In half a month, we will step into 2025. Over the past year, which products have surprised you and made your life better? After reviewing all the products I purchased or experienced throughout 2024, I selected those that most enhanced my sense of happiness and would like to share them in this article.
Synology NAS#
Happiness Index 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟
NAS (Network Attached Storage) is simply a cloud disk/computer/server that is placed at home, always connected to the internet, and rarely turned off. Essentially, it is a host without a monitor, equipped with a large-capacity hard drive. It is mainly used for storing photos, files, movies, and music, and it also supports the installation of various software to meet users' diverse needs.
I am a person who lacks a sense of security and yearns for full control over my data. After experiencing a series of events such as cloud storage files being blocked, music software songs becoming unavailable, and my Weibo account being banned, I gradually realized that the accounts and data on various platforms do not truly belong to me and could disappear at any time for various reasons. This situation is not only common on domestic platforms; there are also frequent cases of Apple and Google accounts being banned. In the past, I was accustomed to backing up important data to an external hard drive, but due to the inconvenience of the process, timely backups were difficult to achieve, and over time, data organization became a challenge.
Therefore, NAS became the best solution. Through the local area network, I can easily organize data and back up important files in a timely manner; with Synology's synchronization software, I can back up important data to OneDrive every day. Additionally, I manually back up important data to an idle external hard drive weekly, truly practicing the 3-2-1 backup principle (three copies of data, two different media, one off-site backup). With the help of internal network penetration technology, I can access my home NAS device anytime and anywhere to retrieve the data I need, which is very convenient. As mentioned earlier, NAS is primarily a private cloud, and it can also install various software, such as Emby to create a personal media center; Synology Photos to back up mobile photos; and Audio Station to build a dedicated music library, offering a rich variety of functionalities. Today, NAS has become an indispensable device in my life and is the product that has most enhanced my happiness this year.
Windsurf#
Happiness Index 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟
Windsurf is an AI programming tool launched by Codeium that helps users complete code, modify code as needed, and even generate new files based on context, greatly improving work efficiency. After adjusting the pricing, Windsurf is currently priced at $15/month, which includes 500 uses of the advanced model and 1500 uses of Flow Action per month (original trial users can still enjoy a price of $10/month). Free users can use the basic AI model.
Since the advent of large language models, AI has become a powerful assistant for programmers. When encountering problems, simply consulting ChatGPT eliminates the hassle of searching for information. Using a traditional chat window, AI acts as a programming partner or mentor, while AI IDE tools like Windsurf turn AI into an "employee" that writes code on behalf of the user. It is important to emphasize that I am not a professional programmer, but I do have a need to write programs for data analysis. After using Windsurf, in many cases, I no longer need to write programs myself; I just place the relevant files in the same folder and let Windsurf reference these files to write new programs. My workflow has shifted from "AI generates templates, I complete them" to "AI completes writing, I check," which has greatly improved efficiency. This improvement is particularly noticeable for beginners like me who are not familiar with coding, even giving me the illusion that "I am incredibly capable."
ChatGPT Plus#
Happiness Index 🌟🌟🌟🌟
ChatGPT needs no introduction; as a "benchmark" in the field of artificial intelligence, it provided immense help during my thesis writing. I must emphasize that the content of my thesis was completed independently by me and was not generated by artificial intelligence; I merely used ChatGPT to significantly improve my efficiency.
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With only a basic understanding of Matlab, I originally found it hard to imagine completing data analysis and creating figures for my thesis in just one or two months. However, with the help of ChatGPT, I greatly shortened my learning time and significantly improved my programming efficiency. I could provide ChatGPT with programs from my seniors and have it break down the code line by line, accelerating my learning. I could also inform ChatGPT of my requirements, allowing it to generate code templates, which I would then fill in with my data, saving time on searching for functions and writing code.
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Although ChatGPT 4's performance in Chinese is not perfect, it still provides effective assistance in thesis writing. Sometimes, I would struggle with obscure sentences for a long time, so I would first write them down in the most colloquial way, then hand them over to ChatGPT to help me organize them into formal language, and finally, I would polish them to make them more in line with academic standards.
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When writing the background section of my thesis, we usually need to cite a large number of English literature, often encountering situations where I can understand the content but do not know how to express it appropriately in Chinese. At this point, I can use ChatGPT for translation and summarization, and then I can polish it myself.
At the beginning of this year, I subscribed to three months of ChatGPT Plus for $20/month. For a student, this price is not cheap, but I can only say, "Worth it!!"
Follow#
Happiness Index 🌟🌟🌟🌟
Follow is an RSS reader launched by DIYgod, the author of RSSHub. It not only has the usual RSS subscription features but also boasts a very beautiful interface. Follow provides categories such as articles, social platforms, images, videos, audio, and notifications by default, offering display methods that better match the characteristics of each category. It not only integrates the functions of RSSHub but also has a built-in subscription pool, making it easy for users to search without knowing the specific RSS address. Additionally, the list feature recently launched by RSSHub allows users to combine multiple related subscription sources into a list for easier management, browsing, and sharing. The emergence of Follow undoubtedly promotes the "Renaissance" of RSS and lowers the usage threshold to some extent, making its future development exciting.
Before Follow was launched, I had been using self-deployed RSSHub and miniflux, along with Reeder. However, due to my VPS's low configuration, the miniflux web interface was very sluggish, resulting in a poor experience; the self-deployed RSSHub also required occasional maintenance and updates, and each subscription required manually searching for the RSS route, which was somewhat cumbersome. Now, with Follow, I have eliminated these steps, and one application can meet my needs.
Of course, Follow also has some areas for improvement. For example, content refresh is not timely enough, which is not user-friendly for those who need to track news in real-time; there is currently no mobile app, but it can be added to the desktop via PWA, which barely compensates for the previous inability to use it on mobile.
Additionally, here is the subscription list I created; interested readers can subscribe to it, thank you~
https://app.follow.is/share/lists/60978581580139520
BandwagonHost Minibox#
Happiness Index 🌟🌟🌟
BandwagonHost, commonly known as 搬瓦工，is a VPS service provider known for offering high-cost performance CN2-GIA line VPS in its early days, making it one of the first merchants many MJJ encountered. The term "cost performance" mainly refers to its VPS lines. For example, its previously launched cheaper plan costs $35/year, providing only 768 MB of memory and 15 GB of SSD storage, but offers 1.5 Gbps of high bandwidth and 750 GB of monthly traffic, using a three-network return CN2-GIA line. In comparison, another provider that has long offered CN2-GIA lines, akkocloud, has its cheapest plan priced at 299 RMB/year (about $41), providing only 512 MB of memory, 10 GB of SSD, 500 Mbps bandwidth, and 500 GB of traffic.
On the eve of Black Friday, BandwagonHost launched a minibox product, offering 512 MB of memory, 10 GB of SSD, 1 Gbps bandwidth, and 500 GB of monthly traffic, discounted to only $27/year. However, such a low price comes with some costs: this is BandwagonHost's first VPS that requires an invitation code to purchase and explicitly states that it does not guarantee uptime and line quality, but will do its best to maintain it. I took the risk of purchasing this VPS, using it for magic and planning to use it to reverse proxy my blog to improve speed after my Alibaba Cloud server expires. After using it for a month, aside from a few hours of server downtime due to a power outage, there have been no other issues. The advantage of the three-network return CN2-GIA is faster access speed, especially during peak usage times, which enhances the smoothness of the experience. This improvement feels like moving from the 2G era to the 3G era, just like that saying, "The world is within reach."