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Less Wrong Product & Service Recommendations
I have often benefited from recommendations for Things I Didn't Know I Wanted.
Given that Less Wrong is a community of unusually intelligent, critical, and self-improvement-focused people, I suspect we can generate a pretty helpful thread of product recommendations — perhaps even a monthly thread of product recommendations.
Rules:
- Post one product your recommend per comment, so they can be discussed and voted on independently.
- Provide a link for purchasing the product.
- No books, movies, TV, games, or music. (These should go in other threads, like this one or this one.)
I'll post my own recommendations to the comments section, too.
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Comments (365)
JVC HAFX1X Headphone, Xtreme-Xplosivs ($25, Amazon 4.5 stars, 364 reviews)
When I bought my $150 Audio-Technica ATH-M50 Professional Studio Monitor Headphones, I heard parts of my favorite music that I had never heard before. I spent the next several weeks re-listening to all my old favorites and discovering new nuances in the music. For audio quality, nothing beats a good pair of headphones. But headphones are bulky.
I had assumed that earbuds had terrible audio quality like the default ones that come with e.g. an ipod. Wrong. For someone like me without the sensitive ears of an audiophile, the $25 JVC HAFX1X earbuds sound almost as good as my $150 headphones, but they can be stuffed in my pocket.
They fit great in my ears and have decent (physical) noise-reduction. I also like the red color of the cords, which makes it stand out and not (e.g.) accidentally stolen by one of my friends when we all bring our earbuds to the office.
Koss KSC-75 Headphones ($15, Amazon 4 stars, 693 reviews)
Very portable, very light, good bass, highly rated on head-fi.org, extremely cheap. I wear them instead of earbuds because I don't like things inside my ear, and the open air means I can still hear stuff around me, so they're even good for work. Very comfortable over long periods.
Sennheiser RS 180 Lossless Digital Wireless Headphones (~$330)
These things are so wonderful, I own two of them: one for my computer and one for my TV. I waited months for them to be released - before then, lossless wireless couldn't be bought for any amount of money. Their main attributes are:
Aside from portability (they aren't), their only downside is that they appear to spam the 2.4 GHz spectrum fairly heavily; my iPhone and iPad have occasionally had trouble connecting to wifi while I'm wearing the headphones (I don't yet have a 5 GHz router for the iPad). This doesn't bother me because my computer and consoles are all connected via Ethernet cables (I had to string one 50-foot cable through my apartment, but it was worth it).
I second this recommendation. I've used Sennheiser RS120 Headphones for years and they've been amazing.
They are (according to reviews) approximately similar, but at a ~$70 price point depending on where you get them instead of ~$330.
The major difference is that the 120s are analog (that's what "RF" means). On the other hand, at 900 MHz they won't interfere with 2.4 GHz wifi.
head-fi.org indicates that Audio-Technica's ATH-M50, while excellent, are probably not quite as good sound-quality-wise as Ultrasone's HFI-580, which are also twenty bucks or so cheaper.
This is probably true, at the time I was recommending ATH-M50s to everyone I don't think the HFI-580s were so cheap.
Airport Express ($99) + Airfoil ($25)
I listen to music and podcasts almost 24/7 while working from home. I even listen to ambient music while I'm sleeping, which is why Chuck Wild (Liquid Mind) tops my last.fm charts.
I've got some good speakers for that, because laptop speakers aren't great and I move around too much to use headphones or earbuds all the time. But I don't want my laptop chained to my speakers via audio cable!
Solution: Airport Express + Airfoil.
Airport Express is a tiny wifi hub. Just plug it in, connect it to your wifi network, and connect your speakers' input cable. Now you can use Apple's Airplay technology to stream audio to your speakers wirelessly. Unfortunately, Airplay is only for Mac, and it only streams iTunes music.
That's where Airfoil comes in. Airfoil works on Mac or Windows, and can stream audio from any source (including your entire system audio output). If you want, you can even set it up to stream audio from (say) Spotify, but have the rest of your audio play through your laptop speakers, physically connected speakers, earbuds, or whatever.
The one catch is that there's (necessarily) a bit of lag. That's not a problem for music or podcasts, but if you're watching video then the video and audio will be out of sync. The Airfoil video player solves this for many types of video files, so you can generally watch DVDs and stuff that way, but if you're watching occasional YouTube videos then it's inconvenient to keep switching stuff to the Airfoil video player. When I'm watching videos online I just click the Airfoil menubar item and switch my "Transmit To:" option from "Airport Express" to "Computer," then I switch it back when I'm back to listening to music.
Since I use these two pieces of technology almost all hours I'm in my house, it's a damn good investment for me, and it might be for you, too.
I second this recommendation in general, though I have no experience with the specific tools. I have a pair of Sony S-air speakers that I have in different parts of the house that let me easily listen to my winamp playlist in the shower for example.
Amazon Prime ($79/year)
How is Amazon making money on this??? I save way more than $79/year getting free two-day shipping (or $4 one-day shipping) with my Amazon Prime service. (You also get lots of free streaming for movies and TVs from Amazon, but I never use this.)
Free two-day shipping means I buy most things via Amazon — which is great, because most things I buy are cheapest on Amazon, anyway, and I hate entering my payment information into 40 different sites to get different products.
You get a free one-month trial. If you're a student, you get a free six-month trial.
How? Well, you kind of answered the question already! http://www.lukew.com/ff/entry.asp?1508
ActiveInbox (free, or $25/year for Plus)
GTD for Gmail. The best Gmail productivity tool I've ever found.
To grok ActiveInbox, watch the video. Here are my favorite features:
Those two features alone are worth the setup for me, but ActiveInbox does a lot more than this, too.
Hat tip to Louie for finding this one.
Looks good. Installed!
Note also that I only Facebook-gloat over screenshots of my Inbox Zero when all my ActiveInbox task folders are also empty. :)
If you use outlook, Outlook 2010 lets you (at least) duplicate these features.
Someone has downvoted each of the comments in this page - this strikes me as bizarre. Simple product recommendations saves heaps of research time.
Haters gonna hate.
I for one am glad that we now have Rational Product Recommendations.
I'll put it next to my rational romance, gift buying, book selection, wart removal and toothpaste.
Charmin Wet Wipes ($0.05 per wipe, Amazon 4.5 stars, 6 reviews)
For wiping in the bathroom. Much more pleasant than regular toilet paper as far as comfort and cleanliness. Note that some reviews of wet wipes result in pain or rashes due to allergic reactions. The Cottonelle dispenser works better and the wipes are a bit sturdier.
