![\"Claude](\"https://cdn.uploads.micro.blog/347251/2026/33591c79db.jpg\")
\nClaude CodeAbout a year ago, I switched from iOS to Android with a Google Pixel phone. I needed a change.
\nBut, I’m now back to not only iOS but also MacOS with the new MacBook Neo.
\nIt’s nice having the whole family in the same ecosystem again. Much less hassle.
\nAnd I missed Apple hardware and software.
\n", "date_published": "2026-06-27T20:54:37-04:00", "url": "https://focustivity.blog/2026/06/27/about-a-year-ago-i.html" }, { "id": "http://focustivity.micro.blog/2026/04/19/openclaw-not-today.html", "title": "OpenClaw, Not Today", "content_html": "I almost spent the day trying out OpenClaw on my personal PC. I was tempted because I find the process fun and interesting.
\nI talked myself out of it because I know I have no real use for this type of system in my personal life. I would never use a setup like this for work, as I work with many clients.
\nOh well.
\n", "date_published": "2026-04-19T16:05:00-04:00", "url": "https://focustivity.blog/2026/04/19/openclaw-not-today.html", "tags": ["AI"] }, { "id": "http://focustivity.micro.blog/2026/03/22/project-hail-mary-movie.html", "title": "Project Hail Mary (Movie)", "content_html": "I went with the family to see Project Hail Mary on Thursday night.
\nI had read the book a few years ago and even wrote a blog post about it—it was actually the first post on this site.
\nThe movie was perfectly cast and a blast to watch. It was much funnier than I expected, maybe even more so than the book, which lightened the tone of a story that’s actually quite dark when you think about it (end of the world and all).
\nMy family loved it as well; my daughter even said Rocky was “adorable.”
\nI’m looking forward to watching it again.
\n", "date_published": "2026-03-22T12:37:00-04:00", "url": "https://focustivity.blog/2026/03/22/project-hail-mary-movie.html", "tags": ["Movies"] }, { "id": "http://focustivity.micro.blog/2026/03/22/not-motivated-to-write-about.html", "title": "Not Motivated to Write About Anything", "content_html": "I’m going through one of those phases where I’m not motivated to write about anything. It’s likely because I’ve been putting so much effort into work, with a recent promotion and landing a huge project with a tight deadline. At the end of the day, I don’t even feel like looking at the computer (other than to play games).
\n", "date_published": "2026-03-22T11:59:00-04:00", "url": "https://focustivity.blog/2026/03/22/not-motivated-to-write-about.html" }, { "id": "http://focustivity.micro.blog/2026/02/21/playing-with-claude-code-and.html", "title": "Playing with Claude Code and Claude Cowork", "content_html": "Over the past couple of weeks, I’ve dabbled with Claude Code and Claude Cowork to see what it’s all about. I love tinkering with technology, after all.
\nClaude Cowork is essentially a less technical way to do the same thing Claude Code can do. It can be used to manipulate files in specified folders as well as connect to the many online services you may have. You can then automate tasks, do research, clean up files, create or manage notes, and the list goes on.
\n{{more}}
\nAs usual, I love playing with this stuff. I like to know how it works. I’m interested in discovering the systems that can be automated by this technology.
\nYet, at the end of the day, I have no particular use for it in my personal life. My life is intentionally simple. I don’t need automation. I don’t need an LLM to create notes or make connections. I don’t need it to tell me what I should be working on.
\nOn the other hand, my work life is very complicated, especially recently. I don’t want to use Claude or other LLMs for work because of the nature of the content. My organization does have Microsoft Copilot.
\nI use Microsoft Copilot every day to take meeting notes, find information across the organization, do research on particular problems, and write simple scripts.
\nRecently, I’ve been using Copilot to troubleshoot issues, and when I’m done I have it create a Word document that summarizes the issue, the troubleshooting process, and the solution. I then add this document to our project files. Next time I have a similar issue, the solution pops up in my search, and it saves a ton of time. Copilot has replaced search, in a good way.
\nDespite its usefulness, there is no way these tools could take over my job, or anyone else’s job in my company. That would be a disaster. They require specific instructions and guidance to extract the usefulness from them.
\nCertainly, this will change over time, but I’m optimistic that we will change as well, and will learn and adapt as time goes on.
\n", "date_published": "2026-02-21T14:20:00-04:00", "url": "https://focustivity.blog/2026/02/21/playing-with-claude-code-and.html", "tags": ["AI"] }, { "id": "http://focustivity.micro.blog/2026/02/13/a-crazy-busy-few-weeks.html", "title": "A Crazy Busy Few Weeks", "content_html": "The past few weeks have been crazy at work. I haven’t worked 60-hour weeks in years. I definitely don’t handle it as well as I could in my younger days.
\nI’m hoping that I’m over the hump and things will return to a manageable pace. I’m on a huge project that will last the rest of the year, and we’re trying to find our pace.
