What Are Some Things You Regret Buying or Bought but Never Used?

Bose Quiet Comfort II true wireless headphones.

I’d been toying with the idea forever. My earbuds are old, a little bulky, have some connectivity issues when one disconnects and it takes a lot of fussing to get them reconnected. So I decided to spend the money.

I get them from B&H. I get home, put them in, one of them has some sound issues—but other than that, the sound and fit were perfect. Like, they were my glass slipper. They fit perfectly, the seal was perfect, they wouldn’t ever hurt my ears after extended use…I was shocked.

But.

Having issues with one, I started messing with them, seeing if could get support or troubleshoot. Of course the first thing in the box is a QR for their app. Now, I never fuck with physical products apps. If I need an app, chances are I won’t use your shit. But I really wanted these to work, so I go to the app, and dig through the privacy policy.

Two addenda later, they’re trying to get me to sign the most obscene privacy policy ever. Listen to/record everything I play, collect a profile on me, listen to any ambient noise around the microphone, and weirdly, “map my head shape and movements?”

I deleted that app as quickly as I could. So I go to their support page on their site. Get into a chat with their customer service bot. It says, “replying to this message is agreement to our privacy policy.” So I open the link, read it…it kinda seems reasonable. Just talking about using my chat responses for training, standard. But then THREE layers of addenda deep I find here trying to get me to sign THE EXACT SAME FUCKIN POLICY.

I ran those fuckers back to the store. But not before trying to get someone on the phone about the legal matters. Yeah, nah. They wouldn’t connect me to someone in their legal dept. In fact, the very request seemed to puzzle them to no end.

FUCK BOSE. READ YOUR PRIVACY POLICIES.

Holy shit, was never aware of this. Will stay far away from this brand!

Fuck yeah! Enjoy your lunch!

Is it possible to accept to those terms but disconnect the app from internet access completely so that prevents any calling back to the server? I believe you should be able to run it without internet.

Still a shame that there exists such an invasive privacy policy. I use IEMs when I'm on the go and wired akg k371 when I'm at home.

Well, that’s actually what I was trying to find out. I tried getting their legal dept on the phone because I wanted to be 100% sure I could use those earbuds without ever agreeing to the policy. When they wouldn’t or couldn’t give me an answer, I said fuck them.

They were great headphones. But I didn’t even want to chance that kind of invasion. And I doubt there’d be any way I could be sure of a company clearly willing to violate my privacy so hard would not be collecting that data without my consent. Using their fuckin site was a minefield in itself because they were trying really fuckin hard to get me to sign that policy—not even sign it, just tacitly agree to it by responding to one message in order to get help. Too dicey for my liking.

I tried getting their legal dept on the phone

I don't know if any company would comply with this request, unless you're calling a law firm of course. Lawyers' time is expensive and they don't spend it speaking to end-users. You could try emailing their legal department - they may have a customer service rep that understands the legal side of things.

I would try denying it network permissions (if you're on android) or just simply putting it on airplane mode and disconnecting all network to it.

Your feelings are well warranted. I can't stand how invasive just about every device is these days. From apps to cars.

We live in fucked up times. I don't have the patience to read through privacy policies, so I basically have to avoid buying anything that has any kind of sensor on it.

Well, crap, I love my Bose QC II, but...I didn't read the PP and now I don't want to use them...

I have some QC25 headphones I bought in 2015 and they're still working well, other than having to replace the cushions a few times. No "smart" features, just a regular cable to plug them in. Noise canceling works well and I use it whenever I'm flying somewhere. They take AA batteries which is way more convenient than a built-in battery. I use Eneloops, and once the batteries don't hold a charge well any more, I can just get new ones.

Whoa.

You did not miss much don't worry. I have them as well, their NC capability sucks, and they run a master slave setup meaning the right unit must be present to operate, you can't only use the left unit. I regret buying mine

A gaming chair, one of those that look like racer chairs. It basically destroyed my back, worst purchase of my life

Best advice Ive heard on chairs "Fuck gamer and racer style chairs. Look for something that screams "Im going to fire 3000 people over Zoom in this shit"

Yes lol, whenever someone is asking for a computer chair recommendation, no one will recommend a gaming chair.

Yes! Puffy gloss leather boss chairs ftw! I don't have one right now only because there's no space for another proper workplace in our apartmentsm

Probably because in a real racing seat there's a harness to keep you from slouching. I used to have terrible lower back issues with a Recaro bucket seat I converted for a desk chair. Never had a problem with it driving for hours when it was in my car (may it rest in pieces). Then it dawned on me that the seatbelt was maintaining my posture. Added a lap belt and the back problems abated.

Not only that. A racing chairs is not intended to be good for your back. It has a very different use, it protects you in the case of a crash. So unless you often get into car accidents while gaming, better to buy a chair that is specialised at ergonomics, not impact protection .

And it holds you against lateral G force with the gussets, which isn't necessary sitting still.

To be fair, the gaming chair also holds you against lateral GeForce

I could never get into those. They look nice, but Ive read some damning reviews about how uncomfortable they are.

I kinda prefer the plush office chairs that look more like a couch with wheels.

I learned about the companies selling refurbished Aerons on eBay and picked one up a couple years ago for $400. Love it!

Wait what, say more about used aerons for cheap

You can occasionally find sales or liquidation of office chairs for cheap. You can also buy refurbished chairs from places like Crandall and get basically a new chair with used metal bits for half the price of new.

I remember going to the Tokyo Game Show some years ago. They had some to try out. I was so excited. I expected to sit in it and feel "you are home." Instead I felt "get the fuck off me."

Chairs are one of those things that you need to drop serious money on if you sit more than a few hours a day. Focus on chairs for office work and expect to pay over $1k.

Same but a gaming mouse. I came from a cheap office mouse that was amazing but ended its (long) lifespan. Replaced it and wow this mouse sucks. Yes it has RGB but every single time I scroll with it, it causes my finger to hurt like crazy, which is a REAL problem in this era.

Yep, same. Worst chairs you can buy by a wide margin. Cheapest IKEA chairs is worlds better than the priciest gamer chair.

I had the same experience and ended up donating it to a friend. What I found that was actually comfortable is a $1,400 office chair that I got a good deal on.

