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What’s a small tech habit or gadget that surprisingly makes your day better?

knockbill said:
My favorite one is for starting nuts on small screws in a tight chassis,,, I use two sharp pokin sticks,,, Tape the screw in place and then flip the chassis to access the threads,,, Put on any other hardware and put the nut on teh point of one stick,,, Center the stick point on the bottom of the screw, and use the other stick to slip the nut off to the bottom of the screw, while keeping the nut centered with the first stick... Use the 2nd to slowly spin the nut to catch the threads,,, Always works even on non-magnetic screws,,,
Took longer to explain it than to do it!
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I do something similar John. I will carefully wrap tape around just the head of the screw and end of the screw driver to get small screws in a tighter deep area. I also will do the same with a nut sometimes using a nut driver.
Or with my long needle nose pliers. I go through a lot of blue tape covering blank chassis when marking out holes that need drilled, holes that need punching and screws that nee starting. :biggrin:
 
For me, it's not audio related, but it allows me to set the mood at times before taking in a certain genre of movie/TV series, or just listening to music.

And this electronic "gadget" is a remote light control that dims the light for what ever level of brightness I'm wanting from sitting in the recliner.

A simple act, but much needed when you drop something, want to read or to ...create a certain ambiance.

Insignificant...but nice to have! A plus.

Q
 
w1jim said:
It may be a tad old school but my electric razor.
I can't imagine the involved process of shaving cream and safety razor.
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After I got married the Mrs. kept a razor in the shower and one day I used it to shave. Worked a whole lot better in the shower than the sink. Moved up to a good 4-blade razor and never looked back. Some people think you need a mirror, but if you rub your face you can feel any little spot you may have missed.
Some people have sensitive skin and no matter what you use it irritates some places, especially the neck. Hot soapy water running down really makes it easier.
 
w1jim said:
It may be a tad old school but my electric razor.
I can't imagine the involved process of shaving cream and safety razor.
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I ordered a Remington Balder Boss cordless head shaver last year. What a great little cone-buzzer. Better than the razor in the shower routine I used to go through.

Since I've gone beardless I'm using a four or five blade disposable. I used to use a straight-razor, but these days I don't trust my eyes or stability :rolleyes:
 
arts said:
I ordered a Remington Balder Boss cordless head shaver last year. What a great little cone-buzzer. Better than the razor in the shower routine I used to go through.

Since I've gone beardless I'm using a four or five blade disposable. I used to use a straight-razor, but these days I don't trust my eyes or stability :rolleyes:
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I switched to a Harry's Razor. The blades last a very long time as long as you clean them with running water while shaving. I gave one a try that came with just a three pack of blades. The blades lasted me around 6 months or more. The blades are more expensive than others, but last way longer than those Gillette disposables and give a much smoother shave. I did have to get used to not having to apply as much pressure while shaving with the Harry's razor than I did with the disposables. I did nick my self a few times the first time I used it.
 
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Lavane said:
I switched to a Henry Razor. The blades last a very long time as long as you clean them with running water while shaving. I gave one a try that came with just a three pack of blades. The blades lasted me around 6 months or more. The blades are more expensive than others, but last way longer than those Gillette disposables and give a much smoother shave. I did have to get used to not having to apply as much pressure while shaving with the Henry's razor than I did with the disposables. I did nick my self a few times the first time I used it.
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I couldn't find Henry. Did you mean Henson?
 
I am so happy I bought a vacuum desoldering station. It makes repairing my stereo equipment so much easier. I have a lot of equipment :-) Apparently I am a collector and cannot bring myself to sell any of it.
 
The credit card sized remote that came with my Pro-Ject S2 Digital DAC. that not only controls the various DAC functions, but also when the DAC is USB connected to the DAC and my newly purchased Win 11 laptop, permits me to control the Windows Media player`s playback functions.
Since I have multiple rooms in my house with IR/RF repeaters setup decades ago to be able to control my living room`s master source selection and control A/V rack , while using the laptop`s 15k + multi-genre tracks and growing WAV. ripped music playing, I`m able to initiate my starting in the morning before even getting out of bed music by unmuting the DAC, and determining what track is currently playing, and whether I`m interested in hearing that track or not, and if not, to use the remote to bump to the next track, and decide if that one is desirable, mood dependent, of course.

Since I have the laptop`s player is configured in the shuffle/repeat all mode, I like not knowing what is currently playing on the laptop when I take the DAC out of mute in the morning, as well as what the next random selected track might be when I chose to bump the current playing track to the next randomly selected track. There got to be some track(s) I want to hear, being I knowingly selected and ripped the music into the laptop

I choose not to create favorite play lists, like I did via needle drops to RTR, & cassettes back in the mid to late seventies, because of eventually burning out from doing so.

And I can with via the remote control repeaters scattered about the house in popularly used rooms, I can control the 24/7/365 powered up laptop`s player wirelessly, which I find very handy through out the day with the music playing through 4~5 room`s stereos to feed my all day music playing addiction as I might move from one room to another with that handy little DAC remote in my pocket .
 
A tone arm lifter, no more dropping whatever I'm doing and running to the table.
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Second is a peace of mind device. With 3 tube pieces it can be worrisome when the power drops out for that half second, And having to run to the rack to turn off all the tube gear which is in protection mode at this point. If there is a power interruption, this little gray box starts a timer as soon as the power comes back on and won't allow power to come back for 20 minutes, that's time enough for everything to cool down and restart.
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DeadTrader said:
A tone arm lifter, no more dropping whatever I'm doing and running to the table.
View attachment 3603579View attachment 3603580
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I've always had fully or semi-automatic turntables because I like the luxury of not having to deal with the turntable as soon as a side of a record is over. I wonder how much time though one of these manual auto-lifter things buys you. If you fall asleep to the music, are you comfortable having the platter spinning for hours before you shut the thing off?
 
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