Bought a Hyper X headset when I was drunk one time. Solid purchase, still have it 8 years later. Only stopped using it because I wanted wireless.
No One Lives Forever
I bought it right after it was released and I don’t know why. I’d usually only pay full price for a game if I had obsessed for months over it. It ended up being a favourite game of mine.
A cheap Chinese bluetooth speaker. I bought it due to its great price without any specific idea how to utilize it. Years later I ended up in relatively cramped conditions without the hi-fi equipment I used previously, using this bluetooth speaker as my main audio device for long months.
The more affordable soundcore version of those Bose clip on ear headphones. I thought they looked cool when I saw one of my colleagues come into work with them so I ordered them that same day. I now have two pair, bought my girlfriend a pair, and can’t think of how I lived my life with headphones actually going into my ear lol.
Edit: *lived not loved lol gotta love autocorrect
can’t think of how I lived my life with headphones actually going into my ear lol
Do you mean that you find these more comfortable than traditional in-ear headphones?
Yeah lol super comfortable. Also no ear infections this fall/winter lol
I’m also prone to ear infections so I’ll have to try these out. I tend to use over-ear headphones 24/7 because of it but sometimes if I’m walking home at night I feel safer with in ears
These are awesome and let you still hear your surroundings. I highly recommend them.
I’m also prone to idiocy + walking into traffic so that’s great news
I have the jlab version and they’re comfortable enough, but they’re pinching the side of your ear so they do get uncomfortable after a while. I still prefer them to standard earbuds, but I’m also prone to ear infections so…
Keep in mind sound quality probably isn’t quite on par with similar priced earbuds, but they’re great for podcasts. +1 for these being a “glad I bought them” impulse buy.
Maybe I need to look into these, or something similar. I’ve tried all the earbuds: different sizes, compressible ones, stabilizing fins, “sport” designs, etc. Every single one falls out of my ears! Can’t even imagine what it’s like to just stick them in your ears for an extended period of time and not have to worry about them…
Yeah I get that. The clip type are pretty easy. I know the more expensive ones can be kind of wrapped over part of your ear which may be even better, these ones just go over your earlobe and they work for me but I could see how they could be too loose or tight for people
Look up bone conduction headphones. I think Shox is the main brand. I bought them since I ride a bike a lot so earbuds would mess with my situational awareness. You hear everything around you which is the best and worst part about them.
I was in Hong Kong and after a glorious day sightseeing and walking around it suddenly started to thunder. Rain everywhere. No shelter in sight. People slipping down the stairs running through the streets. Cars splashing puddles everywhere. Bus and tram stops full of people trying to avoid the rain. I quickly ducked into a department store before I was fully soaked but thought, “fuck I have another twenty minutes walk to get back to the hotel”. So I looked around the store for a few minutes and found the accessory section where they keep the umbrellas. Perfect! This was going to be the best impulse buy of my life.
I picked up a designer leather belt that I had been searching years for online. There it was, right in front of me, at a decent price. So I bought it.
hong kong do be like that a lot of the time
A Tilley hat.
Steam deck. OLED. Linux. Not locked down to hell. Nuff said.
Preach. I do couch gaming, so this machine is unbelievably nice.
What games can one actually play on such console. I mean it surely can’t run triple A games right?
Depends
https://steamdeck.com/en/verified
All these game will work swimmingly. Those marked playable will usually work perfectly fine out of the box, but maybe have an ugly launcher or something you need to use the touchscreen for. Those marked unplayable will have bugs but in my experience work fine too. There’s a more detailed less conservative compatibility db online too.
In terms of power it’s about between a PS4 and PS4 Pro, with a faster CPU, more RAM, slower GPU, but with a really fast NVMe SSD so games like CP2077 are very playable but not at the highest settings.
Gotta remember the Deck has a 7.4" 800p screen, so its not comparable to the horse power needed for a PC at 4K or something.
Most consoles end up around the same render res once you’ve accounted for checkerboarding, dynamic res and DLSS/FSR nonsense.
The deck also does shader pre-compilation and caching for games on steam so it often performs much better compared to a Windows PC with the same hardware for example.
Anything ray tracing is out of the question though as it uses AMD, not Nvidia.
I don’t play AAA games (nor know what new ones are there) - if you have a game in mind I could try it and report back?
The only game I tried that it really struggled with was NFS Unbound.
I was also able to do PS3 emulation on it, including Skate 3 and Motorstorm.
What LainTrain said. But you might find yourself playing less powerful games - emulators, Factorio, Hades, stardew, modded mc, etc…
I can play zero dawn on mine and boy did it make train rides tolerable.
I am planning to buy a Deck when I can afford it. I’ve been a PC player all my life but this is going to be my way of supporting Valve for all the good things they have done for Linux gaming. I mostly play Paradox strategy games, so I’m not sure how that will work on the Deck without a mouse. But maybe Terraria and Stardew Valley might be playable using controller style keys.
I bought a Steam Deck with my first paycheck ever, and it was more expensive than my salary. Zero regrets.
arent you locked down to Steam now? ie the games you buy are only through steam
You can pirate on the deck. It’s like two extra steps compared to PC, but you can.
If you’re not a Linux weirdo there are subreddits and people have made it easy, though you do have to use desktop mode to download games afaik.
If you’re already a big linux weirdo, just ssh in and look at htop while playing any steam game in deck mode and figure out how the magic works yourself, trust me it’s a lot of fun and the thing is really nice to explore because it’s not locked down at all.
