∞

Started using ‘Awesome Habits’ from Setapp for tracking habits.

I like how visual it is.

Might switch to Lunatask after testing it. It has tasks, habit tracking, day planner, notes and more.

Went for a brisk 45 min walk. Covered 4.64KM @ avg. pace of 10'02"/KM. Active calories burnt = 270.

∞

Yesterday:

  • Signed up at micro.blog yesterday.
  • Subscribed to the $10/m plan.
  • Imported the posts from WordPress.

Today:

  • Added CSS for responsive tables.
  • Changed the DNS of sridhar.blog to point to micro.blog’s sub domain.
∞

Raycast

Switched to Raycast as the primary launcher from Alfred.

Before Alfred, I used to use LaunchBar.

Notes

  • To install: brew install --cask raycast. I installed using the dmg.
  • Turned off Spotlight’s keyboard shortcut in the past in Mac settings. The default keyboard shortcut for Raycast is ⌥␣. Changed it to ⌘␣. Demoted Alfred to ⌃␣.
  • ⌘⎋ to escape to the main search page and ⌘W to close at any time.
  • ‘Calculator History’ command to see the history of all calculations and conversions.
  • Assigned cal alias to ‘My Schedule’.
  • You can use natural language to specify your file search! A couple of examples:
    • Searching text files in a certain folder .txt in ~/Desktop
    • Search for PDF files with “certificate” in its name .pdf certificate
  • Fuzzy search works. So we could simply type the first letters of commands like ss for Search Snippets, Search Screenshots etc.
  • Screenshots search includes OCR.
  • Begin typing Hide All Apps Except Frontmost: to concentrate on the frontmost app and hide all others.
  • To create a snippet, the command is ‘Create Snippet’.
  • To install an extension, begin typing the ‘Store’ command.
  • Didn’t find 1Password extension useful. Disabled it. It keeps asking me to sign in using TouchBar almost every time and that too twice in succession every time 🤷
  • In the Quick Add Reminder, we can specify repeat frequency like ‘every day’ and list name in natural language. Not sure if this needs the Pro version. I upgraded to the Pro w/ Advanced AI.
  • Installed CleanShot X extension but disabled it since I am used to ⌘⇧3, ⌘⇧4, and ⌘⇧5 .
  • Made Google as the first fallback command.
  • Window management frequently used commands:
    • Maximize
    • Almost Maximize
    • Restore
    • Center Three Fourths
    • Center
  • To bring up the emoji picker when typing within Raycast’s config windows, type :
  • It is possible to pass arguments to existing commands that accept text input using deeplinks. See this.
  • Any images in the clipboard history or Show Screenshots command can be annotated with CleanShot X using ⌘⇧X.
  • Sample snippets for importing: https://snippets.ray.so/symbols.

Apps that Raycast made redundant for me

Read More →

∞

My Vimium C Config

Vimium C is a fantastic browser extension that enables you to set custom keyboard shortcuts for navigating the internet.

I am a big fan of single keyboard shortcuts that were initially a part of the Opera browser during 2010s and still use most of them to this day in Google Chrome, thanks to Vimium C.

Keyboard shortcutFunction
cclose tab
topen new tab
zgo back
xgo forward
aprevious tab
snext tab
ucopy url
vview source
f4switch to the last active tab

My Vimium C custom key mappings:

Read More →

∞

Adding VAT ID on Zoho Invoice

Zoho Invoice is a powerful free invoicing service. This is what I use for generating PDF invoices and, in some cases, sending them to customers directly.

However, all that power comes with a drawback - there are a lot of configurable settings scattered across the UI.

It took me quite a while to figure out how to add customer's VAT ID at the bottom in the "Bill To" section.

This is the desired end result:

Below are the steps to add a custom field like VAT ID to appear on the PDF invoice in Zoho:

Create your custom field in the Customers module

Read More →

∞

Capacities Mac Workflow

I've recently started using the fantastic Capacities as my main note-taking/PKM tool.

As always, I look for ways to do things faster using Alfred and Keyboard Maestro.

Here are some custom shortcuts/workflow I set up for working with Capacities' macOS desktop app a bit quicker and more efficiently.

F2 - Bring up/Switch to Capacities

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∞

VapourHost

Common sense dictates that one should stay away from lifetime hosting offers.

But if you don't mind taking a risk and are looking for online hosting for which you only pay once and use forever (lifetime of user/hosting service?), especially for dev/demo sites, you may want to consider VapourHost.

They are selling LTDs at the moment here.

Plan specs

I bought the Power Plan 3 on 24th March.

Read More →

∞

Drowning in information overload? Logseq might be the lifeboat you are

Update on 30 July 2023: Switched to UpNote.

