not.
I just got a Feldgrind after breaking two low-end hand grinders in as many years. I laughed out loud with joy when I first started using it - it feels like a tank in your hand and results in an incredibly consistent grind.
1) Insanely fun to drive. Handled like a scalpel. Haven't driven a car since connected me to the road as well as that car did. Could turn... or stop... or accelerate... on a dime. Instructions for driving it:
"Most people will never drive in the best rpm range (7000 to 8500), shifting too early. Our advice is to treat the S2000 like you hate it and you'll get the most out of it. We did and loved every minute of it."
2) They knew the target audience; didn't have any distractions. Just what you needed to enjoy the drive... leather seats, a top that came off, a gear stick and some pedals... Very minimalist and focused.
3) Easy to maintain, relatively cheap to buy. Biggest expense was new tires every 15-20k miles. Honda makes reliable stuff. $31k I think I paid for it new. 7 years and 80k miles... never needed more than a fresh coat of wax to make it feel like new.
Bonus) I loved how it was a conversation piece. Pull up to the pump... instantly people ask you what kind of car it is... they can't believe it's a Honda... or better yet they have one too and they want to chat about it... Had a cop stop me when I was clearly speeding and say, "I'm going to let you off with a warning... I'd be speeding too if I was driving one of these. Man it looks fun."
Totally regret getting rid of mine... didn't want to leave it garaged for a year while I traveled for work.
I drove an ex-girlfriend's Miata... was an automatic so I don't think I got the real experience. It was OK, handled fine. Just didn't have the same zip -- 170 HP vs 240 HP (not an ideal metric, but just an easy one to cite).
I think the BMW Z4, Jaguar F-Type, and Porsche Boxster are probably all fine replacements (that's what all the S2000 forum nerds say anyway) -- if you have 2-3x to spend. I drove an F-Type and it felt very busy inside. Like... fundamentally a different audience than the S2000. I drove a used Z4 too, but only an automatic since that was all they had on the lot.
Nissan 370z looks promising, but I haven't tried it. I don't love the look.
It's a bit of a sore spot... I don't feel like there is a true replacement for the S2000 on the market at present and it's getting very hard to find a used one that wasn't modified or doesn't have a ton of miles.
My Honda (Spada) has a neat little rubber spike that projects down below the bottom of the sidestand (and folds over when the bike's sat on the sidestand) - which contacts the road and gently folds the sidestand back/up before anything hard hits the road.
It's a small thing, but it's _so_ much smarter that the suicide-stand on my Ducati (which springs up then lets the bike fall over when it's bumped or moved by someone not expecting it) and way less frustrating that my Kawasaki's "kill the engine as soon as you kick it out of neutral whenever the sidestand isn't fully up or the switch has got gummed up and dirty again" approach. (But all three are better then my Caviga's occasional "smash and lever you over" the first time you lean it to the left after moving off without having raised the sidestand.)
(Writing all this down, perhaps it's _me_ who needs to get more methodical about raising my sidestand before riding off, eh?)
1,084 comments
[ 2.6 ms ] story [ 204 ms ] threadThe flow of matrices, keyboard, roman and italic typefaces, justification, casting, and return mechanism for the matrices (keyed by teeth) is absolutely fascinating. A study in mechanical logic.
Even the automated linotype -- via punched tape -- was only a bolted-on (literally) extension of the original.
Here: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=6wHiddZOfa8
AeroPress
Muji pocket notebooks
Issue: cats love it too, so I often have a towel on it to protect against their scratching tendencies. Looks less sexy but whatever.
Any recommendations on what particular sub-model to keep an eye out for?
Zojirushi mugs
Creative zen mp3 players
Staedtler writing utensils
Software:
Linux utils, particularly those born out of Bell Labs
ggplot
Keras
It reminds me a lot of the first time I held(/fondled) the very original iPod - it felt (at the time) like damn-near-magic alien technology. (Somebody else mentioned an eInk Kindle, for me that doesn't come close - sure that screen is really nice to read, but as an _object_ it feels, I dunno, plasticy and uninteresting...)
