For me, it’s an electric toothbrush. It doesn’t matter if you go with Sonicare or Oral-B, once you start using an electric toothbrush, regular toothbrushes don’t ever feel like they clean your teeth properly. The smooth plaque-free top layer of your teeth that you can feel after using an electric toothbrush can’t be replicated with a regular toothbrush.
Instant read digital thermometer.
Game changing.
No more over-cooked meats and ending up with tough chicken and rubbery fish. No guesswork if something has reached safe internal temperature. A must have in the kitchen.
Cordless drill. I was a die hard corded guy but then I tried a friend’s one during a big move. Went out and bought one the next day.
To be fair, the early ones were pretty crappy compared to what they have now.
At the start, you really couldn’t use it for real work. The convenience came at a huge cost.
These days all but the most extreme tasks can be done with cordless.
I also recommend a cordless impact driver. The amount of torque you can generate with a drill is limited by your ability to hold the drill. The amount of torque you can generate with an impact driver is magnitudes more. Great for driving screws, tightening nuts, I’ve even used it for drilling through wood with a spade bit.
I really don’t like the proprietary batteries each company use for their cordless tools though. I don’t want to be locked into 1 company and I don’t want to buy 8 different batteries.
I wanted to punch someone when i realized my Bosch drill and Bosch electric saw use different batteries. They’re identical in size, but the plug part on one is a mirror image of the other and so not interchangeable
While I agree that vendor lock in sucks, getting a universal standard open source tool battery is not likely to happen. I decided to go with the Milwaukee M18. They have a huge variety of tools available, and they all use the same interchangeable battery. I have a drill, an impact driver, a circular saw, and hedge trimmers.
I also agree, but to take it further, I decided I’d had enough of cables on my circular saw. Got a small, lightweight one, and omg, it’s SO good.
I agree with this. I have a friend who is a pediatric dentist and she said to get a sonic toothbrush and use it the rest of my life. It immediately made a difference and I credit it and regular thorough non-alcohol mouthwash rinsing with keeping dental infections at bay, which I was prone to beforehand.
A smartwatch or band. You’ll never have to hear notification or ring tones on your phone anymore. In addition, sleep, heart rate monitoring, sports tracking etc. are a big bonus. Cheapest bands are very affordable and obviously there’s no upper limit if you’re a wealthy pig.
Even though I love my old square G-Shock, the pros of wearing my Garmin Vivoactive over it just outweigh the cons.
My Garmin goes with me everywhere. I would recommend a Garmin to everyone. As someone with ADHD who forgets to charge their electronics, having a watch that only needs to be charged once in 8-10 days is absolutely amazing.
Wake up light. If you live in places where is dark most of the time this is quite handy to initiate a sunrise…
I have one from Phillips, but it lacks more music tracks.
a magic wand vibrator. truly next level stuff
Oh I am sure it gets you on the next level!
Portable Bluetooth label maker. Not a necessity, but you can use it outside of typical application for lots of fun things!
Somebody park like an asshole? Leave a fun message for them!
Got something you want to personalize? Custom stickers of whatever you want!
Wanna leave memes around in public for people to find? You already have templates saved!
Want to advertise yourself or someone/something else? Boom, instant QR codes.
I’ve been having fun with the mini I originally got for work, about to buy one that prints larger labels.
Any particular model you can recommend?
I started with a Nelko one for $20-ish, but they have a free/paid system where you don’t get all the stickers/fonts unless you pay a yearly fee. Next one I’m looking at is this one that specifically advertises no mtx.
Ultimately the main thing you want is a laser printer with thermal paper. Won’t print in color, but it’s much less hassle without ink carts and the only thing you’ll need to replace is sticker rolls.
Dont quote me on this but I remember reading that thermal paper is carcinogenic. So maybe look into that before you get some.
Only if you actually burn it. Like with a fire.
Thanks for sharing. That is pretty neat!
Electric kettle. Fast at boiling water, especially if your stove heats slowly. Great for things like tea or instant noodles/lunches.
This is quite a strange comment to see as there isn’t a single house in the UK that doesn’t have an electric kettle in it.
Are we both thinking the same kind of kettle or is it British/American English different? What I’m talking about is a pitcher with an electric heating unit in the bottom?
I can confirm, pretty much every UK household has one of those, they’re just one of those things you have in the kitchen.
Yeah that’s the one. Literally every household.
I think they would be more popular in the US if they worked as quickly here. I have one, but it takes about 4 minutes to heat 2 cups to boiling. It’s still worth it to me, but it’s not much faster than the stovetop for us. There’s something about the electric service in the UK that allows electric kettles to heat much faster there.
240V vs 120V. For an equivalent amount of current, 240V supplies twice the amount of power to the heating element.
Is no one going to post the Technology Connections video???
Okay, then
Also https://youtu.be/RpoXFk-ixZc
And maybe channeling electro boom: https://youtu.be/INZybkX8tLI
Not a fan of microplastics or extra unnecessary gadgetry…
Seems like silly waste to be the next lemming without any substantial difference to the age old system of boiling water, same with rice cookers.
Unless I don’t hav a stovetop they’re basically not needed, a waste of money and another point of plastic contamination.
They heat efficiently rather than transfer through the stove and the pot, etc. And so fast.