Nope. Runs Linux and there are launchers for pretty much all the other games stores. It’s just a significantly smoother process for things you have in Steam because of the work Valve has done on Linux compatibility.
I’m not normally a junk food guy, but I bought these just because the color scheme appealed to me, and they were the best Cheetos I’ve ever had: Cheetos Flamin’ Hot Tangy Chili Fusion.
A house. It was 2017 and I wanted a place to getaway to in the weekends. Went to look at one and didn’t like it, but there was another nearby that I looked at and called up a realtor to represent me.
A month later I was a homeowner with a low interest loan.
2017-2019 was rough as I was paying for a mortgage and rent.
Housing costs then exploded, I moved into it full time for COVID, refinanced for an even lower interest rate.
Congrats!
dinner at local chinese buffet it was soooo yummy
Nothing like a succulent Chinese meal…
RIP LEGEND 🙏
“I should probably buy another box of nitrile gloves.” excellent decision.
Aldi rice cooker. $18 and the most used tool in the kitchen
Mine is also my cheap £20 rice cooker. Found out I can make Quinoa in it recently and very happy
I opted for an automatic pressure cooker instead.
You want to talk about most used kitchen appliance? It’s a rice cooker, slow cooker, steamer, sous vide machine, bread maker, pressure cooker, and induction cooktop, all in one!
Bidet hands down no question. The world is missing out.
I’ve had the same experience. I splurged a bit and got one with all the bells and whistles (warm water, heated seat, etc.). It’s such a shockingly significant improvement to something I do daily. Couldn’t imagine going without it now. I can’t believe they’re not more common.
Yup. I’m going to get the full warm water, bells and whistles version.
I am not a user, but I am bidet-curious. I can’t see how a gentle spray of water can clean poop from my hairy ass cheeks. Unless it’s like a pressure washer. Which I also don’t want.
Or is it just a starter and you finish with paper?
Also. That first wipe can be quite a thing. You can always start with the bulk wipe. But you’ve never been cleaner than with a bidet.
Asian people have culture shock, when they move to Australia, due to no bidet, and having to smudge poop with paper.
Pressure is variable, you can absolutely pressure wash.
Even a minimally featured bidet will at least soften things up and make wiping more effective.
I used a tushy bidet to start, which is pretty cheap and easy to get going and get comfortable with it. I would recommend the warm water options, but you need to have a sink nearby to steal the warm water from. Fancier warm water bidets have an instant water heater, so you don’t need a hot water tap, just power.
I have since upgraded to one with all the features, and here’s how my process typically goes:
- Sit down on heated seat
- Push out what I can
- Using the remote, turn on low pressure heated water with pulsating mode. I can also move the spray back/forth with the remote to get everything.
- Switch to high pressure for a moment. That has enough pressure to get up in there a bit, which seems to lubricate/soften any parts that didn’t come out through sheer effort earlier.
- Pause, push out one more time
- Go back to low pressure to tidy up
- Turn on blow dryer for a bit, or dry off with TP if I’m in a hurry.
I feel so dirty when I come back to a country without bidets.
Koss PortaPro headset. Always wanted one as a kid, saw them again and bought them.
The ones with the thin metal band that your hair always get caught in?
I remember the sound being worth the pain. Good looking too.
Yup, got not so much hair left now :-). Added some Xaxi pads for them, really worth the hassle getting.
I love the porta pros. If they break you can replace the drivers with the koss ksc75, they’re cheaper and sound slightly better imo and they clip right on to the porta pro headband.
Also, I highly recommend replacing the stock ear pads with yaxi pads, they’re super comfortable and definitely worth an extra $12 if you wear them a lot.
Ty for the driver recommendation. Kid destroyed their pair almost instantly. Still dunno how.
Yes, the pads were totally worth importing from Japan through Austria to Germany, and only a bit over $12 then!
TY for the recommendation!
For me it’s the Superlux HD681. Audiophile-quality sound for $25.
The deep bass, neutral mids, and near-perfect imaging and sound staging makes them ideal for games, movies, and music. It has an excellent pinna-related transfer function, so everything sounds like it’s coming from in front of you and all around, rather than inside your head. Like being surrounded by speakers. In games you can pinpoint sounds with millimeter precision. And since they’re so cheap, they don’t have to be babied; when they break you just buy another pair and go about your day.
No joke, I’ve bought and returned $500 headphones that weren’t as good as these. The only issue with them is that the highs can be a bit siblant, leading to harshness, but that can easily be EQed out or permanently fixed with a mod.
Seriously, just go buy a pair. I mean everyone reading this, even if you’re not an enthusiast. They’re so cheap, it’s all but impossible to regret it.
Where are you finding these for $25? Cheapest I’m seeing is $40 (though still pretty cheap tbf)
I’m embarrassed to admit this, but Amazon. They love to randomly jack the price up but it often drops back down to $25. You can set up a price watch on CamelCamelCamel.
And yeah even at $40 they’re still a good deal. They have about a $10 build quality, though. However the $500+ sound quality more than makes up for it.
By the way, I forgot to mention that you should also get the velour ear pads mentioned in the modding guide I linked to earlier. The stock ones are too thin and as such they can cause ear pain. The velour also helps with bass response.
I’m not too bothered about build quality since I’m only looking to use them at home anyway.
Good tip cheers, will grab a pair of those too then
A bidet. Once you’re comfy with it there is no going back.
