I’m a lazy man. I use Safari, Apple Mail, Numbers, Text Edit, Calendar, Photos sometimes Notes. Apple first-party apps because they ship with the machine and I’ve been using them, in some cases, for decades.
The third-party app I’ve been using the longest is Tinderbox, pretty much since its inception.
I have DevonThink, I’ve never figured out what I want to do with it. I’m pretty sure I never will.
Tinderbox was mainly a writing app for me. A content management system for a blog. But a few years ago, I started a project called Captain’s Log, mainly to learn more about Tinderbox and Action Code. It has slowly been becoming a part of my life, becoming valuable to me.
That pace has begun to accelerate as I’ve learned how useful it can be in tracking the innumerable details that accompany designing and building a home. It tracks phone calls, emails, pdf files of drawings, links to product web sites, ideas, and more.
I’ve built some automations to make getting data into Captain’s Log relatively simple. They’re often crude, and they can all be improved, and now I’m finding the motivation to work on them to improve them. It’s kind of exciting.
All of which is preamble to a rather interesting video I just watched about the latest new hotness, on-device AI. The video is worthwhile to watch from the beginning, but I’ve set the link to start at about 17:47, shortly before where the epiphany happened.
I’m also beginning to experiment with local LLMs, for reasons that should be clear to many and are certainly reiterated in the video.
I don’t want to be a tease, but I also think it’s worth clicking through to video. I’m not a super fan of the presenter, but his opinions and analysis are often congruent with my own. (“Confirmation bias? Moi?”)
Suffice to say that I’m beginning to feel as though my years of investment in Tinderbox may pay off in a surprisingly productive way. It won’t be “life changing,” (maybe it will) but I think it will go some way toward helping to fulfill the promise of “personal” computing.
I think we’re in for some exciting times in the months ahead. Assuming we don’t all blow ourselves up.