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HEYhey.com ↗ Most people who leave Gmail write a manifesto about surveillance. Mine is duller than that, and more specific. I had Gmail working the way I wanted through a set of plugins that sorted newsletters, advertising and general junk out of my inbox before I saw them. Then those
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This one isn't really a software review. It's me working something out. I left Gmail for a boring, specifically European reason. The plugins I relied on to sort newsletters, ads and junk out of my inbox stopped being offered in Germany over GDPR considerations, and suddenly
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This week, the links I am sharing are about learning, changing perspective and getting the tools in your hands to make a tangible difference in the crazy world we live in. Let me challenge your thinking on the geographic bias of AI adoption or the operational reality of transformation of
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Visual Studio Codecode.visualstudio.com ↗ This is on the list, and I want to be accurate about why. I didn't compare editors and choose this one. I started building things with AI assistance in 2025, and VS Code is where that happens. If you took the AI tooling
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The gap between a theoretical model and a functional tool is where the most interesting engineering happens. Whether it is applying LLMs to particle physics or structuring data for a global streaming service, the focus is shifting toward utility and precision. These examples highlight a broader trend of moving away
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BBEditbarebones.com ↗ I've had a Bare Bones editor on every Mac I've owned since 2003. It was TextWrangler for the first fourteen years — their free one — and when they retired it in 2017 and pointed everyone at BBEdit, I went along and have been there since.
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The gap between theoretical capability and physical reality is often where the most interesting insights live. Whether it is the surprising shift in how models handle time-series data or the grueling material science required to move light through glass, progress is rarely a straight line. Same goes for commercial
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Bearbear.app ↗ I've been on a Mac for over twenty years, and for most of them I was a serial notes-app migrant. If it existed between roughly 2003 and 2016, I probably tried it, moved everything into it, and then moved everything out again. That whole era
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Efficiency is often mistaken for effectiveness. When we automate the production of a deliverable, we frequently ignore the bottlenecks that exist before and after the act of creation. The following collection looks at the gap between generating more content and actually solving problems. This week, there is again some bias
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Rectangle Pro + Hyperkeyrectangleapp.com ↗ · hyperkey.app ↗ There are two apps behind this and they only make sense together, so I'm going to treat them as one thing. I should say up front that this arrangement is newer than it looks: I've had Rectangle Pro since 2024,
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The gap between what AI promises and what it actually delivers creates a strange psychological oscillation. I move from the awe of "this is the future, and we are living it!!!" to the skepticism of a hype cycle, often within the same hour. Finding stability in this landscape
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Alfred 5alfredapp.com ↗ I've had Alfred on every Mac I've owned since 2010. In that time I have used it, almost exclusively, for two things: launching applications, and doing sums. That's it. That's the whole relationship. The confession Alfred can do a
