I'm curious as I'd be possibly interested in a solution that works for me. I'd be looking at devices (mainly a robot vacuum cleaner) that are able to operate without a mandatory internet connection that send over data to a datacenter to collect your information without your explicit knowledge (nearly everyone just clicks 'accept' when reading the ToS after purchase).

Hello,

I have decided to get myself a laser printer.

My intentions are to have a working printer occasionally. So sometimes I will print a lot, but then it can be left unused for a couple of years and I want it to be usable in the instant I want it without having to go and get new whatever.

My question is are there any considerations besides the printer being listed at https://openprinting.github.io/printers that I should make?

I will not hunt down the most open (as in copyleft/libre soft- & hardware) printer but would not mind it being open.

More importantly is the expectation that I could find new toners (I think that's the word for "ink" in laser printers) in 5 years.

I don't really want color, but if it isn't that big of a difference I might as well.

(I could change my mind to get a different kind of printer, but you'd have to be really convincing.)

I'm looking for a new laptop as my current one is falling apart, and one option that seems quite tempting at the moment is getting a desktop machine, leaving it running away in the background, and then accessing it using remote desktop software from a laptop (or even tablet) most of the time. My logic is that I want a fairly decent device for programming on and occasional games, but I also want something portable that I can carry into every room of my flat. I've also been experimenting more with Tailscale and using my laptop as a remote development machine and my phone as a dumb terminal while traveling abroad, and that's worked fairly well, so I'm interested in how far I can take this concept. Plus the idea of also being able to use my main device as a small homelab is kind of appealing as well.

The plan would be:

• Framework Desktop sits somewhere at home and is on all the time. My wife has a Framework laptop that she's quite impressed with, I realise the value proposition for desktop computers is less given there's already so much possibility to configure and upgrade, but I've never built a PC myself before and I don't want to complicate this setup too much.
  '* A dumb terminal device that I can carry around with me. For now, that'll probably be my current laptop as long as it lasts, but in the future maybe a cheap Chromebook or even a tablet that I can connect a keyboard and mouse to.
• Moonlight/Sunshine setup for the remote desktop side of things. From what I can tell, this can stream both individual applications but also the whole desktop, and works with various clients.
• Tailscale to access all of this outside the home. This is less important but it would be convenient. And if I go down the homelab direction, also for being able to access my self-hosted services remotely or running my personal website off my own hardware.

Things I'm concerned about:

• German connection speeds are, broadly speaking, poor, especially with upload speeds. I'm looking at maybe 300M down, 50M up. Inside my local network that won't affect me, but if I did want to take my laptop with me, I don't have a good sense of whether the remote desktop aspect is really feasible.
• The Framework desktop - I like the company, and I like the idea of a repairable desktop that's still sold as a single unit and not something where I need to buy everything myself. But I also don't have a good sense of how much of a premium I'd be paying here, vs either building something completely from scratch or buying a more typical desktop
• The laptop would probably live in the living room because that's where all the other technology (in particular the modem) in our house lives. It's fine if it makes a noise while I'm actively using it to watch things, but I'd need it to be very quiet the rest of the time. Framework does sell a fan that is specifically designed to be quiet, but I'm not sure if this is "it's quiet compared to having a normal computer fan on" or "it's quiet compared to having turned all my devices off for the night".

Does anyone have any experience with this kind of setup, and is this something that would reasonably work, or am I completely missing something obvious that makes this a terrible awful idea that nobody should do?

Thanks in advance!

I'm looking to replace my current mechanical keyboard which has a few problems. If anyone has recommendations I would appreciate it.

Here is what I'm looking for:

• Mechanical switches
• USB C and bluetooth.
• Smaller size (no keypad)
• Clicky but not too loud. I think I currently have "brown" switches which are good.
• Backlit (but not colorful unless I'm able to set it to something muted or single-colored)
• Works with mac, pc, linux, and maybe tablets

I don't care very much if there is a battery in the unit as long as it can switch to bluetooth while plugged into usb.

I went to mechanicalkeyboards.com and looked around and got a bit overwhelmed. Looks like the prices are mostly under $200 which would be ok.

What went wrong with my current keyboard:
It's an EPOMAKER TH80 pro. The size is good, the features are good, and the keyboard feel is good. But the battery went dead so it has to be plugged in all of the time, and several of the keys get double presses at random so I have to backspace a lot.

Thanks!

I have to travel internationally soon, and I’ve been making a list of things I simply cannot get here (by which I mean Brazil): right now it’s benadryl and maple syrup. Last time peanut butter was on the list, but it’s since become a gym-bro food and is much more accessible. But the thought occurred to me others must have their own lists.

So what’s something you can only buy when in another country that you make sure to pick up?

Afternoon! I am needing a little help. I've been on the hunt for the correct Curved End Links for a SKX model watch for about a month now, with no luck. AliExpress/eBay have not been all that great in "fine print."

Long story short, I need to replace the end links on my SKX007 that's on a Jubilee bracelet.

Each time I order, the end links are either "too flat" or are not cut properly.

Where can I get some curved end links that are not bonkers expensive and/or a whole new bracelet?

Model: Seiko SKX
Bracelet: Jubilee
Lug: 22mm

Thanks!

I live in an apartment on the third floor, and have a cat. She loves watching birds from our balcony, so we got her a bird-feeder to put in our balcony.

It has done a great job of bringing in more birds (primarily finches and sparrows) for her to watch, except the sunflower seeds we got for it result in an extreme mess all over the balcony and I worry our downstairs neighbors likely hate us as a result, so we’ve taken it down.

Wondering if anyone has recommendations for a bird feeder or bird seed that would be less messy? Or should this just turn into a “when we move to a first-floor apartment or a house” sorta dream.

Unfortunately, my wife is allergic to peanuts, so any bird seed that is made with peanuts (and from what we’ve seen, almost all are) is not an option.

Came to post and saw this thread popped up 5 hours prior (okay, near 7 hours as I'm still trying to look). So please help them first!