\n", "date_published": "2026-02-13T19:27:00-04:00", "url": "https://focustivity.blog/2026/02/13/a-crazy-busy-few-weeks.html", "tags": ["Productivity"] }, { "id": "http://focustivity.micro.blog/2026/01/24/using-claude-code-to-manage.html", "title": "Using Claude Code to Manage Your Obsidian Vault", "content_html": "\nClaude Code
I’ve been seeing many posts and videos talking about using Claude Code to manage their local Obsidian vaults.
\nI played around with this and found it potentially very valuable for someone (like me) who enjoys making notes but doesn’t enjoy the organization of said notes. Or for processing meeting notes and other work-related data and acting as a project manager assistant that handles all the grunt work I would rather not do myself.
\n{{more}}
\nIf you consider Claude Code to be a developer’s tool, you wouldn’t be wrong, but what Claude Code really does is work with local files. That includes markdown files, making it a great tool for note takers who are following the File overApp philosophy.
\nIf your initial reaction is something like, “I’ll never use AI to write my notes,” then I’ll say I agree, but you should look at the other possibilities. You can instruct Claude to never write your notes, only organize them, and provide assistance following your specific instructions.
\nI’m not a heavy user of Obsidian (yet). Recently, I started using Obsidian for writing my blog posts and then publishing them to Ghost using the Ghosty Posty plugin. So, I thought of a few ways I could potentially use Claude Code to help me out (without doing any of the writing). I’m not going to talk about them yet, but I want to first spend some time with it and see what works for me.
\nHere’s how to get started. I’m not going into detail here because there are so many variables (Mac or Windows, etc.). You can search or use Claude, to give you the exact steps for your scenario.
\nHere are the high-level steps I took on my Windows PC:
\nclaude while in your root folder to get started.Some alternative options include using the Obsidian MCP or Claudian plugins. I haven’t tried these, so I don’t know what advantages or disadvantages they may have.
\nYou can create a profile in the terminal that automatically loads Claude Code in your Obsidian Vault so it is ready to go every time.
\ncmd.exe /k cd /d C:\\{your obsidian vault root folder} && claudeC:\\{your obsidian vault root folder}Now, every time you load that profile, it will be ready to go. You can also set it as the default profile if you don’t usually use Terminal for other things.
\nThe next thing you’ll want to do is create the CLAUDE.md markdown file in your root directory. This file provides Claude the instructions and memory that tell Claude exactly how you want it to help you in your Obsidian vault.
\nIn the CLAUDE.md file, you’ll want to add the purpose of your vault, how your vault is organized, and each of the processes you use to organize your files. I suggest using Claude Code itself to help you write these instructions.
\n\n\nHelp me create my CLAUDE.md file for this Obsidian vault. Ask me questions about how I would like to use this vault. Use the existing file structure and metadata as a guide.
\n
Claude should walk you through some questions and finally update your Claude.md file for you. You can view it directly in Obsidian and make any adjustments you want.
\nAs you use Claude Code, if you tell it to fix something or do something new, you can also ask it to update the instructions so it always knows how to handle the situation going forward. This is powerful and allows you to continually expand Claude’s capabilities and precisely control how it helps you.
\nI’ll continue playing around with Claude Code and will send out a new post with anything I find interesting or useful. If you need any clarification, please let me know!
\n", "date_published": "2026-01-24T15:47:00-04:00", "url": "https://focustivity.blog/2026/01/24/using-claude-code-to-manage.html", "tags": ["AI"] }, { "id": "http://focustivity.micro.blog/2026/01/11/default-apps-january.html", "title": "Default Apps - January 11, 2026", "content_html": "Below are some apps, services, and hardware that I currently use. The idea became popular through the Hemispheric Views podcast Episode 97 and then further through Robb Knight’s App Defaults directory.
\nThis time around, I copied my previous default apps post and updated it, striking through things that have changed. Hopefully, it’s still readable. I find it useful to see what changes over time.
\nI occasionally use Google Gemini on my phone for quick searches or voice actions. I’ve been leaning more toward using Kagi Assistant, though.
\nI use Microsoft Copilot for work. It does an outstanding job of pulling together meeting notes, helping me summarize conversations, and finding things across the organization. It sucks at everything else.
\nOn the personal side, I tend to use Kagi Assistant in my browser’s sidebar when I want to do something with AI. It usually starts as a quick search in Kagi , and I jump to Assistant when I need more.
\nI also use GitHub Copilot a bit in Visual Studio Code. Not something I do every day, though.
\nI use Pagecord to host my personal blog and handle my weekly newsletter. I tend to use my email for creating quick posts and the web interface for longer posts.
\nI use Microsoft Edge (with about 23 custom profiles) for work and Helium for personal use on my Windows PC. I’m experimenting with some browsers on Android.
