Tag: lifehacks

Bestek Wall Charger

The Bestek MRJ1870-1 wall charging station provides the best bang-for-the-buck in its class I’ve seen yet. Most travel chargers are inadequate for contemporary, gadget-laden needs. Compare it with another $20 charger I bought before getting the Bestek: the Belkin BST300. It has 3 power outlets and 2 USB ports. The catch is that USB ports share 2.1A, which can’t be relied on to simultaneously charge both an iPad-sized tablet and a second device. I actually couldn’t even charge a single iPad (4th-gen) alone on the ill-equipped Belkin charger.

Effectively Scaling

As information workers, we are asked to absorb even more information than ever before. More blogs, more documentation, more patterns, more layers of abstraction. Now Twitter and Facebook compete with Email and Texts for our attention, keeping us up-to-date on our friends dietary details and movie attendance second-by-second. Does all this information take a toll on your psyche or sharpen the saw? Is it a matter of finding the right tools and filters to capture what you need, or do you just need to unplug.

Ticket to nowhere

“No I don’t buy a ticket every night. I buy a ticket one time, as long as it’s not punched it’s good. As long as it doesn’t have a hole in it. I done had this for 2 months.” If you never get on a train to get your ticket punched, your ticket will never expire. Some of the homeless people at Newark Penn Station have been there for years. One has been at the station for 19 years; another for 26 years.

clever hack

Navigating awkardness

heh. it is still unclear if social networks have sharply increased the amount of awkward in the world (i suspect yes). here are some antidotes.

HOW TO… GET SOMEONE ON THE BUS TO TURN THEIR MUSIC DOWN
This is the same principle as trying to keep the seat next to you free. Don’t put your bag on it and stare at your feet, because people sense what you’re trying to do and it doesn’t work. Instead, you should smile at them as they approach and pat the seat invitingly. That guarantees it’s kept free, as no one wants to sit beside a nutter. Similarly, when someone’s playing their music loudly, don’t directly ask them to turn it down. Instead, catch their eye. Nod, smile — maybe even conduct along to the music they’re playing or go and sit down next to them. Generally act like you’re enjoying their awful din, which will promptly weird them out to the point that they will turn it off just to get you off their case.

Shut up the seatbelt alarm

china is definitely somewhere else on the convenience – safety continuum.

Chinese drivers hate to wear their safety belts. Instead, they wear specially designed clothing to pretend they are buckled up. But that won’t stop the seat-belt reminder lights and beeps, which are all extremely annoying. It is possible to click the belt in the buckle behind your back but that is uncomfortable. It is also possible to fiddle with the electronics but that is difficult. Creative and innovative Chinese companies finally found an easy solution.

Tyranny of stuff

almost everyone you meet has a clutter problem. sometimes people make half-hearted attempts to get rid of junk, usually by asking themselves the wrong question will I need this again, since the answer is always maybe. better questions to ask: if I need one of these again, will it be terrible to go get a new one then? or is this worth the rent I’m paying to store it?. happy life simplification!