• reddig33@lemmy.world
    161·
    3 days ago

    “Lock laces” elastic shoestrings. Gives me a nice fit and I can slip my shoes on and off more easily.

    • FinishingDutch@lemmy.world
      3·
      2 days ago

      I will definitely second that recommendation. They turn basically every shoe into a slipper.

      I was skeptical when I read about them, but gave them a go. Reason being: my feet swell during the day, which means I was constantly loosening my laces throughout the day. Which isn’t ideal.

      The Lock Laces help in that they’re always perfect: they flex with my feet and always have just the right tension.

      They are popular with a wide range of people. Triathletes like them for fast transitions since you don’t need to retie your shoes. Marathon runners also love them since it means no more laces getting undone. And yes, they’re obviously great for old folks and people with disabilities.

      I like them so much, I now put them on every new pair of shoes that I buy.

  • Underwaterbob@lemm.eeEnglish
    40·
    4 days ago

    I bought a nice pair of fingernail clippers. ~$15 Green Bell from Japan. You hardly have to apply any force to the lever at all, and the nail just slices off neatly and falls inside. Not like my old cheapo pair that went “KACHONK” and endangered anyone in my vicinity of shrapnel injuries.

    • whelk@lemm.ee
      4·
      3 days ago

      I don’t know man, the kachonk is a valuable part of the experience for me, great tactile feedback

      • Underwaterbob@lemm.eeEnglish
        2·
        2 days ago

        I guess I can see the appeal of that. But it’s pretty fun feeling like a nail salon samurai, too.

    • Piemanding@sh.itjust.works
      7·
      4 days ago

      I have one of those Japanese nail clippers. I’m wondering how they make it cut so softly. Like even if it didn’t eat the nails they wouldn’t launch. Best clippers ever, even if it’s harder to get the edges.

      • Ledivin@lemmy.world
        3·
        3 days ago

        I’m betting that it almost all comes down to sharpness and using better metal (harder, keeping it sharp)

  • LainTrain@lemmy.dbzer0.com
    1292·
    4 days ago

    Mantric Rechargeable Remote Control Knicker Vibrator I got on sale for 50% off. I’m not super into the whole public thing, but I’ve been using it way more than my magic wand, that fucking tip is shaped perfectly. Plus it would make an excellent phaser prop.

  • Whats_your_reasoning@lemmy.world
    3·
    2 days ago

    I like to do photography and timelapse videos, so my favorite gadget is a collapsible tripod I can use with my phone. It doubles as a selfie stick and includes a carrying bag and an optional bluetooth remote.

  • ColeSloth@discuss.tchncs.de
    591·
    4 days ago

    I keep an extremely small 64GB USB-A/USB-C flash drive on my Keychain so I can move files between phones, phone to computer, or load movies and TV shows from a computer or phone and plug into a TV to play.

    It’s only $10 and sometimes it’s very convenient to always have on hand the ability to move files around without the use of a network or the cloud or whatever. The size of it is extremely small.

    Verbatim 64GB Store ‘n’ Go Dual OTG USB 3.2 Gen 1 Flash Drive for USB-C Devices – 2 in 1 Type C Thumb Drive https://a.co/d/40uW3fE

    • Valmond@lemmy.world
      8·
      4 days ago

      So simple to siphon off stuff from the phone like photos to back up! And load it full with films.

      It’s crazy how everything is so locked in.

      • ColeSloth@discuss.tchncs.de
        6·
        4 days ago

        Why I’m holding onto my note 20 ultra for the foreseeable future as well. Last samsung flagship with an SD card slot. It holds all my pictures, videos, and TV shows and movies on that little card.

      • A1kmm@lemmy.amxl.comEnglish
        3·
        2 days ago

        Tip for increasing the life of your next battery:

        Li-Po batteries degrade far faster when their charge level is at the levels the manufacturers call 0-15% or 85-100%; the exact minimum and maximum charge levels are a manufacturer decision that trades off total battery capacity when new against battery life. Manufacturers make the decision by thinking about what is most profitable for them, which is the biggest possible advertised (brand new) battery capacity, while dying quite fast (within a couple of years) to sell more, but not so fast consumers can claim it is faulty.