- The Palm Pre (1st edition). It is an absolutely amazing, brilliant piece of hardware (especially back in 2009) that fits just right in my hand like a pebble. The curved screen is brilliant to the eyes and to the touch. It also has an interface that is not cluttered and busy like shit in other mainstream OSes then, and now.
But I mainly like things that are designed for ease of maintenance:
- The iPhone 4s and iPhone 5. Like the iPhone or hate it, but the iPhone is a marvelous engineering feat. First, the amount of components it could hold. Second, how strong and robust it is for such a small body. Third, how easy it is to replace the most vulnerable component, the screen.
- The iPod Nano 2nd Edition. It is such a timeless design that is extremely small and practical. It is really easy to open up the iPod Nano should you need to replace the battery, too.
- Dell Chromebook 13 and Acer Chromebook 720: It took 8 screws to open them and get to the battery, CMOS, RAM, SSD, CPU, WLAN card.
- Sony Walkmans. It was an eye-opening experience to see a player that is barely bigger than a tape, with features packed in it in the era of tapes, moving motors, pulleys, cogs and such.
But my most admired understated design has to be the Thinkpad line.
About 10 years ago, when computers were hot, clunky, and easy to break; I had a friend asking me to look at her coffee spilled Thinkpad T42 or T43 (I think). I just moved to the US for college for a month and had only a screwdriver toolset. Thankfully to its brilliant design [1], it only took a single screwdriver to lift the whole keyboard and touchpad up and get to everything, including the CPU. And the keyboard was spill resistant, so not that much liquid leaked either. I asked my roommate to take me to the nearest Radioshack to get a tube of heat spreader, and dried the whole thing with a hairdryer. It worked like new.
I could still remember the horror of opening Dell D6x0 laptops at my college IT department. What a fucking joke of a design - there is nothing good I could say about those "business machines" on the inside. It got to the point that if anything went wrong with those computers, the IT department just called the "Dell guy" to go fix it.
5 years ago, I even bet my roommate to pour a cup of water on a running Thinkpad. It survived.
And the Thinkpads now are barely different from the Thinkpads then and the Thinkpads from the beginning. It says something about the design, does it?
1: https://www.ifixit.com/Teardown/IBM+ThinkPad+T42+Teardown/29...
The T42/43 was a tank. I saw one take such a hard fall that the frame bent and it still booted up.
The system board and everything were all fine... but the LCD copped it :( only displayed sad rainbows (IIRC).
I'm not sure if I bent the heatsink slightly off as well; I tried to fix it but I may have made it worse. The thermal design on the T60 is a disaster: the part of the heatpipe that extends over the GPU has nowhere to bolt it down (see http://i.imgur.com/lUOwImO.jpg - the rightmost part, see how there are no screws, it literally was not factored into the design, it's held down solely by the copper itself) and because my heatsink is fractionally misaligned, my GPU consistently idles at 75°C (!) and can reach 90°C (!!) if I actually try to do anything!
Modern Thinkpads are crap. I've had the W450, T450 and X1 Carbon. All of them look basic and had really bad screens.
I must admit that it doesn't Chrome too well though. It copes but it swaps a LOT and I can literally see garbage-collection happening - typing or scrolling locks up for 300ms every ~10 seconds. And it can't do >360p video.
I can't recommend them enough to Web developers who want to build fast, responsive websites, however. :D (So many sites that cram 1080p MP4s into their page backgrounds.....)
(Slackware / 2GHz Pentium M + 2GB RAM)
Yeah, gotta love a laptop that has friggin' drainage holes in the bottom of it. :)
Hario V60 coffee cone - perfect results, cheap
Ball tritium watches - a watch you can always read in the dark, even after 14 hours of Arctic night
I have never once wondered "how do I do this?" when using my Dyson. From cleaning, to extensions, switching modes, and just plain using the thing, every inch of these vacuums is designed to the utmost degree to make them not only super powerful suction machines but also trivially easy to use.
And what I think was a major design flaw... When I turned it on, it took like 30 seconds to actually get any suction... when I contacted support on that they said it had to build up pressure. So I would turn the vacuum on, let it sit for a minute before I could use it. Total joke. I wasted time taking it to a repair shop that offered to replace the motor... for basically the cost of a new one. Dyson wouldn't cover it.
