Replied to Start Up No.2158: Senate yells at tech leaders, want an ‘everything reader’?, US zaps infected routers, Vision Pro?, and more (The Overspill: when there’s more that I want to say)

I’ve heard Doctorow speak, and he’s incredibly persuasive: he has that rare talent of making everything he says sound like it’s completely obvious, and each successive piece of logic as inexorable as Lego pieces joining. Also: I’ve no idea how he produces so much, day after day, and finds time to sleep and eat.

Source: Start Up No.2158: Senate yells at tech leaders, want an ‘everything reader’?, US zaps infected routers, Vision Pro?, and more by @charlesarthur

I often wonder the same thing Charles. I struggle to keep up with all of Cory’s work, let alone to consider the amount of time and effort that must go into it. I think he clearly must have well honed habits. Just wonder if there is any downtime in his life?

Bookmarked Writing Tools I Use All The Time – Clive Thompson – Medium (Medium)

My go-tos for reporting, research, and writing. “Writing Tools I Use All The Time” is published by Clive Thompson.

Clive Thompson reflects upon the writing tools he uses. Although written from the perspective of a Mac, I was intrigued by Scribd, which I clearly had not explored properly as a platform. I also liked the reference to Blackwing pencils, I feel I take this side of the way I work for granted at times.
Replied to IFTTT introduces a paid plan, reduces free usage to 3 applets (thenextweb.com)

If This Then That (IFTTT), a web-based service that lets you set up useful task flows between popular apps (like sync photos you post on Twitter to your Dropbox storage) is adding a paid tier after a decade of being available for free.

More importantly, it’s reducing free tier usage to three applets (tasks). The company said it’s taking this step to “better align our Pro product roadmap with the needs of our most active Applet creators.”

IFTTT’s decision to limit how many free applets are available is not a surprise. A reminder of why we need to be mindful about ‘free’ options when it comes to workflows.
Replied to A note taking problem and a proposed solution by Chris AldrichChris Aldrich (boffosocko.com)

It’s too painful to quickly get frequent notes into note taking and related platforms. Hypothes.is has an open API and a great UI that can be leveraged to simplify note taking processes.

I really enjoyed your reflections Chris. I feel that I need to be way more deliberate about choices and workflow. My frustration is still with mobile.
Replied to Working through “How to blog?” by Jeremy Felt (jeremyfelt.com)

There’s probably a level to this where I need to figure out what’s best for my workflow while also finding something that I would like to be engaged with. Maybe I just need to start tossing things around and talking about how they connect.

Jeremy, I actually use Trello to compile my posts. I have written more about my actual workflow here. I am still unhappy with this, but have not managed to come up with anything better that works across both mobile and desktop.
Bookmarked Audrey Watters (usesthis.com)

For me, the ideal set-up is much less about the hardware or software I am using. It’s about the ideas that I’m thinking through and whether or not I can sort them out and shape them up in ways that make for a good piece of writing. Ideally, that does require some comfort — a space for sustained concentration. (I know better than to require an ideal set up in order to write. I’d never get anything done.)

Audrey Watters unpacks her workflow. As always, she takes the conversation around technology beyond the mere software or hardware to the technology as a system.
Bookmarked Seeking the Productive Life: Some Details of My Personal Infrastructure—Stephen Wolfram Blog by Stephen Wolfram (blog.stephenwolfram.com)

I could talk about how I lead my life, and how I like to balance doing leadership, doing creative work, interacting with people, and doing things that let me learn. I could talk about how I try to set things up so that what I’ve already built doesn’t keep me so busy I can’t start anything new. But instead what I’m going to focus on here is my more practical personal infrastructure: the technology and other things that help me live and work better, feel less busy, and be more productive every day.

There are many that document their workflow, but not many go to the depth and detail as Stephen Wolfram. What stands out to me is how deliberate he has been about everything and for so long. A useful reminder that there are always opportunities if we are willing.