I did exactly the same. Even the kids wouldn't sit on it haha

I have a "gaming chair" and I hate it. Still use it though until I can get enough money to get another one.

I bought a Steam Deck so I can play games while on the go. I just kind of forgot I'm never actually on the go, so 90% of the time it's just gathering dust on my nightstand, because I'd rather play on my proper gaming PC when I'm at home.

This is the same reason I've never bought one. I love the concept, they are so cool. I use Linux on my desktop at home and at work. The thought of a powerful handheld Linux gaming PC for gaming on the go is so enticing, and I want to support Valve and the development of proton and gaming on Linux. But in reality I'm rarely "on the go". I read articles on my phone when I'm on the train on my way to work. I watch videos on my android tablet when I'm flying on a plane for work. I have a Nintendo 3DS and an ODroid Go Ultra ARM emulation handheld gathering dust on my nightstand. I'd hate the thought of adding a steamdeck to the pile.

I think you're making the right call. I bought a used Steam Deck and I love it and don't regret it at all, but I think I'm more of the target demographic than you are. I built a PC 15 years ago when Windows 7 was launching and then upgraded it a few years later, and then replaced that with a gaming laptop that's now very outdated. I'm sorta kinda tech savvy; a fucking doofus compared to somebody like you but a goddamn genius compared to most people I meet.

The Steam Deck proved to me that if/when I build a desktop, (and I want that to be soon but I keep getting surprise expenses lol,) then I'm ready to jump over to Linux as my OS. I was thinking Chimera for something that could effectively be a powerful modern Steam Machine with UI similar to Steam Deck, but Nobara looks more versatile for being a full PC instead of being a console that has PC capability. I have more faith in Nobara to be able to run a big project in a DAW like Reaper, plus I want the ability to stream on Twitch or do some basic video editing too, and it seems to be pretty accessible to a long-time medium-level Windows user like me.

Right now, most of my Steam Deck use is on the couch. My wife never really tried Skyrim, so she's playing a file on the PS5 and I lay my head in her lap on the couch and play a different Skyrim file on the Deck. But I also play it on a train or take it with me when I go somewhere overnight. It can't keep up with a modern PC or PS5, but it blows me away that it's a handheld PC that's about as powerful as a PS4. People bitch about the battery, but tweaking a few simple sliders can double or even triple battery life with relatively little compromise. It's amazing but it's a waste of your time and money lol.

I had the opposite happen. I thought a steam deck may help me be more on the go as well, however it just helped me be even lazier in bed...

I just got one and deciding to get one is very situational. I'll sit outside with my dog for hours and I can't bring my desktop outside. For me it's been great. I wouldn't recommend one to someone unless they know when they'll use it.

I thought I'd use it commuting too, but I don't. It's just a little too awkward to bring on my commute.

I purchased it purely as an all-in-one indie game player for the television, that had a nice form factor. Was easy to connect with controllers, and relatively high-end.

I don't really like playing on it's joysticks and buttons, but that doesn't matter when I only really use it docked.

It's nice with a relatively high-end console when on the go. I usually bring a controller along for this, though.

It was expensive, but performs exactly as advertised.

I use my steam deck because I want to play on the couch or in bed or something and I can just instantly start playing when I pick it up. I'll leave it suspended in a game, so I hit the power button and 2 seconds later I'm back to playing.

I got a switch to play games in bed but it pisses off my girlfriend.

I almost never use mine on the go, but I love it for playing on the couch or in a hammock.

A switch. There are a handful of good games but I prefer to play on my computer

It exists entirely for Mario Kart or to keep nieces and nephews busy.

Man I use mine all the time, I have just dance, fitness boxing and ring fit adventure.

So much easier to get up and do some sort of physical activity when it’s a game not a task.

*mario kart is the game that sits on the shelf gathering dust until the nieces come over.

That or Super Smash Brothers.

Man, I use my switch all the time. But I love little metroidvania and smaller indie and single player games. Any time I see something interesting on steam, I'll buy it on the switch if available.

I've also been using it to replay older stuff. The first red dead, the Arkham trilogy, currently going through Nier: Automata again.

I feel like even in your case it would make more sense to buy it on steam and use a steam deck.

But i get it and i want to be as enthusiastic about it as you seem to be. But my switch is also just catching dust. So is my ps5 tbf.

If i could redo my buys, i would 100% go for a steamdeck over the switch and a xbox s over the ps5. Not because it is better or has more games.. just because the money saved would flow into the gamepass and i could use that on my PC too and still have a console to play with my wife once every 2 years. Also games for xbox are generally cheaper for w/e reason.

I bought a steam deck a year ago after realizing that most of my gaming was done on my Switch over my PS4, and I had a backlog of PC games thanks to Humble Bundle purchases over the years.

The amount of times a game I wanted to play was on sale on steam but full price on switch was a big influence as well. I play a lot of rouge likes, metroidvanias, and other indie weirdness, so it's a perfect fit for me.

I fly a lot and the Switch saves my sanity. But I never use it for anything else.

I don't fly a lot, but that's also its main use. I'm on a trip right now, I bought Pokemon just for this trip :)

I’ve got a Switch and I do love it as a machine but those first party titles are so expensive. I’m the kind of person who will never buy games at launch and always wait for them to be reduced. I got it for Christmas and when I went to look at Zelda BotW it’s still £60, and so is Mario Odyssey.

Buy second hand.

In my country first party titles go for $60 and all the way to $90

Second hand prices for these are often between $30 and $40.

And you can always sell those used games, and not really lose much (if any) money in the process.

Ps. Prices will fall even more when Switch 2 comes out next year. Hopefully it will be a repeat of the post-Wii days, where most Wii games were dirt cheap.

I kinda regret buying my 3d printer. Not because it sucks, it's more because it reminds me I don't have any free time to do something this time consuming.

Another one is the cast iron wok. I love my cast iron pans, but the wok is just to damn heavy and it you can't really use it like one would use a normal lightweight wok.

I think most traditional woks are carbon steel, seasoned similarly to a cast iron but much lighter. You could give that a try?

Yeah I asked my family for a wok a few years ago and got this beautiful one that was cast iron and way too heavy. I ended up getting a carbon steel one which was about a third the weight

I have a 3d printer. It used to be a big hobby of mine, but now its just a tool like anything else. I print out practical stuff that i need when i need it, and when the printer is having issues i swear and curse at it like any regular paper printer.