Anyway they don't make that model any more... and if you're happy with what you got, I'm happy for you. I wasn't happy with what I got and Dyson made me take it back to Costco instead of offering to stand behind their product. I want to say it was something like $400... seems like for that price they should stand behind it.
https://www.amazon.com/Dyson-DC33-Multi-Floor-Upright-Bagles...
Costco though, I know a store isn't thought of as a product, but the fact you can return anything there -- no questions asked -- that's really nice! I started having issues with the vacuum 2-4 months into owning it (the hose disconnecting all the time was the first issue), returned it to Costco about a year after I bought it.
Also have a DC25 (2009) and that's been great too. Nothing broken or cracked, works good as new.
I will grant you - you can't treat a Dyson like a shop vac. Trundling it down the drive way to vacuum the car is a no-no. It'll probably break apart on gravel or flag stones but that's why I have a Dyson hand held :)
My first vacuum cleaner was the DC-5, a superb machine that served me well for 14 years. When it broke, the Cinetic Big Ball had just been released, so I got one.
Now don't get me wrong; it's a marvelous piece of engineering. Extremely high sucking power and a completely filterless design that suits my allergic needs. But the UX s much much worse than the old DC-5 model.
It's death by a thousand cuts: For example, the power button is on the back of the machine, even though I'm in front of it when operating it. And it's a tiny button, whereas the DC-5 had a large pedal. The tube has a curved, rigid section near the grip that always gets in the way when I try to clean furniture. And so on.
Too bad there is none.
The best non-mechanical keyboard I've used is a $20 Anker 84-key Wireless keyboard. It's extremely comfortable, and extremely portable.
I had to train on it with https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Typing_of_the_Dead for about 2 weeks before I was beating my usual typing speed. But after that, there's no going back.
No more wrist pain, ever.
The only thing that sucks is the rubber keys, especially ESC, especially for vim users. In contrast, having meta+ctl keys on thumbs for emacs users is huge.
"To disable the “click” noise, press and hold the Progrm key and tap the piples/backslash key (the key directly to the right of the letter “P”)."
https://www.kinesis-ergo.com/support/technical-support/faqs-...
Cutco knives. All my life I've known what makes a good knife and that you should pay a lot. I think this is fine in the rare case that you have some someone to sharpen and hone them for you every day. Since getting Cutco knives I've come to realize that no other knives are for regular home use where you never have the time or skill to properly care for "other" knives.
Fixed gear bikes. I ride bikes a lot and when I finally got a fixie it was like that was finally the bike that felt like an extension of myself. I watched some videos about how cassettes work and understand the effect of being directly connected is what I'm feeling.
Plus the "guilt trip your neighbors/friends/parent's coworkers into a sale" strategy doesn't really sit well with me.
Counter-example: Tojiro DP... Amazing knives for the price.
Unfortunately, sending them in to be sharpened is not likely to give you a sharp knife either, most sharpening services are crap. There is no way to really sharpen a knife for $5. A specialist who does hand sharpening is going to cost at least $30.
To reliably have truly sharp knives is best to sharpen them yourself. Start with a decent blade, eg an entry level Japanese gyuto something like a Fujiwara FKM, JCK Carbonext, Tojiro DP, or a Sugimoto cleaver. Sharpen with Japanese waterstones. Diamond is bad for the knife, oilstones and ceramics are way way too slow for modern hard knife steels. Get a medium (1000-2000) and a fine waterstone (5000-6000), the Bester 1200 and Suhiro Rika 5000 are excellent and not very expensive. Then learn how to sharpen. It takes a bit of study and practice and will feel awkward at first, but once you get it, it is not at all difficult or time consuming.
The difference is everything. For example, the reason you cry cutting onions is because your dull knife is crushing the cells and spraying onion juice aerosol everywhere. A sharp knife does not do this. Chives cut with a dull knife turn mushy right away because of the tissue damage but will keep hours if cut with a sharp knife.
Cheap knives even tend to be softer steels which are easier to sharpen.
This won't lead to the very sharpest knives, but for most people it will still produce a vast improvement in sharpness and it's only $15 gone if they decide they'd still like better stuff or to throw the stone in the trash.