Thermos Nissan Bottle ($22, Amazon 4.5 stars, 340 reviews)
Keeps hot drinks hot and cold drinks cold, has a few different sizes, can be operated with one hand, extremely easy to clean. I left coffee in it for over an hour and it was still too hot to drink. Can be tossed in a backpack or briefcase on the go.
Is there a thermos that will keep my tea hot for 3 hours but let me drink from it without unscrewing something every time I want to take a sip? Does the Thermos Nissan Bottle do that?
I haven't tested it for 3 hours. The reviews state it can keep drinks hot 5+ hours. The spring-loaded top flips up by pushing a button, which is what allows it to be one-hand operable. A small metal latch locks the button when you don't want it to accidentally flip. Unscrewing is only done to fill or clean the container.
Purchased!
Microsoft Natural Ergonomic Keyboard 4000 ($35, Amazon 4 stars, 1,289 reviews)
Split keyboard with enlarged keys, the whole setup built for the proper hand and wrist position. I'm still getting used to it, as it's a big change from a more 'normal' keyboard, but I'm really liking it, and it feels like it's improved my typing speed above my normal 117 WPM, though I haven't tested yet.
I've used a Kinesis Advantage for 6 years now. Also an amazing keyboard for ergonomics.
Lots more ergonomics recommendations on LW here.
I want to second this. The Kinesis Advantage solved most of my RSI problems.
It's not just that it's a split keyboard. It's things like having depressed keywells with each vertical row at a different height to match your fingers. Having control and alt under each thumb solved the "emacs pinky" problem for me.
I use one of these also.
The important thing about this one is that its Insert/etc. and arrow keys are in the proper arrangement: Insert/Home/PageUp on the top row, Delete/End/PageDown on the bottom row, and arrow keys in an inverted T. I refuse to use keyboards that don't do this.
(An unopened Natural 4000 is currently sitting behind me; I'll upgrade when my Natural Pro wears out.)
I have this keyboard as well, and I love it. I've used a natural keyboard for many years now, but I still remember my first time. It took me about an hour to get used to it, and after that I was addicted. I hate using a flat keyboard now! One thing though: I've read that if you don't type with ten fingers, these keyboards don't do anything for you and may even be worse than a flat one.
How about mechanical keyboards?
Uber.com (hassle-free taxi service)
I'm in a big city, and I need a taxi. So first I have to find the number of a taxi company. Then I have to call and talk to somebody who barely speaks English and repeat the pickup address to them 5 times. When they arrive, they call me back, and then I cram into a cab without enough room for my long legs. When we arrive at my destination, I have to calculate the tip and then dig out some cash or wait for a credit card to process.
Uber.com skips all that hassle. If I were to forget how taxi companies do work and just imagined how they should work, I'd basically imagine Uber.com:
It is more expensive than a regular cab service; you'll have to decide if the convenience is worth it.
Pricing information for San Fransisco.
Uber is running a "refer a friend" promotion. If you're interested in using Uber, make sure they know Luke referred you. According to the website, he'll get $10 per referral.
Note that pricing varies by city; you linked to SF pricing.
I just updated my link to uber.com above so that it includes my referral code; thanks for pointing that out.
Ah, quite right. Updated my post to reflect that.
You're welcome.
In most places I think it's unnecessarily costly for the small added value. But in SF, I'm really not sure how else you're supposed to get a cab without budgeting a half-hour on top of your travel time to flag one down.
Uber just announced hybrid cars rather than town cars, with pricing basically identical to normal SF taxis. Should be great once it gets into wide release, right now it's not actually available.
Mold-free coffee+grass-fed butter+MCT oil. (You have to buy the ingredients separately.)
Gives me a feeling similar to when I take adderall.
Some coffee, butter, and oil gives you a similar feeling to amphetamines? I don't suppose you've blind-tested any of it?
No.
I have no experience with Adderall, but when I tripled my fat intake, I did notice diminished mind-fog before I knew people claimed it had positive cognitive effects.
BP coffee is way better for me than other caffeine intake methods, and makes me not hungry as well as full of energy. It's just a shame that I hate coffee.
You know, you could just do butter tea... :)
That sounds disgusting to me. Is it a serious suggestion? :P
Totally serious. I do prefer coffee for mTOR impacts, particularily in combo with exercise/intermittent fasting, but tea has it's own set of benefits. Butter Tea
I've switched to butter tea but it's not as obtainable on-the-go, and also has less caffeine.
I'm debating just using starbucks VIA packets, but Dave would probably claim those have higher risks of mold :/
The official "bulletproof coffee" beans I received had no aroma and little taste. So although the idea is sound, I wouldn't recommend the beans themselves (perhaps I got an old batch, and I did feel fine after consuming). The guy selling/promoting is recommends traditionally wet-processed coffee beans in general. I found Peets "Ethiopian Fancy(Whole Bean)" mail order to be superior in taste and freshness. Their in-store beans are refreshed weekly.
I wonder why not high quality cream or whole milk instead of butter. That said, I am tolerating the taste/feel of unsalted butter (+MCT) in my espresso, and the energy+satiety is nice.
For one thing, butter works ok for people like me who are lactose intolerant, whereas milk would not.
I have an entire travel set dedicated to BP coffee. Make sure you blend, and don't forget the MCT oil.
1) Hario MSS-1B Mini Mill Slim Coffee Grinder
2) MSR MugMate Coffee/Tea Filter
3) Cuisinart Smart Stick Blender
4) Lock and Lock 10.8 oz butter container
5) Blender Bottle
6) GoobTube - to hold MCT oil in
I've noticed blending makes a huge difference, but is it really neccesary to preheat the blender? I'm not even sure how I would do that conveniently.
I never preheat my blender (but note, I'm using a stick, immersible style blender) And the way to preheat would be to make extra hot water and dump it in the blender.
My family and I recently moved homes. We used the Pods company service, and were satisfied. Basically, they deliver a shipping container to your driveway, you load it, they put it on one of their trucks and deliver it to your new place, whereupon you unload it. For us, it was just the right balance between doing-it-yourself (cheaply) and paying someone else with a competitive advantage to do a service. Anyway, they showed up on time and did what they said they would do.
Index funds are the best way to invest in the stock market because they offer cheap diversification. Beware, however, sometimes funds labeled as index funds really aren't.
Vanguard invented the index fund philosophy; they have some of, if not the, lowest administration costs; and they are owned by their fund shareholders. I second the recommendation.