        So they will happily make the battery last 1/5th of the life it otherwise would, for +30% brand new battery capacity, even if that 30% will be gone in a year of typical use.

        Those decisions are aligned to the manufacturer’s interests, but they are seldom aligned to a consumer’s interest. Most consumers would be better off with 30% less battery capacity, but a phone battery that lasts 5x as long - many people for example charge every day, and only get down to 80% or something anyway.

        The way to re-align to your interests are to: stop charging above 85%, and shut down at 15% instead of going down to 0%. You can do this manually, but it is a real pain; you can’t just plug it in, and leave it until it is charged, you’d need to micromanage charging. Some more responsible manufacturers (e.g. some Samsung devices) have features that will do this for you if you set preserve battery mode. Others, including Google, however, really don’t want you to do this, because it hurts their sales. They don’t provide standard APIs available to unrooted devices that would allow apps that do this.

        If you are willing to root your device (and ideally install a third party Android distro like LineageOS), you can install ACCA (https://f-droid.org/packages/mattecarra.accapp/) on a rooted device, and set it to stop charging at 85%, and shut down at 15%. This will increase your battery life very significantly, and drastically slow the decline in capacity you’d otherwise see. Unfortunately, many manufacturers hate people taking control of their own devices this way; Google has unfortunately convinced major banks etc… to use their so called “Play Integrity API” to check that your device is “secure” (where secure is defined by Google as including a phone no longer receiving security patches, with known vulnerabilities that let someone trivially install a keylogger over the wifi, but excluding the same phone rooted by the owner, with a highly secure up-to-date LineageOS install, with extra security software like firewalls that stock Android wouldn’t allow, and with ACCA installed; it’s almost like “secure” means toeing the Google line, and the banks have been conned). There are sometimes ways to pass the Play Integrity API checks even when rooted, but Google is constantly battling users to try to break them. But it might be worth it for better security and battery life.

      • tamiya_tt02@lemmy.worldEnglish
        2·
        2 days ago

        I have a Pixel 7 Pro and the battery sucks now. I want to wait another year because Verizon contracts are 36 months now. I hope my failing battery lasts that long.

        • InverseParallax@lemmy.worldEnglish
          2·
          2 days ago

          Have the fold.

          Stupid expensive phone that lost half its battery life in less than a year.

          It’s not rocket surgery, just have an option to limit charging to 85% like Samsung does.

          I guess simple math is too hard for Google.

      • ColeSloth@discuss.tchncs.de
        4·
        4 days ago

        Not a pixel, but I literally just replaced my note 20 ultra battery like 2 hours ago. I have all the equipment and knowhow to rip phones apart that don’t want to let you. I believe most of the pixels aren’t too bad to get into and battery replace if you ever get a wild hair in you to give it a shot. Just fyi, go with an oem battery. Pretty much all aftermarket ones are terrible. Also be careful of the loads of counterfeits and used sold as new batts on eBay.

          • ColeSloth@discuss.tchncs.de
            4·
            4 days ago

            No, but it’s a great source to get stuff if they can get the parts, and all their tools should work well. If their batteries aren’t OEM ones, they won’t try to pass them off as such.

            I’ve been fixing cell phones since the 90’s, along with a lot of other electronics, so most of my equipment has been a hodge-podge of sources I’ve collected over the past 25 or so years.

            In the case of the battery I just got for my N20 Ultra, there is no source I could come up with that sold in the US and also seemed verifiable or completely trustworthy so I had to take a risk and order through a supplier off ebay. The pictures looked legit and like what I know the oem’s look like, and they had the correct looking adhesive and protective coverings on the batt, plus I messaged the seller back and fourth a couple of times and they stayed on their claim they had new oem batts, even after I’d mentioned I would capacity test the battery and leave them a review.

            Now, I still won’t know for sure for a few more days. I’ll drain the batt to phone shut off and then charge to 100% plus 2 more hours a couple times, and then drain to shut off and charge it to 100% + 2 hours one more time while leaving the phone off and using my in line voltage/mah tester. Knock off batteries never get very close to an oem batts capacity.

