Started using IRCCloud
Started using IRCCloud for keeping up with IRC channels.
IRCCloud helps keep a persistent connection with freenode, meaning, you are always connected and hence you don’t miss out on conversations. When it comes to other apps like Hexchat and Kiwiirc, which I was using previously, the connection is terminated once you close the browser.
It is a paid app at $5/month
Uses This
List to software tools that I use to get things done at work and in life.
Core Work:
Adobe Suite
Figma
Sketch
Final cut pro
Webflow
Would love to use more:
Productivity:
Vim — a tool for all occasions, everything goes into Vim first, for thoughts, notes, and code. Also the smartest tool I’ve ever used.
Apple Mail — managing two email accounts, personal and work (Connects Proton Mail and Google Gsuite email)
Business Email — Google G-suite (Google, easily the worst offenders of privacy, I’ll never use their mail app and will avoid using their search engine, don’t even ask me about Youtube)
Proton Mail — Personal email, accessed via Apple Mail. (You also get calendar and storage space all encrypted)
Google Docs (Again, I loathe everything Google, used only when collaboration is needed)
MS office — By far the best productivity suite. You already know it’ll work. The only suite the allows for web, desktop, and mobile. After exploring the world of writing apps, everyone comes back to MS office.
Github — Git(version control) must be a common man’s tool(not just for devs). It just solves lots of problem, just like that.
Box — For sharing and storage, way better than Dropbox.
Amazon Drive — Project photos backup and for files. (cheapest of all).
Tmux - Terminal.
Lyx - GUI for LaTex
Other Work Related Apps:
Monodraw – For planning, workflow, flowchart, wireframes and mind mapping
Filezilla – FTP
Handbrake – Video converter
VLC - video and audio player
Clipy – clipboard manager
Pixel Snap 2 - Measure distance and dimensions of anything on the screen. I don’t have the experience nor the eyeballing skill to align objects while designing.
Communication
Telegram
Zoom
Google Hangouts
Work and Goal Tracking
Beeminder
(in that order)Be Focussed Pro(Pomodoro)
Apple Music(Already spent a lot of time with playlists, can’t move to Spotify)
Health
Knowledge Management(what ever that means..)
Roam Research – I don’t even know what the app does and what it helps to achieve. It is so buggy. So unreliable, some times you can’t even do the basic CRUD functions.
If any one wants to try Roam wait for two years at least, you won’t miss anything, right now they don’t even have a mobile app and 2FA. Please at all cost avoid following #RoamCult. (pure BS)
Security and Privacy
Proton VPN - Always connected to it (They don’t log data and are under Swiss jurisdiction, comparatively safe than other providers)
GPG Tools – GUI interface for GPG encryption . Encrypt email, text, files, folders, and hard disks. Signing photographs and files for verifying authenticity. (no one does it or no one cares)
Running a Studio on a command line
Tools:
Mutt for email.
Task Warrior for to do.
Time Warrior for time tracking on tasks
CMUS - music player
Vim for text/code editing
Faster way to do emails
Want to try new way of doing emails, have some time to burn, want to have fun:
Why not try Mutt? It’s been there since 1995
Every one wants to do faster emails now! — but why? that is an altogether different question, as in, why would any one want a lite-help-desk-software for managing emails?
But hey Hey.com[1]
To every one who is eagerly waiting to get an invite from Hey.com
If your question is: How is this problem being solved now? How are power email users managing emails?
Want to try new way of doing emails, have some time to burn, want to have fun:
Why not try Mutt? [2]
It is free under General Public License, been there since 1995.Refer [5][6]
Typical Mutt setup:
Your fav terminal > Mutt > Vim[3] > GnuPG[4]
In a way, it is a faster way to do emails:
* Entirely command line.
* Plain text only
* Key bindings that you can learn and master
* Configure your favourite editor to compose(a good opportunity to learn Vim)
* GPG end-to-end encryption support
Caveats
* Take just minutes to get it up and running, but configuring perfectly will a be work in progress.[4]
* High learning curve, but hey any thing worth doing is.
[1] https://hey.com/
[2] http://www.mutt.org/
[3] https://www.vim.org/
[4] https://gnupg.org/
[5] https://stevelosh.com/blog/2012/10/the-homely-mutt/
[6] https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Mutt
[7] Mutt in action: Video
After thoughts:
Quoting Hey.com from this link:
Either they rely on everyone using the same service/app (good luck converting everyone you email with to use the same setup as you!). Or the emails aren’t really emails, but links to a website where the encryption is then applied. Or you use a clunky external tool to encrypt and decrypt the messages (like PGP). This really only works if you’re willing to give up on email as we commonly understand it. If you absolutely must have end-to-end encrypted email, checkout something like ProtonMail.
