Gadgets That Refuse to Die

Didn't happen to me (but it has before). Instead I got a huge modal popup about something, which I didn't read, so I hit `back` immediately.

archive.[is,ph,li,fo,vn,md,today] is like a condom for crappy websites like that.

https://archive.ph/agh5m

uMatrix also blocked the link for me. I'm at the point now where I stop bypassing it for links like this, and just don't read the article. The information in the comments is almost always more interesting/useful anyway.

I’m assuming the HN rules ban linking to spam and malware, so why is this malware (or more specifically spyware) allowed when it literally redirects you through a malicious link forcing you to provide consent (which is in violation of the GDPR) and probably collect a bunch of data considering the URL is named “collectIdentifiers”?

For anyone replying with "you can just bypass it or block it", that isn't my point. We know how to do that but the majority out there will just accept the privacy invasion because they have no choice. My argument is that we should be blocking nasty behaviour to force sites to change if they want to keep HN's readership.

All properties owned by Verizon Media (formerly Oath) redirect through the domain "advertising.com" (which is one of the domains they own) for their GDPR consent popup (shared consent cookie set on one central origin across all properties owned by that company).

This is a really bizarre decision tbh as "advertising.com" is not a well-known brand and not something their users would implicitly recognise or trust.

For other users saying it doesn't happen to them, I'm fairly sure the redirect is region-targeted to Europe.

I'm in Europe but I don't get this redirect when using a VPN.

Outline link: https://outline.com/wrUYpZ

When i see guce, I simply dont visit the site. Voting with my wallet, if the site is so sleezy that it takes tactics like this on its users, it is not worth beeing its user.

So, I run uBlock Origin and Privacy Badger, and with this combo, I got no redirect.

They need to make an exact replica on all their controllers that are wireless. The ones available now are slightly smaller and not even made by Nintendo. The quality just isn't there.

>I'm not sure why they don't lean in harder and embrace the design as the standard Nintendo controller.

I hope not; I've used it and a Switch Pro Controller and I much prefer the pro controller.

quick question, do you use it since the GameCube era?

No other controller has come close to the GC triggers. Big swoopy buttons that cradle your finger and have both an analog measurement and a click at the end.

I forgot about how tactile and audible metal trigger braces are until you reminded me.

Those were so satisfying to actuate. The PS2s felt like trash by comparison (and we're easier to jam / break)

Much as I love the Gamecube controller, it's kinda crap for any fighting game that's not Smash Bros. The 6-button Street Fighter II layout from which all fighting games are descended simply does not lend itself well to the giant, single button in the middle of the controller.

I have an original NES, and an original NES controller that still work. Also, the zapper gun works, but I have not CRT to use it on.

Exactly this. It uses all the dark patterns similar to sites like techcrunch. Is the incentive so big to have these trackers enabled?

Using Ublock origin with additional filters enabled, didn't get any popups or redirects (all built in, all under privacy, easylist from adds, all from malware domains, all from annoyances, Dan Pollock’s hosts file and Peter Lowe’s Ad and tracking server list from multipurpose, Adblock Warning Removal List from custom)

additionally I have these custom rules to block YouTube suggestions so I can better focus, has the added advantage that the UI looks better, autoplay can be controlled from the player and playlist can be accessed in full screen mode (which is the only time I really need access to them).

    ##ytd-compact-video-renderer.ytd-watch-next-secondary-results-renderer.style-scope
    ##.ytd-watch-next-secondary-results-renderer.style-scope > paper-button.yt-next-continuation.style-scope
    www.youtube.com##ytd-compact-playlist-renderer.ytd-watch-next-secondary-results-renderer.style-scope
    ! Block the upnext video and the autoplay button
    www.youtube.com###secondary

All of Verizon's former yahoo/aol properties (techcrunch, engadget, tumblr) have become utterly unusable with no optout (or so deeply buried I haven't found it), I don't even bother following these links anymore.

I use nextdns.io and can't visit any of these sites due to them all redirecting via guce.advertising.com with a URI like: https://guce.advertising.com/collectIdentifiers?sessionId=3_...

Feels like cross-site intrusive tracking... probably is.

I could whitelist in nextdns.io but it's such a dark pattern that I use the block page as a nice warning that I really don't want to go to any of these sites.

Just use a Firefox container.

It’s a quick rundown of the community-supported afterlife of Pebble, Chumby, Nabaztag and the Little Printer.

Content blockers putting in the work on this clickbaiting headline.

It seems to be IP based, with my VPN set to a US server no redirects, but on European servers I always get redirects (also with no VPN, and I'm French)

I use a hosts file that blocks these sorts of domains so I can't even read the article.