\nMy family events are in our Apple Family Calendar , work events are hosted in our company Outlook (Exchange) Calendar, and personal events I keep in my Google Calendar. I use the default Samsung Calendar app on my phone to consolidate them. My Outlook for work also pulls in my personal calendar, so I can see everything overlaid. I’m trying out Hey Calendar on my phone to see how it works out.
I have a couple of custom domains that I use for some emails. These are hosted through Migadu (because it’s dirt cheap), which then forwards to Hey. Hey is then configured so I can receive and respond to emails from addresses in these custom domains. I tend to use a custom domain for accounts and services and my Hey email address for everything else. I have a custom domain email for my websites but have been using Hey email for everything else.
My news consumption is primarily Kagi News . I subscribe to a few categories' RSS feeds, and they show up in my feed. I love that it only updates once per day and is formatted to provide a simple summary, highlights, and sources. I may listen to a podcast here and get a newsletter here and there that covers the latest news in more detail, but overall, I found myself not looking at news (or social media) much. When I do, I still go to Kagi News.
I jump between various note-taking apps, so I don’t have an extensive collection of notes (since they’re scattered all over). My favorite robust notes apps have been Obsidian and Reflect. I’ve hopped between both quite a bit. But today, I tend to use paper for quick notes. Recently, I started carrying around a Plotter personal-size notebook for jotting down notes.
I started using a Supernote Nomad for handwritten notes. My Plotter is where I write ideas, personal tasks, and anything else that comes to mind. For work notes, I use the Plotter A6 refill paper that sits on my desk (without the binder), and anything I want to keep I stick in a cheap A6 6-ring binder that sits on my shelf.
I often switch between the convenience of Kindle and the physicality of physical books. Currently, I’m mostly reading non-fiction in physical books , and fiction I tend to listen to on Audible.
\nFor RSS, I’m a big fan of Feedbin . I’m still a fan of Feedbin , but I’ve actually been cutting back on RSS and using the Hey Digest feature for content I want to receive. I currently save articles to read later in Instapaper, though I’m not set on that workflow yet (I haven’t been using it long). I used Readwise Reader for a while but found it too much (in terms of functionality and price) for my needs. I started using Raindrop again for bookmarks and also for things I want to read or watch later.
I use Samsung Reminders because it is the default on my phone, but primarily because it can be configured to have full-screen, in-your-face notifications, which is what I need. I’ve been using the default Google Task reminders on my phone since I switched from a Samsung to a Pixel a couple of months ago. I’d love to find an alternative where I can hold the button on my phone to input a reminder. It honestly doesn’t get used much.
I’m a fan of Kagi search.
\nWhile I have accounts on many platforms, I haven’t been using social media. Instead, I’m in favor of posting anything I want to say to the world through my blog and having discussions with people through email. This intentionally limits my interaction with the outside world.
\nFor work, most of my tasks are in Azure DevOps. Personally, I don’t have very many and have started using my Supernote Plotter to manage these. I consider “reminders” as anything that needs to be done at a certain time and “tasks” as things I’d like to do reasonably soon.
I’ve been intentionally trying to write more. Writing helps me think. I write in many places.
\nI try to stub out ideas in my Plotter notebook.
\nBlog posts are either created via email ( Hey ) or directly in the PageCord UI.
\nOnline, I feel like I need a decent grammar-checking tool because I’m a mess. I’m currently using LanguageTool since it doesn’t seem to get in the way and provides the basics without overwhelming AI (looking at you, Grammarly).
\nI’ve been using Niagara Launcher on my Android phone in place of the default launcher. It’s a very minimal UI with many great features.
\n", "date_published": "2026-01-11T15:49:00-04:00", "url": "https://focustivity.blog/2026/01/11/default-apps-january.html", "tags": ["Apps"] }, { "id": "http://focustivity.micro.blog/2026/01/08/my-first-plotter-notebook.html", "title": "My first Plotter notebook", "content_html": "![\"The](\"https://cdn.uploads.micro.blog/347251/2026/914c699aca.jpg\")
\nThe Plotter Notebook
I favor technology, though something about the feel of paper appeals to me. It’s the feel, the sound, even the smell of paper that keeps me coming back, not the efficiency.
\n{{more}}
\nIn fact, paper systems don’t work for me. I’ve tried bullet journaling, planners, and other approaches. I love the writing part, but after it’s written, it gets abandoned.
\nThe index card system, where I have an index card on my desk and I write my tasks for the day and check them off when they get done, has been the only analog system that has worked for me.
\nThe idea is to use paper for the first and last mile and the digital system for everything in between.
\nThis year, I embraced my fondness for paper and attempted something novel, though not overly daring (perhaps excessively costly): the Plotter notebook. Why? Well, I’m in favor of having these index card-sized pages in a notebook I can carry around and remove or move around as needed.