Sadly, while a lot of the requirements are the same, it doesn't offer what I'm looking for. Here are the demands (and here is why I cannot profit from it):

• USB A or C wired (no BT or detachable connection)
• Full 100% size

Similar demands are:

• Works with Linux
• Cherry MX (or comparable) switches - red or brown level
• Backlit with custom coloring

Honestly, Ducky seemed to be exactly what I was looking for, but I see no "buy" option, nor are there Linux options. Yeah, they're on mechanicalkeyboards.com but the third party is disconcerting and also the options I want are out of stock.

I prefer physical buttons and something that does not have a large screen and looks simple enough that it could be OEM. Does anything like this exist? All options seem to be cheap and ugly with flashing lights, or a giant touch screen.

It looks like we’re finally getting some real options in the space, so I’m interested in people’s thoughts and experiences!

I’ve been running a pair of LG 27MD5KL monitors forever, and they’ve been largely great - but they’re really showing their age at this point, and I’m being forced to upgrade either way because my new job requires using a Windows laptop (likely a Dell Pro 14, but TBC), and those old LGs use an esoteric dual link DP variant that only Apple supports. I’ll also be keeping my personal MacBook Pro, so smooth compatibility with both is a must. Use will largely be software work: lots of documentation, lots of terminal windows, lots of dark mode, but some design review work as well where decent colour accuracy helps.

Options I’m seeing at the moment are:

• Asus ProArt PA27JCV
• Asus ROG Strix XG27JCG
• LG 27GM950B
• BenQ MA270S
• Apple Studio Display
• Apple Studio Display XDR

I get the impression that Apple’s the better option where possible, but I’m concerned about compatibility, especially when I don’t directly control the choice of laptop. If anyone has real world experience on that one I’d be interested, especially the difference between “technically works on non-Apple laptops” vs “is an equivalently good experience on non-Apple laptops”.

I’m guessing just using separate inputs for each laptop will be fine on whatever I go for, but I’m open to getting a KVM if needed (L1Techs? I haven’t actually checked how hard it is to find one that supports 2x 5K yet…). Couldn’t immediately see anything that’ll take Thunderbolt input from the Mac and HDMI input from the Windows laptop and push both to Thunderbolt output, which might otherwise have been a way to bridge the Apple display question.

Probably going for 27” 5K rather than 32” 6K, unless there’s a compelling argument for the latter. I briefly tried a Dell 32” 6K a few years back and other than horrible backlight bleed, sitting that close to a 32” display ended up feeling like I was craning my neck rather than moving my eyes to see edge to edge.

So, what do people think would be best here?

Sending up a bat signal for @gary and @ButteredToast - you guys both know your stuff on this one!

Hey there, I’m an uncle to a soon to be 15 year old niece who recently got into sewing and has a starter sewing machine. (Hope it’s ok that I post here!)

I want to get her something for her birthday next weekend that has to do with sewing or similar since that’s what she’s expressed interest in. She’s never really had hobbies before but seems genuinely interested in modifying clothes and up-cycling (I think that’s the term) thrift finds.

Can someone help me with ideas on what I could get her? She is relatively new to things and she lives in Texas (US).

I’m ok spending up to $150. Could go higher as I’ll just split costs with her dad or grandparents if the gift is excellent.

Update: thank you all for the thoughtful suggestions! tildes always comes through with advices/tips/ideas for me! i ended up buying Gingher 8” Fabric Scissors, Kai seam snips (detail scissors?), Clover seam ripper, 3-pack of pink Singer tape measures, and a grumpy cat tote bag. i think i’m going to take her out to the thrift store to grab some clothes she can work on too. next year if shes still into it i think me and her dad will go in on a nice sewing machine someone mentioned in the comments. thanks again everyone!

My current headphones (Philips TAH8506) are pretty worn out from daily use and recently a bit of plastic on the side cracked, so I figured it'd be a good time to get new ones. Since I know very little about literally any audio hardware it seems a good idea to ask here. Things I'm generally looking for:

• must be over-ear
• decent sound quality; I'm not going to pretend I'm an audiophile, the ones I have now are sufficient so anything as good will do
• connectivity: this is where things get tricky. My current usage is being connected through a jack when using pc and bluetooth when using my phone. These 2 connection modes are a must for me. However, I'd also really like if I was able to connect to pc over 2.4gz with a dongle because bluetooth latency is, frankly, awful. It's mostly why I use a wired connection to pc.
• microphone is not needed (in fact I'd prefer if they don't have one)
• ideally not more than $200
• available in Europe without oversea shipping
• nice to have, but not required:
  • a way to control playback (pause/volume etc) from the headphones. The ones I have now have a touch panel on the right and I occasionally use it (but probably wouldn't miss it)
  • ANC
  • cat-resistant cables (probably no such thing exists)

I'd also appreciate general pointers regarding which brands provide good quality at a decent price to make searching easier. Thanks in advance for any answers!

My wife and I had a baby a few months ago and we learned that you can put a carseat in the front of a front load cargo bike starting at 3 months. I was already keen for a cargo bike, as was my wife, so we're taking the dive. There are a few common brands available in the USA, namely Urban Arrow, Omnium, and Harry vs Larry's Bullit Bike, and while those are still in contention we're currently in Munich and considering buying one and getting it home. Lots context on what we're thinking and doing and then to questions.

I was able to test drive the Muli Classic and the Carrie from Riese and Muller as representatives of shorter bikes, and we're considering the Load from Riese and Muller, the Loven's s75, the Urban Arrow Family, and the Bakfietz.nl Cruiser. We also rented the Lovens for the month we're here and pick it up today.

Ok, so we have a few questions on our plate. Do we go compact cargobike - like a Muli - or do we go for the full family van - like a Lovens or Urban Arrow? Within those categories are there any considerations we need to be mindful of like repairability? Our concern is that the Bafang engine is loved by all but seemingly hard to get parts for stateside. Whereas Bosch or Shimano would be easier. Could we rock a non-electric version like the Muli Muscle, or is that impractical?