If you have ublock origin you can right click and block these popups without accepting.

So, I run uBlock Origin and Privacy Badger, and with this combo, I got none of that popup stuff.

I always double check battery replacements before buying items for this reason. It is hard to predict what sizes will stick around, but I am also not against busting a device open and fitting a near-enough sized cell with the right output.

I lucked out with my Sony MDR-1RBT. I bought these things 7-8 or so years ago, the built in battery lasts a month with ~2 hours per week day use during my commute, and all I've had to do was that I recently replaced the ear cushions.

They were £400 when I got them from HMV at the time, that was tough money to spend as a student, but to this date are probably the best investment in technology I've made. I've used them for my commute almost daily for almost the entirety of those 7-8 years. I honestly don't believe I have any other gadget that's lasted that long with that much use.

That said, I got out my original Moto 360 watch yesterday to see if it could be of use for my running during lockdown. That thing was useless the day it launched, and even less useful now. Probably one of the worst gadgets I've bought.

The outgoing HHKB Pro2 might interest you if it's within your budget. It's hard to find now as it's been replaced by the HHKB Pro Classic with no USB hub.

If you're a fan of the Model M then you must know about Unicomp[1]

ergodox that usually put out a split ergonomic keyboard have recently released a cut down keyboard called the Planck that might interest you[2]. But to go from a gigantic beast of a keyboard to such a wee thing might be daunting.

The /r/mechanicalkeyboards dwellers might be able to help you out as well[3] as well as the mechanicalkeyboards website[4]

FWIW I happily used a Filco Majestouch for years before switching to an 'ergonomic' keyboard (ergodox). The Microsoft Ergo Sculpt is really good for me as well, I still use it on my secondary desktop.

1. https://www.pckeyboard.com/

2. https://ergodox-ez.com/pages/planck

3. https://www.reddit.com/r/MechanicalKeyboards/

4. https://mechanicalkeyboards.com/

> so hard to find a good mechanical keyboard that is not meant for gamers with those RGB lights

Try looking for a motherboard these days! It's all so ridiculous.

Buckling springs are my favorite but I also prefer tenkeyless. I'm currently using a Realforce 87. Topre switches aren't as stiff as buckling springs but have a more similar feel than other switches.

As for keyboards with lights, you can turn the lights off.

Linus Torvalds uses a Cooler Master keyboard. No rgb. No nonsense

I hate those, they mount them even on brand new buildings where even elevetors have screens and touchpanel buttons.

These things are the worst. There was a YC startup that was building hardware to hack into these and make them smart but it seems like they have pivoted to pure software: https://www.doorport.com/

Funny you mention thermal design. I thought it was BS at first, but last summer, our intercom system went down, which also included door control, so you had to go down several floors to let someone in who had no way (without out-of-band communication) to tell you they were there (postman anyone?).

It took them months to fix it (this is a new build block in London) and when they finally did, it was a simple reboot.

The engineer told me it had overheated in the summer sun. I mean, really? I found this hard to believe this piece of equipment designed to be outdoors, overheated in British sun.

I was furious, I could have rebooted the damn thing myself and saved us months of pain if I'd had access.

The analog outs on those Squeezeboxes are exquisitely clean.

Our Squeezebox is still going as well, but with most using iOS devices at home, we’re not able to control it anymore because the app was discontinued. Does anyone know of a solution for iPhones?

Yes! I was amazed when I took it out of a packing box a couple of years ago and it still works just fine. I think Spotify doesn't work any more, but we use it as a old fashioned internet radio in the kitchen. The sound quality is surprisingly good.

I was wearing mine until it fell apart and nothing on the market seems to be a decent replacement... everything else is really clunky and weird looking.

I agree. Give me a slimmer Fitbit with less functionality and basic controls and I'm sold. I loved my pebble time.

I won't get back into wearables until they start slimming down.

Ditto but for the Pebble 2. I bought a few backups that I can continue using for a few years until something similar is released (week long battery life, easy to read always-on display, hacker friendly, etc).

I have my eye on the PineTime, but it has quite a while to go before it's usable.

I had a Little Printer, and I believe the article is slightly over-romanticizing the device. It was slow, not only the printing itself but there would also be a considerable delay before it would start printing as everything had to go through the cloud.

The printing paper had very uncommon dimensions and was hard to find. You could buy them from Berg, but they charged a lot for the rolls. There would also be a lot of paper waste due to the "face" that needed to be printed after every job. Cute, but no practical use.

In the end, however, it did what it advertised, and it did so with remarkably few of the hiccups that were (and are still) common for the IoT devices of the time; it was a good "version 1" for an IoT device. It's unfortunate that they never got to make a second version.

