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Ask HN: What’s the one app that’s changed your life?

3 points by jjwtieke 3y ago

And why? For me it’s the simple Notes app. Like my brain is always bursting with ideas and I can tap them out anywhere any time and come back and read them and add to them. What’s yours?

Quinzel 3y ago
Spotify - in my youth, I was constantly infecting my computers with viruses from downloading pirated music, when iTunes came along, paying for an individual song sucked because I tend to get sick of them - so when Spotify came along, it was actual happiness. Value for money for sure.
- jjwtieke 3y ago
  But how satisfying was watching your MP3s download one at a time over the course of 2 hours?
  - Quinzel 3y ago
    Like watching grass grow. But the dopamine hit when you finally got your song was unparalleled to any other!
revskill 3y ago
Tinder !
- jjwtieke 3y ago
  Met my wife in tinder, so me too I guess!
aznpersuasion16 3y ago
Can’t pinpoint one. Here’s a few: - Down Dog Yoga helped while I was trying to improve posture. Also just makes me feel better. - Slumber helps me get a good night sleep. - Habits helps me build, you guessed it, good habits.
- uLogMicheal 3y ago
  Down Dog is great! Looking forward to the future generative AI version of it.
cratermoon 3y ago
tcpdump allowed me to dive deep into network protocols like TCP, IPX, AppleTalk, and NetBEUI, and gave a big boost to my programming career.
RA2lover 3y ago
ILSpy/dnSpy. Being able to see clearly how some software was written(and then modify it) has been an extremely mind-opening experience for me personally.
ilrwbwrkhv 3y ago
Workflowy. I discovered it almost a decade back and has been with me since. I have seen people move onto other shinier apps but I have never needed to. It stayed simple and easy to use and just works. I run a $4 million profit / year software business on it and a lot of my life (although I do not plan every single thing of my life. Less is more here I think). https://workflowy.com https://workflowy.com
- jjwtieke 3y ago
  This is really cool! Thanks for the tip!
beardyw 3y ago
Travel apps- currently Waze/Citymapper. I have some sort of travel anxiety, dreams about missing trains, losing luggage. These apps have created an altogether more relaxing world.
jlpcsl 3y ago
KDE Plasma desktop (if this can be called an app). It is by far the best desktop environment and it made me switch from Windows to GNU/Linux which was one of the best things in my digital/computer life. https://kde.org/plasma-desktop/ https://kde.org/plasma-desktop/
simonblack 3y ago
Search Engines: First one I used was Alta Vista, then several others were tried till I discovered Google. I still mainly use Google, though I had short bursts of DDG and Yandex too. Today, 'Google' is a verb, but when search engines first arrived they turned the World Wide Web from a mere curiosity into something truly usable.

3 points by jjwtieke 3y ago

And why? For me it’s the simple Notes app. Like my brain is always bursting with ideas and I can tap them out anywhere any time and come back and read them and add to them. What’s yours?

Quinzel 3y ago

Spotify - in my youth, I was constantly infecting my computers with viruses from downloading pirated music, when iTunes came along, paying for an individual song sucked because I tend to get sick of them - so when Spotify came along, it was actual happiness. Value for money for sure.

jjwtieke 3y ago
But how satisfying was watching your MP3s download one at a time over the course of 2 hours?
- Quinzel 3y ago
  Like watching grass grow. But the dopamine hit when you finally got your song was unparalleled to any other!

revskill 3y ago

Tinder !

jjwtieke 3y ago
Met my wife in tinder, so me too I guess!

aznpersuasion16 3y ago

Can’t pinpoint one. Here’s a few: - Down Dog Yoga helped while I was trying to improve posture. Also just makes me feel better. - Slumber helps me get a good night sleep. - Habits helps me build, you guessed it, good habits.

uLogMicheal 3y ago
Down Dog is great! Looking forward to the future generative AI version of it.

cratermoon 3y ago

tcpdump allowed me to dive deep into network protocols like TCP, IPX, AppleTalk, and NetBEUI, and gave a big boost to my programming career.

RA2lover 3y ago

ILSpy/dnSpy. Being able to see clearly how some software was written(and then modify it) has been an extremely mind-opening experience for me personally.

ilrwbwrkhv 3y ago

Workflowy. I discovered it almost a decade back and has been with me since. I have seen people move onto other shinier apps but I have never needed to. It stayed simple and easy to use and just works. I run a $4 million profit / year software business on it and a lot of my life (although I do not plan every single thing of my life. Less is more here I think). https://workflowy.com https://workflowy.com

jjwtieke 3y ago
This is really cool! Thanks for the tip!

beardyw 3y ago

Travel apps- currently Waze/Citymapper. I have some sort of travel anxiety, dreams about missing trains, losing luggage. These apps have created an altogether more relaxing world.

jlpcsl 3y ago

KDE Plasma desktop (if this can be called an app). It is by far the best desktop environment and it made me switch from Windows to GNU/Linux which was one of the best things in my digital/computer life. https://kde.org/plasma-desktop/ https://kde.org/plasma-desktop/

simonblack 3y ago

Search Engines: First one I used was Alta Vista, then several others were tried till I discovered Google. I still mainly use Google, though I had short bursts of DDG and Yandex too. Today, 'Google' is a verb, but when search engines first arrived they turned the World Wide Web from a mere curiosity into something truly usable.