If you read books buy a Kindle or a Nook (Kindle is great especially when you are buying books, but nook gets wonderful reviews as well and supports quite a bit more). If you are going to be reading pdfs an Ipad is the way to go.
I absolutely love my Kindle. Here's a word of warning though, if you like to read books that have code listings you will need the DX. They just don't work on the 6" screen.
Reading linear books (novels, etc.), get an e-ink reader like the Kindle, etc. You won't mind the page delay if it's one page at a time.
Reading tech books (manuals, reference material, etc.) get an iPad or subnotebook. Much faster to flip rapidly through as there's a much smaller page load delay, better search etc.
I'm so thankful for ebooks - there's a line in one of the perl docs that says "You can't grep dead trees", which has always been my beef with paper docs.
I was not a downvoter but I think that your comment is a bit problematic.
First of all, saying that not all geeks celebrating Christmas is at least obvious.
In addition, think of this hypothetical question and you may understand the downvoters:
- Ask HN: Which Apple product do you desire the most?
@gsivil - Thanks for jotting down these points. I think my response was more geared towards the text "What should be on the Christmas list of geeks everywhere?" rather than the title "What do you want for Christmas?" of the OP's question. They can be interpreted as being different - at least I did.
I would like to know the answer to this too! I'm trying to think of a present for my boyfriend but I don't know much about the latest gadgets or useful accessories for a programmer. I was thinking an ergonomic desk chair but $600 is way out of my budget. Any ideas??
It's a problem-solution thing. Commenting on HN typically has more substance than "I don't like ___". Your comment might have been more constructive if you restated the question to something you found more appropriate or thought would generate better discussion.
True. My intention was to elicit a "what do you desire right now" response (with both gadgets/cool products and interesting philosophical answers e.g. "Time" etc..) rather than any focus on a holiday. I should have said "holiday season" rather than Christmas. My apologies.
Personally, I don't enjoy receiving anything electronic or gadget related as a present - I have a reasonable idea of what is available and if there is something I want I'll buy it for myself.
I'd love to be given a voucher paying for me to do some activity that the giver things I will enjoy, but which I would not have thought of doing myself. Bonus points if it has a time limit to give me an incentive to get on and try it straight away.
I've been too broke to do anything Christmas-wise for the past nearly 4 years, so I'm gonna be getting awesome gifts for family and friends, and finally getting myself a toy as well: a chapman stick ( http://stick.com/ ). Been wanting one for years, and finally decided I'm just gonna splurge and get it.
This question made me realize again that I pretty much have anything I need already (in a materialistic way). I only want stuff if it replaces some other broken or old stuff. So I'd like to have a few pair of socks, and maybe a SSD to replace the noisy harddisk in my spare PC. Oh, and a kitchen scissors, the one I now have is worn.
I just bought a truckload of books for my birthday, but I wouldn't mind some more ;). Sadly, the amount of free time I have is inversely proportional to the size of my wishlist[1]. Such is life.
I'm pretty happy with the things that I have and I can't imagine anything that I need (but don't already have). When moving to two different countries in the past I've managed to pack all the things I need into a single backpack.
Besides my phone, my laptop, my bicycle, and plenty of clothes I don't really have any use for other things.
I agree with you. I've got what I need. My family still insists on gift-giving and I'm forced to make a list in an attempt to get something actually useful to me or helpful to someone else.
I want a Macbook Pro (not McBook Pro) 15 in, 2.8Ghz, with 8GB RAM, Geforce 330GT 512 GDDR3 RAM and 500GB SSD HHD. It ouwld cost only about 4000 including Apple-tax
>What should be on the Christmas list of geeks everywhere?
What should be on the Christmas list of mods everywhere? Of goths? Of clubbers? Of poly people? There are no answers to this type of question that aren't bred of ignorance or absurdity. This second question is silly.
The first was sensible. I suppose I could use a sweater.
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[ 3.0 ms ] story [ 76.7 ms ] threadReading tech books (manuals, reference material, etc.) get an iPad or subnotebook. Much faster to flip rapidly through as there's a much smaller page load delay, better search etc.
I'm so thankful for ebooks - there's a line in one of the perl docs that says "You can't grep dead trees", which has always been my beef with paper docs.
@rick_2047 - It does not have to be Christmas to give presents, but the question assumes Christmas first, then presents.
@ceejayoz - Answering 'Nothing' would mean you want nothing for Christmas, not that you don't celebrate Christmas.
- Ask HN: Which Apple product do you desire the most?
- Answer: Not all geeks desire an Apple product.
EDIT: I didn't down vote, just wanted to comment
On a more hazy level, the motivation to get all this stuff I've accumulated sold or given away!
I'd love to be given a voucher paying for me to do some activity that the giver things I will enjoy, but which I would not have thought of doing myself. Bonus points if it has a time limit to give me an incentive to get on and try it straight away.
[1] http://flipkart.com/wishlist/GeneralMaximus
Seems like a fun toy, and I really enjoyed the "write bubble sort on a PIC" project I had in college.
I'm pretty happy with the things that I have and I can't imagine anything that I need (but don't already have). When moving to two different countries in the past I've managed to pack all the things I need into a single backpack.
Besides my phone, my laptop, my bicycle, and plenty of clothes I don't really have any use for other things.
What should be on the Christmas list of mods everywhere? Of goths? Of clubbers? Of poly people? There are no answers to this type of question that aren't bred of ignorance or absurdity. This second question is silly.
The first was sensible. I suppose I could use a sweater.
Hrm, oh wait, you're asking two completely different questions here.