I've upgraded my Pixel XL every year from the 6 to the 9 (pro). Say what you will about that financial decision. Each year I've told myself I only did it because it was such a "great deal" either for the sale price on the pixel or the "boosted trade-in value" from the previous.

I thought it would be fun to look at the prices for each in the context of the others and see how they varied from year to year.

Each year I bought the XL model with the lowest storage space (except the 9 pro), and pro when it was offered. Only one of the years I received a promotional item and I'll note that. The total price is listed with tax.

Pixel 6 Pro 128gb 10/19/2021 Total: $969 Trade-in: $175 (of two year old Pixel 4XL) Pixel Buds A: $99 (retail) Net: $695

Pixel 7 Pro 128gb 11/7/2022 Total: $968 Trade-in: $500 Net: $468

Pixel 8 Pro 128gb 12/26/2023 Total $753 Trade-in: $315 Net: $438

Pixel 9 Pro 256gb 11/6/2024 Total: $904 (with "gold" play points discount) Trade-in: $699 Net: $205 Net (If I had bought the 128gb): ~$105

Originally I'd planned to keep my 8 pro another year, but looking at it this way it makes more sense why I couldn't help myself and go with the update again.

On another note, I find it annoying the way Google plays around with "boosted trade-in values." I get that they do a lot of sales to encourage purchases, but changing around the trade-in values to create a sense of urgency and price confusion -- especially on their own phones! -- seems distasteful to me. They should stick with what they think is the actual value of their phones, and admit whether they do or don't hold that value over time.

I'm not great with Docker or networking, so when I picked up an n100 mini pc for self hosting I installed Ubuntu and Tipi to get started.

I used Tipi to install Immich and forwarded my ports, then setup cloudflare tunneling to expose it to the internet. Currently I'm migrating from Google Photos.

But since I'm new to this I'm worried about exposing Immich to the internet without really knowing what I'm doing. Any suggestions on ways to monitor my setup to make sure nothing goes wrong or gets hacked? Ideally any application suggestions would come from the Tipi app store but I'm willing to learn if there's no other option. Thanks!

I've been considering an e-bike or similar for quick trips from my house to coffee shops, bars, the beach, etc. It seems like a great option to not worry about parking and avoid traffic. But I can't figure out what I would do with such an expensive thing (compared to a regular bike) when I get there.

Do you lock them to bike rack, or whatever random thing you can find? What about scooters, can you even lock them? Is that secure enough?

I really enjoyed shared scooters since you don't have to worry about that issue at all, until the city council in my city regulated them out of business.

I also reached out to them on Twitter but they directed me to this form. I followed up with them on Twitter with what happened in this screenshot but they are now ignoring me.

I was getting a trade-in quote of $250 for my 128gb 7 Pro last week, now it's up to $315. Not quite at the $500 I got for my 6 Pro this time last year though.

We want to know!

The 45L was just too big. If that wasn't obvious.

For the record I'm 5'7'' 165lbs dude. I'm also a competitive powerlifter.

I filled my 45L backpack with a large and small packing cube and took it as my main bag on a 4 day international trip. Lugging it through the airport it became clear that it was way too heavy. I found myself jealous of my girlfriend's roller. Especially when standing around waiting to board the plane, I was in agony. I took it off when we were standing in one place, but then because of how heavy it was, schooching forward in line got awkward when I had to pick it up off the ground.

What's more, I didn't even use it fully expanded! Even the 35L mode with those packing cubes and everything else was too much. The bag itself weighs around 5lbs iirc, I think that combined with how dense and heavy the large packing cube full of clothes gets is what made the weight so unwieldy.

I wasn't a fan of the snaps either. Supposedly you can streamline the bag down from 35L but I found that if it was any more than 3/4ths full the snaps would just undo themselves.

I figure if 35L is too much capacity, the 45L backpack is a waste. I haven't taken the 30L on a trip yet, but I just packed for one and so far I'm liking it. My biggest concern was losing the front quick access zipper spot for my sunglasses, but the 30L's larger top access pocket has a smaller one inside that is perfect for my shades.

We'll see if I actually use it in the 33L capacity, but switching between 28L and 33L makes way more sense to me than switching between 35L and 45L.

I wanted to find a way to attach it so it wouldn't flop around loosely. Most of the molle water bottle holder mounting points were too narrow. Eventually I found one made for a bike with a bunch of mounting points. It came with hook and loop straps but they wouldn't get tight enough and led to flopping. So I used zip ties. They worked wonderfully.

Then we'll argue about the answer in the comments

I want to hear what you've done recently that you're proud of.

The mods there put a ton of time condensing and vetting information. It's worth a bookmark.