reviews

referrals

visakanv
April 21, 2016

I like making referrals whenever I spot the opportunity to, and I rarely care about the benefit to me (unless it’s absolutely huge). I don’t use Dropbox very much, but I do recall when people were making a lot of referrals when it first came out. In particular I remember the space race competitions between Universities.

Hardware

  • I just bought a Logitech G602 mouse. I really like it. I was worried that there would be some lag from it being wireless, but it’s doing great so far. It fits beautifully in my hand (I have large hands) and working with it feels like a joy. I also have a similar, wired version at work – and I think I prefer the wireless.
  • Macbook Air – lightweight, starts immediately, good battery life. I wish I discovered Macbooks earlier. I used an Asus laptop before that, not a huge fan.
  • Amazon Kindle. I actually kinda prefer the original one to the one I’m currently using (I have two– the original was a gift, and I bought the second one. My wife uses the first one). I was (and still am) a lover of physical books from childhood, but a Kindle is really light in the hands and is great for reading on commutes– buses, planes, while waiting for your food to arrive, etc.
  • Gain City / Mitsubishi Electric air-conditioning. (Mine’s called a StarMex Inverter.) Hey, it’s the most expensive thing I own. And it works well for me. Never given me trouble. Still cold. Easy to clean. Doesn’t seem to use up much power. Hasn’t leaked yet, or needed servicing. The Gain City guys were great.
  • I use bluetooth speakers – Creative D5x. I don’t actually recommend these, I don’t know why but the connection tends to be choppy from time to time.
  • I use some ASUS router. Upgraded to a bigger/better one and did notice an improvement in web experience.

Web apps

  • Evernote – I use this as a notepad on my phone
  • Workflowy – I’m a paying user. It makes lists of lists. Here’s a referral link to give you more free bullets (I don’t need them because I pay)
  • Trello – Digital post-its
  • Scrivener – if you’re going to be working on a large-scale text-based project, like a book, this is great. I also own the companion Scapple, which i was using earlier.
  • YNAB – my wife uses this and recommends it. We’ve referred a few people to it.
  • Shopify – I run Statement on Shopify. I used to use Storenvy, which I thought was pretty good, but Shopify is awesome.
  • Telegram – my favorite chat app, much preferred to Messenger and Whatsapp. I only use Messenger for friends on FB, and Whatsapp when my friends don’t have Telegram. Telegram’s Mac OS app is great to use, and the stickers and bots and gifs etc.. ah.
  • Slack – I made a group just for myself, to have conversations with myself about many different things in different channels. It’s fun. I suppose IRC would work for this too. Just putting this out there.
  • JEFIT is where I track my workouts. Not a crazy fan of the UI, but it sorta works. Would switch if you recommended me something.
  • Spotify – I feel like I’m improverished musically and need some good recommendations. Not satisfied with the current Discover system. But this is what I use to listen to music.
  • Podcasts – when I feel like listening to humans talk I typically go to Tim Ferriss’s site and just listen to one of the audio files from there.
  • Snapchat – I have it, occasionally take pictures of my cats. Not really a big user. Maybe if I had more people following me.
  • Airbnb – have never used it but I like the concept so I refer people if possible.
  • Uber – was a late-ish adopter but have grown to love its convenience and cashlessness. Drivers tend to be lovely people too, at least here in SG.

Online Reads – in a one liner, I like Paul Graham’s essays, Ribbonfarm, Pmarca’s old blogposts, Aaron Swartz’ blog (RIP), and I’m discovering that I really like Joel Spolsky’s software blog (even as a non-engineer).

Book recommendations in a one-liner: User Illusion (Tor Norretranders), Lost Illusions (Balzac), Antifragile, Sideways Look At Time, Lives of a Cell. The Fountainhead is actually pretty good if you have a healthy attitude towards it. 48 Laws of Power. Power of Now (about meditation) and Now Habit (about getting things done). Alan Watts (mostly on YouTube). Ender’s Game series. More here: http://www.visakanv.com/blog/books/ 

Video recommendations – Everything Is A Remix, Overview Effect, Randy Pausch’s Last Lecture, Tony Robbins’ TED talk (he knows his stuff).