Any thoughts on getting globally diversified with index funds, and verifying said diversification? It's not trivial, since some index funds, especially international ones, are heavily biased towards one category of company. A "China fund" composed only of state-owned enterprises is not nearly as diversified as it could be.
Excellent question.
The Vanguard 500 index fund buys each stock in proportion to its market capitalization, which gives you optimal diversification among these stocks. To the best of my knowledge there is no easy-to-follow mathematical formula for diversification across countries especially given exchange rate risks. Also, you probably shouldn't use passive investment vehicles (like index funds) for investing in corruption-ridden financial markets such as China's.
But you probably should invest internationally and use the index approach when investing in stocks in rich countries. Although given the international nature of the 500 biggest U.S. companies (which the Vanguard 500 index fund consists of) you do get a lot of international diversification when you invest in it. If you are a relatively small U.S. investor it might not be worth it to invest in non-U.S. stocks, but I'm not sure about this.
Vanguard provides VGTSX (Total International), which attempts to invest in non-US markets in a balanced and diversified manner. I consider an international fund crucial to maintaining diversification, though many people feel it's too volatile. It was the only thing I found in all my reading where people had widely varying opinions with no true consensus, in which case you should go with your risk tolerance.
Thoughts on this compared to the Vanguard target date retirement funds?
When using a date fund, it's harder to attain your target asset allocation if you have any other retirement savings. I'm currently in VEMAX (emerging markets) and VTSAX (total stock market), along with Wilshire 5000 and EAFE (Europe-Australia-Far-East) from another account. I do the balancing myself with a simple one-page spreadsheet. (25% bonds, 75% stocks (35% international, 65% domestic)). All of my bonds are medium term US government securities. Date funds do the rebalancing for you, but they don't take into account your other holdings, nor your personal risk tolerance.
How frequently do you re-balance?
I alter the percentages mainly through new contributions, so it gets tweaked every month, though I do a buy/sell rebalance once a year.
(Warning: contains a naive request for free advice. Feel free to ignore.)
I may be "retiring" from the Canadian public service, with a bit of a cash buyout and (I assume) some of the money from my pension fund.
Is this something I could consider?
Yes. Also, the longer you expect to live the more money you should put into stocks. Because of the relatively small size of the Canadian economy you shouldn't put too high a percentage of your assets into Canadian securities. All of your investments in the U.S. stock market should be through index funds.
Don't forget the tax consequences of your investments.
Given how much time so many people spend using pencils it's strange that few of us "invest" in high-end ones.
My usual rationale for not doing so is I am very likely to lose it before getting my value out of it.
The last time I tried to invest in a pen, finding one that would securely hook onto a long dogtag chain attached to my personal schedule / notebook weighted a lot higher than quality.
If you have the time and money it's a great way for most people (although about 25% of people don't respond to the treatment) to increase their human capital and mitigate conditions such as depression and ADHD. You need to find a local provider and it would be dangerous to buy the equipment yourself and do it on your own.
It might not work to do it on your own (EEGs are hard to hook up to yourself), but it's not physically dangerous to do your own EEG neurofeedback. There are several companies selling consumer level EEG headsets.
Neurofeedback changes your brain waves and (as I'm sure you would agree) not all changes are improvements. A change that might make one person more focused could cause another to become highly anxious.
As we see with stimulant use.
True, but there are far more meaningfully different ways to administer neurofeedback than stimulants.
Given a decision to take Addreall, for example, it would be trivial for someone of average intelligence to look at Wikipedia and figure out a good dose. In contrast, after deciding to do neurofeedback, how you should do it is extremely complex.
I suspect that this recommendation will be redundant for many or most of LessWrong, but let it be repeated: buy a good basic multitool and keep it where you can easily find it. Better, buy a couple of them and keep them (say) in your car, in your desk at work, and at home.
Sometimes you need exactly the right tool for the job. However, for many simple tasks, and for any emergency, the simple tool immediately at hand is much more useful than the ideal tool which would take time and effort to retrieve.
What would you recommend?
I have a Leatherman Squirt E4, which is never the right tool for the job, but always available, and complies with UK knife laws. I also have very good experiences with the Leatherman Wave, but don't carry it around as a matter of course for aforementioned knife-law reasons.
I understand some enthusiasts get very emphatic about this issue, but I can only speak to my own very limited experience. The tool immediately to my hand now is a Leatherman PST, easily about ten years old or more and still not showing many signs of age. As I understand it, it's the very basic original Leatherman model. It's paid for itself many times over in simple ready convenience and utility. I see there are some very fancy and complicated multitools around. I have no comment about those, as I've never used them. I would say that my comment was based only on my experience of often needing quick access to a variety of screwdrivers, or pliers, or a bottlecap opener, or wire cutters, or the knife. (I personally haven't used the file very much if at all.)
I don't have any knowledge of UK knife laws, but the thought of them saddens me, because a knife as a basic tool is useful in so many, many ways. The number of times in which I've been imminently inclined to use my knife as a stabbing weapon in real life has been exactly nil (it wouldn't have been practical in any case -- the Leatherman is hardly a switchblade. For legal defensive purposes, you might be just as well off carrying a sharpened wooden pencil) but I've been happy to have the power to cut inanimate objects uncountable times.
I personally don't think UK knife laws are all that bad. You can carry a <= 3" blade, provided it folds. If it's non-folding, or if it's lockable, you count the full length. Most full-sized Leatherman blades are longer than this limit when unfolded and locked.
(You can carry bigger blades than this, provided they're legitimate to your work/activities and/or they're stored sensibly. If you're a tradesman with a multitool on his belt you're exceedingly unlikely to have any trouble. If you're at a football match, possession of a knife would be treated a lot more seriously)
Dropbox (2gb for free, 50gb for $99/yr, 100gb for $199/yr)
Maybe this is too obvious to mention, but Dropbox rules.
Sync files between your computers and smartphone. Share photo albums and specific files with the public. Very easy to use. Way better for project management than emailing different versions of files back and forth a million times. Recover files you deleted weeks ago. Also see: 62 things you can do with Dropbox.
Ironically, for me, paying for Dropbox is a really bad idea. One of my main uses for Dropbox is sharing files - copyrighted files, usually, especially with the Research page's various requests that I have fulfilled. Knocking out one Dropbox account knocks out all its files, so I want to spread files over as many Dropbox accounts as possible. Paying for extra space just increases the temptation to put a great many eggs in the one basket.
