My first Unix was AIX.
My first Linux was Slackware, 29 1.4MB floppy disks.
Now i can FTP to my Android watch with 4GB of storage and copy MP3 to it to play with my new Soundcore Spirit headphones delivered today.
2018 ends - what did you buy - 2019 - what do you want?
Bored. Just ordered these
They use bone conduction so you can hear things without something inside your ear, I am hoping they’ll do for bike riding. I currently bike with the Slim+ around my neck and then put right plug in my ear if my smartwatch shows someone ringing worth answering. Possibly these will make me not need the wired buds.
I don’t have these yet but here’s a review:
I also stumbled on Bose making their own but these do not use bone conduction they use very near directed speakers into the ear.
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Please let me know how you like them, my wife wants a pair but doesn’t know anyone who use them so she’s iffy in some of the reviews
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Will do. I don’t intend to use for music, I tend to not listen to music, but for voice when I need my ears clear, of which cycling in my case but I can imagine useful for say driving or in airports to hear announcements.
For voice frequencies the review indicate they’re ok.
The Bose items are free return you can get now but I’m already skeptical of them, they look huge and directed sound … Bose review here:
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Only major purchase I’ve made this year, off the top of my head, is my Lenovo Chromebook. I used it a lot when I got it but not now. I don’t have much use for it at work.
2019: Only looking to get a good smart watch if I need to replace the Fitbit Versa I’m getting soon and possibly new PC parts, specifically RAM, MOBO, and CPU.
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I didn’t make any major purchases this year aside from car parts that were needed. Of course I did all the work so I saved a bit. I do need new parts for my desktop computer, maybe in 2019 I will buy them
2018
I didn’t make many purchases at all this year.
I had a couple nice wins on here tho, for stuff I couldn’t afford or justify, if I were to try to buy (still sad some thief stole my 20100 powerbank).
2019
Hopefully a better year financially. Might finally get the mobility component to PIP (it’s the UK’s disability benefit paid to anyone regardless of income, who needs extra money due.to disabilities). PIP is a very hard benefit to get, yet it seems those who take the piss and blatantly lie, get away with it and get full payments! GGGRRR
Despite both of us having conditions that get worse with time, I’m hoping next is not so full of bad days/weeks (we both have normal days… Wake up in pain and stiffness, but able to do most things between us, slowly. Then there’s days either of us crawl out.of bed riddled with pain and can barely walk to the toilet, without huffing n puffing, and cursing every step).
I hope you all have a great next year, and things that didn’t happen this year, will next year.
Maybe I’ll be more lucky in entering comps (especially for a TV, cos ours is on its last legs. Being as we do spend days housebound, we’d be lost without our TV).
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Got them today. Rubbish. Don’t bother. Everyone else can hear it and its either not loud or distorted, I had to press them right up against my cheek bones and they were wrong length and shape to held up off my bones by the rest of skull. They may suit someone else with different shape skull, less deep with wider cheekbones. Another gift to someone else, my daughter’s skull is shorter and liked them more than me.
Hmm, thanks I guess the question for decent bone conductor Headphones continue… I’m almost at the point where Ill get the military ones for covert operations and use that
I went a little wild in 2018. Due to some changes in the American tax code and some additional restrictions on independent contractor income, I was compelled to get some money out the door before the end of the year on business-related expenses, so I remade my home office:
I got a new 21.5" imac, Yeti mic, autonomous sit-stand desk, and exerpeudic stationary bike. I also got Camtasia studio and a few other little softwares.
As far a mobile stuff, I got:
Galaxy s9+
Samsung Gear Sport Watch
Anker Cube
some peripherals, like cases etc.
As far as your chromebook goes, @nigelhealy , I bought a Asus Flip C302 last year and I LOVE it.
