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Any small tech purchases that made a larger than expected impact in your life?

E

Exterous

Super Moderator
Small as in like $25-50

Its not a huge impact overall but the wireless cell phone chargers are awesome. I almost always go to bed after my wife (again no pictures) which usually has resulted in fumbling around for the charger cable in the dark and plugging it in. Now I can just set my phone on the pad. Soooo much better.
 
I bought 2 echo dots when they were ridiculously cheap, like $20 each and put one in my home theater and one in my bedroom.

Yes, I know - now Amazon can spy on my entire house but I don't do anything illegal so I don't care. It's really convenient when I'm falling asleep on the couch in my home theater late at night to just say "Alexa set alarm" and close my eyes and not worry. I do the same thing in my bedroom. No need to fiddle with my phone alarm anymore.

And it's kind of convenient to ask what the weather is going to be while I'm getting dressed. Or to set a timer when I put something in the oven in case I don't hear the oven timer go off while I'm watching TV. Or a bunch of other things.

It seems like I add something to my Alexa repertoire every week.

PS - I almost forgot one of the most convenient things: since I have a Nest I can set the temperature by voice now. That's a really nice feature. If it gets too warm I just say "Alexa temperature lower 77" or whatever.
 
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Arduino Uno, Raspberry PI, and Beaglebone Black. I got to spend a lot of quality time with my kid while at the same time letting my kid explore creativity.
 
Wireless charger is definitely nice. I still sometimes have to set it down a few times for it to hit the "sweet spot" but maybe it's the charger model I have. It's nice regardless, though.

I guess it's a tech purchase... vape devices. Allowed me to quit smoking after 10 years. Now I'm sure I could've done it had those never existed, but I bet I had an easier time using those than if I would've done it without. Now they just need to work on their shitty e-juices and make some that actually tastes like something instead of having some vague weak ass taste.

And I think flashlights count, right? Flashlight technology has come a loooong way over the past couple decades (even in 5-7 years) and the tiny little light I carry in my pocket everyday is magnitudes more powerful than the old Maglights and big battery lights. I wouldn't carry one, at least in my pocket and all day everyday, if I couldn't get something like that. This sexy beast right here:
smini_cu_raw_copper_6_.jpg
 
dasherHampton said:
Yes, I know - now Amazon can spy on my entire house but I don't do anything illegal so I don't care. ...
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Nothing illegal... that you're aware of... 🙂

That said, some USB bluetooth adapters have come in VERY useful. Also my combo wireless / wired mouse I use at work... easy to disconnect & go or leave plugged in while at my desk.

Probably the number one I've bought in the last few years that was well worth the investment was a sound machine for sleep. Best <$50 investment if you haven't tried it. Although I'm not sure you'd count it as tech 🙂
 
Cepak said:
Arduino Uno, Raspberry PI, and Beaglebone Black. I got to spend a lot of quality time with my kid while at the same time letting my kid explore creativity.
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I'd say the same for me, specifically Arduino. It kinda got me interested in learning more about electronics. I never even knew the concept of a micro controller before I learned of Arduino. It kind of got me interested and to do lot of reading up and watching videos etc. I'm FAR from an expert but I find the Arduino basically gave me a kick start at starting a new hobby of messing with electronics. I have not done much yet but I did build a solar power pack which is essentially just premade parts cobbled together and an Atmel microcontroller (using Arduino code) to display voltage and such on the LCD. I want to eventually go deeper and maybe learn STM32 or something like that.

Raspberry PIs are nice too, I have several but I tend to use them more as computers, than anything else. I use one as a HTPC for example. I still need to mess around with the IO pin stuff some day as you can do lot of cool stuff with them too, and it's nice to be in a Linux environment as the possibilities are endless.
 
the raspberry pi changed my life 5 years ago! first i didnt care and thought it was for geeks or kids.

- then i saw it can be a cheap Sonos alternative and started learning. now music can be played in any room or sync them all for house parties.
- Kodi was next because i wanted something that can play any video formats from usb or NAS.
- smart mirror is cool. before walking out of the house, i know temperature, calendar and upcoming holidays.
- zwave hub. the rpi is the center of my smart house.
- digital signage. as TVs get cheaper and cheaper, more store owners are replacing static paper menus with something more refreshing and dynamic. my side job is to design menus and let the rpi play nonstop 24/7/365.
 
By far the most impact and useful small tech item I have bought is the portable car jumper battery pack. It saved my ass once already when my car battery died on me. On top of that, I also use it to charge my phone and laptop when an outlet is not available. Hands down, the best $50 I have ever spent.
 
Thebobo said:
Oh yea you are correct I should of said that one. I have the same model and a pair of Bose BS speakers. Awesome little amp.
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I dunno, I had that amp for a while, but all the little speaker clips on the back to hold the wire broke and I couldn't fix it. I replaced it with a slightly more expensive one that could use banana clips.
 
Probably the 3 port powered USB hub that I have in my office. It really cuts down on the number of cables I need to plug in every day.

Also, I wouldn't call it a purchase, but the experience that I got with Google Cloud's $300 1 year hosting trial was super helpful in beefing up my DevOps skills. I'll lump that in since it's technology/hardware related.
 
Riverhound777 said:
I dunno, I had that amp for a while, but all the little speaker clips on the back to hold the wire broke and I couldn't fix it. I replaced it with a slightly more expensive one that could use banana clips.
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Have had mine for 8 years never had a problem but I rarely fiddle with the speaker wires. Still have your old one? 4 Sale 😛
 
The inexpensive electronics that I use daily:

1) USB drive. I relied on these so much through school and now work. Sneakernet is still the fastest and most reliable way to share large files. But I really use them for having all of my audio in any modern vehicle and all of my movies/TV shows on any modern device. All with no subscription fees and no need for internet connection and certainly no need for expensive fast internet.

2) Mouse and keyboard. Biggest impact/$ on my life. Any non-clicky keyboard and any mouse with a scroll wheel and back button works for me.
 
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