(Of course, no actual problems have popped up over the past years I've shared files on Dropbox, so there's no point in having too many accounts; right now, I just shift Dropbox accounts every year or two. It is a real problem, though. My favorite Vocaloid music site, mikudb.com, recently saw its main uploaders' account on MediaFire disabled, which broke the availability of ~1300 albums.)
EDIT: these days I don't use Dropbox as heavily as I used to, as I am more comfortable with hosting files on my own website: the bandwidth bills are not as bad as I feared, and experience has shown thus far that I don't need to worry about legal reprisals as long as I'm not dumb about it. I still split my uploads over 10 accounts, though, and rotate.
I looked at both Dropbox and SugarSync for unattended backup purposes (5GB free for sugarsync vs 2GB for dropbox) and went with Sugarsync, because I did not want to think about copying stuff to my dropbox. Plus it already had an android client at the time I evaluated the options, so all my mobile data I care about would automagically appear on my desktop. The downside for Linux users is that it requires an alpha-quality add-on.
Back when I used SugarSync for lots of data, the client software kept crashing. It was also harder to setup.
Recent competitor from Google: https://drive.google.com/start
Google is cheaper per gigabyte, but in my opinion is not as convenient to use (yet).
Google drive terms of use are horrid for now.
From what I understand, this isn't actually the case. When Google Drive was first release there was a lot of buzz about it's terms, but this comparison with the terms of other similar services shows that there isn't much difference between any of the major online backup/sync service providers.
Dropbox is currently more reliable. I've had Google Drive lose a file, fail to move a file from one folder to another, and crash multiple times on my Windows machine.
This is the best roundup I found on cloud storage so far: http://www.theverge.com/2012/4/24/2954960/google-drive-dropbox-skydrive-sugarsync-cloud-storage-competition
My opinion after experimenting with many of the aforementioned services? You can get potentially infinite storage using InSync and simultaneously managing as many Google Drive accounts as you like on the same computer.
InSync's biggest problem is that once it finishes the beta stage, you will have to pay a one-time fee to continue using it. I think it is worth it given the infinite amount of space it offers.
An alternative would be Dropbox. You start with only 2GB, which is too little, but there are many ways for you to get free space. You can invite friends, play Dropquests, upload camera pictures and participate in public beta testing. I now have 26 GB, all for free.
For those concerned about the security of storing your information online Spider Oak is a service worth considering. Their zero-knowledge policy ensure that—by design—they cannot access the data you store on their servers. Your data is encrypted on your computer and then sent to their servers (they don't have access to your private key).
Benefits:
Downsides:
Given the downsides, I use Spider Oak for backup and sync exclusively while also using a free 2 GB Dropbox account to take advantage of all it's awesomeness.
I'm a hacker/computer security expert. I use DropBox for low sensitivity files (it sync's far faster, and has better integration) and SpiderOak for more sensitive data.
You can get some 5.2GB free with dropbox - first they have a few small"quests" giving 0.2 extra. But then they also gave you up to 3GB more if you synced photos from mobile to dropbox (did this then removed the photos to get extra non-picture storage space).
Why wouldn't you use actual version control software, like svn or git?
Probably because Luke isn't a programmer and many of the people he works with would get confused by actual version control. Too much version control just gets in the way for some purposes.
Mind you the primary dropbox folder that he has shared with me (for LaTeX publishing stuff) actually contains a git repository which I use to share with the other publishing guys. I find that the extra complexity involved with git over dropbox is definitely worthwhile for things like working on templates but perhaps less useful for the routine stuff. Then for some use cases dropbox's (lack of) access control options just can't work for us.
Spotify Premium ($9.99/mo)
There is one annoying hitch, but I have a solution. For whatever reason, Spotify doesn't let you clear your play queue. (The world is mad, and all that.) The solution is simple: (1) Create a new playlist called 'Clear play queue', (2) add only this track (one second of silence) to that playlist, and (3) double-click the 'Clear play queue' playlist whenever you want to clear your play queue.
If you don't need mobile streaming (phone/tablet), you can go with the Unlimited service at half the price ($4.99/mo) for the same library and features to any computer.
If you use Right-click, Queue, instead of double-click, you can delete items from the play queue.
The spotify queue can contain "implicit" and "explicit" items, and you can only remove explicit ones from your queue. (Unless you use the trick I specified above.)
It's also worth noting that spotify lets you easily import your own mp3s, so you don't have to worry about only having access to stuff on their servers, you can listen to a mixture of your own stuff and their stuff on both your computer and mobile device.
Spotify has no radio functionality on Android devices for some ungodly reason. It's a shame, because they have the best radio of any streaming music service I've yet to try (it gives me better recommendations than even Pandora). I think Spotify Premium is worth it despite that, but some may not.
Edit August 9 2012: Spotify for Android now has the same radio as its mobile and PC varieties.
I'm actually really sad they don't have the same radio functonality on my computer as they just added to my iPhone. I agree the radio is awesome. Even if their recommendations weren't as good, the option to immediately add shit to your own "collection" is awesome. Infinite skips, also great.
TaskRabbit. I kept expecting there to be something wrong with it. There just isn't. You set up a suitably-customizable task (I've used it to get groceries delivered and IKEA furniture assembled) and people bid on it trying to hit under your hidden maximum. You pay through the site after they do the job. Lovely bit of economy-flattening.
Is is convenient, but it is too expensive for me. I wanted somebody to pick up cheeseboard for me and the cheapest anyone would do it for was $30-ish.
I think a lot of the price of any task is the coming-and-going, so it's better if you want a bunch of things grabbed/handled than if you just want one thing. We got our dining room table, eight chairs, sofa, bookshelf, and end table assembled for $88 (and that would have included the coffee table too if it hadn't turned out to be damaged when the rabbit opened the box so we had to get it exchanged).
See above recommendation of Exec
Exec. It's TaskRabbit on demand, no bidding, flat $25/hr plus expenses for whatever you need done. (Minimum 45 minutes)
Happy Hacking Professional 2
For something with "hacking" in the name, lacking a numpad, arrow keys, and home/end/etc. is conspicuous. I use those very often in my nerdly pursuits.
I'm quite fond of my Das Keyboard.
Is there any advantage to a keyboard with no labels on the keys besides showing off?
Mine made me learn where all the wacky symbols used in programming languages are, like {. If there's a key on your keyboard that you didn't learn when you first learned to touch type, but you now use, a blank keyboard will force you to learn to type it without looking at your keyboard.
The showing off is probably more important though.
There are some people who can't learn to touch-type until they're forced to (by removing the labels, or other ham-fisted method). For those people, a das-keyboard or a can of spray paint will be a good investment, because their typing speed and accuracy will go up.
A keyboard is, for many of us, the single highest-bandwidth tool we have. Even people who've learned to touch-type will find they learned 80% or so of touch-typing.
It levels the playing field for those who use non-standard layouts.
AutoHotkey
I have been using AutoHotkey to do keyboard remapping for more than a year now. It has given me a very significant improvement in typing speed, but more importantly less strain in my fingers.
I do the following remappings:
I don't necessarily expect that everyone will find these remappings useful, but I expect that everyone could benefit from some remappings.
Seconded. When I was on Windows I used AutoHotKey like a boss.
2nd'd too. I also recommend looking into c't ActiveAid (http://www.heise.de/download/activaid.html). It's a AutoHotkey script collection by the German computer magazine c't, and contains many goodies. The linked page is in German, but the application supports English.
I especially liked it for the excellent Multi-Monitor, Window-Placement, date/time/calendor, notetaking and screenshot support. Most of it is less important with Windows >= 7, but it's still helpful.
I don't care much about typing speed, but I find hitting wrong keys very annoying, so I simply pull off the keys I never use, like CapsLock and Insert. Works equally well on Mac, Windows and Linux, no special software required :)
Oh, I used to do that all the time. Those keys should be relabelled "fuck up whatever it is you were trying to write". Now that I'm a bit better at touch-typing, I don't do that any more, maybe I should (insert still is kinda annoying).
I use AutoHotKey to type diacritics with my US keyboard.
I love PhraseExpress. It basically works like Word's autocorrect, but in all programs. I use it a lot to expand short abbreviations into long text, and to autocorrect typos (e.g. 'kr,.' is converted automatically into "Kind regards, <return><return>My Name", and 'teh' to 'the'). I can use it to quickly enter symbols, too: typing 'kruis,.' for example, pops up a menu with different cross-like symbols: ☓, †, ✚, etc. (kruis is Dutch for cross). It can do more - like remapping keys - but these are the functions I use. You can use it to type diacritics too; I normally use the US International keyboard for that, but there is one annoying program I sometimes need to use where that doesn't always work. PE is free for non-commercial use.
I made the entire numpad the boss key (show desktop). :-D
Wow. You must REALLY like surfing for your unauthorized entertainment!
Visual Understanding Environment
It is free software, with compiled Java binaries ready for download (somehow, not many people like to compile Java source code - neither do I).
I tried various mindmapping tools, but they didn't work quite as I would like. VUE works way better for how I want to use mindmapping.
You can draw arbitrary graphs, not only trees. You can label edges and even draw edges from an edge to another edge. Default rapid prototyping is optimised for drawing trees with a few extra internal edges.
It saves to reasonable XML. I invested some coding time into the problem; now it is sometimes faster for me to outline and export a few pages in VUE than to type them in Vim.
It has some nice tools and some nice shortcuts. I have yet a lot to learn here, but there are many tools that help me to sketch and navigate the mindmaps I draw.
Question: Does it allow you to generate new layouts with the same nodes? Being able to write a new node wherever I want, connect it to related nodes, and then let the program figure out how to place it all is one feature of yEd that I can't quite do without.
There might be other diagram program that let you do that, but I haven't found it yet. Granted, I haven't been looking long.
You can rearange nodes at will, you can select some nodes and ask VUE to rearrange them, you can select one node and ask to rearrange all the rest with this node as root of the rearrangement.
Note that VUE takes into account the order of edge creation when rearranging nodes; if you want it to change the order in which edges go out of some node, you may have to recreate these edges or use some other functionality for this that I haven't yet found
Textcelerator, a browser plugin that hacks your vision to make you read significantly faster. I made it because I really value being knowledgeable, and pre-existing speed reading software wasn't practical. I recently added Textcelerator for Sites, a version that can be embedded into blogs or other pages to enable speed-reading those pages without installing anything.
(Disclaimer: Payware with a free trial; I'm the author.)
What's your take on this article?
http://www.slate.com/articles/briefing/articles/2000/02/the_1000word_dash.html
Personally, I suspect I mostly read at the rate I can comprehend stuff. In other words, I suspect thinking is the limiting factor in my reading, not the rate at which I can shove words through my eyes.
Sure, in some cases you get popular nonfiction books that are so full of fluff that you're best off skimming them (comprehending only a hastily organized slice of the book), but I'd rather just find a denser resource like a summary of the book.
Did you actually try it? You might be surprised. I read the article you linked to at 950wpm (but my unassisted reading speed is only about 350wpm).
So did you have anything to say about the article?
I just tried the demo. I guess it is plausible that word shoving speed is rate limiting, since I had a hard time shoving all the words through my eyes at 700 words per minute, which might improve through training. But I'm wary of using a tool that might hurt comprehension, which seems harder to measure. I remember reading that subvocalizing improves recall for instance, but I doubt you could learn that just by observing yourself.
If you want to optimize your reading, making spaced repetition cards seems like the obvious thing. Why are you reading it if you don't want to remember it? Are you really confident that you remember any significant portion of the stuff you read on the Internet? Shouldn't we be optimizing for facts/habits/models acquired instead of words consumed?
It seemed wrong. It took the observation that most people read at about the same speed, stretched it way too far, and treated it as a given rather than as something to improve on. Then juxtaposed a probably-real example (JFK reading at 1200wpm) with an obviously-fake one (a person who claimed to read 17k wpm), in order to discredit the real example. Then it pulled a definition trick, redefining "reading quickly" as "skimming", and failing to notice that the distinction between reading and skimming is whether or not you skip things.
The more subtle mistake was that it only acknowledged speed-reading software as a training method, rather than as a tool to use for ordinary reading. I don't blame the author for that, since at the time it was written the only tools available were too impractical to use all the time. But fixing that is the whole point of Textcelerator.
Yes, one hour of studying a topic won't give as deep an understanding as two hours of studying that topic, no matter what reading techniques you use; and what we really care about is understanding gained. The thing is, time is usually a limiting factor, and if you're reading faster, then you can use the extra time to read something twice, or read it and reflect, or read it and make flashcards, or read it and also read some related material. Increasing speed by 2x (and that is the sort of speedup we're talking about) is not as good as spending twice as much time reading, but it's worth a hell of a lot.
My own experience - and yes, this is hard to measure and therefore somewhat subjective - is that Textcelerator doesn't significantly reduce my comprehension until I get over 900wpm, but that when reading unaided, if I try to read that fast it degenerates into skimming and I retain very little.
