I’ve tried enough productivity apps to know that having more tools doesn’t always make me more organized. My notes, to-do lists, and schedule often ended up scattered across different apps, which meant more switching and more places to check. As a freelance tech blogger, I deal with article ideas, research, deadlines, and daily tasks all the time, so this started becoming annoying. I wanted something that could bring my workflow closer together without feeling complicated. That’s what made me try Amplenote. After using it for a while, I realized it was changing how I handle my everyday work in a way I wasn’t expecting.

Local AI agents are the private, free take on tools like Claude Code. And the idea is super appealing if you're trying to avoid a subscription and keep your data private. A local agent runs on whatever model is already on your disk, so you hand it a folder with a regular job you'd give to any other agent, but nothing ever goes to an unknown server. I think that's a pretty easy sell.

For most power users, there's a universal workflow bottleneck. Let's say you're organizing server backups, moving media files, or staging code directories. It's easy for your screen to become a chaotic mess of overlapping Windows Explorer or Finder windows, but I realized there are so many ways to make file navigation easier. You can dive past the default single-pane view and unlock advanced dual-pane navigation, integrated tabs, and built-in operation queues features that are mastered by tools like Total Commander, Directory Opus, or modern power user replacements.

There's nothing more fascinating to me than seeing a familiar utility's name pop up on my WizTree every time I decide to audit my SSD and see what's taking up my increasingly expensive M.2 NVMe storage. It has become something of a ritual, and it usually ends with me deleting something Windows put there without asking as it always does.

Microsoft rolled out a security patch that turned my reliable Ubuntu partition into a brick. In August 2024, a Windows update applying a Secure Boot Advanced Targeting (SBAT) patch flagged vulnerable GRUB bootloaders, locking out thousands of dual-boot users worldwide. I was one among several users who encountered a "Security Policy Violation" error instead of the familiarity of a login screen, and I wish I could say things have improved since.

Not all SSDs are created equal, and no spec embodies that more than the NAND type. With regard to NAS storage, most will tell you to always use TLC, and to avoid QLC NAND like the plague. TrueNAS just published a detailed case that the rule is wrong for a lot of people. In a post on how OpenZFS handles both NAND types, the company argues that QLC performs better than its spec sheet suggests, and that OpenZFS's write path is part of why. For the pool that holds your media, photos, and backups, I think TrueNAS makes a great case.

I personally don't mind if the networking stuffed in my closet is a bit of a mess, but when running cable throughout my home, I do want it to look somewhat neat. Flat Ethernet cables are perfect for tucking under carpets or running neatly against baseboards, but after setting up my network with them, I began experiencing intermittent issues that were very difficult to nail down. The culprit ended up being those flat Ethernet cables that were the backbone of the uplinks for some of my key devices, and the failure was invisible to the naked eye.

VS Code is great, and every now and then I come across a feature I had no idea existed. I recently found Remote Tunnel Access tucked away in the Accounts menu. Once you turn it on, you can code on your desktop from a browser, even when you’re using another computer. You can open the files that are already there and run the project without copying it to the device in front of you. That device only needs a browser and the link VS Code gives you. Your files and development tools stay on the desktop, which has to remain on for the tunnel to work. The remote machine doesn’t have to be your desktop, either — a VM or a cloud instance works too.

Claude Code has quickly become one of my favorite AI coding tools, but there's one thing that can be frustrating: watching my usage disappear much faster than expected. It doesn't always feel like I'm doing enough work to justify how quickly the limit arrives. The more I used Claude Code, the more I realized that getting more value from it isn't just about having a better model or writing better prompts. Small changes to how I use the tool can make a surprising difference. After experimenting with my workflow, I found a few less obvious ways to make my Claude Code usage last longer without making coding feel slower or more complicated.

Why is it that important emails always pass the first, second, and third read-throughs with zero issues, but as soon as you hit send, you instantly see every single flaw in your writing? Well, it turns out it affects more people than I thought, and Microsoft is adding a new Outlook feature that will pull you aside when you click send and ask if you really, truly want to send the email where you grossly misspelled 'accommodation' at least three times.

Haptics tech company Taction sued Apple in 2021, alleging it infringed two of its patents. Now a federal jury in San Diego has awarded Taction over $5.7 billion in damages. According to CNBC, "The lawsuit centered around U.S. Patent Nos. 10,659,885 and 10,820,117, which both involve vibration-based, tactile transducer technology that helps users feel a device responding to their input."Taction argued that Apple's Taptic Engine in its Apple Watches and iPhones used technology that it had developed without a proper license, and the jury agreed. It found that Apple had infringed on two claims in one patent and one in the other. However, the j …Read the full story at The Verge.

Are you a big fan of Microsoft Copilot? It's easy to assume that the Redmond giant's AI offering has gotten a bit stale, especially after dropping the Copilot+ brand from its laptops. However, according to one employee, Copilot is going stronger than ever, and people actually love it.