🌞   ðŸŒ›

Apps

  • 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.

  • Things 3 is a pleasure to use

    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.

  • UpNote loses a paying customer

    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).

  • I’ve given Stage Manager on macOS another try, but it seems like a mess. I’m not entirely sure how to use it, and I don’t think it’s working well for me. I want to give it a fair chance, but at the moment, it’s just not clicking. Does anyone use it effectively?

  • I tried the Bear 2 Beta. What a beautiful app! I’m tempted to use it for my personal Knowledge Base.

    I’ve tried using one app (Obsidian), but finding separate apps for specific purposes seems to work better.

    • Rocketbook = Capture
    • Readwise = Collection
    • Bear = Knowledge
    • Raindrop = Bookmarks
    • Ulysses = Long-form writing
    • Mars Edit = Blog posts
    • Things 3 = Tasks
    • Apple Notes = Miscellaneous and shared notes
  • Apps I’m using - March 2023

    I’m constantly changing the apps I use. I like to experiment with what works. But I also like to play with new toys. I tend to experiment and chat about new apps I’m trying, but in reality, I have a few core apps that I tend to stick to. I like to take inventory now and then as it helps me clean up … read more

  • Craft has replaced my bookmarking service, Raindrop. I migrated all of my essential bookmarks, and I have a Document for every topic that can easily add links using copy/paste or the share menu. I will miss highlights and other features, but it’s one less service to pay for.

  • Exploring Microsoft Edge: A Week-Long Experiment

    This week, I put myself through another experiment and used the Microsoft Edge browser exclusively for work and personal. I’ve used Microsoft Edge for work for various reasons and never really had any issues with it. For personal, I was using Safari, but I’ve also experimented with Brave, Firefox, … read more

  • ManicTime - Automatically track your time on Windows

    ManicTime is Windows App that will automatically track your time. Useful for anyone who needs to track time to bill clients, ManicTime can auto-tag your documents, URLs, etc., to your projects, as well as give you an overview of where you spend your time. The data stays on your device! read more

  • Bike Outliner

    Bike Outliner is a simple, native macOS app from the creators of Task Paper. Bike makes creating outlines simple and fast. Unfortunately, it is macOS only right now. It may be worth a look if you like to create outlines for blog posts, books, projects, or brainstorming. read more

  • A couple of Password Manager options

    I listened to a snippet of Security Now podcast where they discuss password managers. The subject was brought up after the recent LastPass breach. Apparently Bitwarden is a great option because it’s open source, has a great free offering and is very secure. 1Password is also great especially if you … read more

  • Lantern

    Lantern is a slick service from @rknightuk that allows you to quickly search for a game, TV show, or Movie. Give it a rating and post your thoughts on your Micro.blog site. Since Micro.blog has books covered, this is a great addition. Well done! read more

  • Kill the Newsletter!

    📱 Kill the Newsletter! is a straightforward service from Leandro Facchinetti that lets you subscribe to newsletters but instead of giving your own email address, Kill the Newsletter gives you an email address to use as well as an RSS feed to add to your RSS reader to consume it. read more

  • Play - Manage your video playlist

    Play, by Loop Apps LTDA, is an app for iOS and macOS that lets you easily save videos from YouTube, Vimeo, and other sources so you can manage your playlist and watch them later. If you get frustrated by the Watch later feature built into YouTube, this app could solve your problems. read more

  • Using TeuxDeux for time management

    I’m trying TeuxDeux again to see if it can be suitable for time blocking. One of my favorite things about TeuxDeux is that I can see an overview of my week and keep as many lists as I need on one clean page. TuexDuex supports Markdown headers, links, recurring tasks, configurable colors, and more. … read more

  • UpNote - A beautiful, cross-platform app for notes

    When it comes to my note-taking app, I have a few criteria. Can I write in it? I’m talking about simple, distraction-free writing. Markdown support is necessary to write and add some basic formatting without leaving the keyboard. Can I get my notes out of it? I don’t want to use any application … read more

  • I tried using an Outliner

    I tried using Logseq to write in throughout the day. It’s a great application, but I can’t enjoy writing in an outliner. I had the same issues when I tried Roam Research back in the day. It’s okay when I’m just jotting things down, but I become frustrated whenever I try to write anything … read more

  • Blot

    Blot is an interesting service that takes markdown files you sync with Dropbox, Google Drive, or Git and turns them into blog posts. It still only costs $4 per month! I’ve used Blot in the past, and if I were not using Micro.blog currently, I would probably go back. read more

  • Front Matter

    Front Matter is a CMS (Content Management System) that runs natively in Visual Studio Code as an extension. It looks interesting, although I do not need it at the moment. read more

  • 📱 Airshow Podcast App

    I discovered a new podcast app for iOS called Airshow. It is from the same creators of Feedbin, the popular RSS service. What’s interesting is that Airshow actually uses Feedbin to sync podcasts between devices. This makes sense since it’s all RSS. What I like about Airshow is its simplicity. It’s a … read more

  • I’m trying the Agenda app

    I’ve been experimenting with task management and note applications for a while now. I wouldn’t say I like organizing into folders or even using tags. I’ve gone down that road and spent too much time trying to stay organized. I want to capture notes from an idea or meeting and keep them front and … read more