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Ask HN: What's your favorite everyday app or product?
Found The StoryGraph through a YouTube video and it has revolutionized my reading life. Made me curious about what other genuinely useful apps or software products I'm missing out on. What are your favorites?
- orionblastar 2y agoThunderbird reads my emails without advertising like Outlook.
- amruta2799 2y agoooh I've heard of Thunderbird! looking it up now :)
- pavel_lishin 2y agoMan, I'm glad you're enjoying StoryGraph, but when I explored it as an alternative to Goodreads, the UX/UI was just not working for me. I'm genuinely considering just storing this data in a spreadsheet or a flat file. For me, RememberTheMilk is a great task app. I mean, I still have problems getting things done, but at least I know they're there.
- amruta2799 2y agoAs a reading log, I found it pretty similar to GoodReads -- no major differentiating factor here. But the reading stats and custom reading challenges are game-changers for me. Thanks for the rec! Looking it up now :)
- notesinthefield 2y agoStoryGraph takes the cake because it isnt as fussy as Goodreads. No in your face reviews or ads or social stuff, its reader first.
- meristohm 2y agoLinux Mint (both the Debian Edition and the one based on Debian via Ubuntu); I've been free of Microsoft products for awhile now (never had a Macintosh, but I used them in school) with no regrets. I also appreciate Firefox, Thunderbird, Libby (by Overdrive, for accessing public library materials), Calibre (for epub management and sometimes reading, often for easily looking up cooking recipes thanks to full-text search), and KOReader (my child needs the text bigger than the stock Kobo can do; KOReader delivers, on this and other features). Oh and Steam, for making it easy to keep up with friends via videogames despite having ditched Windows.
- amruta2799 2y agoLove Libby! And that's another vote for Thunderbird. Looking up the other recs :)
- lobito14 2y agotiny tiny rss
- theGeatZhopa 2y agoHackernews :) And Mind mapping software freeplane (open source)
- BinRoo 2y agontfy.sh for a wide range of things connected to git hooks or GitHub actions, since I use git for personal things - gives me a second pair of eyes on things asynchronously
- blinded 2y agoCoffee press.
- al_borland 2y agoI've been using Kagi for about a year and love it. Searching without ads, with a bunch of power-user features, and a thoughtful approach to AI, has been very nice. - https://kagi.com https://kagi.com I've also been enjoying NotePlan. I stumbled upon a system I like for managing my work in Obsidian at work using some plugins, and then found NotePlan is basically an app designed around the exact system I cobbled together, with some added quality of life improvements. My data is in plain text files, so that makes it future proof (to a degree), which I also like. - https://noteplan.co https://noteplan.co Merry Sky is another. A spiritual successor to Dark Sky, since Apple bought it and shut it down. It's not as nice as Dark Sky was, but hopefully it gets there. It's nice for seeing the upcoming week of perception forecasted in one visual view. - https://merrysky.net https://merrysky.net
- voltaireodactyl 2y agoExactly my experience with both Kagi and NotePlan — Obsidian is great and free, but NotePlan looks gorgeous, has native apps, and works exactly like my brain expects right outta the box. Huge fan.
- Leftium 2y agoI'm working on an even more user-friendly version of Merry Sky: https://weather-sense.leftium.com https://weather-sense.leftium.com Still very WIP, but I'd love any feedback/requests. (What do you wish either Merry Sky or Weather Sense did differently?)
