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.
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.
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.
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.
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
Amazon doesn't disclose details of the Prime program publicly but according to estimates Amazon Prime members:
Increase their purchases on Amazon from $400 a year to $900 a year after they join. (source) Spend 130% more than regular Amazon customers. (source) May be responsible for as much as 20% of Amazon's overall sales in the U.S. (source) 82% of Prime members buy on Amazon even if the item is less expensive somewhere else (source)
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.
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.
Every inch of wall space is covered by a bookcase. Each bookcase has six shelves, going almost to the ceiling. Some bookshelves are stacked to the brim with hardback books: science, maths, history, and everything else. Other shelves have two layers of paperback science fiction, with the back layer of books propped up on old tissue boxes or lengths of wood, so that you can see the back layer of books above the books in front. And it still isn't enough.
My God...HPMOR is the world's most elaborate product placement ever.
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.
With a smartphone, I can:
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.)
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.
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.
$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).
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:
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.
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 :)
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.
Sugru - rapid, easy, cheap repair of small, broken things. Suguru is basically a hardening putty - it's malleable when opene, and dries to be hard and durable in about 24 hours. I've used it to repair broken axles on a cart, reassemble broken headphones, re-attach a handle to a hairbrush - minor, easy fixes which save me marginal time/money/anxiety/frustration on a day-to-day basis. There may be other, similar, cheaper products (some appear on the amazon search I just did), but I have not tested them.
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.
Have emails return to your inbox at a specified day and time. Stop thinking about things until your past self decides you need to be thinking about them again. Keep a clean inbox. Want to reply to a letter but don't have time until after work? Boomerang it to tonight, and you'll get a reminder when it lands in your inbox and you have time to take care of it.
Free for the first 10/emails a month, $5/month for unlimited emails. I pay the $5 and it's very worth it.
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.)
This probably occurs to most people, but to be explicit about the downsides:
My parents visited Israel when I was a kid. My grandparents' apartment had Israeli air-raid-quality shutters which ACTUALLY blocked out all the light; they were wooden slats that rolled down and stacked themselves solidly over the outside of the window. You pulled on the cord and the light went out completely - that simple. I expect it helped on noise reduction too, though I wasn't checking then. Ever since, I've taken the lack of this simple, extremely useful feature on any other windows I've ever seen, as proof that the housing industry is dysfunctional.
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.
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.
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:
Hearos Ultimate Softness foam earplugs Great protection (32NRR), super comfortable. Use these for sleeping.
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.
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...
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?
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.
According to GiveWell, the most effective charity on the planet. Save lives and increase your subjective well-being in one fell swoop. Charity is probably one of the more efficient means of converting money into utils and hedons at the same time.
If you live in a city: Zipcar (Disclosure: Promotional link - if you sign up through this, we both get a $25 credit)
Saves a lot of money and stress. I don't worry about registration or car insurance or gas prices or parking. When I need a car, I pay a pre-determined rate, and then stop worrying about it. Warm fuzzy bonus: Positive externalities in (less land allocated to parking)+(less traffic)+(fewer CO2 emissions).
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.
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.
Wirecutter for product recommendations.
The site makes a single recommendation, then explains how they came to that conclusion, so you can decide if the same attributes are important to you. Mostly computers, but they're branching out into home goods too.
Their method seems to be largely reading many other product reviews, and synthesizing them so you don't have to.
Workflowy! I heard you like bullet lists. So, we made workflowy so you can have bullet lists in your bullet lists.
The ultimate bullet list software. It allows you to bring a sub-bullet to the top of a page. I find it's really nice when you're working on sub-bullet to just click on it and then the screen reorganizes so you can only see that particular sub-bullet and its sub-bullets. Has hashtags, mobile integration, collaboration, and 90% of your daily serving of Vitamin awesome!
Not exactly a product, but...put your directly mattress on the floor.
Does your bed every squeak or rattle when you move around? Does not happen if it's on the floor! Ever fall out of bed? Can't if it's on the floor. Want your bed to be bigger? Throw some pillows and blankets on the floor next to you and sprawl out to your heart's content. This is especially useful if your nocturnal co-pilot has a deeply rooted subconscious obsession with rolling on to your side of the bed.
In the morning, you can literally roll out of bed, and it feels kind of awesome.
Oh, y...
