Stream

I've got Twitch playing in the background all day, but is it worth subscribing to?

I "watch" Twitch more than I watch Netflix. Watch being in quotes, because I have it always playing in picture-in-picture mode while I am working, and then watch it for fun at night. And Twitch content is free. I usually do not mind ads but they are irritating. Should I subscribe to it? 😅

Five years (not really!) into the GPT era, and most apps still don't let you add tags using AI. What gives?

I can't believe it's been 5 years (or months) into having GPT APIs and most apps still don't let you add tags using AI. WHY IN THE EVER LOVING FUDGE IS THAT? They let you add summaries and even do QA, but tags? NOPE, they don't do them here. NotionHQ, readwise, can we get some AI tags please?

Sure, tana_inc does it, but that's beside the point. obsdmd does too through plain text, and I assume some AI plugin + templater combo, but I'm not looking for UI on top of plain text filters right now.

Let me tag my content with AI, it's one of the things it's good at!Gmail, listen up. I don't really want to write an email with AI; I want to add labels to the email with AI.

Why is there a shortage of integrating AI into our existing interfaces?

The Struggles of Finding the Perfect Document Writing App

I have a feeling, I'm going to keep using NotionHQ and still be disappointed by it, forever. It's a very similar experience with LaTeX and Overleaf.What is it about software made for document writing and note-taking that makes moving from an incumbent so hard? A significant factor is definitely collaboration. That's why I believe non-collaborative PKMs won't overtake any non-collaborative software. But what else is there?

Why Notion and Apple Notes Serve Different Purposes

Unpopular opinion: If you say Notion is overrated, I use Apple Notes, it is not Notion which is the problem, it is you. This is very much like saying trains are overrated, I use cars. Yes, they are in the same general vicinity, but they are not for the same purposes. If you want local first, write in plain text, why would you use Notion.

You can try Bear or Reflect or Craft, but Notion is like fitting a square peg solution in a round hole of needs. Upgrading to a premium round peg is the solution. If you're looking to level up your Apple notes experience, but do not collaborate, try Bear or maybe Reflect. Or for collaboration, Google Docs or Google Keep or Craft for that matter. Choose an app that does 10% over the app you are using. Try electric cars not trains.

All arguments about Notion vs Apple Notes to me sound like I was using a round peg that fits into a round hole. Instead of upgrading my round peg, I decided to use a square peg that kinda fits into a round hole. So, square pegs are overrated. Chat, it is that you don't have a square shaped hole in your life 🤷🏽‍♀️

If you want to learn how to use Apple Notes better, check out A Quick Guide to Apple’s Notes App. Also, did you know how good Google Docs is? — see that at Google Docs Is Underrated.

Date me docs are what happens when you learn no dating skills from your Asian parents, are surrounded by the idea of arranged marriage forever, and are asked to write SAT essays instead of going on dates—ending up being 27, without a partner. Disclaimer: I'm SE Asian, and if I wasn't lucky enough to be in a relationship with my partner for the past 5 years; or if we are ever not together, I am 100% sharing a date me doc.

I need to have a Readwise Reader cleanup day and unsubscribe to all newsletters that I have subscribed to. I realized I do not really like newsletters written as newsletters. I like long detailed essays, and newsletters aren't that. In general, I am not gonna subscribe to scheduled newsletters anymore. Scheduled letters make it so that someone needs to have something to say; and I kinda don't enjoy that content.

I wanted to explore simple WYSIWYG website editors (markdown acceptable) for personal academic sites, focusing on those that can be hosted on GitHub Pages for free, or that you at least own your content. Here's what I discovered:

Paid options: Blot(which I highly recommend, you still own your content!), Pagy Pagy – Simple website builder, WordPress.org Blog Tool, Publishing Platform, and CMS - WordPress.org, Webflow: Create a custom website | Visual website builder, and wix.com Your website, your business, your future｜Wix.com

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Something just clicked for me right now, at midnight. I can't think and type at the same time. I can think and blabber out loud, even though blabbering is slower, but it's not enough of a difference to hamper my thinking.

This is similar to how reading out loud makes some people struggle with processing what they are reading, especially when their internal reading doesn't match the speed of their speaking abilities. But blabbering produces a huge wall of text, just like this one!

It gets even worse when I am reading a paper, for example, and I have thoughts about parts of it. In an ideal world, I will circle them, scribble around for context, but cropping them and typing out my comment 100% breaks the flow for me. And I can't read and process huge walls of text.

This is what I've been struggling with. This is why I scribble down stuff because scribbling down with colors and pens in a spatial manner makes it way easier for me to relate stuff, to pick bits and pieces that would go together. It makes it easy for me to read and process it once I am done with the dumping. Unfortunately, it makes it harder for me later organize it, search it, or document it.

I don't know how I had this realization, but it is so fascinating and disappointing at the same time.

Something just clicked for me right now, at midnight. I cannot think and type at the same time. I can think and blabber out loud, even though blabbering is slower, but it is not enough of a difference to hamper my thinking. This is similar to how reading out loud makes some people struggle with processing what they are reading, especially when their internal reading does not match the speed of their speaking abilities.

But blabbering produces a huge damn wall of text, just like this one! It gets even worse when I am reading a paper for example, and I have thoughts about parts of it. In an ideal world, I will circle them, scribble around for context, but cropping them and typing out my comment 100% breaks the flow for me. And I cannot read and process huge walls of text. This one is fine, because I am just posting it and never need to come back to it again.

But for long term stuff, I cannot do this!

This is what I have been struggling with. This is why I scribble down stuff because scribbling down with colors and pens in a spatial manner makes it way easier for me to relate stuff, to pick bits and pieces that would go together. It makes it easy for me to read and process it once I am done with the dumping. Unfortunately it makes it harder for me later organize it, search it or document it. I don't know how I had this realization, but it is so fascinating (I figured a piece of the puzzle!) and disappointing (no off the shelf note-taking system will match my needs) at the same time.

I really cannot do note-taking apps that aren't true WYSIWYG

What I specifically mean is, Obsidian has a live preview option that allows me to see everything else rendered other than the line I am editing. And that bothers me. Seeing markdown makes me feel like I am writing a paper in LaTeX and I do not necessarily enjoy that.

And note-taking needs to be an enjoyable process for me. It also needs to not have wild context shifts, messy layouts, having all metadata stored and cluttering the text.

I can't even have a differently colored highlight without it showing up in text. And that is just not gonna work.