I've been able to talk to a few owners and everyone loves the bike they have. The Muli guys love the Muli. The Lovens moms love the Lovens. It's great signal that cargobikes generally work well for the people interested in them, but not much as to which way we should go.

Last is context on what we hope to do and what we want to use it for. I'd love to go down to a 1 car family. We live within 6 blocks of all our core needs - grocery store, hardware store, pharmacy, repair places - and within .5 miles of our main recreation areas - the forest and the beach - so largely we're set walking. But there are so many great things that are just outside that area, within about 10 miles, that a cargobike would be great to have - parks, larger stores, everything really. And our Costco is about 500 feet off the main municipal bike trail so I would Looooooove to do my Costco runs on the bike. We also have one kiddo and there will likely be a second. I'm going to be getting a shotgun seat for my normal townie and mountain bikes for when the kids are old enough, but I'd also really love to be able to ferry them to school, have their friends join us, and make it the primary transport until for the family. Our friends in town have a street legal golf cart and I'd love to do something similar with the cargo bike. There is some possibility that we end up with 2, like a Muli and a Lovens, but with storage space that is currently very impractical. Also we live up a hill - about 150ft elevation gain over 5 blocks - from the main trail that connects us to the surrounding towns. We live a weird place where our pennisula is bisected by a military base and golf course so that is literally the only way to access any of the other surrounding towns. Also I'm currently a deep memeber of the Surly gang and am finding myself drawn to bikes like that - probably why the Muli keeps coming up on here - but realize that may be a foolish way to choose a family cargo bike. Also the price range is fairly steep $5-10k, so I'm trying to be level headed about it.

I'd love to hear about your experiences with cargobikes: what you rode, what you loved, what you'd skip. If you have friends or family who have indulged. Or just any thoughts really! I realize it's a small group that owns them so any info helps!

A few days ago, I posted this and quickly realized that the world of data backups is far richer than just sudo rsync -av --delete --exclude=Videos /home /home_bkup.

So now I'm window shopping the top Linux-supported backup solutions: borg, duplicacy, kopia, restic and--oh look--a core borg dev just dropped his own new-and-improved solution, vykar.

Restic was the first tool I started to research, and I thought I really liked it, got as far as installing, initializing a test repo, creating a couple of snapshots. But restic seems to be, hmm, fussy about the source and destination paths, absolute vs relative paths, etc.

The fact that merely renaming a parent directory (or grandparent, or great-grandparent, etc) causes restic to treat every unchanged byte below that as brand new ... that's a recipe for giant, bloated repos, and it's unacceptable to me ... and hey, lookit that, borg does not do that. So now, restic is out and borg is in.

But what other pros v cons are there, that I haven't even realized need to be considered? What advantages/disadvantages do other apps offer? Which ones can I easily automate with nightly/hourly cron jobs? Which ones have their own even-better automated solutions?

Do I even want encryption? All of my drives/volumes are LUKS encrypted, and anything I would store remotely would also get encrypted before it ever left my LAN ... plus, I'm just a bit nervous about having the backups encrypted, requiring working, functional software to restore/recover data from them....

That may not seem like such a big concern, perhaps, but I am currently working my way thru decrypting a bunch of 10-15 year old TrueCrypt-ed volumes, which requires using an old, outdated version of VeraCrypt and a somewhat "cross-my-fingers" effort to find KeePass repos old enough (also outdated, KeePass 1.0 repos) to still contain the various passwords I used to encrypt those ancient volumes ... but also still use new enough master passwords that I can still get the KeePass repos unlocked.

With rsync, I can literally just go into any backup, find the specific version of the specific file(s) I want to recover, and manually copy it back to my workspace. Is anything like that option available in any of these deduplicated/encrypted solutions, even if they're not encrypted? If (eg) a borg repo is created w/o encryption, the data is still all just borg-specific blobs, right? Or can I navigate into the repo and just manually grab files?

Oh yeah ... for reference, the past 10-ish years, my backup routine has been to create a new, dated, destination folder, starting with a full backup of my /home folder (excluding things like Videos, Music, VMs, other bulky stuff that gets backed up separately/differently), and then running nightly diff backups into the same folder, while also maintaining a "one-day-older" second backup of the whole thing on a 2nd HDD ... then, every 3-6 months, zipping up the current backup folder and starting a new one.

At any rate, there you go; that's the kind of stuff I'm thinking about now, as I overhaul my 20-year-old, 20TB (but could be 2TB) backup system.

Any and all feedback, recommendations, tips are welcome. Danke.

A problem I have every summer is either going to sleep cool and waking up in the middle of the night hot or going to sleep warm and waking up in the middle of the night cold. I used to have a similar problem in the winter, but I was able to solve that by getting a down comforter. Any recommendations for a good summer blanket for midwestern summers?

Last year, I took a promotion at work which meant I would be managing a few people and also involved with/overseeing a number of long term projects. As I've learned how to manage people, I've also learned that my previous methods for note taking are insufficient for what I'm doing and I'm losing track of things in my paper notebooks.

My employer has offered to buy me a new laptop but I'm actually pretty satisfied with my current laptop, so I've been doing some research into e-ink tablets which I think will help me stay more organized while also allowing me to take notes by hand (my preference) rather than typing things into a Google doc as I've been doing for my one on one meetings.

I don't have any experience with this technology and no way that I can get any hands on experience before buying something, so I'd love to hear from anyone who has used something like this, and especially if there's anything I need to consider that I haven't thought of.

My use cases:

• note taking / digital organization
• online reading (I run literary magazines and our submissions come in through an online system, and there's no convenient way to download them as pdfs to read offline, so having access to a web browser is important)
• access to Google Drive ideally so I can get to my notes from my desktop or laptop
• it'll be used at my desk or on my couch in full light, so no backlight or front light is not an issue

One of my coworkers has a remarkable tablet but he told me it's been less useful for him than he thought. In my research, this seems to be too limited for my uses.

