this post was submitted on 08 Feb 2025
119 points (98.4% liked)

Asklemmy

44883 readers
1907 users here now

A loosely moderated place to ask open-ended questions

Search asklemmy πŸ”

If your post meets the following criteria, it's welcome here!

  1. Open-ended question
  2. Not offensive: at this point, we do not have the bandwidth to moderate overtly political discussions. Assume best intent and be excellent to each other.
  3. Not regarding using or support for Lemmy: context, see the list of support communities and tools for finding communities below
  4. Not ad nauseam inducing: please make sure it is a question that would be new to most members
  5. An actual topic of discussion

Looking for support?

Looking for a community?

~Icon~ ~by~ ~@Double_[email protected]~

founded 5 years ago
MODERATORS
 

Stuff like a pretty case with slots for optical drives, a laptop with a shitton of ports and all-day battery life or anything else that seems to go against the trends.

This thread is for complaining about how you can't find it and (maybe) finding it thanks to someone else.

(page 3) 50 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] [email protected] 7 points 2 days ago

A device I'd really like to have would be something like a phone but would replace the need for having any cloud services. Imagine if it had a really large drive where you could just keep all your media, and if it had an API that's something along the lines of NextCloud where it could expose calendar, contacts, email, music streaming, photo gallery, video streaming, etc. that your other devices could connect to.

Since you carry your phone around everywhere anyways, there would no longer be any need to have cloud services because their whole raison d'etre is to act as a central server that allows you to sync data across different devices. If you just carry the server on you, that problem goes away entirely.

You could also have a dock with a backup drive where it would just automatically sync when you plug it in at the end of the day. This way if the drive died on it, you'd always have a backup ready that you could swap in.

Another neat thing you could do would be to have a dock in a shape of a laptop with a big screen, keyboard, maybe faster CPU, more RAM, a good video card. This way you wouldn't need a separate laptop, you could just plug your phone in the dock and voila.

This approach would result in way better privacy because all your data would always be on you as opposed to some server somewhere. It would also be way more reliable since you wouldn't have to worry about network connectivity. You'd still need some external services like a mail server, but these would just be endpoints you use for communication.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 2 days ago (1 children)

A 3.5mm-to-Bluetooth adapter that can do simultaneous headphones + mic. I have a device with no Bluetooth, only a 3.5mm TRRS jack (headphones+mic). I want to connect it to a wireless Bluetooth headset but the only adapters I can find won't do both at the same time, only one or the other.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 days ago

On top of that, it'd be nice for the Bluetooth spec to roll out a higher bitrate version of HFP, as it's common 16 kHz monaural configuration is awful when listening to multimedia while on video calls, like for remote watch parties or just listening to music or playing video games while hanging out on discord. I ended up just buying a USB to TRRS adapter with pass through Power Delivery in order to use my Android device with proper AV quality.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 2 days ago (2 children)

There are plenty of portable second screens for laptops now. But it seems weird you can't just hardwire a second laptop without having to resort to internet based screen sharing solutions.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 2 days ago

if you're saying what i think you're saying you may be interested in something like a nexdock

Basically a laptop with no internals that acts as an external monitor, battery bank and peripherals for another device

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] [email protected] 10 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (1 children)

A cheap ARM laptop.

Pinebooks have been sold out for ages, and then it’s a massive leap up to MNT Reform or Copilot+.

I just started watching eBay for used Pinebooks, but nothing has popped yet.