I was able to find the one with the M5 for under $500 last black Friday (2017 - I think I paid $425 or so). I love the USB C charging, the touch, the flippiness, the SD card reader, and the speed. It’s not overly resourced (4GB ram) but that’s more than enough for a chromebook. Any heavier lifting and I wait until I’m in the office. Some products I bought / won this year that I can’t live without with this chromebook:
Anker Powercore Speed PD. This battery can seriously charge my chromebook while I use it. It’s changed my life. I don’t even worry about sitting near an outlet anymore at all-day work meetings or design sprints. That battery has more than enough to keep me going until I sleep. Even when we pull 14 hour days. It also comes with a PD wall plug and a USB-C to USB-C cord. Amazing deal.
Anker usb-c to hdmi adapter - there are several versions of this but the simpler the better in my opinion. I’m sure all of the little bells and whistles (ethernet ports, usb ports, etc) are cool but I like this one ALOT. https://www.amazon.com/Anker-Aluminum-Portable-Supports-Chromebook/dp/B01MYUCWOK/ref=sr_1_4?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1546922424&sr=1-4&keywords=anker+usb+c+hdmi
Anker usb c to usb a adapter - for when you need to plug into the past. solid, ,small, lightweight, stylish: https://www.amazon.com/Anker-Adapter-Transfer-Compatible-MacBook/dp/B078NKPGW9/ref=sr_1_9?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1546922454&sr=1-9&keywords=anker+usb+c+usb+adapter
As far as 2019, I’m not that excited about anything in particular. I need a better camera for the office for videoconferences, so I’ll probably grab one of those. 1080P USB job, probably the monoprice standby: https://www.monoprice.com/product?p_id=35520
As far as my go-to products I’ve had for a long time,
Soundbuds curve
Anker powercore fusion
Anker 6ft powerline +
Anker usb micro to C adapters
Anker Bolder LC40
Anker Soundcore boost
Anker soundcore nano
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Like the ones that make your jawbones vibrate so you can hear through your skull? I didn’t know they even made those available to consumers. I want those too! Let me know if you find them
That’s disappointing! 
I’m still waiting on Apple putting USB-C in iPhones, then my life will be complete. If not, I’m afraid I’m going to start considering switching to Android.
Still looking to see what watch to buy. Any recommendations?
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Once I put them on it was obvious they have to be custom fit. The basic way glasses stay on your head is the curve behind the ear, resisting the weight to fall off your nose. To then have the speakers press against cheekbones needs them to be precise width and length.
I think I now know why these two approaches are vying, the custom fit bone conduction, and the projecting into your ears. Anker approach of in ear is more universal.
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As someone who has to wear bone conduction headphones about once a year for twenty minutes, I can tell you, they’re bloody uncomfortable.
During my very brief moment in the T.A. (army reserve), we wore a set up of a mic that strapped around your throat (in the same way ventriloquists do) and a large pad over one ear. You only had to mumble/whisper and everyone heard you clearly.
Bone conduction has to be in a precise location on the head to work, and to make sure they work, they’re very very tightly pressed against your head.
That tallies with my one and only experience yesterday.
It makes sense now these two:
Where they fit them to you
and where its not bone conducting at all but projecting sound into the canal without being inside the canal:
If Anker were to do the latter type I’m sure the $20 or so cost added to a pair of sunglasses would be appealing. The above are $1000 and $200 respectively. Ouch.
Typed with Soundcore Life in my ears. Sigh.
Got my latest toy.
It’s a Huawei Mediapad M5 10.8" with keyboard. Why this one? Well it comes down to the weirdness of the way the cellular network companies charge for phone lines vs data lines. A phone line often has more bundled data and it lower cost than a data line. This model is using a phone chipset, it shows up as a phone. Yes a 10.8" phone 
I put my T-mobile phone SIM into the tablet and works, can make/receive calls. I got T-mobile line for “free” due to the weird way they priced family plans, 4 lines same price as 3 lines and it’s been a 2nd SIM in my phone for over a year not doing much for me. Now it’s in this “laptop”. T-mobile gives “binge on” media streaming unlimited not part of your data, on phone lines, hence in this “laptop”.