Once you can get your own knives from "crushes tomato" to "I didn't even realize I'd take off the the tip of my thumb until I realized there was blood everywhere, doctor" in ~20 minutes of work on the stone you'll never want to go back.
Just don't fall down the straight razor hole. It will consume you and turn you into a shaving bigot.
When that came out it was just so obvious that it was the best way to do it, but now it is gone.
Trombone
Violin
Dozuki Saws
Atlatl
Outside of technology, probably my old man's Eames Classic. I don't even know how old it is, he's had it since he moved out of home 40+ years ago so it's definitely not new. Still comfortable, leather is still in good condition (although it does need cleaning), and it's as solid as a tank.
This is the studio responsible for it's design[1] if you're interested in some of their other work.
[1]http://objectsandideas.com/projects#/passport-silver-edition...
I have always found Microsoft keyboard and mice to be well designed.
iMac
About the only time I notice its age is when I do something involving very heavy disk i/o. While it is an SSD, it's still only SATA II. The vast majority of the time I don't even notice. It's been a great machine.
Now replaced by a 2015 13" MBP, which feels almost identical (although that Retina screen is goooood... as is the HDMI port).
And I can still sell most of the 2011 MBP parts on eBay to get some of my investment back!
Best laptop I ever owned, hands down.
I think that the MBA the best MacBook they've ever designed. No compromises, light enough to forget about and lasts long enough to almost never need charging.
I seriously wished they re-released that with a Retina screen.
- Cup holder on the dashboard to the left of the steering wheel. As a left-handed person, this is amazing.
- Window power remains on after turning off the car as long as doors haven't been opened, allowing you to close the windows even if you forget to close them before turning off the car.
- Rear seats can fold completely flat, thanks to the fact that the fuel tank is below the front seats
- Large, unique-feeling tactile buttons and knobs to control the AC heating, and audio systems. So many cars use tiny identical buttons that are impossible to distinguish without looking.
Doesn't hurt that it's dirt cheap to maintain and insure. I have maxed-out liability limits on my policy and only pay $35 a month.
Wow! Are you in the US? May I ask what insurance you have?
Meanwhile I HATED the BMW 3 series controls and shifter. Nothing was intuitive, though it all looked space agey.
I am a fan of the Lexus controls as well. They look positively 90s but are very straightforward to use and behave as you'd expect.
As a former automotive engineer it hurts to see "aesthetics" trump usability.
Blown away by how good the UX for the whole car is, including a HUD which for its price class and the time is rather amazing.
Adding things like rear cross alert, curving lights and radar cruise in addition to EBA is simply great.
Huh, as a lefty in a country that drives on the left side of the road, I'd never considered this was a problem.
Doesn't sound like a good idea in an accident.
I love how simple and intuitive these cars were. Super dependable (lack of options make it so that nothing much could break down anyway), economic and yet some smart mechanical features: the light switches off when you turn the motor off, it's impossible to lock yourself out of the car and the best thing: the back seat is basically a hammock that converts to a bed. Since the car is so boxy it's easy to transport big things like fridges or large IKEA-packages.
I had several of these since they were so cheap (400 euros 5th-hand, but no mechanical issues). Only downside is the rust and the fact they're not very safe.
Ah, the memories...
The problem is that there don't seem to really be many light pickups made anymore (like the size of the old S10 for example) and even the used ones in good shape were a bit on the pricey side for my frugal nature.
Well, I unexpectedly needed to buy a car last month and found a 2011 Fit with only 39k miles and got them to sell it for $9500. May have been able to talk them down a bit more if I had the luxury of time but it was within the market value given by several resources so I was OK with it.
Only down side was some minor wear-and-tear maintenance that the previous owner likely traded in to avoid dealing with (and the dealer wouldn't cover under warranty) but I still feel reasonably OK with the overall cost.
And of course the car is great. Moved out of my old place around the same time and only needed to rent a cargo van for the largest furniture items. Everything else has packed easily into the car with the seats folded flat. I love how the passenger seat can fold back as well so you can fit a 7-8 foot ladder or other long items like standing lamps.