Most recently ive been using it to print out new belts out of flexible filament for my rock tumbler.

I love my 3d printer...when it works. I have a major bed leveling problem from when I was cleaning the bed and forgot to put the plate on so the extruder came down and ripped off the magnetic sheet underneath. Been having problems ever since. I also can't get the damn thing to print petg.

You could look into a carbon steel wok: You can season them like cast iron but they're much lighter.

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I brought a drain snake for 3x the price of liquid drain unblocker and it got stuck in the drain and won't come out.

You need to get a drain snake snake

Or a drain mongoose

a drainaconda

Oh that's unfortunate. Something made to get things unstuck in the pipes gets itself stuck there...

Classic porn plot

Something wrong mitt deine kable?

I had a drain coming from my HVAC get clogged. Figuring I could fix it myself and save a few hundred dollars by not call the HVAC repair, I stuck a pipe snake down there. As soon as it got to the u-bend, it got stuck. A couple of tugs later the head broke off.

This pipe goes from the HVAC in the attic into the upstairs bathroom, then down and out of the house. I knew if the head went down it could result in needing to punch a hole in a wall or ceiling if it got stuck again. So, I cut the pipe on either side of the bend. Sure enough the head of the snake was lodged at the bottom of the U.

No matter what I did I could not dislodge it from the bottom of the u-bend. This is around 7-8 PM on a Saturday. So I race out to the big-box hardware store, because they normally close around 9 PM. And they did not have a single piece of PVC with a u-bend that is the size I needed. And nothing even close. I go to the other big-box store across the street they don't have it either. But I did find the wise old man that works there, I explain to him what happened and what I need. He tells me I need to go to this specialty plumbing store a ways down the highway.

I looked up this plumbing store. They are closed for the day. They are also not open on Sundays. Okay I live in one of the biggest metropolitan areas in the US. There has to be a plumbing store open before Monday. Well there might be, but I couldn't find it.

Now this is Texas in August. There is no way my wife and kids should suffer for two days because of my dumb ass mistake. So I called the HVAC guy. They send some out at like 2 AM and the guy replaces the U-bend and installs a cleanable filter before it, so I can prevent that from happening again. In all a 30 second job that should have cost me nothing, cost me 7 hours of anxiety and $500.

Thank you for sharing this, it didn't disappoint. The die hard efforts we take to save a buck or exercise ingenuity mostly work out but when it comes to the wife and kids I usually throw in the towel.

I'll give you a short story in return in that same vain: woke up to a raccoon on our deck, he was obviously in a pretty bad way. Pacing, frothing, sparse hair, lice. We figured it was rabid and I just wanted to try dropping a brick on it from above or smashing it, but I knew it would've been messy. Went out and bought an $80 trap, set it, but the dang thing just wouldn't go in. Well she wanted her deck space back so ultimately we called someone to remove it, $200. Turns out it had distemper. Now I would've waited until it died and then bagged it up - would've been cheaper but I guess at least we ended its suffering.

I'm about to try un screw the ubend under my sink with 0 plumbing knowledge hoping I can somehow get the snake unstuck.

If it makes you feel better all the u-bends at the big box store were specifically for under the sink, so at least you'll have that going for you.

My Steam Deck and other game consoles, I have the money to buy them as an adult but I found that I have a fleeting interest at best in actually playing video games these days. At least my kids get some use out of them.

I find a lot of things as an adult arent that I dont have the interest anymore, its that I dont have whole days to pour myself into them anymore.

Thats why a lot of dads I know got super into their yard, grilling and camping.

If I have to do this shit for the family anyway, I might as well make this stuff my hobby

Online gaming used to be fun for me in college. Now with kids I have much less time, so getting good at online games is much harder, making loading up Apex legends for 45 minutes and getting curb stomped a waste of my time.

Some games still tick the box for me and make me enjoy gaming again. It's usually not the massive triple A titles anymore, though.

https://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/whats-on/reviews/trying-450-dyson-airwrap-hold-22564616.amp

Games on Steam sales.

I bought so many games on sale after I got my first grown-up job, that just ended up sitting in my library while I played the same 3 games. I bought a Steam Deck 6 months ago and it's been great for clearing out my backlog. I love being able to play games sitting in the recliner instead of at a desk.

Using the Steam refund system more actively has helped me a lot in this regard. At this point I refund about 80% of my purchases - simply because a lot of the games do not engage me after the first 40 minutes.

Dyson Airwrap. There’s a reason you never see professional salons using them.. it’s because they’re just not as good as a traditional hair dryer and other curling methods. I tried everything to get that thing to work and give me a nice style but it just didn’t. I’d use the airwrap attachments to curl my hair and by the time I’d finished, the curls I’d started on would already have dropped out. I couldn’t manage to get a nice smooth blow-dry like I can with a normal hairdryer either.

It’s like a jack-of-all-trades hairstyler. If you’re thinking of getting one I’d seriously recommend investing in a pro hairdryer instead and save your money. I can do my hair faster and my style lasts a lot longer with a hair dryer and curling with straighteners or rollers. I believe they do work for some people, but you have to have a specific type of hair (quite thick, with a natural wave or curl already) and it didn’t work for me. I’ve also had friends say the same thing.

This woman had the same experience as me with it:

I got a friend who wants a shark flex style. Any opinions on that?

None, sorry, I’ve never tried one. It does look marginally better though from what I’ve seen. I think the Dysons downfall is ironically one of its selling points - it doesn’t get hot enough. It’s hot enough to dry your hair without damage, but not enough to make it hold a curl. And apparently the shark one does use more heat. So I’d say give it a go! If your friend is looking for something to curl with I’d highly recommend getting a Parlux hairdryer to get a good smooth blow dry and then a Remington straightener like the Shine Therapy advanced. My last set of Remington straighteners lasted about 15 years. I got new ones last year and they’re the same excellent quality. I’ve tried all sorts of more expensive ones and those are just as good if not better. I can get a full head of lovely bouncy curls that lasts until I next wash my hair with very minimal heat damage. None if I use a good heat protectant (shout out to the tres emme one) You can seriously achieve any style with those 2 tools. Straight and smooth, beachy waves, curls, bouncy blow out. No need for faddy trendy products.

