- My Macbook Air M2 to replace my 12" Macbook. Best laptop I've ever used!
- Syncthing just works. It's always a bit messy to set up, but then it syncs everything unfailingly across Mac, Linux and Android.
- Obsidian is great. I only use it for journaling (with Syncthing synchronization), but I love the idea.
- Sublime Merge. I use git in the command line, but since I edit markdown files for a living, diffing content changes so efficiently is a game changer. It works well with Sublime Text, another incredible product.
Hey, I love Sublime Text too! Have you compared Sublime Merge with other similar visual diff tools (like the ones in VSCode or IntelliJ, or Gitkraken, etc), especially for Markdown?
Frankly, I'm not sure what more I could expect. It's fine for my purpose: seeing what I'm commiting, and splitting unrelated changes into multiple commits.
I've never been able to convert over to iPad + keyboard for the same writing and hyper-productive working.
- For finding websites or products: Kagi
- For reading, annotating, journaling, daily planning: Supernote A5X (the only device I’ve ever purchased that lands in the same tier of usefulness as my MBP or iPhone)
- For typing comfortably: A custom Corne keyboard (https://keebmaker.com/products/corne-cherry)
- For note-taking at work: Obsidian (the graph-like organization scheme has paid dividends multiple times for me)
How is this better than ChatGPT?
Other more subjective things: fewer hallucinations (I have yet to encounter a factual error in Perplexity, and I do check the source on anything that seems questionable) and the follow-on question suggestions are very useful.
To be clear, by "finding information," I'm mostly referring to factual historical or current event information about the real world, i.e. not reference information for writing code. For the usecase I'm describing, I think it's frankly silly to use ChatGPT over Perplexity.
It just has a great balance of level of work required to add organization to your notes versus level of work required to leverage that organization.
VSCode - One of the few things Microsoft hasn't totally screwed up yet. Plug-in ecosystem is enormous. 9/10
Vim - At the other end of the spectrum. I forced myself to learn keybindings last year and now I can't not use them. I find myself unable to use text editors that lack a "vim mode". 2dWi" - fixed that missing quote! I find the extension ecosystem a bit puzzling still - extensions I install never seem to work quite right. Having to memorize extra keybindings for each plugin maxes out my mental load. 8/10
DigitalOcean - A breath of fresh air compared to AWS. There are fewer services and quite a lot of abstraction, but I'm happy to pay for higher reliability than something I can self-host. Encountered some bizarre behavior/bugs at times, but DO support has been super prompt and helpful (even on the free support tier). If you need three+ 9's of reliability call AWS or GCP. For everything else there's DigitalOcean. 9/10
Django - The first time I've enjoyed web development in quite some time. The abstraction level can get a bit silly at times, but I find that it's easy to peel back the layers of the onion, so to speak, and troubleshoot the inner workings. I really, really wish that a strongly-typed version of Python could be used. `mypy` and `typeddjango/django-stubs` just don't cut it. I want more compile time errors! 8/10
Logic Pro - Technically started using it in late 2021 but really got more into it this year. Used to produce music for a group of friends that play together. Tons of keybindings. Interface can get confusing, but it's a powerful tool. 9/10
I’ve always loved https://sequencediagram.org for creating sequence diagrams with text (highly recommend btw), but have also wanted to create other diagram types in a similar manner. Mermaid.js looks super intriguing.
It's only a matter of time.
On the Linux part: Does using the Thinkpad trackpad on Linux work well? How well does it handle sleep/wake from sleep? How seamless is monitor support?
I guess what I'm saying is that, while I would like to run Linux full-time, I like having a Linux-like/Unix environment, but where everything Just Works without fiddling.
The trackpad even picks up gestures. Wakes up from sleep without issue. Same deal with plugging in my caldigit tb3 hub (with a monitor + keyboard and mouse plugged in).
The trackpad is crap compared to a MacBook, but compared to most Windows laptops it's good (even better when you swap it out for a Thinkpad X1 glass trackpad).
I was an immediate early adopter of the LCD deck, since I’d been waiting for a device like this for years. While I absolutely loved it, I can concede it still felt a bit half-baked, especially on battery life. The OLED version feels like the proper 1.0 of the device in this form factor. Games that would drain the batter of my OG 512 model now run (EDIT) up to 3-4 times as long.
I still carry my portable battery with me for it, but now outside of very long trips (international flights, etc) I don’t need to break it out if I start from a full charge. Plus the screen and user experience on the OLED just looks and feels better. While the OLED Deck isn’t perfect, I’ve been able to happily game so much more than before, and feel confident further iterations on the tech will improve it
Wait, really? How does that work? I thought they didn't really upgrade the specs much? https://www.digitaltrends.com/computing/steam-deck-oled-vs-s...
These benchmarks show a few FPS difference (maybe 10% at most), nowhere near 3-4 times faster?
edit: did you mean 3-4x as long? But that's also hard to believe... a 3-4x improvement in battery life for any device would be a HUGE upgrade that normally takes like a decade to achieve, not a year or two?
Microsoft To Do is a simple, free, multiplayer to-do list app that runs on all the things: my Android, my iPad, my Mac, my partner's Windows laptop. No ads, no bullshit, it just works (thanks, Microsoft, this is probably the single best software you've ever written -- even more than TypeScript or VSCode). We use it for sharing grocery and other lists, and it's great being able to check things off in real-time as we shop different aisles.
