Things other people (and I) use
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Yes, this is yet another post about stuff to use. Before you read any of it, here are better lists:1- Things I Use by Gavin Leech
- Tools / Gear by Alexey Guzey
- Stuff I own and use by José Luis Ricón
Also see: Things you're allowed to do by Milan Cvitkovic
Naturally, these also refer to other people with their lists of things.
This is more than enough already, so I'll only list some extensions and software below. All (mostly) free. Your mileage may vary.
Extensions
- Ampie Lets you know that a page has been mentioned on Twitter or Hacker News, allows you to amplify pages for other users to notice, and more.
Archiveror Saves pages to Archive.today, perma.cc, archive.org.Apparently, Google removed it from the Chrome web store. You can still install it if you use Firefox, though. I now use Wayback Machine for saving to Archive.org and Archive Page for Archive.today. Most people just use archive.org but the content there can be taken down pretty easily. Archiving URLs is on the todo list for this website.- Bypass Paywalls Self-explanatory. I usually exclude Quora (and websites where I do have an account, generally) from the blocked list, though.
- Video Speed Controller Sometimes you need 2x, at other times 1.3x feels best, and I frequently use speeds up to 3x (and sometimes beyond, hello fast-forwarding cassette tapes). Being able to fine-tune it wherever possible is now like breathing air.
- DF Tube (Distraction Free for YouTube™) Hide feed/sidebar/related videos.
- Falcon Search text within pages you've visited.
- History Trends Unlimited If you want more than 90 days of browser history. Stored locally + Auto Backup options.
- Honey Coupons. Once saved me $30.
- Hotkeys for Search Self-explanatory.
- KeeWeb Connect Password autofill for the KeeWeb app (go the app's settings to install), which is a sleeker version of KeePass. If you've read this far then I guess trying to explain why password manager is a must would be preaching to the choir. Ditto for adblockers, uBlock Origin seems best.
Software
- Microsoft Edge. Slightly better than Chrome. Don't know about speed, but overall it handles PDFs better, nice features like tab groups and sleeping tabs. (I don't like to have too many tabs opened, though.) Admittedly, most of these originate from Chrome extensions and Chrome has probably caught up.
- KeeWeb. Password manager. Customizable, useful plugins, e.g. checks your passwords via haveibeenpwned.com
- Joplin for personal note storage. Basically an open-source Evernote: has all the essentials and I can jump ship by exporting the whole database as folders with markdown.2 I also have tried Notion, OneNote, and Obsidian. They all have their merits, but I have long lost interest in tools for thought just need to save and store notes. Also, for taking notes I use Google Keep and have them displayed at all times on my second screen as post-it notes.
- Autohotkey Personal hotkeys for everything, including deploying this site via GitLab.
- Ditto Clipboard manager.
- SpeedCrunch A better calculator.
1
There are many other notable ones but even famous people's pages about stuff they use are longish and people often recommend pretty expensive stuff for very idiosyncratic reasons. You try one thing or another, some of it works, some of it doesn't, you might lose your faith in those people's judgement.
2
H/t Richard Sprague. To be fair, he didn't like the way files and tags are stored and abandoned it.