-Webcam. I've been able to keep in touch with friends in a face-to-face context with reasonable quality as a result.
-My computer. I've spent more time on my desktop than ever before - games with friends, twitch, youtube, whatever. I'm happy I have a versatile, powerful system that is my portal to the world.
-Reliable, fast internet. I've always been happy with our internet, but I appreciate it more now than ever.
Running water, flushing toilets.
Anything beyond that is a bonus.
The fridge , it's got my beers in it.
Router - 3 Kids and wife and me are online for now 5 weeks :-)
My PC and the Internet. My Hi-Fi and Qobuz streaming.
CAT-THE-FIFTH
Electricity.
I think I'm going stir-crazy as that really made me laugh. :)
Online ordering and delivery.
The VPN to the office, web meetings and the VR headset for downtime and exercise is really handy, but of those deliveries…
CAT-THE-FIFTH
Electricity.
I have to second that one wholeheartedly.
No electricity would obviously mean no power to appliances such as fridge, freezer, electric cooker and microwave etc., which would quickly lessen the amount of food to be able to eat.
As it would obviously also mean no power to the router and PC, it would be harder to keep the mind occupied, and no power to phone chargers would also mean limited access to keep in contact with people offline.
So while there are a few tech (and non-tech, if you consider the appliances to be non-tech) items that are invaluable during the lockdown, even more invaluable is the electricity to even be able power them.
Hair clippers are turning out quite handy.
Bread machine would be getting more use if flour was easier to get.
I work from home normally so nothing ‘special’ needed for work side of things.
Internet is obviously taking more of a bashing while trying to get a slot for some food and other online orders which is being done more because we can't just nip out to the shops now.
Electric usage hasn't really changed that much, luckily the weathers been pretty nice so the solar is covering the increased usage.
Bread machines been more active but as above flour is a pain to get hold of.
Having said that deliveries, and I'm not talking about unnecessary stuff either, is taking a lot longer than usual because not only are dispatches taking longer (got an in stock order on amazon that's going to take close to 2 weeks to arrive)but the delivery itself is taking longer too.
Webcam and a good monitor. I've never used the webcam on daily basis until now. My fairly large Dell monitor does a fairly decent job imitating my work setup.
For some reason my daily phone use have dropped even more, i assume due to me spending more time on the PC, though to be honest even before the virus days i also spent too much time on the PC.
Some days i don't even touch my phone at all and it just spend the entire day on my bedside table.
I have picked up bracketed photography a little, but this are still on a back burner until Denmark get a little more colorful.
My only concern in regard to this virus is bringing it into my mothers and friends place, both of which have issued that mean the virus are somewhat more of a problem for them,otherwise my life are pretty normal as i never really mingled much with the other “6” mill A-holes here.
I know it's not what was meant by this thread, but I'm well and truly locked-down by this damn bug thing (not ill, just locked down).
Also, I'm at an age where you think …. where'd the hell those years go?
And …. okay, so it'll unlock at some point and then what I I do with the rest of my time?
Do I get off the merrygoround?
Quit the rat-race?
What really, truly matters to me?
I don't mean family, friends, etc. Take that as read.
But this is an enforced, several-week long wake-up call, time to think whether I want to or not.
And it turns out that lectricitity, running water, etc I've taken FAR too much for granted, and most “tech”, in the scheme of things, don't much matter at all.
Radio 4 factlet - 3 billion (yes, billion people on this planet don't even have the capability to wash hands in their own home? Imagine what their Covid experience will be like?
So …. lockdown? Padded cell, more like.
Tech? You, leccy, running water, flushing loos, etc …. yeah, that's the tech I really appreciate.
Oh, and a simple DAB/FM radio.
The next door neighbour - hot 22 year old that has to “work” from home…
3dcandy
the next door neighbour - hot 22 year old that has to “work” from home…
ttiuwp
'[GSV
Trig;4193242']ttiuwp
Yeah, but then it goes from a comment online to something a whole lot creepier.