\n![\"Plotter](\"https://cdn.uploads.micro.blog/347251/2026/300f916d7e.jpg\")
\nPlotter Notebook
The Plotter is a ring-system notebook, which means you can easily add, remove, and move pages and dividers around in the notebook as desired.
\nI love the idea of having multiple sections in the notebook for different purposes, like tasks, journaling, tracking, and whatever else comes to mind. The ability to change my mind is key.
\nKnowing me, I like high-quality products. And the Plotter would seem as high-quality as it gets. A lovely leather cover, quality paper, and quite a few paper options.
\nThe plan is to keep it simple. Use it for jotting notes down throughout the day, much like I have prior, but now it’s a portable (and lovely smelling, I might add) notebook.
\n", "date_published": "2026-01-08T15:55:00-04:00", "url": "https://focustivity.blog/2026/01/08/my-first-plotter-notebook.html", "tags": ["Hardware"] }, { "id": "http://focustivity.micro.blog/2026/01/03/pulled-pork-honey-buns.html", "title": "Pulled Pork Honey Buns", "content_html": "![\"Pulled](\"https://cdn.uploads.micro.blog/347251/2026/0b98925fa1.jpg\")
\nPulled Pork Honey Buns
My daughter made us a dish she saw on TikTok called Pulled Pork Honey Buns. She made some honey rolls (cinnamon rolls with honey for the dressing), and we used some leftover pulled pork with a bit of BBQ sauce.
\nIt’s a pulled pork sandwich with a cinnamon roll for the bun! A brilliant combination.
If you’re getting ice cream at the grocery store, take a look at the packaging. You’ll notice that most say “frozen dairy dessert” and not ice cream.
\nApparently, this is because the quality no longer meets FDA requirements for what is considered ice cream, which requires at least 10% dairy milk fat and must weigh at least 4.5 pounds (2.04 kg) per gallon.
\nToday’s “ice cream” often contains skim milk and contains more air as the manufacturers air-whip it to increase the volume.
\nThey usually add more sugar to make them taste delicious.
\nIt’s remarkable how things gradually change for the worse over time, and we rarely notice.
\n", "date_published": "2026-01-03T16:07:00-04:00", "url": "https://focustivity.blog/2026/01/03/ice-cream-has-become-a.html", "tags": ["Food"] }, { "id": "http://focustivity.micro.blog/2025/12/22/cookedwiki.html", "title": "Cooked.wiki", "content_html": "I read a post from Olly and found Cooked.wiki, an app that converts any web recipe into a short and useful one. It looks wonderful and has promising features. It’s free unless you want the AI features to auto-organize and do other things.
\nI’ve been using ReciMe for this purpose and likely won’t switch. It is nice, but occasionally a bit slow when processing recipes.
\n", "date_published": "2025-12-22T18:11:00-04:00", "url": "https://focustivity.blog/2025/12/22/cookedwiki.html", "tags": ["Apps"] }, { "id": "http://focustivity.micro.blog/2025/12/21/dispatch.html", "title": "Dispatch", "content_html": "![\"Dispatch\"](\"https://cdn.uploads.micro.blog/347251/2026/8421154502.jpg\")
\nDispatch
Dispatch is a game/episodic comedy where you manage a team of dysfunctional misfit heroes. You send them on missions while navigating workplace dynamics.
\nI loved this game! The pacing, humor, action, and voice acting were excellent.
\nYou can be terrible at this game (and I was) but still finish. You could not touch the keyboard, and everything would time out and progress forward, and you’d still complete the game. However, the decisions, and I think even how well you do, impact the story.
\nThe gameplay was simple but enjoyable. Your job is to decide which “hero” to send on each crisis, like a 911 dispatcher, but for superheroes. Since your character is capable, you get to attempt some hacking along the way.
\n![\"Dispatch\"](\"https://cdn.uploads.micro.blog/347251/2026/6aec8c869c.jpg\")
\nDispatch
The best part of the game is the cutscenes. Each episode consists of scenes, your dispatching shift, and closes with more. It’s about 1 hour per episode, and there are 8.
\nYour decisions significantly change the story’s progression and ending, making it easy to replay. I plan to do that soon.
\n", "date_published": "2025-12-21T12:36:00-04:00", "url": "https://focustivity.blog/2025/12/21/dispatch.html", "tags": ["Games"] }, { "id": "http://focustivity.micro.blog/2025/12/21/buy-back-your-time-by.html", "title": "Buy Back Your Time by Dan Martell", "content_html": "I keep telling myself to stop reading “self-help” books and pick up more interesting or work-related ones. Yet, I found myself with Buy Back Your Time by Dan Martell, a book about time management for entrepreneurs.
\n{{more}}
\nBefore starting the book, I looked up Dan Martell and found his channel. His videos kept appearing in my feed, which I routinely ignored. I viewed him as another successful entrepreneur know-it-all trying to teach me everything he knows.