- al_borland 2y agoVery cool! I'll definitely keep an eye on it. Looking at it right now, here would be my initial feedback and some ideas: - Depending on where you're located, I'm not sure if you've noticed that when there is a space in the city name it throws a %20 in there instead of space. Probably need a url decode on there... interestingly, this issues goes away when I just the locate button within the map and location services are triggered. - It seems to find my location without actually prompting, are you using an IP lookup or something instead of location services? It seems to work, but having the ability to also specify a location where I'm not at would be good (I'm sure this is planned). As mentioned above, the location services are called when using the map locate button, so I imagine the bug in the first bullet is related to the 2 different methods of gathering location. - I'm not sure if showing the a date or two in the past is for your testing or on purpose, but I kind of like it. People seem to ask me all the time if it rained yesterday, so having an easy reference for things like that is nice. For something really extra... something that shows what the forecast was vs what actually happened would be really interesting for getting a sense of how accurate the forecasts were. Presenting something like that well, so it's easy and obvious would be a big UI challenge. I know a lot of people complain about weather apps having bad data and are always looking for a better one. Having actual data every time the site/app is opened that shows how far off it was would go a long way to prove those criticisms right or wrong. My trust in a weather report would go way up if I regularly saw those deltas were small. - A way to visually see temperature and precipitation for the full 7 day forecast is always the main thing I'm looking for. High and low temp, graphed, for the week (this is the one thing Apple did take from Dark Sky that I still like). Inter-day temps for each day in a similar format to the week. And the precipitation like you have it (or as an area chart). I did really like the Dark Sky way of having a vertical bar for the precipitation, with the temps plotted next to it. I think that made it easier to see the separation between the days, while having everything horizontal makes it all blend together a little more. - I'm not totally sure what's going on with the 3 precipitation forecast bars. It looks like 2 of them have a current time marker. I'm going to assume this is you playing with different ways to show it, 24hr vs 48hr? My initial gut thought for the current weather view is a 24 hour bar with 4 hours in the past and 20 hours into the future (for temp and precipitation). Then the 7 day forecast can show 24 hours at a time for each day, which could be expanded or collapsed. - A way to change between imperial and metric measures would be good. Right now I'm seeing the temp in Fahrenheit, while the distance and precipitation is in metric, so it's a bit of a mix out of the box. - Sunrise / Sunset timing is something I find useful, though I have it on my phone's lock screen at this point. - Something I've recently discovered in Apple's weather app is the Averages tile. I've started using this a lot any time I'm looking at traveling somewhere, so I can get an idea of when to go or how to pack. This isn't a critical MVP feature at all, so I wouldn't prioritize it. But if you end up taking this really far, that is something I find pretty useful and cool. - Just spitballing... I wonder if the 7 day forecast bars would be good all lined up horizontally with a horizontal scroll to look into the future, so it's more like looking through a calendar week. I think this might make it easier for someone to more easily see it will ran in 3 days, rather than having to know today is Friday and it says it will rain on Tuesday, which is 4 days away. This would be another UI challenge to do well without it being a cramped mess. It would probably need to default to a collapsed view, then clicking on a day would expand that day's bar to show more details. - I assume all the json data is for your own testing
- steph-123 2y agox-cmd is a great CLI that I've been using recently, and it has significantly streamlined my workflow. x-cmd is very lightweight (no more than 1MB) and offers a range of interactive CLI tools. now there are more than 210 modules, more than 520 packages. Additionally, you can even combine the module functions with AI (openai, gemini,mistral...). example: x wkp extract 'Apple M4' | @gemini 'Apple M4 release date' Search for extract about Apple M4 on Wikipedia and parse it using Gemini AI https://x-cmd.com/ https://x-cmd.com/
- interbased 2y agoI recently started using RSS feeds and the reader in Brave Browser is really neat.
- toastercat 2y agoSyncthing. It's exactly what I've wanted for years between using Dropbox, Google Drive, Box.com, etc. Private, secure, seamless, and keeps my files synced between Linux, Windows, and Android.
- Kokouane 2y agoBitwarden for secure notes, managing passwords & my 2FA tokens.
- archargelod 2y agoTermux. I love terminals, and to have one on the go is a godsend. I use it for all kinds of things like password storing (my own custom little program[1]), `dict` for looking up some english words, reading man pages during long train rides, managing my VPS through ssh, `ncdu` for clearing up some storage space. I use aria2 cli to download big files often 10 times faster than standard android download system. If I have to write a small code snippet - I have python and nim installed and always at hand with almost full ide support in neovim. I use completely configurable custom keyboard app[2] with full set of keys[3], so coding on it is a breeze. [1] - https://codeberg.org/Archargelod/brewpass https://codeberg.org/Archargelod/brewpass [2] - https://jbak2.ucoz.net/index/vse_programmy/0-19 https://jbak2.ucoz.net/index/vse_programmy/0-19 [3] - https://github.com/Archargelod/jbak2Templates-Skins https://github.com/Archargelod/jbak2Templates-Skins
- Rediscover 2y agoNow that it's mentioned... Yeah, Termux. I use it all the time. I used to always have a small laptop and/or a wearable with me constantly, now those are often still with me but Termux (with the Hacker's Keyboard) has reduced my carrying of those. I possibly spend more time (on my phone) in Termux than all the other apps combined (including the browser "apps"). Thanks for alerting me to my usage (reliance?) of it. Bonus: Most everything also syncs easily, for me, with my more traditional computers with rsync or scp from/to a Termux session.