The Onyx Boox Go 10.3 seems to be what would work best for me but I've also read a lot of warnings about their poor customer service so I'm a bit hesitant.

Hey, so I've used an XBone controller for... God knows how long. I've been playing Mina the Hollower and realized that it's causing some pain along the muscles going from the top of my left middle and ring finger past my wrist; I've got piano fingers and kinda grip the analog pretty hard, so my fingers are going past 90° holding the thing and I'm pretty sure I shouldn't be doing this anymore.

I think if I had a bigger controller I'd be fine? I'm trying my arcade stick, but it's not great for fine motion like the analog. Does anyone have any experience with having to move out of their usual controller due to pain, and what did you do?

Hello,

So, it is more and more evident that I need to do something about burning my head and squinting when facing in the general direction of the sun during summer.

Ideally I would wear something like a straw hat but I don't think I can, there is something about them that are intolerable to me.

The things I imagine I'd like with straw hats is that they protect face, eyes, scalp and neck (if appropriately sized) while still being fairly cool (as in temperature, not style!).

So, that's the requirements: some kind of garment that would protect my head from the sun, while not overheating my head, ideally giving some shade to the eyes, and not being a straw hat!

I don't care much for social norms but if you recommend something it would be nice to let me know if it is supposed to be worn by specific groups in specific circumstances (for example men attending sporting events) and what breaking those norms could result in.

I understand I could get sunscreen and a pair of sunglasses but sunglasses are in the same category as straw hats and sunscreen has to be replenished (both as in the buying more bottles and applying it on myself).

I'm up for different kinds of hats, hat-ish and fabrics, I just don't really know anything about them, yet!

I am looking for a Buy-It-For-Life pen. I've had the Parker Jotters for years and love them, but I am in need of something with a little longer life expectancy on the barrel.

My first thought was James Brand The Burwell, however I am just now really diving into the BIFL Pen world and curious on what you guys suggestion / use.

Assume the money cap of $100 for now, unless you have some out of this world amazing option over that cap.

I've been rocking a Sony Xperia 1 IV for the last 3.5 years or so and, save for some persistent and irritating Bluetooth issues (audio quality drops for no reason) I've really enjoyed it.

However, as of a month or so ago, the Bluetooth issues have graduated to "untenable" level, and considering its age, it's time for a new phone.

I almost entirely use my smartphone for watching YouTube, listening to music, watching videos, and reading books. I don't use it to play games or surf social media at all. Occasionally I'll take photos, but I don't need anything better than "takes decent photos"

My hard requirements:
Not an Apple
MicroSD card

My strong wants:
No back glass
Durable
Headphone jack
Decent audio quality

Does anyone have any recommendations?

I somehow have money I need to spend, more than I ever had, and where else to put them than where I spend most of my awake time. So for the first time ever I've decided to splurge on a PC that isn't a low to medium budget one. For reference, I'm currently on a 10 year old 1070 GPU with a 1080p screen and the rest of my PC is either also 10 years old or at least 5 years old so it truly is time to upgrade.

It looks like it's 10-15% more expensive to self-build nowadays so what I'm about to pull the trigger on is a package/prebuilt deal. But I can still pick and choose (some) parts from this store. Here's the specs at the moment:

• GPU: ASUS Radeon RX 9070 XT Prime OC - 16GB GDDR6 RAM

This seems to be the most reasonable buy. The price is about 70% of Nvidia's equivalent in performance while the next stepup, a 5080, is more like 240% as expensive. I however got recommendations to get at least 5080 for good framerates in 4k gaming on high settings. I am currently on 144hz and have gotten used to about 100fps in most games, so ending up with like 50fps would suck.

• CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D

Something I play a lot is WoW, and that is apparently a very CPU heavy game, so this one seems the best choice in terms of performance in that particular game even though I'm reading it's somewhat overkill for most other stuff.

• RAM: Corsair Vengeance DDR5-6000 - 32GB

I practically never multitask so getting only 16GB would have been fine I believe, and opened some room in my budget, however this is a limitation of the package deal and I cannot go lower than 32GB. Besides, this should be futureproof.

• Motherboard: ASUS TUF GAMING B650

• Storage: Kingston NV3 SSD - 1TB

• Case: DUTZO C740 Airflow Wood

• PSU: Corsair RMe Series RM850e (2025) - 850 Watt

Here's a link to the full specs and options to configure.

So.. is 4k a bad idea with this setup? Because I really want to.

I would probably settle for 1440p (widescreen even?) but I'm sure 4k would feel like such a much more massive upgrade. So if this build is not capable of 4k for newer modern highly demanding games, would downscaling in them look disappointing? If anyone has experience with that?

If I end up on 1440p, if anyone has experience with this part, what do movies and such look like? Would a 1080p download look strange and blurry being upscaled? And would a 2160p download look weird being downscaled?

I have also seen some posts about 4k being not worth it on account of just how tightly packed the pixels are - that unless it's a more than 30" screen, it's not even worth it? Any truth to that in you guys' experiences?

Sorry for the long post, but thanks for reading!

My knowledge here is about a decade out of date so I would like to ask for some advice and recommendations. I am looking less for a specific model to buy and more for personal experiences and general tips on what to look at or good review sites or knowledge bases.

Ideally I'd want a general purpose midsized flat monitor with higher refresh rate.
Mostly what I find are either gamer branded items usually without chain linking or data interface or office ones with 60hz though I'll work around of what is available. The image quality is the important part.

What price ranges and display technologies should I be looking at to get a generally good image without too many compromises?

I really don't know where to put this, so feel free to move, but I have this issue. I carry a LOT of shit on my keychain. Two sets of keys of four each, a SIM removal tool, a tiny retractable box cutter, a USB drive full of installer ISOs (you never know), an AirTag, a CPU with a hole punched through, a 3D printed whistle, and that may very well grow.

Now the problem I have is that the lanyard that I currently have has, over time, widened the gap on the karabiner to the point that I'll regularly lose a key ring in my pocket when pulling it out. Nothing major's happened yet, but it's a matter of time.