Clutch feels a little "chattery" on cold mornings but apparently this is common on many Honda and Acura cars. Either way, my overall impression is that it's still quite a bit of car for not a whole lot of dough. Being able to just buy it for cash may have improved my overall enjoyment as well.
To the mechanic's credit, they didn't want to replace them off the bat because they couldn't reproduce the issue and they had me drive for another week to see if it threw the error code again. Of course it did and when I brought it back the second time they swapped the coils and all has been right since.
It just seemed like a common issue when I searched for the OBD-II code online and I guess I just added another data point.
But for all that, it's amazingly roomy inside, good on gas, fun to drive even if it won't win races, and just a great car in general. Controls are well laid out, entry and exit are easy, four full-sized adults can sit comfortably in it, the engine is a gem, and when the rear seats are folded down it can handle a lot of cargo.
Heath Coffee Mugs
Trains in Switzerland (including the great app!)
Hosu (chair)
Cutipl (silverware)
Emile Henry Flameware (Dutch Oven)
Mountain Collective Ski Pass
Black Diamond Hiking Poles
[0] http://www.krups.co.uk/coffee-grinder-gvx231
One flag, bought one for my dad about 18 months ago, and whilst still functional and holding its own, feels a little less well made.
For any train lovers out-there I'd heartily recommend visiting Switzerland just for that. Yes, the country is quite expensive to visit (I paid almost 20 euros for a pizza at a so-and-so restaurant in Geneva), but if you're into trains you won't be disappointed.
Probably Cutipol - http://www.cutipol.pt/store-cutlery
Good stuff, household name for donkey's years.
Was the laptop I was most happy with.
* Why The Honda S2000 Is A Future Classic || http://jalopnik.com/why-the-honda-s2000-is-a-future-classic-...
"Most people will never drive in the best rpm range (7000 to 8500), shifting too early. Our advice is to treat the S2000 like you hate it and you'll get the most out of it. We did and loved every minute of it."
2) They knew the target audience; didn't have any distractions. Just what you needed to enjoy the drive... leather seats, a top that came off, a gear stick and some pedals... Very minimalist and focused.
3) Easy to maintain, relatively cheap to buy. Biggest expense was new tires every 15-20k miles. Honda makes reliable stuff. $31k I think I paid for it new. 7 years and 80k miles... never needed more than a fresh coat of wax to make it feel like new.
Bonus) I loved how it was a conversation piece. Pull up to the pump... instantly people ask you what kind of car it is... they can't believe it's a Honda... or better yet they have one too and they want to chat about it... Had a cop stop me when I was clearly speeding and say, "I'm going to let you off with a warning... I'd be speeding too if I was driving one of these. Man it looks fun."
Totally regret getting rid of mine... didn't want to leave it garaged for a year while I traveled for work.
* Mazda MX-5 Miata vs Honda S2000 || http://twinrev.com/cars/Mazda-MX-5-Miata-vs-Honda-S2000
I think the BMW Z4, Jaguar F-Type, and Porsche Boxster are probably all fine replacements (that's what all the S2000 forum nerds say anyway) -- if you have 2-3x to spend. I drove an F-Type and it felt very busy inside. Like... fundamentally a different audience than the S2000. I drove a used Z4 too, but only an automatic since that was all they had on the lot.
Nissan 370z looks promising, but I haven't tried it. I don't love the look.
It's a bit of a sore spot... I don't feel like there is a true replacement for the S2000 on the market at present and it's getting very hard to find a used one that wasn't modified or doesn't have a ton of miles.
For tech stuff, checkout Windows Surface Hub.
It's a small thing, but it's _so_ much smarter that the suicide-stand on my Ducati (which springs up then lets the bike fall over when it's bumped or moved by someone not expecting it) and way less frustrating that my Kawasaki's "kill the engine as soon as you kick it out of neutral whenever the sidestand isn't fully up or the switch has got gummed up and dirty again" approach. (But all three are better then my Caviga's occasional "smash and lever you over" the first time you lean it to the left after moving off without having raised the sidestand.)
(Writing all this down, perhaps it's _me_ who needs to get more methodical about raising my sidestand before riding off, eh?)
0: https://youtu.be/e8qcqXuZTcg