Edit: Actually, there are some decent options for Snapdragon 7/8 refurbs on Amazon. Mass market brands can be so hit or miss by model, so this’ll take some research, but it looks like there are 20-30 results to consider.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 2 days ago

This is adjacent, but it's worth pointing out that framework has recently started selling risc-v motherboards for their laptops for adventurous folks.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 day ago

dick sucking robot

[–] [email protected] 7 points 2 days ago (5 children)

A phone with the charging port on the upper side instead of the bottom. This makes using the phone easier when it is being charged. Also, recessed camera lenses. Why do they have to stick out? When placing the phone on a surface, the camera lens cover will get scratches over time. If the phone was just one milimeter thicker, the cameras on the back wouldn't stick out and one wouldn't need a phone case, that adds to thickness anyway. It also would be nice if phone manufacturors would still have smaller screen sizes (max. 6") in their portfolio, as it is inconvenient to carry a larger phone in a pocket.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 days ago

Almost everyone had their phones in cases before phones had camera bumps. Phones have camera bumps because they realized they might as well use the extra thickness for more camera hardware.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 2 days ago

Right angle charging cord helps #1.

load more comments (3 replies)
[–] [email protected] 9 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (1 children)

A low power laptop with a massive battery that lasts a week.

A small portable pen plotter or printer that isn't thermal (thermal print fades)

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 day ago

My wife has a circuit machine that’s super tiny, she can put a pen and use it as a plotter.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 2 days ago

A standalone remote or phone app that connects to my car's entertainment system that can control the satellite radio without the need for a passenger to have to lean way forward to use the touchscreen all the time. I miss the days of screen controls next to the cup holders instead of everything going through the touch screen.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 2 days ago

Toilet that posts updates to Facebook

[–] [email protected] 7 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (1 children)

Remember when MP3 players were a thing? Well I still listen to mp3 files, but I can't put them on my smartphone because manufacturers artificially reduce storage size on phones to force people to use cloud services, and the available mp3 players that accept microSD cards are remarkably bad in many ways. It makes me pessimistic about tech in general, there is no sense of humanism or building progress, that in the future the products will be easier or better. Based on current trends, it seems like in the future the tech will just be more exploitative and consumers are just captive at this point.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 2 days ago

I have an iPod that I use for music and I love it. I could put Rockbox on it so I don't need iTunes, but I do really love the stock firmware.

Anyway, point is, my 2nd gen iPod mini has 128gb of microSD storage and is the best portable DAP I've ever owned.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 day ago

You can easily get a case with an optical drive slot if you just get an older case. You can fit an older case with more modern components just fine. My current PC case is from 2017 and has an optical drive slot (which is fitted with an optical driveβ€”though I'm afraid I've not used it in years...)

As for laptops with ports, they're out there but you may have to either get an older one or pay more money annoyingly. I wish it was standard for laptops to have ethernet ports. My modern, fairly mainstream trend-following laptop has all the other ports I need (USB obviously, HDMI, and 3.5mm headphone jack).

[–] [email protected] 8 points 2 days ago (2 children)

A SBC with SATA ports, to use as a Plex server. I've only ever found one (the Zimaboard), but it's a bit pricey for something that I'd still have to find some way to house with an external HDD.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 2 days ago (3 children)

The ODROID-HC4 has two SATA ports. Alternatively, you can get one with an NVMe slot and stick a NVMe to SATA card in it that will likely get you four ports.

load more comments (3 replies)
load more comments (1 replies)
[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 days ago (2 children)

Data cassettes using current LTO tech, but in standard compact cassette format

load more comments (2 replies)
[–] [email protected] 6 points 2 days ago (3 children)

A phone with current hardware but without a camera notch in the screen. I absolutely hate the notch, it annoys me on a deep level that I can't get over.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 2 days ago (2 children)

Android (or at least my Galaxy) has a setting that lets you disable the portion of the screen where the notch is, which makes it essentially identical to a phone with no notch.

load more comments (2 replies)
load more comments (2 replies)
[–] [email protected] 6 points 2 days ago (2 children)

Depends what you call tech. I've been looking for a salt nic vape (say 10 watts) in the 1 ohm range with a easily replaceable battery for the last year. Bonus points if it doesn't leak to hell and gone. Haven't had a whole lot of luck with that so far.

Pretty much any portable device with a standard type, user replaceable battery. God bless Ryobi and the other power tool companies for building weird but useful tools beyond power drills. All with replaceable batteries.