After the project was shuttered I bought an Epson TM-T20II. It prints from the LAN, it prints extremely quick, and the standard paper dimensions that it uses are easy to find on Amazon. It doesn't print a cute face after every job, though, but you can buy a buzzer add-on to make it beep after every job if you want.

I agree on the Little Printer. I didn't get one, now I'm also on the lookout for something to fill that role.

Epson receipt printers have had network modules / adapters for 10+ years. Both wired and wireless.

IIRC you have to sign an NDA to get access to the documentation for the Epson ESC codes to do things like bold, inverted text, bigger fonts, print images, cut the paper, etc.

I used netcat to write bytes to a network printer 10+ years ago. It was pretty cool. You can also write to the serial port for serial printers, with the same bytes. It's very simple.

If you want an impact printer, you probably want to use the Epson TM-U220 series printers: https://epson.com/For-Work/Point-of-Sale/POS-Printers/TM-U22...

If you search around on Amazon, there are several other small printers that use Bluetooth to print onto thermal receipt paper. "thermal printer" as a search brings up these mixed with the photo dedicated color ones.

I got a Fuze in 2008 because they supported a WiFi connection to LAUNCHcast radio (acquired by Yahoo! at the time). (LAUNCH as probably the first streaming service with a recommendation engine.) I had spent years curating my personal LAUNCHcast station, so it was amazing to have access to it via Wifi. Then Yahoo! shut down LAUNCH because of fears of high royalty rates. The streaming services actually won the lawsuit and kept the low rates, but it was too late as Yahoo! had already pulled the plug on LAUNCH.

I got a Sansa Clip (something or other) around 2012. I barely tolerated it for a few years until I discovered Rockbox. Now, it's a joy to use! I would gladly use it every day if given the chance.

I hear new batteries get manufactured from time to time, and my parents have a Clip that they don't use if mine breaks.

Sansa Fuze + Rockbox are great and even better together! I even used to watch movies on mine on flights (before phones had giant screens and laptops had decent battery life) I still use mine for music since it's a convenient size and I don't have to worry about draining the battery on my phone. And unlike people trying to bring in mobile phones, I was also allowed to use it when I was selected for jury duty (while waiting for selection, of course!)

There is just something about a decades-old mechanical device that still works. I'm not sure any company made a smoother film-winding mechanism than Nikon, especially on the Nikkormat series.

And on the other side, you have the clunky soviet cameras, which one wonders how they worked in the first place, yet they still do.

Do you need more empty MiniDiscs? I just found a new, in-wrapper one the other day at the bottom of a box of electronics as I was searching for N64 games :)

Web MiniDisc has added new life to the format. It lets you manage the contents of a MiniDisc ..from a web browser, thanks to WASM. Add MP3s, FLACs etc.

https://stefano.brilli.me/webminidisc/

Ditto. I’ve an HP touchpad that i got in that famous firesale. It works like a charm even today and i like it as a minimal reading device. The UI was so ahead of its time

Still got my HP TouchPad, still works, mail app is quite superior. Screen is starting to go and casing is getting a little cracked in places but I just love the UI

It's a very nice Youtube viewer, with Android and NewPipe. I had hopes in the beginning we would see a free webOS for it, but sadly got disappointed there.

My HP Touchpad did not survive my last move, unfortunately. Can't tell if it had something pressed on it or if it was stored at an improper temperature, but the battery swelled to the point of pressing on the display (!), so the thing no longer turns on.

If it still worked, I'm probably still be using it as a comic book reader.

Seconded. I don't know what I'm going to do when my Pebble Time gives up the ghost. I'll probably buy a dumb, mechanical watch for a change. There's still nothing on the market remotely comparable with Pebble.

Yeah, I don't understand how there is still no simple smartwatch company without any fitness bs, with thin light >1 week always on screen. Years after Pebble did it. Does everyone but us really want and oled screen and heart rate monitor?

I'd don't understand where Casio is with cheap BT smartwatches that can just show texts/notifications.

Not quite the same, but I got a Withings Steel HR when my pebble died, and I love it! I charge it once a month, and it handles the most important notifications quite well. Far less hackable though.

If they had actually delivered the Time 2 I think the smartwatch space would have looked very different at this time. I miss Pebble.

Do you mind sharing what niche the Newton lives in?

The Apple eMate 300 (a Newton clamshell released in 1997, when I was 16. For some reason, though I lived in Italy, I became obsessed by the device.

Finally, when I turned 32 (16*2), I bought myself one off eBay and set one up as a SSH console with a WiFi card. I enjoy the experience immensely.

Years after the discontinuation, the Newton got drivers for WiFi and SATA from community members...

