AdGuard works in Safari, and can block ads on youtube. I’ve been using this setup for years now and it’s been without problems. The experience is obviously not as good as the app, but it does what it’s supposed to, and I think the worse UX a plus because I do not spend as much time on the platform.
> Using a bare laptop all day will damage your health.
Do you have any references to support this? A NY Times article on posture, littered with affiliate links, is not it.
I am using only a laptop for the majority of my almost 10y career as a web developer, without any discomfort or pain, during or after. I've tried the "ergonomic setup" in many different variations and I always ended up with some pain, most often pain in wrist and lower arm, due to repeated movements between the keyboard and mouse/trackpad. Most important improvements for my setups were a good chair that allows shoulder and arm mobility (HM Embody) and a standing desk frame for precise height adjustment when sitting. And the macbook pro seems to have the perfect position of keyboard and trackpad so that I do not cause any strain on my wrists.
But our bodies are different so there is no single best way, health damage is a bold claim without supporting literature.
I would say self-help is quite unreliable already, more unreliable doesn’t make it much worse.
The authority argument is pointless. The therapist must value person’s wellbeing above their continued income for this to apply. In theory they should, but it would take a lot to convince me and I would want to know what’s the incentive behind such a recommendation. An to be clear, I’m not saying LLM can be your therapist.
First point is disingenuous, it’s not like you only have that one option. There’s plenty options at lower price points which are still decent. And there’s the second-hand market for the budget-conscious. You can get a decent pc for around 1k, and much lower with second-hand market options.
For the maintenance, it’s not like you’re buying a car. Unless you’re enthusiastic about your pc, you can get a pre-built, plug it in and use it, same as console.
Not to mention that games are cheaper and there’s more cheap indie titles available, so if one is optimising for max gaming enjoyment for the least money, pc looks like a better option. But if the plan is to play through the best titles here and there, then console is a good option as well.
There is far more maintenance or rather troubleshooting with a PC. The Steam Deck too TBH (even on "Verified" games you run into the occasional problem with more frequency than a Switch). You're just far more likely to run into some weird problem or issue with a random title especially that 10 year old game you bought for $1.
On console you match the label to the machine and it works.
What about Rtings? For tech stuff, I found the reviews to be of good quality and it does not seem like it’s biased or sponsored.
> googling "reviews of X"
DDG produces somewhat better results, or at least does not rank the seo spam, generated garbage up to the first page. Also, I do not have ads following me everywhere for the next week.
> When my cloud dependency fails, I'll use another of the 400 ways to get weather data. I've already switched weather providers several times. Don't worry about me; I'll make it through. ;)
> And I'd rather spend 10 hours automating something than 1 hour doing it. I'm not doing this to create free time, I'm doing it in my free time.
That’s exactly the point the original commenter was making. It’s a hobby, you do this because you enjoy it, and it’s not a general off-the-shelf solution that anyone can pick and plug it in. Nothing wrong with that, I enjoy the same stuff so I know where you’re coming from. But I’d be lying if I said it’s simple and robust like the mechanical timer thing.
This sounds like words of a programmer. And I agree with your point to some degree, I would never consider an iPad for my work as a developer.
But this point is unfair to other knowledge workers. For example, my SO would get much better workflow from an iPad, especially with the pencil. The workflow includes a lot of research and note taking, including annotating images, and a mouse/trackpad is just too clumsy for this. The iPad seems perfect for that. I plan to get her one, currently waiting to see if they will refresh the iPad pro lineup in March.
Mind you that a 350€ laptop PC does not come with nearly as much longevity (due to bad build quality), performance and user satisfaction as the similarly priced iPad.
I believe iPad is a great force multiplier of the good 'ol pen and paper. It takes a bit of getting used to, but I bet the kids pick it up in a heartbeat.
For the more advanced endeavors, a 350€ PC as a second device. Not that expensive for a hobby, I think this is in reach of most parents.
Most of the points make sense, but this one does not
> Impact on the body - prolonged unmoderated sitting in bad postures, eye strain due to constant staring into the screen, bad eating habits, etc.
How does WFH change how you sit and the eye strain? You’re doing the same work, what changed? IMO having a good office setup (chair, device, screen, room lighting) is a must for any WFH position, but especially if it’s full-time.
Also for me, the food is better because in the office I used to eat snacks and go out in restaurants or fast foods. Now I mostly make food at home, and with the benefit of s garden have home-grown vegetables. So I eat better and spend less, plus I cut down the crap food from couple times a week to a few times in a month.
As I see it, the argument 4) applies only with refusing to invest into a proper working environment setup and with the lack of discipline. But I hardly believe someone with the lack of discipline would eat any better in the office. And I’m taking this from my past experience.
Most people don't have good WFH setup, that's one thing.
Two, WFH can mean less interruptions requiring you to move, resulting in far more sedentary behaviour than normal office work, even if you assume no difference in movement from commute.
Competitive distributed companies already pay for your home office setup, and many people opt for better chairs and desks they would likely get in a normal office. I think for companies to stay competitive in a WFH environment, they will have to offer similar benefits.
For my situation, my home is better than office where could not code in standing (we don't have such culture) and has no place to walk around for thinking. And, at home, I could make lunch healthier with balanced nutrition when there are no good restaurants near my company.
When I went full time remote (last year, before COVID), I had comfort and strain issues. I attribute them to 2 main causes, that I've since mitigated:
1. I replaced my commute with more screen time. This was a net increase in my daily time spent at a computer.
2. My screen time was more contiguous. I didn't have to walk to my coworkers' desks for a quick chat (whether casual or work related). Meetings kept me at my desk instead of moving. My work day transitioned directly into my personal hobby time (video games).
I have a terrible setup at home. My office is extremely better set-up, and they spent several thousand dollars on seats, 32' monitors, etc.
Working on the crappy laptop and a kitchen chair is less than ideal - and the fact I was furloughed 4 months and ran out of savings means I can´t buy new stuff for WFH, not to mention it could end up being wasted money if I'm back in the office the next month.
And I'm not in the US so "used" stuff or other cheaper workarounds don't work for me (no "buy it from Amazon", there's no Amazon here)
Also, the 1st party support and integration is something that makes me go back. For example, being able to create a new note directly from the control center on iOS. And paired with faceID it’s seamless even when doing it from a locked screen.
Although it sucks that other developers do not get to offer their shortcuts.
I was looking into writing a simple tool, preferably a bash script I can use cross-platform, which creates a new markdown file with named with today’s date and opens it with $EDITOR.
This way I can also hook it to other tools, such as alfred pr albert.
Not as simple as a bash script, but Obsidian (https://obsidian.md/) has this as a plugin.
Basically a button in the interface. You click on it and it creates a markdown file with today's date (example: YYYY-MM-DD). If one already exists, it just uses that one. You can also have a template that will be used when a new note is generated.