So, clearly, I need a better one. A higher quality one. But going on the eTailers of today I really only get garbage. A pack of 20! For ten bucks! Well, thanks, but we all know they'll suck. And frankly, I really don't know how to get my hands on a high quality one. I bet they're out there, I'm sure, but where do I look? What's good, what's bad? I really don't need the high-end climbing gear, or do I? Is my key lanyard a candidate for buy it for life, and if so, am I ready for that commitment?

Looking for any and all advice on this.

PS: I don't wear the lanyard. I'm one of those assholes that puts the active end in my pocket and lets the lanyard itself dangle out.

My current phone is about 6 years old and has a lot of signal problems and I replaced the battery about 6 months ago and the new battery is even worse than the original one was and I think it's time to get a new phone.

Things I want in my phone:

• Android
• I would love to have a microSD card but that seems impossible
  • if there's not microSD then I need min 512GB of internal storage and I would prefer 1TB if that's not like +1k to the cost
• Headphone jack
• If there's AI, then I can disable it
• Excellent battery life
• On the smaller end

Things I don't really care about:

• Camera quality (I'm a shitty photographer, the camera wont help)

Things that might be nice:

• Having a stylus but not at the cost of the phone being enormous. Reason I want this is because it gets cold in the winter in Chicago

I hope this phone lasts another 6 years and will be pissed if it lasts under 4 years; at that lifespan and amount of use I get out of it I'm pretty price-agnostic. I live in the USA but expect to travel to Europe a few times next year so it should do decently well when traveling. Network is T-Mobile.

This is not SUPER urgent right now so if your advice is "wait til January because the XYZ phone releasing then is probably better than anything available right now" I would be willing to do that. But my current phone is really not doing great.

Happy to answer any other followup questions if anyone has any!

Thanks!

Beyond the Motorola Razr flip phones, I can't seem to find many small phone options. Are they out there anywhere?

***correction! I meant to say the iPhone 12 mini! There is an important distinction there and sorry to all who answered before this correction.

Let me start off by saying that I'm exhausted by AI hype. Being interested in LLM agent technology (AI agent hereafter for brevity) means skimming over a lot of hype for one or two useful, semi reality based, bits of information. Maybe the part that I find the most frustrating is how effective the hype is. I don't know if there's ever been a hype cycle like this. Probably a big part of the reason for that is the internet has already proven, within living memory for most people, that technological revolutions really can change everything. Or mess everything up. Either way they generate a lot of economic activity.

So this post is not that. I'm not going to tell you about how AI agents are the second coming for Christ. I'm not selling anything.

Fairly early into learning about AI agents I wanted a way to connect to the agent remotely without hosting it somewhere or exposing ports to the internet. I settled on tailscale and a remote terminal and moved on, I rarely used it. Somehow the tiny friction of "Turn on tailscale, open terminal app, connect, run agent" was enough to make it not feel worth it.

I know I'm far from the only person who had the same "I want it remote" thought, the best evidence: OpenClaw. It's just one of those things that everyone naturally converges on.

If you're not familiar with OpenClaw, the TLDR is: Former founder with more money than he'll ever need vibecodes a bridge between instant messenger apps and LLM APIs. Nothing about it is technically challenging or requires solving any particularly hard problems. It almost immediately becomes the fastest growing GitHub repo of all time and is currently at number 14 for number of stars. It blew up the (tech) internet like very few things ever have. Within months he was hired by Open AI.

OpenClaw now does more than just connect messaging and agents, but I believe that one piece is the killer feature. My tailscale terminal solution, combined with a scheduled task or a cron job and some context files could already do all of the things that OpenClaw can do, and countless people had already implemented similar solutions. But I think it was the tiny bit of friction OpenClaw removed that was responsible for a lot its popularity.

I thought that was interesting but I have no interest in the security nightmare that is OpenClaw, or the "sentience" vibe for that matter, so I built my own tool.

Essentially it's just a light secondary harness combined with a bridge between Signal and Claude Code. It does some other things too, things I wished existing harnesses did, some memory and guidelines, automated prompts and reminders to wake the agent up and have it do stuff, some context to give the agent some level of persistence, make it less LLMy, less annoying. None of that is particularly interesting though.

Once I got it working (MVP took less than a day) and started playing with it, the OpenClaw phenomenon made a lot more sense. Somehow having the agent in a chat interface, with almost zero friction (just open the chat and send something) was cooler than it had any reason to be.

I can't explain it any better than that at the moment. Not only was it kinda fun, it lent itself to a whole range of "what ifs". What if it could do X? What if I wrote a tool that gave it Y capability? I've been experiencing that for some time, but somehow agent in your pocket has a different feeling.

Here's an example of a "what if". What if it could do our grocery shopping? I definitely want that. I already had a custom browser tool that I built for agent coding assistance so I was most of the way there. It was just a matter of teaching the agent to login and navigate a website, something they're already trained to do. Some hand holding, a few helper scripts, and an evening's worth of hours later and I had it working. The agent can respond to a shopping request by building a shopping list based on our most recent orders, presenting it to us for approval/edits in a Signal group chat, doing searches for any additional product requests and adding the finalized order to the cart. It could also checkout the order and schedule the delivery time but I'm doing the last 2 clicks manually for the time being. It's an idiot savant, it seems like a bad idea to give it access to my credit card. Maybe eventually.

The fact that I can handle shopping with a couple of signal messages feels effortless in a way that handling shopping by connecting to my PC terminal remotely via tailscale terminal wouldn't have. Especially when I can include people in the loop who have no interest in tailscaling anywhere. Everyone can use messaging apps.

I imagine before long solutions like this will be built in, either in the grocery websites and apps, or into the frontier harnesses themselves. There will probably be agents everywhere, for better or worse. Probably I'll wish that the agents would all fuck off. In the meantime it's exciting how easy it is to get these tools to do useful things.

Does anyone here use a tablet for note taking?