Fast CPU, high res screen, detachable keyboard so I have 3 modes, laptop, portrait tablet or landscape tablet, and has SD slot, quad stereo speakers.
I am not recommending this, it is not perfect. It has a known issue the WiFi and BT antenna is the same so if you BT you cannot WiFi 2.5Ghz so make use of 5Ghz. It is USB-C but 2.0 not 3.0 so cannot do for example HDMI via the Anker dongle I own.
There will be some kind of Anker Powerport and which works well it. I don’t intend to get a Powercore for this, as I probably can use my old cheap method of proactively use the stock 2A output from regular Powercore.
Ryan, relative to your Asus 302 Chromebook it’s better/worse in areas. I gain basically cellular, accidentally for free, but I lose USB 3 so cannot HDMI, I lose USB-PD but I can get around that with 2A Powercore (I have the 26800 non-PD), I gain better speakers, the keyboard is worse (attachable wiggle so it’s more desk than lap). I can work around the lack of HDMI via a Chromecast which I cast to over WiFi using the tablet’s Wifi, so I have a portable projector like capability just need a HDMI port on a screen. Works so-so.
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WOW! that’s one of the most resourceful setups I have ever seen. Nicely done. I’m impressed with it showing up as a cellular phone instead of a laptop. Did the T Mobile have anything to say about that? I imagine their reps would be mostly bewildered by your requests and explanations 
Truthfully, I use my USBC to HDMI mostly for presentations, videoconferences, and other applications where the wireless is already bearing an overload and has additional restrictions. I like the peace of mind of a wired connection in those times 
I love the tablet / laptop conversion though. That’s some tdd hing about the c302 I dont like - it keeps its keyboard on and makes tablet mode unbearably heavy for longer periods of use.
All in all, that’s a sweet setup. Nice work!
No, and not required. I moved an existing Sim from my made in China OnePlus phone to my made in China Huawei phone which is inside a 10.8" form factor. No involvement of anyone.
I checked all the specs, due to battery and heating concerns primarily, tablets are not actually more pixels or faster hardware than phones, they just have lower pixel density per inch and a bigger battery. There is no inherently underlying reason a tablet now pulls more data than a phone. If anything the opposite as you would still use the phone more due to being pocketable.
Personally I prefer Chromebooks, the multitasking in ChromeOS is better, the keyboard is better. But in 2019 it’s weird. Chromebooks now there is only 1 model with LTE and it needs a data SIM which over time makes it double or more in cost.
I just plugged in Anker 2A output to this and the steepness of the recharge is about the same as steepness of the discharge, implying stock 2A 5V is plenty enough to keep charged and to recharge.
The irony here is my “laptop” was cheaper than my phone, this tablet is using prior generation phone chipsets, it’s just a bigger physical screen so lower pixel density in a device which can house a much bigger battery, that size can then make a laptop keyboard a viable size (typing on it now).
I suspect the later 2019 into 2020 version will be the newer Snapdragon chipsets. So faster and better LTE / 5G.
.
I have 3 “phones”
- an LTE smart watch for incoming calls when not expecting to be contacted
- 6" phone
- 10.8" laptop
So we are beginning to see the hint of the 2020/21 version of tech. Everything is connected, it is form factor size differences
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So I got a Huawei Mediapad M5 which “fast charge” and I was searching for what charging protocol. Guess what, it is
similar to USB PD.
I let the device go sufficiently battery drained it would want to pull the maximum charge, I put a USB-C meter on it and it was recharging at 9V 2A so 18W from the supplied charger. So I figured that is actually one of the options of a USB PD charger, so I plugged in the USB-C 5 port I got as a gift from Anker last year and it worked. I was getting 9V 2A from that.
So I have now a pretty good 2019 setup, I have a “laptop” with 10.8" screen, keyboard, with a good battery life, with LTE which works globally, it does recharge off my existing Powercore, like a 26800 or 10000 I have, and a charger which can recharge them all overnight.
Now I just need Anker to make USB-C buds 
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