\nThe book addressed areas I am struggling with in my career, including delegation and time management, even though I’m not an entrepreneur.
\nI started reading, regardless of my initial thoughts of the author, and was pleasantly surprised that I got a lot out of the book. Overall, it was engaging, easy to read, and relevant to my circumstances.
\n\n\nDon’t hire to grow your business. Hire to buy back your time.
\n
\n\n80% done by someone else is 100% freaking awesome.
\n
If you’re a solo entrepreneur, lead projects, manage a team, or feel overwhelmed with work that others could help with.
\n", "date_published": "2025-12-21T10:27:00-04:00", "url": "https://focustivity.blog/2025/12/21/buy-back-your-time-by.html" }, { "id": "http://focustivity.micro.blog/2025/12/14/the-right-book-at-the.html", "title": "The Right Book at the Right Time", "content_html": "Enjoying a book often comes down to timing and feeling a real connection.
\nIf I start a book on a topic I’m not ready for, or just because it’s popular, I usually lose interest quickly.
\nBut if I pick a book that relates to what I’m going through right now, I get completely absorbed.
\nOccasionally it’s even a book I tried to read before. If it matches my interests and situation now, I’m much more likely to finish it (and enjoy it).
\n", "date_published": "2025-12-14T11:16:00-04:00", "url": "https://focustivity.blog/2025/12/14/the-right-book-at-the.html" }, { "id": "http://focustivity.micro.blog/2025/11/30/stopping-to-fix-the-bugs.html", "title": "Stopping to fix the bugs", "content_html": "We stopped roadmap work for a week and fixed 189 bugs
\n\n\nFixits give me that early-career feeling back. You see the bug, you fix it, you ship it, you close it, you move on. There’s something deeply satisfying about work where the question isn’t “what should we do?” but rather “can I make this better?” And you get to answer that question multiple times in a week.
\n
A good reminder that we sometimes need to take a break from introducing new features and focus on improving what we have.
\n", "date_published": "2025-11-30T11:53:00-04:00", "url": "https://focustivity.blog/2025/11/30/stopping-to-fix-the-bugs.html" }, { "id": "http://focustivity.micro.blog/2025/11/30/the-addition-of-a-kvm.html", "title": "The addition of a KVM switch", "content_html": "I decided to get a TESmart 2 Port Dual Monitor KVM Switch for my setup.
\nPreviously, I used a single ultra-wide monitor with two PCs (work and personal) sharing the same keyboard and mouse. I would have to switch every device whenever I switched PCs manually.
\nNow, I added a second monitor and this KVM switch. I can push a button (or use a keyboard shortcut) to easily switch all my devices between my two PCs.
\nI love it!
\nNot only do I now have more screen real estate, but I don’t need to waste time switching workspaces.
\n", "date_published": "2025-11-30T11:12:00-04:00", "url": "https://focustivity.blog/2025/11/30/the-addition-of-a-kvm.html" }, { "id": "http://focustivity.micro.blog/2025/11/28/kagi-assistant-impression.html", "title": "Kagi Assistant Impression", "content_html": "Introducing Kagi Assistants | Kagi Blog
\n\n\nKagi’s Research Assistant happened to top a popular benchmark (SimpleQA) when we ran it in August 2025. This was a happy accident. We’re building our research assistants to be useful products, not maximize benchmark scores.
\n
I continue to be more impressed by Kagi Assistant as I use it. While not a full replacement for something like ChatGPT or Gemini, it certainly gets the job done. I think the results are drastically better simply because Kagi provides cleaner, more relevant search results.
\n", "date_published": "2025-11-28T17:12:00-04:00", "url": "https://focustivity.blog/2025/11/28/kagi-assistant-impression.html" }, { "id": "http://focustivity.micro.blog/2025/11/27/predator-badlands.html", "title": "Predator Badlands", "content_html": "![\"Uploaded](\"https://cdn.uploads.micro.blog/347251/2026/a09dcbe2b9.jpg\")
★★★★☆
\nWe went to see Predator: Badlands yesterday. It was better than I expected. Full of action and humor. A great movie to see in the theater.
\n", "date_published": "2025-11-27T17:24:00-04:00", "url": "https://focustivity.blog/2025/11/27/predator-badlands.html" }, { "id": "http://focustivity.micro.blog/2025/11/25/is-delegating-admin-tasks-to.html", "title": "Is Delegating Admin Tasks to AI Good for Deep Work?", "content_html": "AI language models are quickly becoming a key part of knowledge work. They handle many of our administrative tasks, allowing us to focus on the unique work that adds real value.