Videos make it creepy, me asking where he lives, creepier still, then there's the whole, me sending him a webcam thing…
Jeez an ironic comment and it turns weird ;)
But I have seen more people whilst in lockdown that ever before in this area. Surely that's more important or scary
3dcandy
But I have seen more people whilst in lockdown that ever before in this area. Surely that's more important or scary
You must be near me then, like you say more people are out now than I've ever seen and some of the people walking by the house I've never seen before in the village lol
Then we've got the idiots thinking it's a great idea to go to the beach, which is not far from me, because it's sunny…. although I will say it's far less than ‘summer’ traffic.
My landline is stuck at 7mbps so i have a Netgear MR1100 4G thats load balanced with a Fortigate 60D.
Gets me upto 120-130 i the evenings and early morning drops to about 50-60 during the day during lockdown.
Life would have been a bit more unpleasant without these, with 2 of us working from home and a 12 year old consuming the vast majority of YouTube
The Internet.
It's not something that's changed since the lockdown it's always been the one thing I would struggle to be without. Being in a lockdown is hardly difficult as the internet keeps you connected with the world.
4G
When you have lost internet connection luckily Virgin Media has been excellent over the past 10 years you appreciate having 4G and a good phone.
My Pioneer DDJ-SX2 and laptop for internet radio shows.
I'm still in work everyday doing IT for the NHS so its been nice to be able to relax and play tunes at the weekends.
What tech has proved invaluable during lockdown?
Satnav for all these new deliveries I'm doing.
Bishi
Dildos
You shouldent have said that !
LSG501
Electric usage hasn't really changed that much, luckily the weathers been pretty nice so the solar is covering the increased usage.
Also generally work from home normally - however my electricity has gone up - I've done a bit of folding@home in the past, but as the computers have been on anyway, on the internet, playing games etc, I've had folding@home running in the background as a lot of the work units are for Corona at the moment, so the CPUs have been flat out. Not done GPU folding as our GPUs are pretty weak, and the folding algorithm/application seems excellent at handing over CPU resources when needed, but not so good at releasing the GPU side. But anyway, getting through those WU's ;)
Streaming sites like Hulu.
- Thermal optics.
Makes finding food far easier at night.
- Printer.
Neighbours want an inordinate number of “lost cat” posters printing for some reason.
moving up the stack a little from electricity and running water, I think that access to the internet is the only thing that makes the lockdown bearable or even workable at all.
Imagine pre-internet how we would have had to cope…
Listening to the radio or TV to find out what the hell we were supposed to be doing.
No video calls to your family and friends.
No working from home, so most of us would probably now be unemployed or on unpaid leave by now.
No online shopping at all.
No streaming entertainment.
No games to play that you didn't already have sat in a box on the shelf and you'd be playing on your own (I rephrased that from “playing with yourself”…).
Not to mention that the government, healthcare and scientific communities rely on it for getting/sharing all the info related to the pandemic.
Probably a lot more that hasn't occcurred to me, but I think we are extremely lucky that this crisis didn't happen pre internet.
Rad77
Imagine pre-internet how we would have had to cope…
I lost a lot of time to Chuckie Egg back in the day, I'm sure I could again now in a pinch.
DanceswithUnix
I lost a lot of time to Chuckie Egg back in the day, I'm sure I could again now in a pinch.
Bubble Bobble on the C-64 2-player. Elite on Amiga. Fair few others as well!!!
MS Teams for where I work. I am one of the production floor bods so we are using teams to keep in touch for those working from home. We had already upgraded a lot of our kit to surface hubs to allow better international working, and we were involved early on in the outbreak because the conference in Singapore was ours.
For home hasn't really made much difference, got a tent in the garden to chill in and been tidying my garage workshop a bit. If work does shut for a bit, which is unlikely because we make parts for ventilators and medical gas plants, I could easily spend a month sorting the garden/shed/garage. After that build a sunroom down the end of the garden with enough room to sleep in and house a wood burning stove. Did spend a couple of hours today sharpening axes and billhooks.
Tig welder , lathe and mil.
The Internet is the obvious one. It has greatly facilitated keeping up an income. I've actually primarily used the good old-fashioned telephone - albeit an electric one - for catching up with friends and family though.
I'm also appreciating that I invested in a good home office setup over the past few years, as well as that my apartment has a dishwasher. Which has always been nice, but I've been cooking at home more than ever in the past month.
And of course the basics such as electricity that have been with us since considerably before the 1950s.