Thanks -- I just tried it. I'm intrigued, and in general always interested in these kind of experiments. Did you base it on some existing research? I use auto-scroll when reading PDFs sometimes, to force-feed me. One of the advantages seems to be that the mind is put under some stress, and less likely to wander off.
BTW, I found that some words go together naturally when reading (say, a book title), and it's a bit confusing when textcelerator splits them.
CrashPlan for unattended sync or backup. Unlimited cloud storage for $50/year. I switched to CrashPlan from Mozy when the latter changed ownership and became unreliable and useless.
I use Backblaze, also $50 per year unlimited. Very simple and straightforward, one machine.
I also use crashplan - to back up my Windows Home Server.
Nozbe is, succinctly, a Getting Things Done (GTD) implementation. The service synchronizes with Evernote, Dropbox and Google Calendar. It has all the core functionality you really need and restrains itself from being too complicated. You can synchronize between a PC or Mac application, an in-browser app, and iPhone and iPad and Android apps.
It's not free but it's very reasonable for what you get. I've been using it for a while, after a long series or attempting other solutions, and I strongly advocate it for anybody looking for an integrated "getting organized" solution.
People interested in Nozbe may want to also investigate Conqu, a similar app but with different design trade-offs. Various things that I find annoying or broken in Nozbe are not that way in Conqu, and vice versa, and the two have slightly different feature sets and UIs. (Notably: Conqu's app works almost exactly the same on all platforms (given a large enough screen), vs. Nozbe's many slightly different apps.)
Conqu is also cheaper on an individual basis, and can be used for free in an unlimited fashion on any single device: you pay only if you want to be able to sync between devices and email yourself tasks.
I tried Nozbe and I liked it. I also tried ToodleDo, and I liked it even more. These are probably the top two to-do list apps our there.
This trigger point tutorial and the Trigger Point Therapy Workbook for chronic muscle pain, including RSI. Looks to me like a genuine case where mainstream medicine has not caught up with what alternative-ish therapies can explain and heal. This guy's site looks like an incredibly well-documented resource for all kinds of chronic pain.
I had bad RSI (wrists/shoulders) and back pain at various times in my late 20s. Physical therapy and other conventional treatments (thanks for the Vioxx scrip!) hardly helped. I'm still unsure why I got better, but resting and acting like an invalid for more than a few months is probably wrong.
Suction cup phone windshield holder
If you use your iPhone for music in the car this thing is indispensable. I've used 4 different car mounts and this has been the most convenient to attach and change positions of, as well as the one to go the longest without breaking. The bendy arm makes customizing where it is super easy. The gripper isn't precisely engineered to fit the shape of my phone like some others are but this means that it works a lot better with cases and should theoretically work better with various kinds of phones, and still grips in a perfectly satisfactory way. I've never had my phone fall out.
On a related note I strongly recommend getting bluetooth interface for your phone if you get or make calls in the car often.
12/17/2010 is when I ordered it from Newegg, for reference. It's still going strong with no sign of suction cup failure. Though the gripper appears to be slightly misaligned these days.
Might I recommend StikK or Beeminder for goal commitment?
In the vein of "Things I Didn't Know I Wanted": an iPhone. I didn't know I needed a smartphone until I got one. It has improved my life, in many small ways that I had trouble predicting. Example: I no longer have to plan anything when I'm leaving my apartment, because I know I can look up whatever I need using my phone.
The iPhone in particular is very well-thought out. For example, they aren't including support for 4G LTE until they invent a new battery that will still last all day while connecting to 4G LTE. My friend just got a leading Android phone that has 4G LTE, but it runs out of battery after 6 hours.
I would recommend checking whether it is well-thought in the area you do care about.
I was surprised to find out that you cannot easily save PDF from a webpage to reliably keep it on the phone forever; it will be subject to cache retention policy. There are more obvious limitations, of course. Nobody is free of mistakes, so check what is obviously important for you in the specific device you are going to use.
Honestly, that's because PDF is not well-thought-out.
Sorry? The problem equally applies to HTML and to everything you can read online. Also, PDF is well thought-out as a format with specific purpose. If you want to know exactly an for sure what the reader will see, you could use PDF and succeed or use HTML and make the existing problems of Web worse.
I really wish I could agree with you, but I've read parts of the specification of the pdf file format. Perhaps the goal was well-thought-out, but certainly the format itself is not.
Ignoring the barrier to entry involved in competing with a de facto standard like .pdf, are there any viable alternatives available?
Choosing to use PDF to distribute text (or text-and-images) on the Web today does seem like a pretty silly idea. PDF favors exact reproduction of a paper-based layout over readability on the user's device; and that's the opposite of what's useful if you're trying to get a message across to many users.
But, given that PDF is out there, it's pretty useful for a mobile device to be able to deal with it competently.
As usual, there is an app for that. Dropbox, another product on this list, has an excellent iPhone app, which (among many other things) lets you save your PDF in permanent storage, and automatically sync to your computer with no extra effort.
I've been disappointed in minor ways with my iPhone, but nothing was significant enough to withhold a very strong recommendation from me. (Android is another story. Android devices are still very useful, but the difference in quality of experience between an Android device and an iPhone is like night and day.)
Well, as for me, when I had a chance to hold iPhone for a few minutes, it lowered my perception of Apple from "high-quality, somewhat restrictive, expensive" to "overpriced, unpredictable quality". What their browser did with saving PDFs was one of the things.
I do use a PDA, though - n810 from Nokia (custom GNU/Linux distribution by Nokia inside), I use bluetooth integration with two different (different operators) phones, in many things PDA helps a lot - but iPhone specifically striked me as an overall poor product.
Given that Apple doesn't allow apps to fix every quirk, even "there is an app for that" doesn't help. Why would I want a device that doesn't run OpenOffice/LibreOffice?
There is quite a bit of variance in quality among Android devices. Personally, I would take a Samsung Galaxy Nexus over an Apple iPhone.
I was pretty late on the smartphone bandwagon. The only reason I got it was to be able to use Anki on the go. Now I use about a dozen apps and get an enormous amount of value out of it.
Really? If you were referring to the iPhone, my experience is this. PDF links open by default in the browser, which copy only exists as a temporary cache. However, the window includes an "Open in iBooks" button, and using it saves a permanent copy to iBooks. iBooks is an Apple app that comes with the phone. There's also an "Open in..." button letting you save it to any app that has indicated it is able to handle a PDF -- I also have GoodReader.
Yes, it was on iPhone (specifically iPhone 1) and the owner said that he is disappointed by the situation and knows no solution. Maybe Apple fixed this problem later among some others like copy-paste.