  • roofuskit@lemmy.world
    32·
    4 days ago

    A pi zero w. Need a wireless Android Auto adapter? Flash the right image. Need a Klipper controller for a 3D printer, flash the right image. Need to add a wireless thumb drive to any device that you can drop files to over the network? Flash the right image and run a few commands. They are very cheap and insanely versatile. I originally got a handful for $5 each and am still finding uses for them.

    • Dagamant@lemmy.world
      11·
      4 days ago

      My dad had a bunch of these when I was a kid. Super durable and great as back scratchers or just a stick to play with. I bought a few after finding them online and love having them.

      • trailee@sh.itjust.works
        5·
        4 days ago

        I got some that were nicely finished bamboo but they didn’t have enough of a sharp edge at the business end to really give a good scratch like the ones from my youth. Fortunately that was easily rectified with a couple seconds on a belt sander.

    • Kaliax@lemmy.world
      4·
      4 days ago

      I’ve 3D printed A LOT of similarly shaped scratchers and give them away randomly to people - they are wonderful to have. I even have some in my car and at my office lol. I slapped my name on them in the Slicer software so people remember where they got it!

    • tipicaldik@lemmy.world
      5·
      4 days ago

      Ha! I have one of these sitting next to me on my desk. It’s multi-function, as it works great for reaching up and opening and closing my curtains too.

    • Zorsith@lemmy.blahaj.zoneEnglish
      81·
      4 days ago

      Check your state/local laws before buying anything, not legal to own lockpicks everywhere.

    • /home/pineapplelover@lemm.ee
      2·
      4 days ago

      I’ve tried this one but really prefer Sparrows more. After a day or two with picking with that clear lock, it becomes pretty loose. Also, doesn’t feel like a lock at all. Sparrows cutaway locks still allow you to see the pins but it also feels like a real metal lock.

    • Psaldorn@lemmy.world
      51·
      4 days ago

      I wish there was a place for people to send random locks they break off or find to newbies like me. Buying a lock just to pick it feels insane, but I also want to feel that delicious click out of 1

      • jballs@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
        8·
        4 days ago

        Get a practice lock that you can re-pin. They’re cool so you can see what it’s like to have spools or serrated pins. I messed with one for a while and then was like “I wonder how much harder it would be to pick my front door lock instead of this cheap practice lock?” Turns out, the front door lock is ridiculously easy compared to a practice lock.

        • Ledivin@lemmy.world
          3·
          3 days ago

          Turns out, the front door lock is ridiculously easy compared to a practice lock.

          Yeeeaaaah… I’ve spent like literally 3 minutes learning to pick, and that’s all you need to just scrape SO MANY front door locks. So many locks are just so bad

      • Itsamelemmy@lemmy.zipEnglish
        4·
        4 days ago

        You can check local locksmiths. Some might be willing to sell cheap junk locks that are still good for picking. Or buy a core that can be repinned.

        • Psaldorn@lemmy.world
          3·
          4 days ago

          I was outside a tiny locksmith store the other day and considered it! Social anxiety won the battle that day though. I’ll try!

    • feedum_sneedson@lemmy.world
      1·
      4 days ago

      I really want to, and every time I look into it I feel like I’m in for a £200+ initial investment that I’m not really up to at the moment.

      • thrawn@lemmy.world
        4·
        2 days ago

        Getting started is closer to a tenth of that— the starter kit linked is $10 pre shipping from a brand that is generally considered overpriced in locksport. Buying locks is the expensive part but you probably have a couple of padlocks to start with. And for those £20, you can get the knowledge and basic skills to open the vast majority of locks.

        I’d personally recommend JimyLong’s starter kit if you can catch it in stock but hook and turner will work. Then don’t buy anything else until you know exactly what lock you want a thinner hook or different pick for; that set would open about any lock you can find in store. Spending £200+ to start out is more lockpick consumerism than an actual on ramp since you’d likely be bogged down by too many tools.

        • feedum_sneedson@lemmy.world
          2·
          2 days ago

          Thank you, that’s very helpful advice. I’m based in the UK so will need to find a different supplier, but it’s good to know I can start out with a couple of tools instead of a giant roll of things.

  • Dran@lemmy.world
    36·
    4 days ago

    DYMO Embossing Label Maker

    They’re like $9 on Amazon and I label everything. I have 2 myself, and they’re also my go-to for white-elephant parties.