\nMicrosoft is leading this shift, and many companies now treat AI agents like regular employees, giving them their security, management, and job roles.¹ Experts predict there will be 1.3 billion AI agents by 2028. ²
\n{{more}}
\nThese AI agents handle routine tasks such as drafting emails, scheduling, entering data, taking meeting notes, and similar tasks.
\nAs AI agents become more common, knowledge workers face an essential question: how will our roles change as AI takes over repetitive administrative work?
\nIdeally, this change should let us spend more time on deep work, focusing on high-value tasks that use our expertise and creativity.
\nStill, some of us, myself included, actually enjoy task management and file organization. I sometimes use this time as a break after hours spent diagramming a solution or running a client workshop.
\nWe can only do so much deep work each day—Cal Newport suggests a maximum of 3 to 4 hours.³ So what happens when that’s all we have left? Do we work fewer hours? ⁴ Take a pay cut? Will organizations reduce work hours, or will they expect us to fill the traditional 40-hour workweek with more tasks? Could we use this extra time to build new skills or explore new interests?
\nKnowledge work is changing, for better or worse. We need to adapt, but I’m hopeful we can help shape what this change means for our future.
\nJust for fun, I created a Google NotebookLM notebook and set this site as its only source. I then listened to the podcast Deep Dive. The results were quite interesting.
\nOne of the main discussion points was how “the author”—me—seems obsessed with finding the “best” app, constantly switching between blog hosting platforms, browsers, notebooks, e-ink devices, etc.
\nYeah, already knew I had a problem. But I’d argue it’s not always about finding the best app or hardware but rather about satisfying my curiosity. I enjoy tinkering.
\nIt was weird listening to two podcast “hosts” talking about the content of my site and making connections between my posts. I actually found it quite helpful. It walked through my posts about the various e-ink tablets I’ve tried over time, among many other fascinating connections.
\n", "date_published": "2025-10-29T15:06:00-04:00", "url": "https://focustivity.blog/2025/10/29/insights-from-a-notebooklm-podcast.html", "tags": ["AI"] }, { "id": "http://focustivity.micro.blog/2025/10/24/default-apps-october.html", "title": "Default Apps - October 24, 2025", "content_html": "A few weeks ago, I created a dedicated page that lists all the apps and hardware I’m currently using. I decided to move that page into its blog post. The idea is to repost this content (whenever I’m in the mood) with an updated list. This approach allows me (and you) to look back over time.
\nBelow are some apps, services, and hardware that I currently use. The idea became popular through the Hemispheric Views podcast Episode 97 and then further through Robb Knight’s App Defaults directory.
\nI occasionally use Google Gemini on my phone for quick searches or voice actions.
\nI use Microsoft Copilot for work. It does an impressive job of pulling together meeting notes, helping me summarize conversations, and finding things across the organization.
\nOn the personal side, I tend to use Kagi Assistant in my browser’s sidebar when I want to do something with AI. It usually starts as a quick search in Kagi, and I jump to Assistant when I need more.
\nI also use GitHub Copilot a bit in Visual Studio Code. Not something I do every day, though.
\nI use Pagecord to host my personal blog and handle my weekly newsletter. I tend to use my email for creating quick posts and the web interface for longer posts.
\nI use Microsoft Edge (with about 23 custom profiles) for work and Vivaldi for personal use.
\nMy family events are in our Apple Family calendar; work events are hosted in our company Outlook (Exchange) calendar; and personal events I keep in my Google Calendar. I use the default Samsung Calendar app on my phone to consolidate them. My Outlook for work also pulls in my personal calendar, so I can see everything overlaid.
\nI have a couple of custom domains that I use for some emails. These are hosted through Migadu (because it’s dirt cheap), which then forwards to Hey. Hey is configured so I can receive and respond to emails from addresses in these custom domains. I tend to use a custom domain for accounts and services, and my Hey email address for everything else.
\nI jump between various note-taking apps, so I don’t have an extensive collection of notes (since they’re scattered all over). My favorite robust notes apps have been Obsidian and Reflect. I’ve hopped between both quite a bit. But today, I tend to use paper for quick notes.
\nI started using a Supernote Nomad for handwritten notes.
\nI often switch between the convenience of Kindle and the physicality of physical books. Currently, I’m mostly reading non-fiction in physical books, and fiction I tend to listen to on Audible.
\nFor RSS, I’m a big fan of Feedbin. I currently save articles to read later in Instapaper, though I’m not set on that workflow yet (I haven’t been using it long). I used Readwise Reader for a while, but found it too much (in terms of functionality and price) for my needs.
\nMy news consumption is primarily Kagi News. I subscribe to a few categories' RSS feeds, and they show up in my feed. I love that it only updates once per day and is formatted to provide a simple summary, highlights, and sources.
\nI use Samsung Reminders because it is the default on my phone, but primarily because it can be configured to have full-screen, in-your-face notifications, which is what I require. I only have a few recurring reminders and occasionally the ad hoc time-based reminder. Likewise, I don’t use it for managing “tasks.”
