Ask HN: What sub $200 product improved your 2024

How so? Just because a drug is illegal doesn't mean it can't improve your life. Conversely, just because a drug is legal doesn't mean it can't destroy your life.

A couple years ago I had two very similar conversations with two different friends, reminiscing about being in our early 20s, aspiring musicians, just sitting around with friends getting high and playing music for hours and how nostalgic we were for that.

We're all deep into adulthood with responsibilities but I scheduled a "bring your guitar and smoke weed" party. It was a blast, we do it a few times a year now. Cannabis may not be illegal in your area, but.

You could take Dec and Jan off to make sure your mundane coding skills don't atrophy.

I'd prefer slightly higher resolution too, but for coding work (especially for my aging eyes) 1080p is actually fine. It's actually really hard to find portable monitors of this size. Maybe there just isn't a market for an even more expensive non-1080p one...? If you do find one, please let me know.

Careful here - GP said Aarke Carbonator Pro, but luckymoose bottles do not fit the Pro. They fit the Carbonator 2 and 3.

EDIT: Actually they didn't say that, I presumed they did because the Pro model AFAIK is the only one that comes with glass bottles insted of PET. But still, make sure you check that these bottles work with your machine :-) They dont work with mine!

Mine is plastic; been using it frequently for 4 years now. No issues.

Interesting. I have a subscription service where I put the 2 CO2 canisters in the provided prepaid box and drop it in the mail, then get 2 full ones back. Rinse and repeat.

Once you have a CO2 tank and regulator the only thing the sodastream is providing is the interface from tank to water bottle.

Direct into the bottle is the way. You can buy carbonator caps for different bottles from a homebrew store. This is a routine maneuver for homebrewers and the risks are small & well understood if you approach it using their gear, knowledge, and technique.

Once your current sodastream bottles expire you can replace them with something else entirely. Getting the tank and regulator is like 80% of breaking free of their stuff entirely, just finish the process.

I've only done some research, but if you have the space, you can skip the soda stream and carbonate in a corny keg in large batches. The lid of the keg has an input for co2 and an outlet for liquid. You should probably have enough space in the fridge for the large keg. There are smaller keg sizes but I'm not familiar enough to name them.

You can also find continuous carbonation lids but there are constraints on the water pressure being higher than the co2 pressure. My well water is 30 to 40 and the recommended co2 pressure is about 60.

On the whip (cylinder to cylinder filling tool) you linked, you can only ever equalize the pressure between the two cylinders. Most gas cylinders I've seen start around 2000 or 2200 psi if they were professionally filled (as in by a gas supplier like airgas). If your home brew store used a whip to fill your cylinder, it's going to be below their starting cylinder pressure. Each fill is going to lower the source pressure and generate a lower pressure in the filled cylinder. Vacuuming the cylinder should get more CO2 out of the source, but won't fill the small cylinder more. If I understand correctly, because you're pulling the remaining co2 out, you'll get lower pressure in both cylinders at the end because more gas has to leave the source to equalize the pressure.

Tbh, I'm more scared of the whip than a regulator and a hose after it. If you don't have a regulator on your source cylinder, whatever comes next has to handle the full cylinder pressure. In your case, all parts of the whip are at cylinder pressure. Regulators can handle full tank pressure and make it a safe level for the hoses so that in the event of hose failure, you're only leaking 60 psi (or whatever the regulator is set to).

I used to work with tanked oxygen for torch work (not professionally), but I think the above is correct. If not, please correct me.

I use regular soda bottles. If I buy a seltzer or soda while I'm out I save the bottle and reuse it with a carbonator cap https://www.amazon.com/Stainless-Carbonation-Pressure-Barb%E... Works great, and if I take a bottle to-go when leaving the house, I can toss it in the recycling instead of schlepping it home.

I'm merely one datum (and here's a reminder not to take advice from the Internet) but I've been drinking sparking water almost exclusively since college (25 years now) and my teeth are still intact and pass inspection every 6 months

I switched because I find that still water not "satisfying" to drink, probably because I grew up damn near addicted to Coca-cola. So, if the choice is between drinking something other than water, because drinking still water drives me crazy, or drinking sparkling water and rolling the dice about my teeth, I chose the latter and so far so good :fingers_crossed:

I work in a support role, so most often just various frontend web frameworks that our customers use (Next, Astro, Svelte, etc.). Occasionally basic node scripts. Rarely, I also interact with dev instances of our backend in Ruby inside Docker containers.

In the past, at other jobs, we've had Java backends (IntelliJ), PHP (PHPStorm), etc.

They have a standalone IDEs for many specific languages, or IntellIJ Ultimate (the Java one) can also handle a bunch of other languages via official language handler plugins.

But what makes the IDE truly awesome isn't just the basic language support (which VScode also has) but extensive refactoring, built in visual git and a great three-way diff engine, built-in database browser and table viewer and query editor and analyzer, visual diagrammers, test frameworks, debugger, various services and monitors... too much to list. A lot of those things are available in VScode too, but only through plugins of various quality and pricing. It's all built into Jetbrains, in one subscription. And if you ever stop a subscription, you keep the last licensed version you paid for forever (just without further upgrades). And you get a 40% loyalty discount if you subscribe as an individual after a year or two (forget exactly how long).

It's just incredibly helpful software at a very fair price point.

It's the whole ecosystem. VScode is nice for coding. Jetbrains is great for engineering.

What piano did you buy?

I'm not entirely sure about the others but their Rambler line is definitely dishwasher safe (I own a couple).

The brand i have is yo yo bike

Its in quotes as im not sure how well calibrated it is - tbh it prob is miles

I do wish it had ant support - i keep thinking i should write an app using an ant sensor on it

Speedwise im doing around 10mph

Yep. Impractical and fugly, but okay if you don't have a spouse, children, or care about aesthetics. BlueAir Classic 500/600 series-compatible models are the the way to go. (Was tested by Consumer Reports as the cleanest and quietest combination.) Most are basically just a rugged but minimal holder box for 3 identical filters on 3 sides with a much quieter and durable fan motor, and known good filters. The air a 680i/605 delivers is verifiably <0.5 ppm across PM0.1/2.5/10, eventually cleaning indoor air volume of reasonable size and minimal door opening frequency to an AQI <5. Note: the Classic Pro CP7i new costs almost twice what a Classic 680i/605 used to cost and uses different filters that aren't as good (thinner with less area), and the price is absolutely stupid. Buy a used 500/600 series on eBay for ~$200, clean the heck out of it, and source good filters.

I’ve tried both, it’s way more efficient to set it up at camp facing the sun. I think for the future I’d rather just take it out during breaks and when setting up camp for the day.

I live 59°N, during the summer there’s plenty of time to both hike far and recharge batteries after setting up camp for the day.

There's nothing quite like waking up to your private parts being gently caressed by panda food.

Any particular brand/model? I used to buy some Calvin Klein in Modal textile, but they switched to Cotton which is not as smooth and piles over time. :(

Thanks.

You people don't sleep naked?

I just used the Amazon app share button.

I'll be transiting China this summer so plan is to get a high end Roborock.

Yes. At CES just few days ago there was one announced that has a robot arm that tidies up for you.

Personally I kinda like being forced to tidy up (and I have 2 small children).