In an era of social distancing and digital competition, Hidrate also displays statistics from your friends and family if they also own a bottle, so you can turn drinking water into a rivalry. Yes, bottles are still expensive, but if you like being able to keep track of your own data, or save the planet from disposable plastic, or if you’re just doing a health coup, the Faculty of Public Health Harvard University says drinking enough water is related to regulating body temperature, preventing infections, improving sleep quality, and proper organ function; it’s worth trying a smart water bottle. “Saira Mueller.”
21st century audiovisual equipment
We all have our blind spots. My kitchen could be equipped with a high-end Vitamix and Kitchen-Aid mixer. But before the pandemic, my partner and I had the same 55-inch Panasonic TV, huge and heavy, with curly speakers and savings we’ve had for the last ten years. We just didn’t watch enough TV to think about it.
Everything changed in March 2020. In April, desperate for the feeling that not everything was lost, I temporarily started my update by adding a sound bar. The improved sound quality made my scalp hair stand on end. A few months later, our A / V tester Parker Hall left a mid-range TCL 6 series TV for long-term testing. The difference between the huge, dusty rock of our old TV and the light, slender and bright, was evident even to our five-year-olds. “Why does he do it? Paw Patrol does it look much better now? “He asked, jumping on the couch of his traffic jams. If you’ve also forgotten that your TV is worth updating, I recommend it. “Adrienne.”
Desktop Guitar Amplifiers
I never realized how inconvenient guitar amps were until I had none. Classic tube amplifiers sound amazing, but they’re expensive, weigh a ton, and put on enough heat to heat small rooms (and sound enough to make a small house sound).
This year I discovered the desktop guitar amp. Lightweight toolbox-sized amplifiers like the Yamaha THR30-II and the Positive Grid Spark bring everything you want about a physical amplifier into the 21st century. However, from wireless cable technology to on-board processing for compelling (sans-pedalboard) effects, these new digital amplifiers are finally sounding too good to be called toys. Of course, I prefer my hand-wired Fender Bassman to the studio, but for most other apps, I’m looking for these guys for their convenience. Both the Spark and THR models include USB and headphone outputs, as well as Bluetooth, making it easy to jam songs, record quick demos, or play during quiet hours.
I’m not the only one who has brought them. I recently saw a documentary about Taylor Swift Folklore, and noticed that the composer was switching with a small family Yamaha in an introductory segment. If it’s good enough for her, it’s good enough for me. “Park Hall.”
Ebikes
This year there was no time for water splitting as ebikes jumped technologically forward. It was rather a gradual arrival. Perhaps it was that so many were forced into service as recharging and commuting bicycles because of the Covid-19, and they had admirable performance. Or because you can now buy a decent ebike that weighs almost over £ 40 and costs over $ 1,000 which, even after removing the hub motor and pedal sensor, is also the core of a decent bike made with solid components. brand.
I’m a motorcycle man, so the early days of heavy bikes promoting high speeds (for a bike) and high prices (for any vehicle) didn’t catch my eye. He wanted them to compete against analog bikes and become a mass tool, while not sucking. Intervals will increase, prices will go down and electronics will move completely within the framework as affordable ebikes improve, but this was the year I stopped telling people to “just wait a little longer” when they would ask him if they should buy one. —Matt Jancer
A bottle of hot water
After moving to a new location last winter, I quickly learned that the top ventilation wall oven in my apartment was good for heating exactly one corner of my living room and no other place. A friend suggested I put a bottle of hot water in bed at night to keep me warm, which I found quaint and not at all effective. He was wrong. For just $ 13 on Amazon, all the joys of non-modern heating become mine, a thermoplastic bag full of hot water every night. As if it wasn’t cozy enough anymore, it’s even shipped with a knitted sweater. (To be clear, the sweater is for the water bottle, not for you.) You know you can’t put it in the microwave and it’s not recommended to heat hot water either. “Lauren Goode.”
A remote TV stand
Pre-pandemic, I tried to avoid watching TV from bed, but this year that rule came out the window. My Fire TV Stick became a calming necessity, but I would inevitably lose its little command in my blanket nest. This very cheap remote support was an impulsive purchase and is now strangely indispensable. It can be mounted with a screw or sticker and helps me keep track of the remote controls so I don’t have to shuffle the sheets of candy wrappers with panic to adjust the volume or skip a YouTube ad. Cheap emotions! —Louryn Strampe
A document camera
The Hue HD Pro ($ 100 on Amazon) is the most useful I tested in 2020. If you do some kind of teaching, demonstration, or peer review on paper, or anything else that requires a camera, and another to a document, the Hue HD Pro is the device you have been looking for. It integrates with Zoom, Skype, Webex and Microsoft Teams, or you can record using the included software.