The spousal unit has one and loves it. Does not have naturally curvy or thick hair. It was purchased at a Dyson store where they do all the monogram nonsense and such but they also spent almost 45 minutes with her demoing it and showing her exactly how to do it which she absolutely needed judging from all the corrections the staff kept making to her technique.

So if you have one, go down to the Dyson store where they have the salon built in and get them to demo it on you.

I think even if it gave amazing long lasting results every time, I would probably still think it’s not worth the price. To me anyway, it feels like a clumsy device that doesn’t feel natural to hold or use. Plus it takes forever to do a whole head. I feel like Dyson gaslight customers saying “oh you’re not using it right” or “your hair isn’t right” when in actual fact if you’re paying close to £500 for a supposedly “complete” product then you expect it to at least take some responsibility for how your hair looks at the end of styling it. I’m not expecting it to be like a magic wand and just transform my hair by just existing near my head but surely I shouldn’t need training to properly use it?

But hey, everyone is different and so is everyone’s hair. And if you like it, great! If you buy it and you find you don’t like it then you can always return it.

Most recently, Little Debbie oatmeal cream pies. I used to love the things and they were a nostalgic part of growing up, so I randomly decided to buy a box a few weeks back.

Took two bits of one and threw the whole box away. They were nasty. Chemically tasting, dry, full of little hard bits from poorly milled oats, etc. pure garbage. And this is not a matter of my tastes changing. I remember exactly how those are supposed to be, and the modern version is crap.

I swear hot pockets used to taste better when I was a kid too, but I'm not convinced that it isn't just my changing tastes. Does anyone know? Did they actually change their recipe?

I agree, along with pizza rolls. They all have a chemical taste to them nowadays.

Just like Cadbury cream eggs. Back in the day, every now and then you'd get one where the chocolate didn't form a seal properly and it ruined the interior because the goo dried out. Today, that's just how they make them.

For anyone younger than like 25, who never got a chance to try the good version, it used to be a goo that would run, like you could use your teeth to open up the top of the egg and then drink some of the goo from there (it was very thick, so it would stick to the sides instead of all coming out).

Wow! My sister got me a pack at Christmas 2 years ago since she remembered me loving them as a kid, and they were just as I remembered. I wonder what changed in 2 years, or if you just got a bad batch.

That sounds awful!

Oh my God, right?! They are sooo dry now! I can look past big oats but so dry and some kind of metallic taste even in the cream.

I don't know what happened.

this never happens to me because I'm poor

I've done it with paying for dental insurance but not going to the dentist because I can't afford it.

nice

A cellphone in like 1995. Had if for a few days before realizing I didn't have anyone to call. Returned it not long after.

Same time plus minus one for me. Not only did nobody have a reason to call me (at school). Literally nobody else had a mobile phone.

Bought myself a wireless charger but I never use it because I just plug in my phone anyways cause it's faster.

My last 2 phones stopped charging through the ports. Keep that wireless charger, it may come in handy. Saved me from buying a new phone for at least a year.

Make sure there's no lint and dust compacted in the bottom of the port if you haven't already. It isn't always entirely obvious but it can affect both lightning and USB-C and you can usually get it out with some careful use of a sewing needle.

Yup this is definitely the first thing to check. Unfortunately I think it was my need for bulky un-destructible cases, that bent my charging ports.

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I use one every night. It keeps my phone in a predictable spot, and it always charges fully overnight anyways. It's also less wear and tear on the port.

I also got one and don't use it - used to use one with my previous phone and I'm pretty sure it ruined the battery over time (it causes the phone to heat up which affects the battery). Got another one, this time with a build in fan, but the high pitch noise the fan makes annoys so I don't use this one either.

You can get magnetic plugs now, you just stick a little magnetic dongle in the port and leave it there and then the cord just magnetically attaches to the phone. That way you have the benefit of charging it fast. Plus not wearing out the port

Those things are great because they also act as USB condoms meaning that no data lines are connected when you plug into a public USB port. Quite a benefit when out and about.

You do lose out on fast charging though.

I had one of those, but I work in construction, so I can't use those.

For the wireless charger I got one of those Anker ones that hold it at angle like stand, so I put my phone on it while I'm at my desk. I can look at it and check any notifications that come in without having to pick it up. Saves me from having another cord on my desk.

I got myself a magnetic wireless charger for the nightstand. It's great.

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Drone. A few years ago it's one of the craze that hit the world, lot of people playing with one, lot of youtuber using and talking about it, so i told myself, why not? I bought a cheap one, it can fly pretty okay, has limited range, tried it for a few time in front of my house to get the feel of it, and took it to an open field just to play with it. Turns out, flying it around is such an intense experience, too intense for me due to the fear of crashing it or hurting someone, or both. So the thing is now a dust gatherer.

Perhaps you just need one that's less "intense"? I've got a dji and the thing will just hover in place if I stop paying attention. Most of them these days have obstacle detection too.

That said, once the novelty wears off it is going to collect dust unless you have a particular use for it.

My Steam library

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Cast Iron Pan - I don't cook enough to justify it. Girlfriend at the time thought it was a good idea, and she used it a bunch, but now it's just in the cabinet probably rusting up.

Humidifier - It gets really dry in here and it was recommended as a solution to my dry eyes. But it's a pain to clean and refill, so it mostly just sits there.

Robo vacuum - It wasn't great at navigating the apartment, so I didn't use its auto schedule thing. Then the cat hair overwhelmed it. It is languishing in the closet. I got some use out of it, at least, driving it around like an RC Car, but I ended up buying a more robust manual vacuum cleaner

Damn I'd ask if you are me but I absolutely love my cast iron skillet cause it's the most nonstick pan in my house and I cook plenty. I have 2.

Humidifier, I found it easier to have one of those old school plastic water pitchers next to my humidifier that I can use to fill it up or keep a refill immediately nearby if I know I'm gonna use it all day and a little splash of bleach every now and again actually does a lot for cleaning it out on its own. But it sits empty a lot still.

Shark robo vacuum and Anker's Eufy lines can die by fire. Both suck for completely different reasons and I have wasted so much money and I so wish I hadn't accidentally lit on fire the like 3rd gen iRobot my grandmother gifted me because it was so "dumb" it was the only one that worked.