They come in glass or metal aswell, rice cookers always have an aluminium basket, the lid might be plastic and rubber but those parts are usually not mechanically strained. The microplastic argument seems weird here
I don’t see how that it’s weird but to each their own. Every plastic and/or polymer based product sheds/leeches microplastics, especially heated or constant usage.
Aluminum is hardly better and health wise causes other harms and contaminants in the body.
Glass, stainless, cast iron is gtg…plastic and aluminum not so much.
Not arguing, but I don’t think I’ve ever even seen a plastic one. Mine has a plastic lid, but the inside is still sheet metal. I can’t even imagine one with plastic parts that aren’t just cosmetic. Plus they’ve got to adhere to some kind of safety regulations lest they be penalized by some federal agency. 🤔
Most (though not all) in the UK since at least the 90s are plastic except for the heating element and electronics, microplastic concerns aside they’re considered more efficient since it’s a better insulator. Regardless of material every home has one I can tell you that.
Whats wrong with aluminium, like 80 of the earth’s surface is basically some aluminium oxid
Iirc there was something about aluminium in deodorant sprays a while ago that turned out to be not that bad, but what’s wrong with solid sheets of the stuff?
i was always totally with you on the rice cooker, then i got a tiny one from aldi for my partner who doesnt cook much. now i use it all the time. haha
Over here, you’ll find a pot of water on the stove more common. Our regular outlets are 120v, but our stoves are typically 240v. A water kettle here would be about half as fast as our stoves (generally speaking). Over there, yeah, with 240 being the standard, a kettle makes a lot of sense.
At least here in Finland a decent amout of stoves are 400v. Still, even at 120 a kettle is faster than an electroc stove. An induction stove is a different story
400 is crazy for residential service! That actually sounds awesome.
Australia also. It’s like owning knives and forks. It’s a basic necessity
I think this must be an American thing, because I have actually never known anyone who doesn’t own an electric kettle. It’s just so much more efficient!
I disagree on the toothbrush. The problem is all the e waste. Everything else being equal I would love it and my wife won’t give it up but basically the manufacturers change and you can’t get heads that will work and you end up having to buy a new brush every few years which is almost worse with rechargeables.
But you could just go with Phillips? They have been using the same heads for a long time I believe. I buy mine from Costco in bulk.
Im not sure who I started with but initially there was no rechargeables and then like the first rechargeable I got had to be replaced because we could not get heads. I gave up at that point. I just don’t trust them to keep the things going. A few years is not enough for me its gotta last minimum a decade and preferably a few.
You should take a look at Suri. I had the same annoyance and objection fo oral b and philips and their lazy lack of any form of effort to improve or innovate or be environmentally responsible. Been very happy with a suri for a couple years now, I send heads back for recycling and the battery lasts months at a time. https://www.trysuri.com/
I have been using Quip toothbrushes for quite a few years now and they seem to be going pretty strong. Every quarter they send me a new brush head and battery and your toothbrush is covered under wareanty as long as you have you subscription. I have rwally liked it and there doesn’t seem to be much risk of their support ending.
it disturbs me they send you a new batter every quarter. Do you send back the old batter? If so do they say what they do with it?
Wife and I have had our Sonicare toothbrushes for something like 15 years and never had trouble finding replacement heads. In the event Phillips stops making them I’m certain 3rd parties will still make them.
20 computers. I can’t stop getting more computers I need help there’s so many computers they’re in every room and they’re computing aaaaaaaa
I had this same disorder. I cured it temporarily by giving them away to everyone I know. Christmas, birthdays, Thanksgiving, everyone’s getting a computer, doesn’t matter if you already have one.
They’re starting to pile up again though and now I don’t know what to do because all my friends and family won’t talk to me because I keep giving them computers.
You certainly won’t regret buying 20 computers.
I mean, they’re not 40 cakes or anything!
Oh I have this problem too hahah
Wait, when did I leave this comment?
Someone I know (who isn’t close to me geographically) said their laptop just broke and now they only have their phone… I wish I could get to them. I have like six computers waiting to be used for stuff, the rest of them I’m playing with/learning with!
Water pick - if I keep it in stride wit OP’s post.
carbiners and keyrings. they are hella useful although while you don’t need to get climbing grade you don’t want the cheapest level of consumer crap. The spot bot is great if its still the same setup. basically it just automatically rotates a scrubbrush with soapy water and sucks it back up. It basically cleans a spot like you got on your hands and knees with a bucket and scrubbrush to clean it. Very small area but thoroughly cleaned. crappy unbrella hats. its nice to keep the rain off while being able to use both hands. folding kitchen step stool. the larger kind with two levels, a magna cart, thumb drives, steamdeck, man likely lots of other things.
Jar opener
If you like pickles
Air fryer
For frying meat without using oil
Slowcooker / Multicooker with a basket.
Throw rice & pulses in it, throw water in it, throw vegetables and fish in the basket.
Turn it on. Do something else. Ding! Meal.
You don’t even have to be on time. This thing will keep it warm.
I’m extremely lazy.If you’re in car land, a good solid jump pack.
I recommend Napa .
Mine is also a portable compressor, a flashlight, and it’ll charge your phone. And it’s way more powerful than jumping off of a small car battery using cables.
Those are great !!
I had a combo unit that was all of that, AND a car jack!! It was VERY slow and there’s no way I’d go near a car using it as a Jack, but as an absolute emergency it was useful