\nI’m a fan of Kagi search.
\nWhile I have accounts on many platforms, I haven’t been using social media. Instead, I’m in favor of posting anything I want to say to the world through my blog and having discussions with people through email. This intentionally limits my interaction with the outside world.
\nFor work, most of my tasks are in Azure DevOps. Personally, I don’t have very many and have started using my Supernote to manage these. I consider “reminders” as anything that needs to be done at a certain time and “tasks” as things I’d like to do reasonably soon.
\n", "date_published": "2025-10-24T16:02:00-04:00", "url": "https://focustivity.blog/2025/10/24/default-apps-october.html", "tags": ["Apps"] }, { "id": "http://focustivity.micro.blog/2025/10/19/the-supernote-digest-as-a.html", "title": "The Supernote Digest as a Commonplace Book or Zettelkasten", "content_html": "I recently started using a Supernote Nomad for writing notes, journaling, and light task management. I wrote about my thoughts on the hardware recently, and in this post, I wanted to think about the Digest feature. After all, this feature is one of the main reasons I went with the Supernote.
\nFor the longest time, I’ve enjoyed writing on paper, but it never stuck. I enjoyed the process of writing, but then finding my notes is where everything fell apart. I tried all kinds of systems, but I always found myself going back to digital, which is simply easier.
\nWhat I envision is the ability to handwrite notes, ideas, and events that occur, but then easily be able to reference them again. So, I’ll break this out into two parts: 1: Writing and 2: Referencing.
\nThe handwriting part is essential to me because it helps me disconnect. When I’m writing by hand, I feel like I can get my thoughts out more easily. I’m not concerned about grammar, formatting, etc. I write. It also helps me understand what I’m writing.
\nWhen I’m taking notes while I read a book or article, I want to be able to write down what I’m reading and somehow capture those ideas so I can expand upon them later and use them elsewhere. When using paper, I would write an index of sorts that included a summary of an idea, and then, often on another page, I would write my thoughts about it.
\nOnce I have a collection of handwritten notes about various topics, I need to be able to get to them again easily. This is where paper always falls short for me. No matter how hard I try, I would never go back to my writing and do more with it. I find paper notebooks are difficult in this aspect. Not impossible, I know others pull it off, but for me, it’s the least enjoyable part of the process; perhaps that’s why it never sticks for me.
\nThe Supernote Digest has the potential to help me in my dilemma. The way it works is quite different from what I’ve seen on any other e-ink tablet.
\nYou lasso the text you want to capture and click “Recognize as Digest.” You’ll be able to make changes, set a category, and author.
\n![\"Uploaded](\"https://cdn.uploads.micro.blog/347251/2026/5f3ed577e3.jpg\")
The handwritten notes you copied are now displayed as text. Clicking on them opens the Digest.
\n![\"Uploaded](\"https://cdn.uploads.micro.blog/347251/2026/b32cd3e340.jpg\")
You can now see this note in your Digests app, both on the device and in the desktop or mobile companion app.
\n![\"Uploaded](\"https://cdn.uploads.micro.blog/347251/2026/493f2ab537.jpg\")
Now, when you open the Digest, you can make edits and also see the link to the original note, which is convenient. Additionally, you can now create your own annotations using either handwriting or the keyboard, from the device, desktop, or mobile app.
\n![\"Uploaded](\"https://cdn.uploads.micro.blog/347251/2026/cbf39d9baa.jpg\")
Finally, the digest can be included in other notes. You have the option to link to the original note, and when you click the link, it directs you to the specific location in the original note.
\n![\"Uploaded](\"https://cdn.uploads.micro.blog/347251/2026/6108121a86.jpg\")
While there are certainly some limitations and room for improvement, the Digest feature, at least on paper (ha, ha), solves one of the big problems I’ve had with paper notebooks and also other e-ink tablets of this type. I can now create a commonplace book, or perhaps even a Zettelkasten of sorts, from my handwritten notes.
\nThe digest text itself can be updated to be a concise, refined summary of the idea, while the annotations can be where I expand upon it with context and my thoughts. I can search and even edit this content from any device, and even link to it from other notes. This is exciting for someone who geeks out on this stuff!
\n", "date_published": "2025-10-19T10:04:00-04:00", "url": "https://focustivity.blog/2025/10/19/the-supernote-digest-as-a.html", "tags": ["Hardware"] }, { "id": "http://focustivity.micro.blog/2025/10/17/supernote-nomad-vs-remarkable-paper.html", "title": "Supernote Nomad vs. Remarkable Paper Pro Move", "content_html": "Almost two weeks ago, I purchased a reMarkable Paper Pro Move on a whim and, after some research, decided to order a Supernote Nomad to compare and see which device I prefer.
