Objects

Here are objects I like. It feels to me that having good objects is underrated.

General rules I follow:

• It’s okay to pay for something if it gives you more value than however-much-the-subscription costs.
• Minimize unnecessary physical objects, but don’t be afraid of having good ones around.

Other People’s Objects⌗

Other people have good objects, too. Many of them are probably better than mine. An incomplete list:

• Mark Xu’s objects
• Alexey Guzey’s objects
• New York Times: Wirecutter

(I wonder if there should be a central list for this, or something.)

The Physical⌗

Physical objects are very annoying. They have to be moved, stored, gotten from another room, etc. But some of them are worth it.

Technology⌗

• MacBook Air 13", 8 GB RAM, 256 GB SSD as a stopgap device until Apple releases 16 inch Apple silicon MacBooks
• AirPods Pro for wireless earbuds that don’t hurt my ears over time
• iPad + Pencil + a paper-like screen protector for Anki, scratch writing, and RemNote review (currently)
• Kindle for reading (coupled with Calibre + USB transfer for ebooks)
  • I have the Kindle KT7, but there are better models these days.
• Spectre C35 for an external monitor
  • There are better monitors out there, but this one was a nice balance of cost and performance for me.
• Magnetic USB-C adapter to make plugging in and out ridiculously convenient
• Ergodox EZ for an incredibly quality keyboard that doesn’t squish my hands
  • Note: nowadays the Moonlander might be a better choice.
  • With Kailh Box Jade switches for extra clickability
• Logitech G602 for a fairly speedy wireless mouse
• Flexispot Motorized Standing Desk Converter for an effective standing desk that can fit in a dorm
• A good USB-C hub for a desk setup where you can plug in and out with just one cable
• A USB charging station with enough ports to top off every single device I own at a time

Environmental Augments⌗

• DragonLight 240W Fanless LED Bulb to brighten up the room during the day, a la How to Build a Lumenator
• Levoit Core 300 Air Purifier for dealing with wildfires in California

Transport⌗

• Xiaomi Mi Pro 2 Electric Scooter for a lightweight, portable, zero-effort, and fun way to make short trips (<10 mi) without the overhead of owning a car
  • You may ask: why not a bike? Well, I’m lazy, and also bikes tend to get stolen fairly often on campus where I am (scooters avoid this since you can store them in your room when not in use).
  • You may also ask: why not a used car? Well, cars require a lot of maintenance, are expensive to buy and park, pollute the environment, and ultimately I don’t make enough long-distance trips that it’s worthwhile (I can go with someone else, or take the Caltrain to most anywhere). Plus, I don’t trust my driving skills that much.
  • For more on why electric scooters are cool, see The Rise of the Electric Scooter.
  • Note: this scooter might not be the optimal one for you (it was for me due to needing light weight + high range + cheap). To compare scooters, check out ESG’s Electric Scooter Database. Another very good option is the Segway Ninebot MAX G30LP. A cheaper option is the Xiaomi M365.
  • This scooter also isn’t officially sold in the US, so you’ll have to buy from a third-party seller and won’t be able to use the warranty (although in practice, most scooter issues can be solved by hand and don’t require warranty service).
  • Related:
    • Kryptonite Mini-7 with Flex Lock (Wirecutter’s best bike lock, although bike locks are sort of useless)
    • WingLights for turn signals
    • A cheapo $10 phone mount on Amazon, for Google Maps navigation
    • Bontrager Solstice Bike Helmet (Wirecutter’s best bike helmet)
    • Tile Sticker as a tracker in case it gets lost (a better option for iPhone users is likely AirTags)
    • Custom firmware to enable direct power control rather than the jumpy default speed-control throttle (essentially making the throttle like a car, rather than adjusting a target speed).
      • This also removes the speed limit, so be warned.
  • Obligatory safety information
    • ALWAYS wear a helmet when riding! Scooters are far closer to a car than a bike due to the indirect control (via a throttle rather than your feet), and they are far more unstable than bikes as well. If you hit a curb at 15 MPH without a helmet, you will experience instant death (or at least a lot of pain).
    • Consult your local regulations before purchasing. Here in California, you need a driver’s license to ride one, and you can’t ride on the sidewalk or on roads with a speed limit over 25 MPH (unless there’s a bike lane). As of 2021, they are banned on all public roads in the UK. Try not to violate the law!
    • And make sure to register your scooter with the local bike registration service! In case it gets stolen.

The Digital⌗

A note: many of these apps are Apple-only. This is kind of unfortunate. I suspect there are alternatives that are about as good on Windows, though.

Productivity⌗

• Krisp for never having to worry about noise in video calls again
• macOS-only:
  • Things for a low-effort and pretty way to capture tasks
    • Shout out to Emacs Org Mode, though, which I used for several years prior.
  • Alfred for a slightly faster Spotlight
  • Karabiner-Elements for fixing macOS’s insane keyboard problems
  • SensibleSideButtons to fix the forward/back buttons on my mouse
  • Rectangle for window hotkeys
  • Dropover for making drag and drop ridiculously easy
  • MultiTimer for naming timers and counters
  • Intermission for resting eyes every 20 minutes to avoid eye strain
  • AlDente to limit the maximum charge percentage to 60% when plugged in, preserving battery life in the long term
• Linux-only:
  • i3 for an efficient tiling window manager. (Sway is another option, but Wayland still has a lot of rough edges wrt screen sharing and cursor lag, so I wouldn’t recommend unless it’s required, e.g. for a mixed DPI setup.)
    • Flameshot for a powerful snipping tool
    • Redshift for making screens nicer in the dark
    • kitti3 for a quake-style dropdown terminal in i3
    • xidlehook for a better idle locker daemon
  • PulseEffects + Pipewire for noise suppression that’s only slightly buggier and lower quality than Krisp

Notetaking⌗

• Anki for learning a language (currently Chinese!)
• RemNote for a powerful knowledge base and amazing flashcard system
  • I tried Roam. It was okay, but it felt kind of cobbled-together (markdown? paste random js into your editor to add plugins? no spaced repetition by default?). RemNote is definitely buggier, but I feel that it wins out just because it seems like it got the data structure right.
• Instapaper for queuing things to be read later without getting distracted in the moment
• Mathpix Snip for amazing screenshot-to-LaTeX abilities
• macOS-only:
  • GoodNotes for handwritten notetaking
  • Apple Books for a book syncing system that works well enough
    • I also used to use Calibre, but I realized that I don’t really need all of its complexity.

Development⌗

• Visual Studio Code (Insiders) for basically all coding (including remote servers, Jupyter, etc.)
• Postman for API development that’s actually kind of nice
• Tailscale for connecting to local servers from anywhere
• macOS-only:
  • iTerm 2 for a speedy terminal
  • Homebrew for installing things quickly

Chat⌗

• Element for an open-source, end-to-end encrypted chat application with nice UX

Fun⌗

• Spotify for nice music

For More Information⌗

If you have any questions about stuff here, or just want to talk, feel free to reach out any time.