I started with the iPhone 4. So there's the solution to his problem: upgrade, and experience wonderful new worlds of just-worksness!
Unfortunately for Apple, I already own an n810, and my expectations of the device willing to work in a sane-from-my-POV way, not "just work somehow" are heightened well beyond anything an Apple product can ever provide.
Clarification: I know, what I call sanity is a minority wish, and I am simply not using any devices that actively work against it.
My original point was that it is not like excellence is the driving idea of iPhone; releasing right-hand-only iPhone4 has shown that not much has changed.
Also, a device with a more-than-400MHz-CPU, more-than-128MB-RAM and more-than-1GB-storage that cannot run OpenOffice/LibreOffice without fighting what manufacturer did doesn't "just work".
NeoFinder ($40, but the trial version will probably do what you want, for free)
I spent months trying to find a program that would keep an updated index of the files on my two (very large) NAS drives so I could search them as quickly as I search with Google. I tried almost a dozen programs and Mac hacks, and none of them worked even though several of them should have worked in theory. And then I found NeoFinder, and it worked perfectly. Now I can finally search my NAS drives without waiting 30 minutes for each search to finish.
Hopefully I have now saved at least one person several months of searching. :)
For windows, I use X1 Desktop search.
ComfortTech Thinsulate micromink blanket ($84 king, $70 queen, $70 twin)
I will probably never buy a bulky comforter/duvet for myself ever again. This is lighter, easier to clean, just as warm, and so much softer. Girls love it.
There are probably lots of options in this space; this is just one that I personally own and love. I've also heard good things about the cutely (or grossly) named Vagisoft blanket.
Tasker (Android app)
Lets you automate many activities on an Android phone. You define a context based on various conditions (e.g. connected to a Wifi network, using certain cell towers, phone spatially oriented a certain way) and various actions to perform upon entering and exiting that context. You can set variables and condition upon them, there is flow control for actions, customisable home screen widgets and shortcuts, and many other neat functions.
Some examples of tasks I use / am pondering:
There's a wiki with lots of downloadable setups you can experiment with for neat results.
I haven't tried Tasker, but I used Llama for this same purpose, with excellent results. Here's a comparison of the two apps. As of July, 2012 both apps have the same rating on Google Play (4.7 stars).
Hmm, seems to be a few remarks on how Tasker is tricky to use. I haven't tried Llama, but I didn't find Tasker particularly difficult to get to grips with. Anyone with some programming experience should definitely find it easy enough.
I just got the toggle button for call forwarding set up yesterday. Now a process that used to be annoyingly cumbersome and take 30 seconds every time I arrived at or left work is a breezy two-taps that leave me feeling satisfied with myself for having set it up.
E-book readers such as the Kindle
I use mine way more often than I originally expected. The low weight means I can have it in my bag by default. A lot of content is available in e-book format and it's easy to get onto the device. Reading lengthy articles on it makes me less likely to get distracted by links, email, etc.
The unexpected killer feature for me was that you can use it one-handedly. I've been carrying my sleeping daughter and reading at the same time for hours - that would have been impossible or at least prohibitively uncomfortable with a book.
I'm planning to try this way of making a standing desk. Only $22, plus a bar stool or something, because I don't think I can stand all day, especially in the beginning.
Echoing the speedreading recommendations here I have some for consuming content at high speed in general.
Specifically educational Audio and Video content (this does not make much sense for enjoyment listening/watching *)
After some training I can easily listen to books at 3x (noting that professionally read books tend to be read on the slow side to start with). Watching video technical lectures at 2x.
There are several tools for this that I use. Audible app for iPhone (and probably Android) allows 3x in the most recent version.
For video I use AVideoHD on the iPad (for any downloaded videos) and on Mac/PC I use MySpeed from http://www.enounce.com/ for YouTube and other streaming video sources. Works great up to 3x, except that some sites can't keep up with that speed.
The nice thing about this optimization is that it requires very little willpower: the brain seems to adjust to higher speeds quite naturally (of course I recommend making the jump slowly, I remember distinctly 3x sounding like gibberish).
Now that I've been using 1Password for over a year (probably closer to two), it's become indispensable.
Although it's on the expensive side, I would say its worth every penny. 1Password can store all your passwords, as well as notes and other information like passport, bank account, credit card etcetera. It also has a password generator which I use every time I sign up to a new site/service. With 1Password on my phone, tablet, computer, and in my Dropbox, I have access to all my passwords and other important documents anywhere. They also make plugins for all major browsers that make using 1Password on your computer remarkably easy.
It has simplified a previously annoying part of my digital life, while also making it more secure.
I also consider a password manager essential. I use KeePass, which isn't quite as full featured, but is free/open source (FOSS) and has clients for everything except iOS.
I haven't tried 1Password, but can recommend LastPass unreservedly.
$30 Doorjam pullup bar - a few repetitions per week makes a big difference and take little time or energy. Better design than the old in-doorway bars. Should be prophylactic against hunched-forward computer posture, and helps me feel better in a way that volleyball and soccer don't. I used to gym-weightlift regularly but found it too demoralizing (to approach personal limits and then injure yourself is silly).
I've been thinking about one of those pullup bars, but I'm terrified at the idea of tearing the door frame off and having it and the steel frame come crashing down on top of me. Is this a valid concern?
Sparrow
For those who like using native email applications (like Apple Mail etc.) but are frustrated that they don't integrate well with Gmail, Sparrow for Mac and iPhone (an iPad version is currently in development) is something you should definitely check out (they have a Lite version on both platforms). Sparrow provides the best Gmail experience in a native app I have found. The UI is very clean and well thought out. Another nice touch is it's Facebook and Gravatar integration (for contact pictures) and Dropbox integration.
All in all, it's a pleasure to use.
What's a "gmail experience"? Gmail exposes both pop3 and IMAP (and iCal for Google Calendar), any MUA (mail user agent) can work with it and provide any experience it wants.
Gmail provides many “non-stnadard” features like labels, starred, priority inbox, conversation threads, all mail etcetera, that aren't part of the IMAP standard. That's what I mean by “Gmail experience.”
This may be true, but Sparrow is the only client I have found that provides the experience I want: Gmail in a native app.
In my experience some clients do some things well (e.g. Mail seems to have conversation threads working really well) and there are tricks to getting other feature to work (like create a smart folder that looks for all flagged messages, which would be the equivalent of Starred). However, with Sparrow you just provide your Gmail credentials and everything just works.
FreeMind
Free mind mapping software.