I've always used pen and paper for note taking when working or in/around the house. At one point when phones got bigger I did try moving to notes apps but they never clicked. Something about the glossy screen and the levels of fuss to take a note just didn't work.

I recently found out that there's e-ink tablets which try to emulate real note taking, like the Supernote which runs a custom firmware to make note taking as easy as possible. Or the Boox which is Android based, so it has way more apps, but it's got amazing reviews.

There's quite a lot, I'm curious if anyone here has actually used anything like this and what their thoughts are?
Looking at reviews, I'm drawn to the Supernote. But I'd love to hear some real use cases!

Hey everyone,

I’m currently running Schwalbe G-One Bite 40mm and I’m thinking about moving up to 50mm for a bit more confidence off-road. Where I ride it’s not groomed gravel or proper official well-kept MTB trails, just typical unmaintained forest trails: holes, roots, loose rocks everywhere, some of them golf-ball sized. On descents, it feels pretty sketchy with the 40s.

The problem is, I don’t have long stretches of continuous/unbroken nature. It’s more like short nature pockets in between civilization so, I still need to transverse a few roads (tarmac and cobbles). So I’m trying to find something that’s still reasonably fast rolling on road. I was hoping to find something up to 20 watts of rolling resistance. I think I saw somewhere that my tires are around 25 watts, so some improvement in this area would also be nice.

I started investigating tires on bicyclerollingresistance.com website and started looking at measured knob height (center and edge), trying to pick something with more bite than what I have now. But the more I read, the more I see people saying knob height alone doesn’t mean much and tread pattern matters more. At this point I’m not even sure what I should be looking for.

These are the ones I’ve selected for the moment:

• Schwalbe G-One R Pro 50
• Schwalbe G-One RX Pro 50
• Schwalbe G-One Overland Super Ground SpeedGrip 50

Alternatives slightly above 20 watts:

• Continental Race King Performance ShieldWall 50
• Pirelli Gravel M (tested in 45mm, but there’s a 50mm version too; hopefully they perform similarly)

Maybe other brands or models I should be considering that aren’t on BRR?

But honestly… I don’t really know what I’m doing. I started by filtering by wattage and knob height, but it seems the tread design or compounds are even more important.

So, in conclusion, what I’m after is:

• More confidence on rough, loose forest descents (I'm not doing jumps. Let's say, more like XC)
• 50mm volume
• Still decent on road sections
• Not feeling like I’m dragging an anchor on pavement

If anyone has experience with these in real, messy forest conditions (not nice smooth gravel), I’d appreciate some advice and recommendations. What should I actually be looking at when choosing?

Thanks in advance!

So I've been out of the loop on camping and, more generally, outdoorsy stuff beyond day hikes for a good couple of years now. In my absence, it seems like a large chunk of the manufacturers I used to rely on for flashlights and headlamps (Black Diamond, Petzl, Fenix, etc.) have switched over to lithium batteries, many to USB chargeable internal batteries.

That feels weird to me, coming from the era of "carry a couple of spare double and triple A's with you", since you only needed a few of one or the other to keep all your lights going, even on a longer trip. Given that everyone's doing it now, though, I'm assuming it works out fine.

Anyone have recs on what brands are good these days, what models, and how to buy to maximize the "keep all your lights going with the least backup energy sources" factor?

My G502s are starting to exhibit the dreaded double-click problem. Now they're old -- I think one is around 10yrs old, the other 6-7yrs old -- so I've gotten solid use out of both. And G502s are cheap enough these days (like US$35 on Amazon) that it'd be inexpensive to replace them with new G502s.

But I'm still annoyed that this is happening. Plus, this isn't my first time having problems with Logitech gaming peripherals. I've had issues with my G305 wireless mouse (dongle stopped working), and I will never buy Logitech gaming keyboards again since replacement keycaps can't be purchased; gotta buy a whole new keyboard. So yeah, trying to avoid Logitech if possible.

Anyway, I like the G502 because it has multiple buttons, particularly the main thumb button (G6), which I use for PTT on Discord/Teamspeak. I then use the other two thumb buttons (G4/G5) as forward/back in browsers or game bindings (along with G7/G8).

Any good alternatives? Let's say ≤US$80. Preference is wired, but non-BT wireless is fine, too. If wireless, ideally it'd AA/AAA batteries so I can quickly swap rechargeable batteries. Lastly, I'm right-handed.

TIA!

I have a light/fan combo in a bathroom that are controlled with a single switch. I want to control them separately, but running a new wire would require ripping out drywall, which I don't want to do. It is in a guest room, so it can't be controlled with an app, even though I know there are ways to give guest access to certain home automation systems.

The power runs up from the floor, through the switch, and then up to the fan, so I have power at both locations. The wiring for the fan is in the attic, so putting something up there is easy.

What I imagine exists is a remote double relay that can be controlled by 2 physical switches(preferably single gang, but I am prepared to open up the wall a bit to install a double gang box). I would prefer that the relay be powered by 120v, rather than a 12v device that needs a plug somewhere, but its not a total deal breaker.

Anyone have any ideas?

so I need computer speakers that

• are less than 6 inch high
• either the left or right speaker has controls that allow me to
  • increase or decrease the volume
  • have 3.5 mm headphone port [optional]
  • button to power on/off [optional]
• wired, either via 3.5 mm headphone jack or USB-C cable

I've tried looking for it but I am having a damn hard time trying to find something that fits all these.

Looking to get a tablet for my birthday but I'm so disconnected I don't know what specs to look for, where to get one or a decent price range to expect. I do need something on the cheaper side, but am ok with something good if refurbished. Only ever had a tablet once and it was a "free*" one from Verizon over a decade ago. I'm also open to other device suggestions.

Wants:

1. Not an iPad
2. To be able to use it with an attachable keyboard as a light laptop replacement for the couch.
3. To be able to use it to play mobile games similarly while on the couch.
4. To set up in the kitchen when cooking with recipes or a video.
5. To work for playing/running D&D or Pathfinder (Foundry VTT is the biggest memory user.

