Objects
Here are objects I like. It feels to me that having good objects is underrated.
General rules I follow:
- It’s okay to pay for something if it gives you more value than however-much-the-subscription costs.
- Minimize unnecessary physical objects, but don’t be afraid of having good ones around.
Other People’s Objects⌗
Other people have good objects, too. Many of them are probably better than mine. An incomplete list:
(I wonder if there should be a central list for this, or something.)
The Physical⌗
Physical objects are very annoying. They have to be moved, stored, gotten from another room, etc. But some of them are worth it.
Technology⌗
- MacBook Pro (M1, 16GB RAM, 512GB SSD) for an incredible-quality computer
- I didn’t like Apple products for a long time. Then I actually tried one, and, well. Here we are.
- AirPods Pro for wireless earbuds that don’t hurt my ears over time
- iPad + Pencil + Paperlike case for distraction-free reading, Anki, and RemNote review (currently)
- Spectre C35 for an external montior
- There are better monitors out there, but this one was a nice balance of cost and performance for me.
- A good USB-C hub for a desk setup where you can plug in and out with just one cable
- Magnetic USB-C adapter to make plugging in and out ridiculously convenient
- POK3R keyboard for a good keyboard that doesn’t hurt my hands
Potential Future Things⌗
- A standing desk converter for normal desks
- A weighted blanket
- A Lumenator to make the room look like daylight
The Digital⌗
A note: many of these apps are Apple products-only. This is kind of unfortunate. I suspect there are alternatives that are about as good on Windows, though.
Productivity⌗
- Google Chrome for a web browser that just works (although)
- Things for a low-effort and pretty way to capture tasks
- Shout out to Emacs Org Mode, though, which I used for several years prior.
- Alfred for a slightly faster Spotlight
- Karabiner-Elements for fixing macOS’s insane keyboard problems
- Krisp for never having to worry about noise in video calls again
- SensibleSideButtons to fix the forward/back buttons on my mouse
- Rectangle for window hotkeys
- Dropover for making drag and drop ridiculously easy
- MultiTimer for naming timers and counters
Notetaking⌗
- Anki for learning a language (currently Chinese!)
- RemNote for a powerful knowledge base and amazing flashcard system
- I tried Roam. It was okay, but it felt kind of cobbled-together (markdown? paste random js into your editor to add plugins? no spaced repetition by default?). RemNote is definitely buggier, but I feel that it wins out just because it seems like it got the data structure right.
- Instapaper for queuing things to be read later without getting distracted in the moment
- GoodNotes for handwritten notetaking
- Apple Books for a book syncing system that works well enough
- I also used to use Calibre, but I realized that I don’t really need all of its complexity.
- Mathpix Snip for amazing screenshot-to-LaTeX abilities
Development⌗
- Homebrew for installing things quickly
- Visual Studio Code for basically all coding
- iTerm 2 for a speedy terminal
- Postman for API development that’s actually kind of nice
- Tailscale for connecting to local servers from anywhere
Chat⌗
- Element for an open-source, end-to-end encrypted chat application with nice UX
Fun⌗
- Spotify for nice music