My Airpods are still as comfortable and amazing as ever (even though I use Android). The M2 Mac is also awesome, but you knew that. The Magic Mouse is the only thing that doesn't give me cramps after a day of work.
Jetbrains IDEs continue to be worth it (in my case, as a web dev, Webstorm and RubyMine), even as VSCode keeps getting better.
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In the real world, probably my bicycles (Cannondale/Specialized especially, Canyon a little less so). All are great fun to ride. I wish I discovered this much younger (almost 40 now, didn't start cycling until my late 20s).
And good boxing gloves... I love my Hayabusas with their integrated wrist straps. I don't fight competitively or anything, just do it for a workout, but it's saved my wrists so many times. They make great training shin guards too. Perfect for this big ol' softy with fragile bones.
My Costco membership? After 2020, I'll never take toilet paper for granted ever again, lol. edit: oh yeah, and of course, my bidet!
And yet, I've been riding the same 100€ bike for 8 years.
This summer, I splurged on the perfect all-rounder for my needs: drop bars, disk brakes, Alfine 11 in-hub gear and belt drive. The difference is night and day. I wish I did it sooner.
I tell everyone who moved to Berlin that a bike is the best investment they can make here. This city and its surroundings are meant to be discovered on a bike.
> The difference is night and day. I wish I did it sooner.
Especially if you're not so hardcore and only occasionally cycle! The difference between a $100 and $1000 bike is HUGE. $1000 to $5000? Not so much.
IMO the sweet spot is getting a lightly-used bike at a professionally managed bike swap sale where professionals and mechanics are actually looking at the bikes being sold, not just rusty things off Craigslist. Often times some rich person will buy way more bike than they need, don't end up using it much, and then letting it go for 3-4x less just to free up space. But to a beginner-intermediate cyclist they are still amazing machines.
There's soooooooo much technology that goes into them, everything from the drivetrain to the materials to the aerodynamics to the brakes... it can make a huge huge difference in comfort, especially over long distance.
Fit is another big thing: adjusting the bike with small tweaks (saddle, handlebars, stems, etc.) can change it from "painful" to "dreamy" depending on ergonomics.
But all in all, a good bike is probably the single best investment I've ever made. Cheaper and way more fun than paying for either a gym membership or a doctor.
https://ultimatehackingkeyboard.com/
I’ve tried several split keyboards but this is the one I finally stuck with. Amazing config software, I have several Mac and PyCharm shortcuts setup.
ChatGPT iOS app with voice.
Ninja Air Fry Digital Oven
When I was a kid we didn't have potable water all the time (we had to boil everything that came from the faucet) and it would frequently go out (we'd fill up bathtubs just in case).
More recently, as a young adult I did some trailwork in the woods for a few months. We ran a long length of hose along a river and just used gravity to provide running water and piped it through a slow filtration system. Got maybe a gallon or two a minute, enough to do dishes and wash hands and slowly fill up water bottles, but that's it. No showers or laundry.
It would frequently clog and we'd have to go and figure out why, in the rain or smoke or dead of night. The filtration also wasn't perfect and the entire crew got cryptosporadium and was out for a good week, keeled over in pain one after the other.
Potable running water has probably saved more lives than anything else...
When my pressure cooker died, I replaced it with a multi-purpose machine that also included air frying capabilities, and I gave it a try. I was pleased to discover that my prior skepticism was misplaced. It's not perfect for everything, but it heats up fast, and it really shines in a few areas (e.g., making fries, reheating fries/pizza, cooking seasoned chicken, etc).
I'm so in love with this thing I thought about making a cookbook. Only thing is, I'm a shit cook, and crispy shit is still shit XD
Samsung Galaxy S9 Ultra - No brainer when my S7+ screen died. I love the form factor. It's not for everyone but I love it. I might get the S6 Lite sometime next year for use during travel, but perhaps not.
Boox Tab Mini C - Bye-bye Kindles. I'm in love with this device. Color in an e-reader is great and this device allows me to use an app of my choice to read. I'm not locked into reading on one app. Tachiyomi also works flawlessly. Love it.
BeReal - a very cool new take on close group social networking.
exercise - climbing gym and regular gym helped me improve my mental health drastically after years of not enough exercise
Armytek Wizard flashlight. Joy to use on the runs and for walking around neighborhood in the evening.
Pacsafe Metrosafe X Urban Sling. Kind of expensive but has a very thoughtful design. Now I have my wallet, notepad and bunch of other small things in one place instead of being spread out across various pockets.
Oh cool! I was wondering when they'd bring back the DX. Looks like this is Amazon's take on the Remarkable?
Basically GPT on the command line. I had my own, but chatblade is just prettier. I thought with the ChatGPT subscriptions I wouldn't have to use it anymore, but there's just a lot of raw searches that the API does much better than the chat. Recent example is how to access new fonts from mac's Pages app, both Google and ChatGPT gave incorrect answers on top.
- Logseq (Wasn't able to use Obsidian due to licensing issue, accidentally found this amazing alternative with a supportive FOSS ecosystem)
- vscode (with Github Copilot, Better Comments, Error Lens, GitLens)
- iterm2 + zsh + fzf
Ref link: https://www.monarchmoney.com/referral/chszg37bgv Regular link: https://www.monarchmoney.com/
- foldable pullup bar - bullbar. I have the 1.0 but 2.0 looks much easier to setup - Bowflex adjustable dumbbells
Pages app - word processor
Proton mail
Bose quite comfort
Day one
* Noteplan
* PyCharm