I am wanting to be able to disconnect from my phone and all the work apps and social media and such while still playing farmrpg on a lazy night watching a panel show on TV.

Or watch something on the tablet while knitting or something.

A family member of mine recently got a cheap smart watch online. They weren't planning to use it with a phone app for privacy/security reasons. They thought using it without a phone would be fine, since they just wanted it for the time and for the health features like steps, blood pressure, blood oxygen, sleep tracking, etc. and didn't need to see their texts or other notifications on the watch.

Unfortunately, when we tested the watch, we found that basically all of the features required connecting to a shady no-name company's app. You couldn't even set the time! You can't set the time on a watch without an app!

Also, the watch was a bit bulky for their wrist, and they would prefer a slimmer one.

People of Tildes, do you know of any smart watches that allow you to use the health tracking features without ever connecting to a smartphone? If so, are there any that are slimmer instead of being bulky?

Previously, I wondered what model car I should buy if I wanted to maintain my privacy. Thanks to everyone who chimed in, especially @kari, @qot, and @Narry. Although I astound myself to be typing this, I may just have found an option in a Cadillac Lyriq.

Earlier this year, the FTC banned GM from selling driver data to consumer reporting agencies and GM ended their egregious program. This and privacy laws in my state give me some small hope of avoiding the worst data collection practices. But, if I buy this car, I would want greater certainly that can only be had by physical intervention. Local audio/security aftermarket installers have nothing for me. Would anyone have a resource or ideas?

I've started to look into getting a 3D printer mainly for printing minis and terrain for TTRPGs. For the aficionado and print quality the best printer type seem to be resin based printers, but I don't think I'd be able to deal with the toxic fumes in a safe manner. As such I've settled on looking at filament based printers and I don't really need super high fidelity prints.

I need one that works well with Linux and preferably OSS. I am willing to pay for closed source software (or OSS) if it runs on well on Linux. So if you know of any software that is easy to get started with I'd be happy to hear about it. If you know of any models or makes that I should avoid I'd also appreciate a heads up!

Any other advice for someone just getting started with 3D printing?

Could you recommend a make of vehicle whose spy tech is easy to disable? This is the highest hurdle and single most important factor in my search for a car, so my other preferences and needs fall far second. I would like an electric vehicle or hybrid model with no less cargo room than a Prius, and not larger than a mid-sized station wagon, with a track record of low repairs. Correct me if I'm misinformed, but applying those criteria seems premature until I can identify something I can make private.

I have only ever bought used cars, and have lived the same story many times: I will construct elaborate spreadsheets, research models until I could host a video walk-through of trouble spots to watch for, then will shop and cavil until I make a purchase I'm proud of. Sure, it ends up 25% over my initial budget, but I pat myself on the back for a full 18 months afterwards. Nice work, careful consumer. But it's then the repairs begin, and soon I'm spending $3-4,000 a year maintaining my certified reliable used car.

So, I am searching for a newer used car or a new car whose telematics can be disabled. I have read through discussion boards, but weary quickly at the comments defending the cozy convenience of the corporate surveillance net or chiding people like me for even trying. I don't care. If lacking or disabling spy features means I can't use my car as a phone, that sounds like a win to me. I know a little about cars and have alright technical know-how. Most importantly, I am resolute. I will not drive a car that listens to me or transmits video of my travels. Has anyone had success here?

Scenario: I am frequently playing video games with my partner, and we have our PCs side-by-side. I am looking for a comfortable set of headphones or earbuds that will also make it easy to hear each other so we can talk while gaming.

Main priorities:

• Openness / Ability to hear physical surroundings
• Comfort for long wear duration (I wear glasses, which rules out most over-the-ear)
• Budget

Nice to haves:

• Audio quality decent enough for gaming (doesn't have to be 3D positional or anything)
• Audio quality acceptable for listening to music while playing some games (but nowhere near audiophile level, not expecting much bass from something light)
• Wireless (but not against a wired option - can be USB or 3.5mm since this will be used exclusively with my PC)

I've really only ruled out one thing: I'm not interested in bone induction headphones. I tried out a pair of JLab JBuds Frames that sit on your glasses, and while they aren't bone induction, the pressure against that area of my head, combined with nothing in my ears, would give me a headache after an hour or two. I suspect I'd have a similar issue with bone induction.

In a world that seems to prioritize noise cancelling, my search for other options has been inconclusive. There's a lot of negative reviews about comfort in options like the Cleer ARC series and Baseus clip-on styles. I found some of the suggestions in a previous thread on bone induction headphones to be interesting, but nothing seems to meet all of my criteria perfectly.

Not really sure where this fits in terms of topic.

My wife and I live in Minnesota, and we can get some gnarly snow and cold weather. This year she had repeatedly expressed desire for a high quality, durable boot for the winter.

I've seen various recommendations but honestly most of them feel astroturfed.

Does anyone here have a good suggestion on a boot that will last, be high quality, and keep her warm in the winters in deep snow?

I'm looking for a USB hub that:

• Has at least 4 usb ports
• The USB ports are all along the same edge of the device. (For easy access even when the hub is behind my monitor)
• Can be bus-powered (i.e. doesn't need to be plugged into an outlet)
• Has a detachable cable for the connection from the hub to my computer

It'd also be nice if it:

• Was USB 3.0
• Cost less than $50 USD
• Had a mix of USB-A and USB-C
• Didn't look ugly

I've spent a couple hours looking, and the only hub I've found that hits my hard requirements the 4 port and 7 port variants of a hub from StarTech.com . I was curious if anyone was aware of anything better in this price range, before I just pull the trigger.

Hoping this fits, because... well, it is about eating.

I swear my mouth is more sensitive to physically hot temperatures than other people's. I burn the roof of my mouth with pizza multiple times a year while others with me can eat it just fine, and I have burnt my tongue on metal spoons just as often. Just last week my mom asked if I was going to eat my soup because I'd been sitting at the table for 5-10 minutes, and I was waiting for it to cool down because the spoon had already burnt my tongue. I even use a disposable plastic spoon for eating ramen, but obviously that's not good for the long-term.