At one point I was looking for any type robust portable storage media that had reasonable storage capacity and good shelf life (2+ years), and was large enough to actually write on a label what was on it. So far the closest I've seen since 2005 have been the portable SSDs and the newish USB m.2 enclosures but that's still not quite what I'm looking for. Too large and non-standardized. Gave up on it several years ago and built a publicly accessible Nextcloud server. Yes I'm an old fart, dislike cloud storage and miss the floppy, Zip and Mini-Disk storage formats. I currently have a dozen mystery jump drives sitting on my desk in a 3d printed rack with only the vaguest clue whats on any of them. Most of them so small you can't even put a key tag on them. I hate it.

A reliable multi port (4 or more) USB-C charger that can output 65+ watts on all of its ports at the same time.

A reliable source for 100w USB-c 3.x PD cables that don't cost an arm and a leg. Anker makes good PD cables but tops out at USB 2.whatever.

Pretty sure more would come to mind if I sat and though about it for a while, but I've got to head to work now.

load more comments (2 replies)
[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 days ago (2 children)
  • Phone with dual sim card slots and a sdcard, plus pop-out camera (my present phone has all of that except the second simcard, and I refuse to replace this phone!) ** Charging port on top ** Slightly thicker to fit a larger battery - and possibly slightly better optics for the main camera.

  • Computer mouse about 15% larger than the "large" mouses they presently sell.

  • Detachable 10-key that's mirrored for easy left hand use.

  • In general, small electronic devices should have more than one button for interaction. It's easier to remember 3 different buttons than 3 different Morse codes to achieve the three different functions.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 days ago (2 children)
  • What phone do you have? I used to have a work phone that had 2 sim card slots and an sd card reader, a huge battery that was removeable without requiring restarting and an audio jack for headphones but no pop out camera and the camera kinda sucked. bluebird ef500r-anlt. no longer being made sadly. has an ir blaster too. love it, wish it still could operate as a phone.

  • Have you tried a vertical mouse? I have a Logitech MX vertical and a left handed generic one that is pretty much identical to it in size and love them.

  • I saw a mirrored one once, that wasn't detachable but on the left side of the keyboard and I regret not buying it because I haven't been able to find one since. Plus it was close to $1,000. I tried making a picture of the keyboard i dream of. It's still a work in progress, somethings aren't correct and i'm missing a few keys still. https://i.imgur.com/wBBxNf8.png

  • devices should only have one button if they only need to be turned on or off.

load more comments (2 replies)
load more comments (1 replies)
[–] [email protected] 5 points 2 days ago (1 children)

I don't know if it's possible but it feels like a cheap box for (sata) hard drives would be super useful for people having a bunch of old drives. The only ones I can find are top of the line expensive NAS or DAS stuff for say 2 to 4 large drives, not my 7 drives from 500GB to 2TB...

I use a 5€ sata-usb connector but it's not very practical, a usb hub + 7 of these connectors would cost like 40€ ... Not reliable or anything but it would just need a box!

[–] [email protected] 5 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (1 children)

https://www.amazon.fr/ORICO-daccueil-magn%C3%A9tique-Adaptateur-Compatible/dp/B07QD5DXV2

there is this ^ thing for 130, which is more expensive that what you mentioned but seems to fit your criteria moreso.

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 days ago

A decent brand of tws with multiple lights to indicate the amount of charge left. Also bigger battery.

All the branded stuff have single led with different colours to indicate charge percentage and also if paired or not.

I don't want to remember fcking rainbow to know all the features.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 days ago (1 children)

A physical slide out keyboard case for iPhone.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 days ago

https://clicks.tech/ is about as close as you can get right now, though it’s not slide-out. Overall pleasant experience if you don’t mind the size increase.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 2 days ago

An app like Shazam but that shows me : this is the song you played and these are the songs it reminds you of because the melody is from here and the vocals melody is from here etc. I am mad that every other song reminds me of another but I cannot check which one it is.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 days ago

A SEGA Dreamcast

[–] [email protected] -2 points 1 day ago

Free NSFW ai video generation available online

load more comments
view more: β€Ή prev next β€Ί