\nThe reMarkable Paper Pro Move feels slightly more premium, with rigid aluminum edges and a nice back plate with small pads to prevent sliding while lying flat on a table.
\nThe Supernote Nomad , on the other hand, is mostly plastic. While it doesn’t feel cheap at all, the reMarkable does have a slight edge in build quality. But barely, and it could be argued otherwise.
\nThe writing and screen experiences differ significantly between the two devices. The reMarkable feels like writing on a hard, rough surface with a pencil. The Supernote features a hard ceramic tip on a soft, almost rubbery surface, making it smoother—much like writing with a pen. I don’t have a clear preference yet; both are excellent, but the Nomad is smoother while the reMarkable is more pencil-like.
\nBoth devices come with comfortable writing pens. The Supernote pen feels more like a real pen, but it lacks a built-in eraser, unlike the reMarkable Marker Plus. However, the Supernote features a slider on the device that you can swipe with your finger to undo actions—an intuitive solution.
\nSince the Supernote pen features a ceramic tip, it does not require replacement, whereas the reMarkable Marker tips wear out and necessitate frequent replacement.
\nThe folios for both devices are relatively standard, featuring vegan leather, a pen holder, and magnets to keep the device in place.
\nScreen size is a significant consideration between the two devices.
\nThe reMarkable Paper Pro Move is narrower, making it easier to hold, but it also means less writing space is available. I found this somewhat frustrating, especially paired with the limited software (a topic for another post).
\nIf you aren’t using the device while walking around, the reMarkable Move may not be the best fit for you. When viewing your notes on another device, the text is too narrow, and I often have to rescale them to make them readable. PDFs and EPUBs also display poorly due to issues with scaling.
\nThe Supernote Nomad is about the same size as a Kindle. It feels normal to use, is still very portable, and reading on it is a delight.
\nIf you plan to do a lot of writing and don’t intend to move the device around frequently, you may want to consider the full-size reMarkable Pro Paper or the Supernote Manta instead. I prefer the smaller device, because I also use it for reading.
\nA few more hardware notes:
\nI’m not going to dive deep into software here, but I do think it’s one of the key reasons to choose one device over another.
\nThe Supernote is much more capable and recently announced upcoming support for plugins. It supports the Kindle app and sideloading Android apps. The Supernote team has a clear roadmap and releases frequent updates.
\nThe reMarkable software is fine but limited due to infrequent updates and a lack of communication from the development team.
\nThe software for both devices is minimal and easy to use.
\nThe reMarkable has a simple tagging system that works well enough, but the Supernote’s keywords feature is more flexible. You can also create headings, which generate a table of contents for your notebook, and can even create links to other notes on the Supernote, but not on the reMarkable.
\nOverall, both devices have their strengths, but for my needs, the Supernote Nomad stands out for its versatility and user experience.
\n", "date_published": "2025-10-17T16:30:00-04:00", "url": "https://focustivity.blog/2025/10/17/supernote-nomad-vs-remarkable-paper.html", "tags": ["Hardware"] }, { "id": "http://focustivity.micro.blog/2025/10/12/publish-your-blog-posts-by.html", "title": "Publish your blog posts by email using Pagecord", "content_html": "There are quite a few personal blogging platforms available today. Of course, there are the big dogs, like WordPress, Ghost, Blogger, Squarespace, Medium, Wix, and even Substack. But for those looking for something simpler, we have options like Micro.blog, Pika.page, Bear.dev, Write.as, Scribbles, Blot.im, Svbtle, and I’m sure there are many more. You can even get nerdy and host your site generated using Hugo, Eleventy, Next.js, or other static site generators.
\nI recently came across Pagecord. I actually found the link in my bookmarks, so I must have picked it up from someone along the way, bookmarked the site, and forgotten about it. While scanning through my bookmarks one day, I happened to come across the link again.
\n{{more}}
\nPagecord caught my attention because of its unique feature: the ability to post to your blog by simply sending an email. This means you get a unique email address for your account, and you can use any email client to send a blog post (as long as the email comes from your email address). This eliminates the need to log in to your admin site and create a post from there. It’s super simple to create and publish a post from any platform.
\nWhen I tried Pagecord, I found it was much more feature-rich than I expected, with features like simple analytics and automatic weekly post digest emails to subscribers.
\nBut my favorite feature of Pagecord is that it’s run by an independent developer who actively pushes out updates and is very responsive to email. You get unlimited posts for free, and for only $29 per year, you get private analytics, an email newsletter, a custom domain, and other premium features.
\nIt’s difficult to pick between these great blog hosting platforms, and I admit I switch between them more often than I should. The ability to create posts from email is a feature I wish more blogging platforms would support.
\n", "date_published": "2025-10-12T09:57:00-04:00", "url": "https://focustivity.blog/2025/10/12/publish-your-blog-posts-by.html", "tags": ["Apps"] } ] }