Stack

I am a big fan of well-designed and well-thought-out software that helps get the job done. I get so excited to try new ones, and using well-built software is a delight to use every day. So here's the list.

🛠️ Productivity & Workflow Management

• Things 3:
  Intuitive and beautifully designed task management tool. I don't use to-do lists as much as I'd like to, but for things I know I might forget, it comes in handy.
• Notion Calendar (Cron):
  I find Google Calendar too crowded and overwhelming. Cron has such a simple and intuitive calendar design; it pleases me every time I look at it. I like my software well designed.
• Superhuman:
  I have recently started using superhuman, and It's crazy how fast it is, and how fast it allows me to move through my emails.
• Raycast:
  A Mac launcher with hotkeys, snippets, extensions, and so much more. I will go to my grave talking about how amazing Raycast is. I have so many things to share about Raycast; it deserves a separate post. Will share it soon!
• Granola.ai:
  Okay, how do I stress enough how amazing Granola is. I can't tell you how many meeting notes tools I have tried in the past, but the output was always so basic. I felt so disappointed until Granola came in and said hi. The summary, notes and action points are absolutely on point. Granola is the definition of software that just works.
• Superwhisper:
  I have recently started using speech-to-text in my day-to-day, and it has been a game changer. I tried WisprFlow and a couple of other similar tools, but I find this one the best. With Superwhisper, I can just ramble about what I want to say, and it gets it. It not only transcribes it but also removes all the unnecessary stuff and structures the writing in my style. It also lets you pick the AI model doing the work, I default to Claude Opus 4 and its reasonably quick.

🗃️ Note-taking and Knowledge management

• Roam Research:
  Just like to-do lists, I don't take as many notes as I'd like to. But Roam makes it so easy to jot things down and come back to them later. It's built around bi-directional linking in a way that you can just connect different notes to each other, and it surfaces when you need it. Just jot things down and [[link]] keywords, topics, things, sentences.
• MyMind:
  Save and forget. Any link, image, tweet, article - anything you want to revisit. There's no need to organize, add it to folders, etc. Search for it when you need it, and MyMind will surface that for you.
• Notion:
  I’ve been a pretty big Notion user in the past. It’s basically where my whole note-taking and knowledge management adventure kicked off. These days, though, I mostly open it for collaborating on client projects, or when I need to save lists and tables. I’ve also got it connected up to readwise, so searching through my highlights and saved articles is easy.

📝 Reading, watching, listening

• Readwise & Readwise Reader:
  Really helpful for grabbing highlights and insights from Kindle, articles, and even podcasts via Snipd. Honestly, most of my online reading ends up here. Everything syncs smoothly with notion, so I can always dig up whatever random bit of info I saved last week (or last year).
• Audible:
  This is my go-to spot for audiobooks. My approach is probably a bit odd - I’ll usually have the book (or the Kindle version) open in front of me to take notes, while the audiobook plays on my phone. This way I find it easier focus and make sense of what I’m hearing. If I try just listening, it never really sticks.
• Snipd:
  Okay, I'll admit. Most of my podcast consumption is on YouTube. I like watching the guests talk, haha. But Snipd comes in handy when I'm listening to an info-dense podcast while I'm on the go. It makes capturing the highlights so much easier; for the longest time, it was a challenge.
• ElevenLabs Reader:
  Whenever I want to listen to an article, document, or even just long ChatGPT responses, I'll tune into ElevenLabs Reader. The narration is so good and realistic that you even forget it's AI in the background.
• YouTube Premium:
  Probably the most unnoticed, but the most "annoying-if-not-there" subscription.
• Kindle:
  All my E-books are on kindle at the moment. I don't use the iOS app though.

👨🏼‍💻 Dev & Design

• Cursor:
  I have been dabbling with AI coding recently, but even if I don't need the AI, I still use Cursor. AI-native times, huh?
• Figma:
  Design tool for creating and prototyping. I even use it to design social media posts. Although my use of Figma for UI-related tasks has gone down because of the tool mentioned right below this 😅
• Vercel & v0:
  I have always been interested in Vercel not because of what it does, but because I have been following the creators and team for a long time. It's a modern frontend development and deployment platform focused on making deployment easier. It's the place I deployed my first coded app to the web. On the other hand, v0 is the AI tool for generating designs, prototypes, etc. I use it to quickly prototype ideas/UIs to get feedback from clients before I go build them.

🧙🏼 AI Specific tools

• ChatGPT:
  My go-to AI chat app. I have tried almost all of the ones out there, but personally, the models and experience are the best in ChatGPT. And o3? Dont even get me started 😅
• Raycast AI:
  Before I was using ChatGPT as much as I do now, Raycast's AI chat was my go-to. It's Mac-native and so intuitive. These days, I mostly only use it for AI commands, spelling and grammar checks, and when I'm so in the flow that I don't have the time to go to a new tab and open ChatGPT. Raycast AI is just Option ⌥ + Spacebar away.
• Gemini:
  While ChatGPT is my go-to, I still use Gemini to cross-check or whenever I need super long context. But I still use it maybe just 10% of the time.
• NotebookLM:
  NotebookLM is cool. I love how it can take hundreds of websites, videos, documents as sources and get me answers. The high context window comes really handy here. I use it mostly when I'm learning about something, or researching about a product/tool.

🤹🏼 Bunch others

• Ghost:
  I use Ghost for my blog, this website. I’ve been through the whole circus - tried a Next.js blog, dabbled with Webflow, and a bunch of other setups. But honestly, nothing makes publishing as simple as Ghost does. My only gripe? I wish customizing the designs was as easy as it is on Webflow - but I’ll live, and Ghost is amazing.
• Fathom Analytics:
  Privacy-focused, super lightweight web analytics tool that actually makes some sense for the average person, lol. Plus, no invasive tracking practices (unlike...).
• 1Password:
  Password manager with robust security, and something that actually looks good, non-clucky and is easy to use.
• Chrome:
  Tried all, Loved Arc, landed back on Chrome 😅. Trying the new Dia Browser though 👀