This posturing, I don’t understand, Hey.com’s narrative is don’t believe in Google, but believe us, why should anyone? — without end-to-end encryption.
Users must control the encryption. That is why end-to-end encryption(PGP) works and has been around for more than 25 years.
PGP is a difficult concept to grasp at first, but once you wrap your head around it, you’ll feel more liberated and safe.
It is not clunky? Is terminal window clunky?
For anyone who wants to try PGP on a mac try GPGtools.
They have made a commendable job of making encryption and decryption of emails, and files easy.
This is how GPG integrated email looks on the native Apple mail client.
All emails are encrypted and signed using GPG. You own the encryption keys.
Encrypt and decrypt files, folders and disks with a click
Project and Task Work Flow
Managing work - Git is the way to go. Even for non-coding related work.
This is my current workflow for managing tasks and projects at Friday Matinee Studio.
Still a work in progress.
Goal is to figure out a workflow that unites managing projects, managing tasks, documentation(wikis), handling project files with version controlling.
Git is the way to go. Even for non-coding related work.
*Ascii art made using MonoDraw by Milen Dzhumerov
VIM
It takes a decade to master VIM they say. Mine is just beginning. I've seen how powerful the tool could be. It's like having a nitro boosters on fingers.
It takes a decade to master VIM they say. Mine is just beginning. I've seen how powerful the tool could be. It's like having a nitro boosters on fingers.
Starting to get used to "navigating/moving around" the text.
h,j, k, l
Ww, Bb
gg, G
3gg, 10gg
ctrl f, ctrl b
shift $, shift ^
Reading Infinite Jest
One more try. My third attempt, not to try and finish but to get started.
To read Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace.
As I’m typing this, I’m feeling that I’ve accomplished something; I’ve Just crossed page number 100. Still 950 pages more.
One more try. My third attempt, not to try and finish but to get started.
To read Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace.
As I’m typing this, I’m feeling that I’ve accomplished something; I’ve just crossed page number 100. Still 950 pages more.
“On the other hand, there are those who feel that fiction can be challenging, generally and thematically, and even on a sentence-by-sentence basis — that it’s okay if a person needs to work a bit while reading, for the rewards can be that much greater when one’s mind has been exercised and thus (presumably) expanded”
But how? What has changed from the previous attempts?
I tried to introduce myself to David Foster Wallace (DFW) through Infinite Jest (IJ). Turned out to be a bad idea. So I read a couple of his other works; got myself used to his style, humor, rhythms, and his genius.
To scale the book: discipline, dedicated time and undivided attention is a must.
I created a goal of reading 10 pages of the book every day on Beeminder. It’s been two weeks and I’ve crossed 100 pages.
“10 pages a day” isn’t that less? Be my guest! Everything about the book is different and new.
The entire plot is a non-linear narrative, happening at multiple timelines, across different characters, across various sub-plots all built on a hidden theme(which according to the author is subjective). The book has 200-page footnotes at the end — on one occasion a footnote is 30 odd pages long — which is so crucial to the plot, so one cannot skip them as we normally do. In short, it is like the movie Inception on steroids.
“But this is not possible with Infinite Jest. This book is like a spaceship with no recognizable components, no rivets or bolts, no entry points, no way to take it apart. It is very shiny, and it has no discernible flaws. If you could somehow smash it into smaller pieces, there would certainly be no way to put it back together again. It simply is. Page by page, line by line, it is probably the strangest, most distinctive, and most involved work of fiction by an American in the last twenty years. ”
As recommended by fellow DFW fans on the internet, I also carry around a companion/study guide(520 pages) written by Greg Carlisle on my phone to refer and to make sure I’m on the right track.
And did I tell you that the literary style is unlike you’ve ever read. The vocabulary, sentence structure, complex phrases, strange punctuations would warrant you to have linguistic conversations with your friends.
“And yet the time spent in this book, in this world of language, is absolutely rewarded. When you exit these pages after that month of reading, you are a better person. It’s insane, but also hard to deny. Your brain is stronger because it’s been given a month long workout, and more importantly, your heart is sturdier, for there has scarcely been written a more moving account of desperation, depression, addiction, generational stasis and yearning, or the obsession with human expectations, with artistic and athletic and intellectual possibility”
At the current page run rate, it would take another 3 months to finish the book. Hoping to finish it before the Indian summer. Will keep this entry updated.
