1Password makes remembering, typing and sharing passwords a delight.

Arc (free) is a different internet browser experience. Spaces, Split Windows and Command bar are a few things that I would miss if it were gone.

Beeper (free, US$10/m), brought by the amazing folks at WordPress, combines WhatsApp, Slack, Facebook, Telegram, Instagram and LinkedIn into one app.

Fantastical is my Calendar app. It has not failed me.

Cardhop (free, US$5/m) made by Fantastical folks, gives me access to my contacts with a few buttons. I save baby names, dog names and cities of the people I love.

CleanShot (US$29) takes screenshots and videos, combined with Dropbox, makes it easy to report bugs and share design feedback.

Clop (US$20) optimise videos and images to save space, for me and the receiver.

Dropbox (US$17/m) protects my files and photos and makes it easy to share them. Pricier than iCloud or Google Drive, but the reliability and customer support is worth every penny.

I saved videos that inspired me with Downie (US$19). There’s something about keeping and organising that makes me remember.

DaisyDisk (US$10) finds out what is eating up my disk space. Works on Dropbox and Google Drive too.

A new way to edit podcast interviews with text, Descript (US$12/m). It is at least 2x faster, but your milage may vary.

Flux (free) changes the screen colour to help with sleep.

Hostingar host this blog. It is the first time I enjoyed using a hosting service.

iCloud, used in tandem with Dropbox, for extra storage. Mainly for photos and things I don’t need to quick access.

Maccy (US$10) keeps my “copy” history. Saves me from switching back and forth when copying text.

Magnet (US10) organise my screen, with shortcuts. Full screen, left, right, up, down.

Notion, replaced Apple Notes, Gdocs, Gsheets, Asana and Evernote. It took 2 years to move everything over, but I never looked back since. Marie Poulin has a great course.

Permute ($14.99), built by the same people as Downie, converts media to different sizes and formats. Mostly to save precious disk space.

Apple Photos (free), together with the iPhone and iCloud, feels like magic. With some upfront work of tagging, finding photos of friends from 10 years ago, is a real treat.

Polymail ($10/m) is probably not the best email client. But it’s not painful enough yet to switch yet.

Things (US$50) is my to-do list. I dump ideas, tasks, and articles and free up my mental space for more to come. Pairs with the GTD method.

Bartender (US$16) organise my Mac menu bar into something useful and beautiful. Built into MacOS.

Fathom (free) records and transcribes Zoom and Google meetings. Free my attention from note-taking and focus on the person. Replaced by Notion.

Perplexity, is replacing Google Search, and it has not asked me to pay yet. Replaced by Notion AI.

Rewind (free) records everything on my Mac screen. Peace of mind is worth the extra disk space. Defunct.

As my work has become online, I have come to appreciate software. Tools that are made with attention and care.

Updated on 22nd Sep 2026.

Could it be true that…

They are just busy?

Their loved one passed away?

They misread your intention?

Or simply that… they don’t like you?

Which interpretation serve you best?

And, hey… maybe it’s okay if they don’t like you?

Who would you be comfortable asking for a kidney when you need one?

It doesn’t mean that they would give you a kidney. But who would you be comfortable asking?

Think about it.

Now, who do you think would be comfortable asking you for a kidney?

You have friends, and you have a kidney friend.

Friendship is a choice. Don’t waste it on luck, bowling and a fair-weather friend.

It’s easy to think that trying hard, doing more, and people would like you.

The question, often forgotten is, “Do you need everyone to like you?”

Wanting to please everyone is a sure way to run out of gas for your work, and for the people that matters.

But what if, you can source approval from within, or from the people you truly respect?

Even the bible has one-star reviews. Who do we think we are?

Shady people are smart. But smart people might not be shady.

Too often, there are looters in the system. Monopolising the market, increasing prices, ceasing innovation, in the end, the customer suffers.

Smart people might look shady working the system.

Crossing roads on green, taking the handicap seats.

But if there are no cars, or no one using the handicap seat, are they shady?

Between understanding the spirit of the rules and blindly following the rules, lies the difference between being smart and being shady.

What’s the point of a contract?

A stack of paper, with dense blocks of text, can be a great way to intimidate or cover your backside.

But, more often than not, a contract is an agreement for disagreement. A way to move forward in disagreements that sustains the interest of both parties.

When a disagreement occurs, and it always would, can you split the difference between a betrayal and a misunderstanding?

Why did you come together to do this thing? What are you trying to achieve? And what is the best outcome for each party?

Perhaps that is the spirit of the contract, before all the technical jargon.

Honest conversation, hash it out at the beginning, and put it in writing.

It’s entirely possible that things would turn out fine. It’s also possible to lose a lot of money, or worse, a dear dear friend.

Perhaps if you don’t have the time, maybe it’s not worth getting bed with that special someone.

Here’s the prequel.

Thank you Roger and Guy.

I’ve found myself less enthusiastic about music. Podcasts have consumed most of my free time, and when I do listen to music, it’s often as background noise for dinner or gatherings.

In this experiment, I wanted to find out if deleting Spotify would rekindle my love of music.

Why: When asked for music recommendation, I realised that I couldn’t recall any songs or artists and don’t enjoy music as before.

Summary: Keep Spotify for podcast, and Shazam for identifying songs.

Experiment log [Mar 25]

Mar 1 – I transferred old music from the computer to the phone, and swapped Spotify for Apple Music app location.

Mar 3 – Apple Music app navigation is a challenge when driving. But I started enjoying listening to my old music.

Mar 5 – I got used to the music app’s navigation, although the UI wasn’t as user-friendly as Spotify. I keep on enjoying my old music once again.

Mar 7 – I tried using Siri for music navigation, and it’s great.

Mar 8 – For new song, I saved screenshots of Shazam result and processed them later.

Mar 9 – I found the effort of discovering, selecting, and saving songs has a correlation to my music enjoyment. I decided to keep Spotify for podcasts. Apple Music for music playing.

Next experiment, I would try to replace Spotify podcast with Overcast.

Amazon failed. The Fire Phone, Pets.com, Wallet.

You get it, the list goes on.

Part of success is failure. You won’t try, you won’t win.

Jia Jiang did a 100 days of rejections.

How did you learn how to fail?