My Default Apps at the End of 2023

Kev Quirk, Colin Walker, and other cool kids I follow online made it sound fun to share your “lifestack” as we approach the end of 2023.

So here’s mine: my digital “everyday carry” list of the tools and services I routinely use:

  • 📨 Mail Service: Proton Mail
  • 📮 Mail Client: Thunderbird (Desktop), Proton Mail App (Android), Proton Mail webmail (anywhere else)
  • 📝 Notes: Obsidian, Syncthing (for cross-device sync)
  • To-Do: Obsidian, physical notepad [not happy with this; want something more productive]
  • 📆 Calendar: Google Calendar (via Thunderbird on Desktop) [not happy with this; want something not-Google – still waiting on Proton Calendar getting good!]
  • 🙍🏻‍♂️ Contacts: Proton Mail
  • 📖 RSS Service: FreshRSS, selfhosted
  • 🗞️ RSS Client: FreshRSS (Desktop), FeedMe (Android)
  • ⌨️ Launcher: RayCast (MacOS), PowerToys Run (Windows)
  • ☁️ Cloud storage: ownCloud (selfhosted)
  • 🌅 Photo library: plain old directories! [would like: something selfhosted, mostly filesystem-driven, with Web interface]
  • 🌐 Web Browser: Firefox (everywhere)
  • 💬 Chat: Slack, WhatsApp, Signal, Telegram
  • 🔖 Bookmarks: Firefox (easy access), Wallabag (selfhosted, for long-term archiving)
  • 📚 Reading: dead tree format [my Kindle v2 died and I’m seeking a non-Amazon replacement; suggestions welcome], Calibre
  • 📜 Word Processing: Microsoft Word, Google Docs
  • 📈 Spreadsheets: Microsoft Excel, Google Sheets
  • 📊 Presentations: reveal.js
  • 🛒 Shopping Lists: pen and paper
  • 💰 Personal Finance: Google Sheets
  • 🎵 Music: YouTube Music [not entirely happy with it; considering replacement]
  • 🎤 Podcasts: FreshRSS; experimenting with Pocket Casts
  • 🔐 Password Management: KeePassXC, Syncthing (for cross-device sync)
  • 🤦‍♂️ Social Media: Mastodon, selfhosted
  • 🔎 Search: DuckDuckGo
  • 🧮 Code Editor: Sublime Text
  • ⌨️ KVM: Barrier
  • 🗺️ Navigation: OpenStreetMap, Google Maps, Talkietoaster (Garmin Montana)
  • 📍 Location Tracking: uLogger
  • 🔗 Blog: WordPress, selfhosted

ET App

Travelling around Edinburgh by tram this weekend, I kept being advertised the “ET app”.

Print advertisement for the "ET App", stating: Download the et app to purchase your mobile tickets including bundle deals.

I didn’t install the app, in case it was bundled with spyware.

After all, everybody my age knows: ET phones home.

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