Update: 10th Feb, Sunday.
Total Pages read = 160
The book is too heavy in its physical size, hands are getting stressed holding it for longer hours. Trying to listen to the book in its audio book version from Audible. One mustn’t read this book in the audio version; you would miss out on most of the amazing things like: Wordplay, brilliant sentences which you must read multiple times to understand and to enjoy, mysterious punctuations and not to mention footnotes.
Update April 14th
Completed! Done! In 3 months, before summer, as desired.
A feeling of exhaustion and relief. That is how I felt after finishing the book.
“But are you sure?”
mmmm.. no not really, I’m confused. I’ve technically finished reading all the pages, but did the novel really end?
I think that is how the author wants us to feel. He has in-fact confided a similar sentiment on the lines of: every reader will have a different interpretation of the ending, and each one will have a different opinion on their consequent rereads.
Here is my take on the book:
1) A brilliant piece of literature. The words, sentences, phrases, chapters, plots, sub-plots, rhythms, patterns, and the narrative style is unlike you’ve read before.
2) Half way through the book, after realising the complex nature of the narrative, I sort of stopped worrying about connecting the plot and started reading every chapter as an individual long form essay. Doing this, I was able to enjoy and appreciate the literature more.
3) It took 4 months to finish the book, it is a journey. As in any journey, you cannot remember every thing that happened, for that long, continuously. There are few instances where I don’t even remember reading whole chapters.
4) As in any journey, there are ups and downs; sometimes the book feels like a page turner and other times you’ll need to drag yourself out of the quagmire.
3) Needs a quick revisit(skim through key chapters) to get a grip on the plot and the ending. And a definite multiple rereads sometime in the future.
P.S - Found this great interpretation on finishing the book and interpretation of the ending by the late Aaron Swartz.
Tools of the Trade
The following are the tools and applications that helps me get the job done; both personally and professionally(photography, video and design)
The following are the tools and applications that helps me get the job done; both personally and professionally(photography, video and design)
Hardware
Workstation
- MacBook Pro (13-inch, 2017, Two Thunderbolt 3 ports)
- Dell 21.5 inch (54.6 cm) Ultra Thin Bezel LED Monitor
- Bose QuietControl 30, Noise cancellation headphones
Photography
- Nikon D750 FX
- Nikon D3100 DX
- Canonet 35mm film
- Nikon F65 35mm film
- Yashica FX3 super 35mm film
- iPhone SE
- Godox AD600B(studio light)
- Godox V860 N(camera flash) * 2
- Zhiyun crane 2
- DJI Osmo Mobile 2
- iPad mini 2 - 20% of my reading happens here with iBooks & Kindle app for iPad.
Software:
Creative Suite:
- Photoshop CC
- Lightroom CC
- GIMP - for quick, lightweight photo edits.
- Inkscape - vector design
- Sketch - design
- Final cut pro
- Handbrake video transcoder
- Apple Keynote
Writing & Research
- Ulysses - Notemaking
- LaTeX - for documentation
- Brother 220 manual typewriter
- Ember(now discontinued) - Capture screenshots, videos, and organize them under tags(visual research)
- The Wayback machine lets you capture web pages and store it as an archive for reference and sharing.
- Both Ember and The Wayback Machine are my humble attempt to try Zettelkasten.
Tasks
- ProtonMail
- Omnifocus - To-do list
- Rescuetime - Productivity tracker
- Freedom - distraction(social media) blocker.
- Keychain - password management
- A private phpBB forum for internal communication, project management, and knowledge wiki.— One place for discussions & decisions.
Storage:
- Amazon drive - Backup for: personal projects, and photos on the iPhone
- AWS S3 - Backup for professional projects
- Squarespace CMS. This website and fridaymatinee studio are hosted there.
Fitness:
- Garmin Forerunner 15 GPS watch.
- Smashrun - Training and running intelligence integrated with Garmin Connect.
Music:
- Apple Music
- Panasonic Bahadur AM | FM radio - I live alone and gets too lonely in the mornings. Most of the time it is for just the white noise.
- GPO vinyl record player
Communication:
- Panasonic KX-TG1612 Cordless Phone - Landline for work-related communications.
Browsers:
- Google Chrome
- Tor - with duckduckgo; for ads-blocked privacy conscious browsing. Mostly used during focused research.