Confirmed here too. I HATE my shark vac bot. So many reasons and I have two of them unfortunately, each with different problems.

It's insane how full of problems they are and yet how insistent they are that problems are somehow rare.

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I bought a Wii U. Nintendo only made like ten games for it.

And almost all of them were ported to the Switch. Except Xenoblade X, which is the only WiiU exclusive I actually want to play.

Play it on an emulator like Cemu

That's my plan.

Good plan.

Honestly, I got so much fun out of Homebrewing my WiiU. Getting free games, modding them

Interesting, I have one sitting collecting dust, what is this homebrew? What does it do?

If it's an actual question and not sarcasm: Programs developed at home by hobby developers. Not strictly necessary though.
Something like Minecraft and Portal ported to 3DS etc or actually original games created for the platform of choice.

I bought a ps5, managed to avoid the scalpers, only game I played was horizon forbidden west, wish I waited for the pc release. Having the haptic triggers was kinda cool with the bow though, but not 500 bucks good.

laptop controller

Haptic controller?

exactly

Salt and Pepper grinder from a well recommended brand. Was like 80 bucks for the set and it's not better than the ones I get from Sam's Club. Infact it's worse. Disappointing.

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I picked up my friends switch used for 200 buckaroos. I got really into DS emulation and I went really hard on pokemon especially. I was looking forward to BDSP.

The new pokemon games were really anemic. I got some fun out of Mario Galaxy. But it just sits there now. I miss the first party piracy experience. I think also if i had had the ability to easily bring my old school mons (which i still have saved on my pc).

A lot of my wasted money also went toward games for different consoles. Played once or twice and then just sat there.

That's also why I started buying physical copies whenever possible. Sell when not interested anymore.

Back in the early 10's I paid $200 for a year subscription license to Adobe Flash Pro, as I had convinced myself I was gonna learn to use it to produce sprite animations like the ones I grew up enjoying on Newgrounds. Never booted it once.

If you're still up for some animation practice, Blender's grease pencil is fantastic, free, and integrates with the rest of Blender very well

Blender has got to be one of the most hilariously vertically integrated apps I've ever seen. Next thing I'll hear is it can file my taxes.

For a free piece of software it has no right being as good and as easy to use as it is.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thoughts_on_Flash

Flash as an embedded media platform was a blight on browser security. But strictly as an animation tool, it was pretty nifty. You can even use tools like Swivel to render Flash animations to video.

In the year of our lord 2024 there are probably way better tools than Flash ever was to do this sort of thing. But back in circa 2011 it was the best tool of its kind I knew of.

I've still yet to find a vector tool that works as well and easily as the one in flash. It was amazing. Ignoring the security, it was really way ahead of its time.

PSVR - fun for a week but otherwise useless.

I think the story of VR in general. Fun for a few weeks, then great dust collectors

FYI - it might get PC support

The PSVR2, not the first.

Love mine, but a few hundred hours into GT7 and I’m kinda bored. But I think that has a lot to do with the terrible UI more than the gameplay.

Console VR is useless, Sony's first party stuff is not better than any indie.

My headphone pads on a pair of Sony MD7506 were fraying apart, so I bought a pair of $3 replacement pads online. While I was buying those, I noticed a nice looking $30 pair made of sheepskin leather. I bought those, too and figured I'd just use the $3 pair until they inevitably wore out, and then switch to the nice ones. Well, it's been some time now and the $3 pair are apparently far more robust than their forebears. The sheepskin remain in their packaging untouched. One day..

Just switch out to the sheep. Can always switch back later. You deserve it.

Seriously. Don't let the sunken cost fallacy keep you from enjoying something premium that you bought

Skateboard from IKEA. It looks cool, but I still don't skate.

Skätbård

Skattenbarda

Did you have to assemble it yourself?

Does the Pope shit in a hat?... or something

Surprisingly not!

Good decks haven't changed in price for 40+ years. Decent wheels, trucks, and bearings about the same. Unless you want an artist to paint your board, you can get pretty top class gear for about $125. Source: crazy good kid that cares about his board.

Blank decks all day baby

Basically as a grown man... Warhammer.

I love Games Workshop games and the universes, but assembling, painting, putting together an army and finding time for a game is just beyond me. So I have more than a few boxes of good intentions in the cupboard.

I love Games Workshop

It just struck me that I've never heard a fan say that before. It's always "I love the games, but hate GW's cash gouging/trigger-happy legal team/handling of new editions". Have they gotten better in recent years?

No the company is still as money grubbing and manipulative as ever. But I read the novels, I play the videogames and I love their creative works.

They make a great product and then be evil.

My mom won the lottery, small amount but enough to buy some big gifts for xmas for us. She got me a Peleton, and while I love the gym / staying active I hate that damn thing.

That might just be that you don't like stationary bikes? I have a cheap stationary bike that I use multiple times a week, a peleton just seems like an expensive version.

I have one that I use 4 days a week. What don’t you like?

A few dozen boards games, some crazy expensive. The most recent one was the Witcher which was a Kickstarter campaign. I bought a label maker, small zip lock bags, spent a few hours punching out paper tokens and and sorting everything. Haven't played a single game.

It is actually a pretty fun game if you do get a chance to play it!

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i bought some tortillas a month ago, but never got the craving for burritos. I should probably throw them out now...

You can roll any chicken, fish, beef with it. Put some tomatoes and onions in there. Good lunch

Not with month-old tortillas, unless they've been frozen!

Eh depends on the brand sometimes.

Also my vote is for a hummus wrap.

Just an anecdote, but I've definitely eaten those bad boys after several months. I've never been led astray by just checking for mold and giving it a sniff.

This happens to me too often...

Bought a motorized mop attachment for my Samsung Jet vacuum.

I didn't do my research and didn't realize that it doesn't vacuum up the water. So the thing literally just spins some pads and nothing else. Was such a waste of money.

Does anything actually vacuum water? How would that even work?

Yes, we own such water vacuum. Those have a water filter instead of air. It's pretty effective t9 clean the air as well since everything is kept in the water. But using it is a pain in the ass. You need to fill it with fresh water, empty it after use and clean it. Otherwise it smells like a pond with dead fish after a heatwave...

