Most note-taking apps use a hierarchical structure: folders and notes. This mirrors how we’re taught to take notes, and how most books are structured, with parts, chapters, and sections. Growing up, I never questioned this taxonomy. Yet, I always struggled to make use of notes this way. I wanted to believe that maybe the act […]
All posts filed under ‘Musings’
Tools for thinking
If I ask you: What tools have changed your mind,Tools that you can no longer leave behind?Not just those that are installed by default,But those that added colors to your life? What would your answer be?
The Apple “pyramid of needs”
Apple this week announced that they are bringing Final Cut Pro and Logic Pro to the iPad Pro. That was a mouthful. But in case you don’t know: they are two of the industry standards for video and audio editing, respectively. They come with a steep learning curve, complex UI, powerful capabilities, and a target […]
In purposelessness, we find purpose
Undeniably, we stand at a tipping point of knowledge work transformation. And it is scary—designs and illustrations can now be commissioned in seconds without a human behind it. It’s making everyone nervous, rightfully so, for their livelihood and sense of purpose. We’ve seen what happened to manufacturing workers not long ago. I can’t help but […]
iPad-ifying the iPad
As someone who never had a computer until middle school, it’s crazy to think that iPads existed for almost half of my life. I bought my first iPad in 2011. For 12 years, I’ve gone through 5 different models. This is a slightly long, two-part post reflecting on the role of tablet computing, and more […]
The future of film scanning
I was telling a friend of mine last month about “film startups,” new companies that produce film photography products—development kits, scanning solutions, film cameras, peripherals, etc.. He was genuinely surprised that this niche space has enough demand for new companies to crop up. His reaction reminded me how lucky we film photographers are in 2023 […]
Slices of Our Brain
The most recent development in AI makes me feel like I’m living in a condensed timeline where progress flies at a 10x speed. It wasn’t that long ago that people were shocked by the image generation capabilities of DALL-E 2, a GPT-based multi-modal model. Suddenly, we have tools that are able to make functional games, […]
Time Capsules
The Bay Area has seen more rainy days than I can remember. On days like these, I usually spend time by making a cup of tea or coffee, putting on some music, and working away at some project at my morning table. This other day, I stumbled upon a background music video that uses a […]
“The last best physical music format”
The weather was beautiful outside, but I was exhausted and in pain. Coughing, blowing my nose, I couldn’t do anything except press the TV remote while in bed. It may have seemed like a misfortune in the moment, but being quarantined in Singapore for a week had at least one silver lining. After watching hours […]
Hide My Email: An Update to My Digital Privacy Practice
It’s been more than 4 years since I wrote Building Moats Around Data, so, so much has changed since then. It reminded me of a quote by Bill Gates: “Most people overestimate what they can do in one year and underestimate what they can do in ten years.” If anything, the last 4 years have […]