So we tried to look for silicone spoons to use for eating... except apparently they might not exist? I can find silicone cooking ware, baby spoons, and some really hideous spoons that have a weird shape I automatically loathe, but not a single regular-shaped spoon for eating. Cursory research suggests some other non-metal silverware sets exist made of materials besides silicone, but I have no idea where to begin.

So, can anyone recommend some spoons that aren't metal and made for dining?

I'm looking for a digital watch with a step counter that ideally resets every day. I've had a few smartwatches and my latest Garmin is nearing the end of its life. I've decided that time and step counting is really all I need out of a watch. Can anyone reccomend a watch like this?

I currently have a Netgear R6700 - Nighthawk AC1750 router that has reached end of service and am looking for a replacement.

When I set up the router, I had issues with some of my devices not connecting to either WiFi 6 or the 5 GHz band (I can’t remember which was the issue) so I had to set up a guest network for those devices to live on.

I would like, if possible, to have one network that everything in my house can connect to, but that’s a preference not a necessity. Are modern routers fully backwards compatible with older devices?

I’d also like something with a relatively long life ahead of it (though security is paramount and I’d rather have a secure router that I have to replace sooner over an insecure one that lives longer).

My house is just over 1000 square feet so coverage area doesn’t need to be huge. I do stream a lot of games to my laptop via Moonlight though, so being able to continue to do that without lag/hiccups is a necessity for me.

Let me know your recommendations and avoids, as well as any advice you have.

She currently has apple everything, but is open to getting something like a Garmin watch.

Rough requirements are:

• Batter life of at least a few days with normal use, ideally up to a week
• Physical activity tracking for swimming. She isn't a runner and doesn't need running-specific features.
• Heart rate / sleep tracking
• Receive and view emails / texts / notifications from her iphone

Some watches she is most interested in are:

• Enduro 3 even though she's not doing multiple day expeditions, she loves the idea of the battery lasting that long, but it is a bit heavy / bulky and has a lot of features that she won't use for the price
• Another apple watch, but even the upgrade is only a day and a half of battery
• Garmin forerunner, we were taking a look at this comparison chart and if she doesn't care about all the running features, would the cheapest version like https://www.garmin.com/en-US/p/1611937/pn/010-02863-33/ to just act as a budget apple watch with better battery as long as she still gets all the notifications and it works with her iphone?

Also taking suggestions from other brands, I'm just mostly familiar with Garmin and have an instinct solar 2 for 4 years that I really enjoy.

Hey all I own a pixel 8a if that's relevant and am looking for a controller that is Bluetooth and costs 50 dollars or less on Amazon. I'm not too picky as long as it can hold the phone and is of good quality. Thank you!

I have a Starlabs Labtop in great shape that I would like to sell. Problem is, I can't garner much interest on Craigslist/Facebook Marketplace. Are there any computer Buy/Sell sites in Canada such as Pinkbike.com for used bicycles?

I recently got my first vinyl (Breach by Twenty One Pilots) for my birthday. I've had it on streaming nonstop but want to play it properly and start a small collection.

I've seen a lot of recommendations for the Audio-Technica AT-LP60 as a beginner option (affordable and apparently decent quality) but also read that spending a little more can get something more "serious", though I need speakers too.

The thing is that it needs to be new gear only or easy to buy: My partner plans to gift the setup for Christmas and marketplace/used gear is hard to source locally where we live, so that's probably out. We have a budget of around €150 for the turntable and other €150 for the speakers, or €300 total. Open to a modest stretch if it avoids an early upgrade. Manual or semi-auto is fine but preferable plug-and-play.

Prefer compact powered speakers with good near field clarity, not necessarily loud since they'll sit behind my PC monitor on my desk.

Questions:

• If I'm considering the AT-LP60, what's the smartest "slightly more €" upgrade path for a first set-up?

• For small desks, which powered speakers pair well with entry-level turntables (good clarity but not boomy)?

• Anything to avoid or other advice you may have for a beginner?

Appreciate any guidance. I’m looking forward to spinning Breach and building out a few more records.

Ps: Already ordered anti-static inner sleeves, outer sleeves, and a carbon-fiber record brush to keep things clean!

I recently had a bad monitor failure after six or so years of normal use. Specifically, my LG 34GK950F-B had an electrical failure that, in a limited sense, caught a ribbon cable inside on fire. It is exactly the same failure as shown here, and I add a few images of documentation of my case here.

Anyhow, I am now in the market for a new ultrawide, and I need one as soon as yesterday since my desktop currently has no display - I have been tunneling into it to do anything. General recommendations would be nice - but a few things specifically:

• what is the burn in situation like on modern OLED monitors?
• I would prefer not to spend a massive amount, is that doable while still supporting the following use cases?
  • lots of coding, needs to render text nicely as the top job
  • photo editing, needs to have good color accuracy or be trivial to calibrate such that it does
  • occasional gaming, I don’t game on my desktop much these days, but I don’t want the monitor to feel clunky when I do

This post is a bit stream-of-conscience, so if any other questions or requirements come to mind I will edit it.

Edit: I guess as much as I don’t want to spend a ton, I will also end up using this display for at least another five years - I don’t mind spending a little more to account for that.

My current computer is finally old enough that we need something new. Something nice. Something that doesn't run modded Xcom 2 at sub 15fps. But the long gap in my knowledge has left me wondering in a state where I don't even know enough anymore to make educated decisions on a new PC build.

Here's what I do know:

• I want a microATX board
• I want a quiet and smaller case
• I want to keep my current Geforce 3060
• My Budget is roughly 1k, but flexible

Past that, my knowledge is now pretty much out of date. Is AMD currently better? Is Noctua still a good and quiet fan? How fast does ram really need to be? Are things pretty standard priced, or do I need to wait for Microcenter to have a sale?

Thanks for your help, appreciate you!