Tried various note-taking and Personal Knowledge Management (PKM) tools for the last 1 month and settled on Logseq after using Craft, Bear, Capacities, Reflect, Mem, Obsidian, Tana and UpNote. More than ever, we are now spoilt for choice. Most of these are well-designed with amazing functionalities. The more I use Logseq though the more I am falling in love with its principle of the "daily journal first" and "everything is a block" approach.

My notes:

Read More →

∞

UpNote - the Best Notes App You Probably Haven't Heard Of

Updated on 26 Feb 2023

I used Notionas my primary information manager for a long time.

But was not happy with how slow it is.

Tried out various note-taking and productivity apps like Logseq, Obsidian, Tana, NotePlan, Craft and UpNote in recent times.

  • Obsidian is like Visual Studio Code. Infinitely powerful and extensible. But this is at the expense of snappiness. It doesn’t feel as fast as UpNote which is like Sublime Text. Also, the fact that we can’t have slashes in note titles in Obsidian irks me. Trying out all its community plugins could be a never-ending thing. Using iCloud for sync was problematic and I don’t want to pay $8/month for the official sync.
  • Tana is pretty fast but is not production-ready for my needs at this time. No mobile apps and no web clipper.
  • I wasn't too thrilled with the looks of NotePlan and its industrial/raw feeling. Also, it's not zippy enough for me.
  • Craft is the most beautiful Apple-esq of all and it does a remarkable job of keeping the editor clean w/o the bullet points in spite of being block-based. Has good back linking and tabs, but not tags.

While all the mentioned apps are great in their own right, it boiled down to these two: Craft and UpNote and frankly, Iam torn between the two.

Read More →

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Custom Shortcuts in Craft using Alfred

Craft is a smooth, beautiful, and well-thought-out note-taking/knowledge-management app.

Here's how I've set up shortcuts/workflows for

  • opening Craft's daily note using Alfred.
  • quick entry into Craft's daily note (at the end) using Alfred or via the keyboard shortcut, ⌘⇧L (L for log).
  • passing a search input term to Craft from Alfred.
  • creating a new titled document via Alfred.

from anywhere on the Mac - even when Craft is not active.

Go to Daily Note

Read More →

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Quick Journal Logging in Obsidian using Alfred and Shortcuts

I've recently been trying out PKM apps like Craft, Logseq and Obsidian.

In this article, I'll share a few methods to quickly post a thought/update/note/log even when Obsidian is not the active app.

The workflow I use is to press ⌘+⇧+L (L for Log) to bring up a box in which I type what I just did or anything I want to record as a log for today and it goes under a "Log" header in Obsidian's daily/today note with the current timestamp w/o Obsidian coming to the front (well, not technically speaking - we just hide Obsidian when it comes to the front).

{{< youtube NJo3caR7rKg >}}

Here's how I set this up:

Step 1

Edit your daily note Obsidian template and ensure that there's a Log heading.

Step 2

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∞

How I modded my Keychron Q1 keyboard

In this article I am going to share the steps of modifying Keychron Q1 so it sounds better (marble-y) with no ping or hollowness.

I have the one with phantom red switches.

Disclaimer: I am new to using mechanical keyboards and in fact, Q1 is the first board that I ever opened.

Things needed:

  • Painter's tape: I have seen some use masking tape but from what I researched, painter's tape is better since it does not leave a residue behind. I purchased ScotchBlue one from Amazon.
  • Cotton.

This only takes about half an hour and is totally worth it for the improved sound imo. You do not need to take out the switches.

TLDR; Did tape mod, force break and added some cotton. Removed the thicker case foam.

Sound tests:

Before:

Read More →

∞

How to toggle microphone by a key press in Mac

I recently started using a Keychron K8 keyboard which comes with a dedicated key for Cortana/Siri.

Here's how it can be mapped to turning the microphone on and off instead using BetterTouchTool (which is included in Setapp):

1) Open BTT and create a new keyboard shortcut.

2) BTT is now waiting for you to set a key as a trigger. Go ahead and press the voice assistant key.

3) Next click the + to assign an action.

4) Locate/search and select "Run Apple Script (blocking)".

Paste this code:

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Center Google Search Results

I am currently using a 4K 27" LG monitor with display resolution set to 2048 x 1152.

Google search results page seems to be annoyingly stuck in 90s with the search results floating to the left and this is especially noticeable on larger screens.

There is a Chrome extension called Center Google Search Results. While it is okay, the end result could be better.

I tweaked the CSS of the google search results using Stylus.

Before:

After:

Here's the custom CSS:

Read More →