It's more fun when you don't have to worry about falling off the bed - it's more more amenable to extremely kinetic activities. This includes at least one double-blindfolded study.
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.
WaterPik water flosser. Flossing does more to improve oral health than brushing, but I had significant trouble keeping it up as a habit because it was awkward and required regularly replenishing a supply of floss. Water flossing appears to be about as beneficial as flossing with nylon but is far more convenient, and a tech you will use is better than one that you won't.
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.
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.
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...
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.
Given how much time so many people spend using pencils it's strange that few of us "invest" in high-end ones.
Someone has downvoted each of the comments in this page - this strikes me as bizarre. Simple product recommendations saves heaps of research time.
I am sad that this thread fell by the wayside and that people are no longer actively throwing recommendations at it.
UnderArmour ColdGear Frosty: I hate being cold--these made it tolerable to go out biking in cold weather, and I also found myself wearing them as leggings under regular skirts when I was tired of a winter full of pants.
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 a...
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 ...
"To determine how you spend your time, TagTime literally randomly samples you. At random times it pops up and asks what you're doing *right at that moment." From the folks that created Beeminder (also recommended on this thread).
An electric toothbrush. Your teeth will feel cleaner, and apparently these toothbrushes have been "proven" to do a better job. I now dislike using the normal toothbrushes, eg when travelling.
I am currently using this one, bought for $49 not $199 on Groupon, cleans great and wireless recharging is great, but seems to have a design fault - I only managed to replace the head by wrecking the old one, will replace with a different brand.
Monitor arms. I've got http://www.ergotron.com/Products/tabid/65/PRDID/355/language/sv-SE/Default.aspx
Also, a good chair, desk, etc. Vital if you spend as much time in front of the computer as many here probably do.
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 ;)
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.
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.
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 th...
Brookstone Napform sleep mask Best sleep mask I've found, soft, you can fully open your eyes while wearing this.
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.
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.
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 ...
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 perfec...
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.
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 imagi...
YNAB (You Need A Budget)
Great tool for implementing a zero-based budgeting system (also known as an "envelope system"), meaning every dollar of income is assigned to an expense category. Categories can (and should) include annual or longer-term expenses, so that you have cash on hand when foreseeable future expenses crop up. The system as a whole is great for giving you confidence in your spending choices, as well as helping you stay on track when you overspend. I find this type of budgeting ideal, though some may find it a little too demandin...
Angie's List - www.angieslist.com - for local business and service recommendations.
If you can't find it by Googling, they might still have several reviews on Angie's List. This helped me avoid a nightmare contractor when getting my kitchen redone. Paid for itself hundredfold with that first recommendation alone.
They only take reviews from paying members, which means the risk of spam or sock puppet reviews is slightly lower than the free review sites like Yelp. And they actively encourage members to review business/services they've used/patronized, which means that you don't just see the disgruntled ones.
I recommend the Brookstone i-need® Soothing Foot Massager ($200 USD) as a cure for plantar faciitis. This is actually cheaper than custom orthotics (per year) and cortisone shots (and works better). My first model broke after about 6 months, but it was still under warranty and I got a replacement unit without any problems. The value I get from walking and running pain-free (and without periodic "repairs") completely dwarfs the TCO.
I'm rather fond of wearing hiking boots. Although I originally bought them for actual hiking (I was in the Boy Scouts), I eventually got into the habit of wearing them as ordinary shoes. They're insulated, waterproof, and add to my height more than regular shoes do.
Downside: Hiking boots tend to be more expensive than ordinary shoes.
(Sorry for the lack of link.)
A reading light. It's battery-powered and can clamp onto things. I find it useful for reading in bed, especially when travelling.
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.
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 cod...
For anyone who has ever argued over mechanical-switch and buckling-spring keyboards, made the hard choice between vi and Emacs, or manually reassigned a capslock key to control: this is for you.
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.
Shea Moisture Soap, Body Wash and Baby Ointment.
It has a soft, natural, a little bit nutty smell. It contains Shea Butter, which is an emollient. The soap comes in several different scents, including Lavender.
Shea Moisture Baby Ointment This is not a lotion, it's much greasier than that. Nice on your skin in a dry climate.
Available online from Walgreens.
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.
If you use outlook, Outlook 2010 lets you (at least) duplicate these features.
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: