I tried the new Evernote AI Search feature and I must say that it is well-executed. However, it requires some understanding of both Evernote and how LLMs work to utilize it most effectively. On a side note, I think the term AI is still overused. AI Search, like Chat-GPT and others are using Large … read more

After many weeks, I continue to use the Reflect.app as my primary note-taking application. Its simplicity is what attracts me the most. The app doesn’t appear to be much more than a notepad, especially in focus mode. However, with features like backlinks, Kindle import, markdown, end-to-end … read more

Michael Tsai - Blog - GrammarlyGO Training on User Content With Questionable Opt Out

[W]e use Microsoft Azure as our LLM provider and don’t allow Azure, or any third party, to use our customers’ data to train their models—this is contractually mandated. For text analyzed by Grammarly to provide revision suggestions …, we may retain randomly sampled, anonymized, and de-identified data to improve the product. This data is disassociated from user accounts and ONLY used in aggregate.

A statement from Grammarly’s CISO about how they use your data.

I’ve been reflecting on what I like about the Reflect.app. I’ve been using the app for a couple of weeks, experimenting with it to determine if it’s something I want to use long-term. I think the main thing is its simplicity. It feels like a minimal app. In fact, when I started … read more

I find it beneficial to periodically review the tools I'm using. Reflecting on the current state and observing how things evolve has been insightful. These are the tools I'm using as of August 2023. My workflow is very simple. Readwise Reader I use Readwise Reader for nearly all of my consumption, … read more

I’m experimenting with Twos, an app that I’ve seen but never paid attention to.

The app seems to be heavily inspired by the Bullet Journal. You capture throughout the day and use various Bullet styles. You can also create lists (collections).

It’s a nice blend of note-taking and task management.

If you use Obsidian Publish and want to add Tinylytics tracking to your published site, you can do so with these steps. Set up your Tinylytics account. Create a file named publish.js in your root directory. Don’t create this file from inside Obsidian, but instead, directly in your file system. … read more

New isn’t better, and you’re not the exception 

The biggest problem with changing tools is that it feels like progress. You suddenly feel like you’re getting something done, but you’re not. You’re merely shuffling deck chairs, but it feels like you’re making progress.

Curtis talks about how switching tools can feel productive. I’ve indeed fallen into this trap (and am still falling).

Focus on the system and not the tools. Track your problems and only switch tools after evaluating and making an informed decision.

The Airshow podcast player (from the makers of Feedbin) has recently been updated to version 2.0 with playlist support, playback speed controls, sleep timer and UI updates.

I think it’s a great update and have truly enjoyed using it so far. A simple and minimal podcast player.

The Snipd podcast app has a snipping and AI component that makes it ideal for capturing and sharing the information you obtain from podcasts.

You can even sync to Readwise and share to other services. I’ve been capturing and saving to my bookmarks’ manager, so I can reference clips later.

I’ve been a longtime user of RSS feeds, and therefore Feed Readers, such as Google Reader back in the day. I’ve gone from Google Reader to Feedly and in the past couple years have bounced around from various services such as Inoreader, Feedbin, and others. Hundreds of feeds As a result, I’ve … read more

I moved all of my bookmarks from Raindrop to Anybox today. I’m not certain if it will be a permanent change yet. They are both bookmarking services that allow you to capture web bookmarks, images, files, etc. The process was simple. Export my Raindrop bookmarks as an HTML file. Import the HTML file … read more

Ghost now has a Chrome extension that allows you to bookmark websites to a draft post in your account quickly. This is an excellent feature if you use Ghost to create a curation newsletter. I missed this feature from the Twitters Revue newsletter service.

I’ve heard rumors of a Journaling app from Apple.

I discovered there is a new Shortcut from Apple called Remember This.

The shortcut asks what you want to remember and then if you want to include a photo. It appends your response to a single note for each day.

I wonder if this is all we’re getting?

I’ll probably unsubscribe from Grammarly when my subscription is up.

I dropped it altogether on my work machine in favor of Microsoft Editor instead for security and cost reasons.

For personal use, I’m not using grammar checking other than the occasional check using Raycast AI or Bing chat.

Microsoft Outlook has made significant progress in recent years. The recently released Outlook client (preview) for Windows has seen remarkable development in the past few months. While the features are largely taken from the Outlook web client, I am highly impressed with its progress.

I’ve been using Things 3 for all my personal and work tasks, and it’s been a joy. I wish more apps would copy its simplicity and ease of use. One of my favorite features is the ability to navigate and search by typing without switching to my mouse, and adding a task is also effortless … read more

Did you know you can configure the iPhone to execute an action when you double or triple-tap the back of the phone?

By default, it opens your notifications, but you can change it in Settings > Accessibility > Back Tap.

I have mine configured to run a shortcut to capture a reminder.

I’ve been using Bear Notes for personal notes for the past week and enjoy it. I would use Bear for work if it was available on Windows and was local only. I then remembered UpNote. UpNote is a notes app I’ve tried in the past that is highly similar to Bear, but it is cross-platform and is … read more

For those who watch many YouTube videos (not me, of course 🫣), you-tldr is a service that will use AI to extract a summary and transcript from any YouTube video. Free users can only summarize videos up to 30 minutes long (not bad).