alt Hacker NewsThere's definitely a separation between the definition and perception. When I watched the video, my first thought was "This device is very cool but I can't imagine myself ever using it". There's hundreds, if not thousands of infinitely more convenient scheduling/productivity tools compared to having what is basically a small raspberry pi in my pocket for manual task entry. There is definitely a market for this, albeit it a very small, niche one. To me this is akin to writing a paper in word compared to pulling out a mini typewriter.
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I guess it depends on how you like to work. I hate working on devices. I have an iPhone Mini, two laptops, a pc I built, a Remarkable, a work iPad, a TV.
I use 4-5 of these devices for mostly writing comments online and writing various mediums of comedy. I do other creative work on my personal devices but I have found I enjoy doing more with my hands and body as well.
For example, often when I am stuck on writing I go for a walk. I often don’t take my phone and force myself to focus only on the problem at hand. I often take a notebook and write any notes about my conclusions along the walk. Eventually the notes make it back into a computer.
I also enjoy cooking and can use my device to look up recipes or order food online and avoid cooking all together. But I choose to use the stack of throw away desk calendar paper to write down my grocery list and go to the store without my phone. I choose to chop the broccoli and carrots even though I cab buy a bag of pre steamed for less. I even keep a passive grocery list on my phone in reminders app. But I still do the ritual. Not at all because it’s productive.
But what I really enjoy about life and creating is not sitting at a desk by myself hammering the ideas and draining myself reading, reading, reading. And I like to read but a lot of reading these days is distraction and those devices are designed to be distracting. So much that I go out of my way to prevent them from distracting me and keeping me in a sitting position.
With a little device dedicated for productivity I gain the benefits of computing without all the distracting tracking, “use my product!” Side effects.
And do it because you have agency to do it. Living your life with productivity doesn’t mean being an efficiency slave.
At the end of the day I still may be middle/lower class consumer cattle. But at least I am cattle with agency.
My first thought was “I’m glad this has progressed and looking slimmer, this inspires me to investigate building the 4-inch square device of my dreams.”
A workshop full of tools is worthless if you never use them.
Modern phones and web browsers are full of weaponized distractions with billions of dollars in forces fighting to steal your attention. To actually be productive, many (most?) people benefit from a device that does less.
It's why reMarkable is vastly superior to eInk Android tablets that do "more". It's why some people have switched to cameras instead of phone cameras and to other analog technologies - be it a paper notebook or what have you.
Fewer tools but fewer distractions beats many tools and push notifications.