Tineco makes vacuum mops. I have the ifloor 2. It actually does a great job, but you have to clean it and take the roller off after every use. I also always run a dust mop over the floor first. Cleaning it is a bit of a pain, but I guess you can't have everything.

I'm also convinced that most of the reviews of people who said theirs "broke after x amount of time" just never cleaned them. Mines simple and seems built pretty robust. Doesn't seem like something that would just break. Not until the battery craps out.

Shop VAC's and carpet shapoorers both do.

A small crawlspace next to my garage filled with water during some heavy rains. I'm glad I had a shop vac - Sucked up the water until it was full, brought it outside, emptied it out, and kept repeating until all the water was gone. Had a hose siphon going at the same time, but the shop vac was a lot faster. I bought a utility pump for the next time.

It's a small crawlspace that doesn't seem to have any way to enter it, so I'm not even sure how to properly fix it. It seems like water is coming through the dirt into there when there's very heavy rain (which is rare where I live)

Shop vac was just a cheap Dewalt one from Costco.

Yeah, there's a few mop vacs on the market. Shark, Bissell, etc, all make one.

A bread machine. Had good reviews. I used it like 3 or 4 times. The mixing things are too small to mix the dough properly, and having to fish them out of the bread after it was done was a huge hassle. The bread was not great... Shell was too hard, and the top side didn't cook properly. Then I realized, I could basically do the same with a planetary mixer that can mix the dough and the normal oven, and the end result was far better.

Surprised I had to scroll to see bread machine.

I bought a rather expensive machine… used it 3 times, bread is not very good.

Then I went down the homemade sourdough rabbit hole, now I am making artisan loafs with my homemade starter… super enjoyable process and the bread is amazing!

Honestly it's easier to do small batch of bread by hand than machine, you'll have to clean a lot more thing afterward with machine mixing. These day there's autolyse to help cut out the kneading.

There are good bread machines. I stopped eating bread so I gave one away that made awesome bread, especially French bread.

It was also nice for make pizza dough. Stopped eating that too.

I use bread machines for mixing the dough and resting and stuff and then bake in the oven on a pan. Am I crazy for that?

I just use a planetary mixer that can mix the dough. It uses a lot less space, and it can be used for multiple purposes. For resting, rising, i will just transfer it over to the pan and put it somewhere warm, like next to the radiator or in the oven on a very low setting.

That's a shame. When I wasn't sure whether we'd actually make use of a bread machine, I picked up an entry level one for like $100 (Canadian).

Since then, we've made probably 100+ loaves, saving money and reducing both food waste and plastic. It's been one of our best kitchen purchases.

I'd suggest trying a different recipe. It can make a huge difference to the end result.

My Amazon Kindle books. I figured out way later that I didn't actually own them! How absurd.

You can pirate books. Use Calibre and build your library. I have over 2000 books. Doesn't take much storage either.

That's what I do. Wanna share some? Maybe we could do a swap of our favorite 10 or something.

My smartwatch purchase partially. It's a Galaxy Watch4 Classic, it does stuff like track my workouts, heartrate, etc., run WearOS-optimized apps that I basically never use like Spotify, and I have to charge it every 2 days. I noticed that the only real feature I need is to get my phone's notifications on my wrist. Not really worth the € 200-300 purchase imo, but it works okay-ish.

I bought a refurbished galaxy watch 4 and I love it. I use it mostly for reminders and timers and it works really well for me. I put it in the charger while I shower and that basically the only time I'm not wearing it. I understand it's a pretty unusual use case, I don't really care about the fitness aspect of it, I just want a voice assistant on my wrist.

Wow, I paid less than half that for my Garmin Instinct Solar and charge it maybe once or twice a month. Supposedly with the newer model, you don't even have to charge it as long as you take it out in the sun for a bit every day.

I use mine all the time for contactless payments and for two-factor authentication codes (using Authenticator Pro, which is free and open-source). Saves having to get my phone out.

I got a xiaomi fitness band and it got the feature you wanted and also cheaper and durable. One of the best purchase i've ever had.

I had the fossil cause it did all that and still had NFC pay for like $72 but... They are done and I don't think I mind. They were never that useful other than the notifications.

Same use case for mine but I got it with my phone purchase (Pixel 7 Pro with the watch).
I wouldnt buy another one and once it's dead and want a watch, I'll get my actual watvh that's collecting dust.

I'm still rocking a xiomi watch that shows me notifications. I charge it once a week and it's like 8 years old.

I had a Samsung Smart watch before, but the battery life was the same you're experiencing.

My apple watch. So much on that watch either doesn't work as it should or I was straight lied to by an apple employee of how it worked. Will never buy one again.

Well, what do you expect it to do?

I also, am interested in your expectations of its functionality, as I have been pondering one for some time.

this is for you and @dfyx@lemmy.helios42.de since you both asked the same question.

this is a long comment so bear with me.

When I bought the watch I specifically asked how the step counter works. Not just a cover/generic question. I asked does it count if you are just moving your arms or how does it now if you are actually walking/taking steps? I explained that at my job I stand all day and my arms are moving a lot but I'm not actually walking and I wanted to know if the counter was even close to accurate.

What they told me (at an Apple Store) was that it uses a GPS to figure out if you are moving. (that is a Lie, no it doesn't). As my hands and arms are going back and forth across the desk. It is counting steps. If i move my hands from right to left (for example) from one pile of papers to another on my left, it might count that as a step. It might count it as a step as my hands go from right to left AND then from left to right(might be counted as a step). It might count the round trip as 1 step, or 2 steps or maybe 5 steps.

It should not be counting it at all.

I can have thousands of extra steps counted. If the step counter is wrong, then the calorie counter is wrong. That also means the apple movement app is worthless. Think of all the health things it can monitor but are tied to the movement/calorie counter/step counter.. they are all worthless because the base section isn't working as I need it to.

I assumed what would happen if you got on a treadmill was you would have to hit something on the watch because it would need to know that you are walking in place, or maybe it counted the bounce/movement of your body as you were actually walking.

Apple music is another thing that doesn't work as it really should. Now this could be a design choice by the maker or maybe it just doesn't work as intended.. I'm not sure.

I will have my iphone connected via bluetooth to a speaker. My watch is connected to my phone. If I grab my phone and start a playlist everything looks and sounds like it should. The phone will show the song playing and the watch will show the song playing. I can skip to the next song by tapping my watch and hitting skip... so far so good.

Here's where things go side ways. If I use my watch to go back to the playlists and try to choose a different playlist, the watch will say I'm sorry but your watch isn't connected to anything(the speaker). to which I say.. bull shit. yes it is. The watch is connected to the phone and the phone is connected to the speaker. Everything is connected. I was told the watch would act as a remote control for the phone. So why is it saying the watch isn't connected to a speaker? It should access the playlists on the phone and let me choose a new playlist and start playing a new playlist. (this is just logical that it would work that way.) I shouldn't have to walk over to my phone and choose a new playlist.

If I don't use the phone to start a playlist and just tap the watch and try to start a playlist that won't work because it will tell me the watch isn't connected to any devices. Umm yes it is. It's connected to the phone.

When I purchased the phone I specifically said i think I have a sleeping problem and I need a device that will help to monitor (or at least give me an idea if there is an issue).

Middle of the night it will check one of my vitals (that's good) but it will vibrate and wake me up. WTF?! Who would design a device that would wake a person up in the middle of the night after checking one of the vitals? The watch should be able to figure out via blood pressure and oxygen levels that "huh this guy is probably asleep" so it shouldn't vibrate. It should look at what I have set as my normal sleep schedule combine that with my vitals and figure out I am asleep and not vibrate after checking a vital. This is either a broken system or just plain bad design.

Sometimes it will go for days and not check anything. Again what is the point?

Mine is five years old and I haven’t missed wearing it for a day. There are so many little features that I like (controlling my HomeKit home, finding my phone, playing my music with AirPods on a run, heart rate alerts, taking calls) and I’ll replace it when it’s gone, but I have a hard time recommending to anyone at that price point. I can’t get over that I need to buy a third party app to see my step count and it doesn’t even sync regularly.

I’m the exact opposite. Didn’t wear a watch for years after getting my first cellphone. Didn’t see the need for a watch when the smart watches started coming out. Can’t remember why I ultimately got an Apple Watch, but I’ve really liked it.

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My Seat Leon. I had been warned about VW Group’s new platform but holy hell, even the most dire warnings didn’t tell the truth.

The car crashes every day. Nothing works. Even basic functions, like keyless entry on the door handles. If it rains, nope doesn’t work. How about the speakers switching into centre speaker only? How about a reversing beeper stuck until the car is not just turned off, but left turned off for 10 minutes? How about Apple CarPlay which doesn’t work? The list is endless. It’s so so poor. After one update, the car sensors got confused about being in a left hand driving country, so cruise control wouldn’t overtake cars in the slow lane.

And I can’t afford to switch to another one.

New appliances make me genuinely tremble. I haven't bought a TV in a decade or two, but I might need to buy one soon and the "options available" right now sound nightmarish, similar to your car situation.

I'm all for smart devices, as long as I can flash them. If it needs software I don't control -- no thank you

Don't let the TV see a network and use a Chromecast. It makes life so much easier than any of the integrated trash

And if you have to go the other way, please only buy pure Android TVs and not those fancy Web OS craps. There are lots of side loaded app freedom on pure Android TVs.

Those potato spaghettifiers. Fuckers break when you try to push potatoes though. Waste of money.

You need to cook the potatoes first.

I usually stop cooking the potatoes whenever a fork can split them. Apparently that is not enough?

What? Are you talking about a potato ricer?

I like my name better.

Sony WF-1000XM5s. I feel like I'm going crazy because all the reviews online said they were the best of the best. That they were near perfect.

And yet, the usability sucks. They connect to my phone while they're in the case and closed, the noise cancelling cuts on and off, and sometimes they just refuse to connect until I put them back in the case.

The Sony headphones app also really sucks.

The sound quality is admittedly fantastic, but usability is just so frustrating.

Similar experience for my xm4s. Great sound, they're comfy, but the app is dogshit and the buttons/ touch controls physically hurt me to use.

Slip on / low top rain boots.

I thought I would use them for walks in muddy forests, but it's not usually muddy enough when I go to justify wearing them for a full hike, and they're not comfortable to walk in for long distances.

I also thought I would wear them around the fishing ponds, but I enjoy taking my shoes off and wading in anyway. I can just go further than the boots would allow.

Countless video games.

My $500 laptop I panic bought after an employee started talking to me

It's incapable of anything and stutters when I start Firefox. I have a freebie laptop I got from Telus 10+ years ago that runs better than this off-the shelf laptop.

I couldn't in good-conscience sell this to make my money back either... sigh... at least it keeps me focused on work..?

Could linux revive it?

Eww, removing Windows was the first thing I did. It's running Manjaro and was my first jump into Linux actually.

Revive? No, but it's the life support it needed.

Maybe turn it into a Chromebook?

That sounds fun, but I was (and still am) an idiot and locked myself out on the bios. I've reset locks on bios before, but as I've discovered recently, Acer found out you can charge people for the privilege instead.

At that point, I'll simply use this as a learning experience and continue exploring Arch. Another bevi of copium for me, please.

Acer

This is how i know that purchase was ill-advised.

Livin' the fool's journey :')

May I understand what panic buying is? And how it leads to a $500 purchase?

Mayhaps. My brain becomes mush when multiple people talk to me, so all the laptop information in my brain disappeared. I awkwardly followed the conversation and ended up buying what was suggested since the only thing on my mind I could think was "I need a laptop"

I was looking for a little notebook. I needed something for work that was very portable, but this is clunky and heavy. Good for thwackin' I guess.

I normally buy online just to avoid this, but I wanted to check out the local store for convenience. It was an ambush I'm telling ya!

Bialetti Venus coffee maker, it's too fragile and needs a full 3 spoons of coffee to make half as much as my mug that I filled to the top with a paper filter while using just 2 spoons.

It changed color on the outside after a week, and you need to disassemble to store it so it takes a ton of space even though it's so small, also needs medium coffee and I can't find a good medium one in my area, my favorite is a fine ground.

I bought a Valve Index two years ago, had fun with it for a couple weeks, then never used it again :⁠-⁠\

I've been on the vr train since 2016, i eveb did dev work for a few vr companies. imo I think there are 2 problems with vr this time around. 1st is movement, joystick style movement makes half the userbase sick to their stomach, teleport feels terrible to the other half, supporting both invariably breaks game balance. There are hardware solutions but they are still in their infancy and are huge and expensive for the most part. The result is an already small userbase fracturing even more.

Second problem is less serious, there are games with fun mechanics, there are games with good, long stories and progression. There are very very few games that have both. This makes all the games feel like demos.

I love the potential of vr games, but there just isn't enough content out there to make it worth.

the main reason i have avoided vr is it feels uncomfortable as fuck to have a brick on my face imo...

tho i saw some recently on a utube video that used micro oleds and were more like goggles than a brick. looked a lot lighter and more comfortable. still not really tempted to buy one tho

Nevermind the walled garden problem. We've got potentially great content locked behind different storefronts requiring different hardware for each.

In the quest for dominance, everyone is losing.

Like, I understand Valve's "no exclusive content" stance, but they really should consider pumping publishing money into vr software studios, but with an open platform clause. A healthy ecosystem of software will enable VR to thrive. Either that or engage in negotiations with the other players to create a VR collective agreement. It'll never happen, but one can dream.

I wanna get one for beat saber. That game looks fun. Also, vr chat with an actual vr headset would be cool

There are a lot of fun games, but it's more like a mini game experience a lot of the time.

My husband got an Oculus before they were bought out only to find out he gets motion sick with most games. I don't get motion sick ever so he was excited to see me try out his library of cool starship and fighter games and all I ever play on it is beat saber, lol. The custom map scene is where it's at!

Mine is basically a Beat Saber machine; it's great.

me too! i stuck with mine quite a bit longer, but it ended up in the box all the same. there are very few good vr games that don't have that tech demo-y format lots of early titles had. and valve's promises of linux support were quite exaggerated, which made playing the couple games i kept coming back to even less convenient or just a worse experience. i stopped playing half life alyx halfway through, and came back and i couldn't get it to run on my linux pc anymore - like, thats the single game/hardware combo valve promised would 100% work on linux.

its kinda sad because i really believed in consumer vr back then, but seeing how the industry has stagnated has shown that either it isn't possible or we aren't ready for cheap, good, open vr. nobody is making good vr games because there are no users and there are no users because its too expensive to get a good vr rig and there are no games.

A jet ski and a GoPro . And 10 years later we still have never used that kitchenaid stand mixer. It looks nice on the counter though.

Kitchenaid for kneading + measuring ingredients by weight = consistent bread

I use my KitchenAid stand mixer for shredding cooked meat (throw out those awful bear claws lol). I also bought some cheap off brand attachments to shred cheese and carrots. I now use it almost weekly.

PS5 remote. It's kind of useless as it doesn't even have the Source selection button, so I need to keep using a regular remote too anyway. Doesn't have other buttons for TV either, except volume. The apps buttons are hardcoded and cannot be customized. Any accidently pressed button starts up the console. I kind of still use it for video apps but I regret the purchase.

Insurance

Ah, sweet summer child.

Most of the stuff I regret buying can be sold as second-hand. My biggest miss is to buy a good laptop for high too early, now I want an OLED display on laptop but I am stuck with my expensive model with LCD😅

A desk cycle. My keyboard is on a low pull-out shelf (more ergonomic) which got in the way of any meaningful cycling while I was trying to work.

The good news is that I eventually did get off my ass and started running for exercise, first on the treadmill at home and now I do it outside. Still have the desk cycle in the basement.

Same thing here.

Collected wine. Still have lots of it, don't really drink anymore, and have no storage space. Don't ask.

Basically anything that I don't really think about.

Every impulse buy has made me measurably disappointed

It's always lower quality, less useful and I am always wish I had the money instead latter.

A Leap-Motion

https://piped.video/iIgEWRb61IQ?si=9SOOO0YNj0JVl3qL

The Slap Chop was a huge disappointment after the slam dunk that the Sham Wow ended up being. It was the same pain as buying the rushed and terrible Megaman Battle Network 4 after playing and loving the classic masterpiece that came before it.

But did you love his nuts? https://youtu.be/iIgEWRb61IQ?si=9SOOO0YNj0JVl3qL

Here is an alternative Piped link(s):

Piped is a privacy-respecting open-source alternative frontend to YouTube.

I'm open-source; check me out at GitHub.

I bought an Instant Pot back in 2017. I've never used it.

Sonos speaker. I have Google Home speakers around the house and we use them to play music. Sonos almost never get used

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There are three things, off the top of my head, that I can recall buying but either not using very much or not for it's intended purpose. The first item is a portable bluetooth keyboard, I got it for the purpose of playing games on my android devices with it but the problem is that I haven't found many games that actually even have keyboard support. The second item is a portable bluetooth mouse, it's the same as the keyboard but with the additional issue of not working with my tablet for some reason. The third item is a DS flashcart, I forgot what it's called but it's the one from Datel and I had so many problems with it that I've been using it's "Gigapack" for transferring small files between my two computers.

I feel you on the keyboard, bought an Android controller years ago, but only ever used to play emulators on it since no game besides Megaman X Dive had controller support, to this day Genshin only has controller support over on iphone, fuck them. Silver lining is that it works fine on PC so it became the second player anytime a friend is over.

I bought a new netbook last year to watch stuff on as my old one from like 10 years ago finally fell apart.

I fucking hate the new Windows so much and I'm not techy enough to change the operating system to something better, so I barely use it as watching stuff on my phone is easier.

You're probably selling yourself short on the tech front and over-estimating the difficulty of installing something new. If you wanted to install something like Linux Mint or Fedora, the most complicated step would likely involve making a bootable thumbdrive to load it from. You could check that all your hardware works as intended (ie, can you connect to wifi, does sound play properly, can you watch a video on youtube, etc) without actually modifying your base OS, and if it does, the installations mostly hold your hand and you can get a perfectly sane setup just sticking to the defaults for most things and clicking next. There are plenty of options out there where you don't need to be a command-line wizard to have a perfectly usable system.

So many untouched videogames.

My ab roller.

The 1kg bag of brown rice I bought to be healthier.

Amazon Prime.

A fake olive tree that sits in my living room.

I bought an immersion blender on like prime day or black Friday with grandiose plans of using it for all kinds of things. 3 years later, and it's still in the box

Split pea soup

Refried beans, or short burst to thicken bean pot

Protein shakes