Readability (free web service)
Turn any web article into archived text for later reading on any system you have Readability installed (clients for all major OSes and mobiles, including send-to-Kindle). It also reformats pages into plaintext for easier reading. Competitors: Instapaper, Pocket, and Safari's Reading List.
Google Reader (free web service)
RSS feed reader with numerous features, including sharing to other services, starring of interesting articles, and folders for feed sorting. I use this far more than any other web application, as I'm constantly reading things from across the web, and Google Reader is the best way of aggregating all the new content from many websites into one place and presenting it in an easy-to-read list, along with knowing how many new articles are there today and not missing a thing. I even subscribe to individual feeds from LW, such as particular users I don't want to miss comments from.
Google Chrome (free web browser)
A web browser to replace Microsoft Internet Explorer, Apple Safari, or Mozilla Firefox. Provides bookmark, password, extension and tab syncing across systems, is very fast and standards compliant, has built-in Flash and PDF readers, silent auto-updates, has lots of new technology and is pushing forward the boundaries of web browsing while staying more secure than the competition. I use this application more than anything else installed on my systems. Based on the open source Chromium.
Thank you for posting this. I'm a long time Firefox user but lately I've been curious about Chrome. Your recommendation gives me the impetus to try it.
Netflix ($8/m streaming, $8/m DVD-to-door)
Internet streaming movies and TV, including many back-seasons of popular shows, and absolutely no advertising. It also has one of the most advanced recommendation engines for finding new media. Can ship DVDs to your door with free return shipping if they don't have an item available for streaming (starting at $8 extra a month). Serves me much better than a cable subscription.
Wikipedia (free)
Wikipedia is a compendium of human knowledge, edited by anyone who cares to contribute. It has articles covering everything people might want to know about, including references to source material for further reading. Its goal is to become an authoritative encyclopedia.
Newegg (web store)
Newegg is a store for computer hardware and electronics, and is expanding into other areas. Extremely fast shipping, excellent customer service, good prices, extensive pictures and tech specs on every item, and a wonderful user rating system provide more info about a product than most sites. I look here first when looking for any product computer-related, except cables and adapters, which is what Monoprice is for.
Microsoft Security Essentials (free antivirus)
Windows antivirus straight from Microsoft. Back in the day, Norton was the best, but it became slower and slower, and is now one of the primary causes of computer instability and slowness. I then used free services like AVG until they started being far more pushy and annoying. I stopped using AV altogether until Microsoft came out with MSE. It's extremely lightweight, as I've never noticed it slowing my system down, and it provides as good or better virus protection than the competition as shown in independent reviews.
Seconded. I used to use Avast, when I set up my new PC I asked a friend which antivirus to use, and he suggested MSE. I thought he was kidding.
But it turns out Microsoft actually have a pretty excellent antivirus solution here. It is totally nonintrusive - I'm less aware of it than any of the other ones I have used (Avast, AVG, Norton) and it just quietly does its thing. Recommended.
Apparently, Norton is no longer slow and MSE no longer offers effective protection: http://www.av-test.org/en/tests/home-user/marapr-2012/
You can also check out av-comparatives.org for further antivirus tests but it doesn't test Norton nor MSE.
I am not going to make any recommendations. Just regularly read the latest reports from av-test.org and av-comparatives.org and use the product that consistently produces good protection.
Kindle 3G Keyboard E-book reader, but get this one for traveling - this provides backup internet access, practically worldwide. You MUST buy the older "keyboard" version for this. Also fantastic to read books on ;)
Hearos Ultimate Softness foam earplugs Great protection (32NRR), super comfortable. Use these for sleeping.
I use Leight (laser lite, uncorded):
http://www.amazon.com/Howard-Leight-Laser-Earplugs-Cords/dp/B0007XJOLG/ref=sr_1_2?s=hi&ie=UTF8&qid=1341456079&sr=1-2&keywords=leight+laser+uncorded+200
These are definitely much cheaper, and I suspect feel softer, while offering the same alleged protection.
Using a pair of earplugs every night is a huge quality of life difference.
For you personally or for everyone?
It probably will improve sleep quality, but I have yet to run A/B tests and measure it with my Zeo/Fitbit.
I'd be happy to give you a pair of Hearos next time I see you! I also have a few pairs of SilentEar reusable earplugs that I use for airplances or other times that I want to be able to easily insert/remove earplugs.
Etymotic ER-20 earplugs Use these so you can listen to music, go to clubs, ect, and still preserve your hearing. I've probably bought 15+ by now, and keep one in every bag/jacket I own.
Brookstone Napform sleep mask Best sleep mask I've found, soft, you can fully open your eyes while wearing this.
FancyHands Per task virtual assistant service - because outsourcing makes life easier ;)
J/FIT stability balls, for sitting-on - I tried a TKO, but it had a persistent smell that made me nauseous. I can't say yet that I use mine for hours at a time, but it's fun to bounce on now and then, and costs $25 at Amazon. I'm 5'11" and need a 75cm ball to balance properly.
This is not a product recommendation, but a request - it looks to me like trampolines should be large amounts of fun. However, when I tried to look up risk statistics, I found lots of dire warnings and, of course, no numerical annual risk statistics at all, or any attempt to adjust for safer trampolines with surrounding safety netting. My one attempt to calculate risk statistics on my own output a 0.1% chance of an injury requiring hospitalization per year of trampoline use. That's probably more risk than somebody in my position should take on, even for the sake of exercise. Does anyone know of more accurate statistics than this, or a safer trampoline with recorded risk statistics, or have a strong opinion on whether trampolines are safe enough to use?
Aluminum foil. Use a gluestick to put it over your bedroom windows. Now there is darkness, and you can sleep. This made a huge quality-of-life difference to me, and I felt very silly for not doing it 10 years earlier. (A sleep mask, which I previously used, was not nearly as good a solution.)
That doesn't seem optimized for removal, but I also haven't used glue sticks for over a decade. I'd go with duct tape (or masking tape) instead.
Isn't this what curtains and shutters are for?
Wow! that is a great idea. Here I was using blackout cloth and nails... Edit: A friend of mine informs me that this is commonly used by meth labs...and may attract unwanted attention from authority figures?
Empty tissue boxes. Use them to prop up the back layer of paperback books on your double-stacked bookshelves. Now you can see most of the titles of the books in the back row. If you want to upgrade in style, get some 2-by-4s cut to the right length at your local hardware store.
A reading light. It's battery-powered and can clamp onto things. I find it useful for reading in bed, especially when travelling.