Less Wrong Product & Service Recommendations

lukeprog

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.

I have often benefited from recommendations for Things I Didn't Know I Wanted.

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.

With a smartphone, I can:

Find restaurants and bars while out, of a much higher quality as compared to walking into random places
Discover what my friends are up to, without having to rely on them texting/calling me - Foursquare, Find My Friends, Facebook, Twitter.
Not write down addresses or directions
Not be bored while waiting for things
Not forget appointments
Never worry about getting lost
Read news / articles I wouldn't otherwise read (e.g., while on the toilet)
Take photos I wouldn't otherwise take (which create social experiences I wouldn't otherwise have) and get geotags/dates with those photos
Show off my photos to people while I'm out
Write things down when I don't have a notebook (and get geotags/dates with those notes using Evernote)
Take voice memos (and get geotags/dates with those memos)
Read urgent emails I would have missed until I got back to my desk
Listen to music at the gym
Pay with Square (an awesome experience. if you have an iPhone and live in San Francisco, go to Sightglass and do it once. It feels like the future.)
Reference Wikipedia and do Google searches in social contexts
Get alerted when people mention me or my business on Twitter
Check the stock market
Reserve a Zipcar at a moment's notice while out
Track my workouts at the gym (Fitocracy)
When I see a nice house in Palo Alto, look it up on Zillow to see the exorbitant price people are paying. (Also creates fun social experiences.)
Order and pay for food delivery (Seamless)
Order and pay for a taxi (Uber)
Reference subway maps (Embark)
Dropbox in my pocket. Awesome.
A level. That's right. I can level my wall hangings without needing to purchase an actual level.

I'm sure I've missed some stuff. But all these things have improved my life, some in small ways, others in rather significant ways.

FWIW, I've heard many people give your justification for not having a smartphone. Of those who eventually caved, every one (4 or 5 people) said something like "holy shit, why didn't I get this a long time ago?"

Read novels (my main use for smartphones, read 100+ by now)
Listen podcasts and audio books
Record home videos
Listen to radio (when you're curious to why the phone network is down, the electric grid has blacked out and there seem to be awfully many sirens going off outside)
Track routes and speeds of runs using GPS
Play emulated 16-bit console RPGs and strategy games that don't demand much control dexterity
Find out what constellations are currently in the sky where you point the phone
Read barcodes and QR-codes
Photograph signs and pictures and look the

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