The gadgets listed in the article were meant to have a short shelf life. Though a few still survive, it was never intended.

On the other hand, my more generic gadgets simply never die. My projector, my Bluetooth speaker, my headphones... they all do exactly what I bought them for. There might come a time when that's not enough, but that will be decided on my own terms. It won't be because of a dead server or a useless battery life.

As you say, tools last a lot longer, because they were designed to fulfill a simple role without any bells and whistles.

This is why I don't like the trend of pairing long-lasting tools to short-lived tech. A car or a watch will last a really long time. USB-C and Android 9.0 won't.

Such a wonderfully simple device! I always wanted one of those. Do they still work/can they still access the internet?

Ah yes, “the terrorist’s watch”

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Casio_F-91W#Usage_in_terrorism

Almost any Casio to be fair. Although it’s an unfair comparison to cloud-tied devices in the article.

That said, wristwatches are generally very very long lived. I own a Citizen marinaut which is powered through a solar cell in the face of the watch. I've been wearing it pretty much every day for 15 years now and I never had to charge or service it. Only the occasional shortening of the metal wristband.

I find on cheaper watches like this the band eventually breaks, and you can't really find replacement bands which are much cheaper than a whole new watch.

I found a couple of old iPods in the bottom of a box in my closet a month or two ago. My kids were interested so I dug around until I found one of those 30-pin cables. Plugged it into my Mac; it worked fine. I transferred a bunch of songs they wanted and the kids have been listening to them since. For one of them, Apple even had a software update available for it.

Hmmm. I have an ancient dual Intel 3GHz Xeon Nocona (~2004 I think) with 5MB of RAM :) hanging around.

It's mostly used as a stand for other things (powered off, but has good case) left on top of it.

Although it runs, each of the two CPU's uses about 100w. And the whole thing running flat out is about as slow as an older model laptop.

There's no real use for this things computing power any more, except on the very rare occasion I need to spin up some OS and don't have other available computing gear handy.

So, the whole "all tools are useful" thing is only marginally true for very old computing stuff.

There's also the issue of websites and applications (hello Electron) wasting insane amounts of resources for things that were done just fine a decade ago with 1/10 of the processing power and memory.

My 12-inch MacBook (bought in 2017, but it's a low-power dual-core CPU) struggles on a lot of websites including YouTube - not for the video decoding but for the page rendering. I remember watching YouTube just fine a decade ago on a machine much less powerful.

> "Every single computer that was ever made is still out there, and a use could be found for them, somewhere in the world."

Not so fast. Some are broke. Some have leaky capacitors that have eaten through PCBs. Others are destroyed, accidentally or purposefully.

Yeah I remember when the chumby came out I was debating getting one but couldn't think of a use case for it (besides the ever-popular-at-the-time live twitter feed or something along those lines).

That brings me back! I loved boxee and was so sad when the company shutdown.

Been like that forever.

My first job was at an electronic hardware company started by the owner in his basement in the late 70's. I wasn't there at the time, but I heard he had about 15 people working in the basement until they finally moved to a rented storefront.

He wasn't billions of $$$ successful, but he sold the company for about a million or so in 1989. Last I heard from him, he was living on a Caribbean island.

You could read the Hardware Hacker by Bunnie Huang and learn about its history. That might spur more ideas.

my ATH50 also refuses to die. After more than 10 years of usage, they look like they've been in a war but the sound and the quality are the same.

My mom loves her TiVo but basically has to spend hours on the phone every year and especially gets a new box. Years ago she paid a pretty significant amount of money for lifetime service and they try every year to force her off it and pay for a subscription.

Tape drives are still heavily used in the data center as well, as you can backup TBs of data on a single tape.

There’s a lot of places with extremely high data storage requirements that use tapes; they’re fairly dense and fail much better than spinning hard drives (as in, you can just splice out bad tape rather than toss the whole disk).

On my first ship in the Navy, we had a Windows 3.1 beige-box desktop PC (well, there were 3 of them, 2 for backups) that ran a tape drive emulator that connected to wiring in a bank of disconnected tape drives/computers (took a whole wall, these were the reel-to-reel kind) that ran some old targeting radar. The weapons that used that radar were gone, but they kept the radar running for auxiliary purposes. I'm surprised they wouldn't use something like that at NASA. We only left the drives installed due to weight distribution for the ship, but NASA could just replace a whole room of them with a Raspberry Pi, probably.

Can anybody recommend a good tape drive for SOHO use?

I should have said "NASA has the specific tapes, dusty decks &C in archive which demand it keep a lot of otherwise dead technology working so it can read specific tapes"

That is literally not true.