- GeneralMaximus 2y agoThere are a ton of little macOS apps I love. Part of the reason I’m married to the Apple ecosystem, despite wanting to switch out of it. I’ve written hundreds of thousands of words in iA Writer over the years. It’s the only way I can get any writing done, I find every other writing app too distracting. Somebody on HN called it an “overpriced minimalist lifestyle app” in a reply to one of my comments, not realizing that the minimalism is a real feature for those of us who have brains that work differently. In the same vein, the only task management app I can use without tearing out my hair is Things. It makes a distinction between the start date for a task and the deadline, which very few other apps do. I might want to start working on my presentation on Monday, but it might not be due for another two weeks. Those two dates are different! I don’t understand why few other apps allow you to do this. I feel a sense of physical anxiety when all my tasks in Apple Reminders show up in red because that app is just the worst. MindNode and Bike Outliner are great “tools for thought”, if you like to brainstorm digitally. I’ve tried infinite canvas apps like Freeform and Muse for this, but I personally prefer the structure of an outliner or mind map. MindNode is my favorite app to fire up when I need to break down a big idea into smaller chunks, or when I need to drill down into the specifics of a problem, or when I want to impose some structure on the chaos of the problems I’m dealing with at work. These are the apps I miss when I use Windows or Linux. If I ever switch to a non-Apple computer as my primary machine, I might get irritated enough with what’s on offer to build clones of these apps. Nothing like them exists on Windows or Linux, despite my attempts to look for equivalents every few months.
- Janymos 2y agoIA Writer is awesome
- Brajeshwar 2y agoOverpriced? Interesting. I don't remember ever asking for anything else since the first time I bought it years ago. I still use it every day (macOS and iOS). I use Obsidian to manage the notes, but if I want to just write or pick one file to work on, I use iA Writer. I don't even have Obsidian on the phone; I open the file(s) from the Dropbox folder with iA Writer.
- andrei_says_ 2y ago
- Amy_W 2y ago[dead]
- Leftium 2y agoThe power of programming + open source: tweaking my favorite apps to be even better: https://hw.leftium.com https://hw.leftium.com (https://hackerweb.app https://hackerweb.app + https://hckrnews.com https://hckrnews.com + α)
- fragmede 2y agoalso http://hn.zip http://hn.zip, if your commute has you on spotty cell data.
- eande 2y agoI am daily user of OneNote across all my different platforms/os.
- BOOSTERHIDROGEN 2y agoAeropress and Miniflux.
- codegladiator 2y agointellij idea
- GarnetFloride 2y agoAs a Technical Writer I love Scrivener. I can keep lots of notes and research and first drafts organized and linked before putting anything into the official system.
- hiAndrewQuinn 2y agoI'm going to be boring and say ChatGPT. It's genuinely an astonishingly useful bit of technology, at least the way I use it. A more pedestrian app: Bring!, the syncing shopping list app. Great stuff .
- sandreas 2y agoMy favorite everyday product still is the iPod Nano 7G. Although released in 2012, My use case is mainly to listen to audio books (m4b) and music. Of course there are smartphones these days that also could play them well, but in my opinion nothing comes even close to the user experience of this device: - Size: This device is SMALL - Durability: Still works fine after 10 years - Battery life: Lasted for days with 220mah, after some years of course it decreases a bit - Connectivity: Works fine with bluetooth - Usability: Decent UI with remote support (4 different ones)[1], Sleep timer, etc. - Versatile: Podcasts, Audiobooks, Music, Sports and even Video (kind of limited though) Of course there are some drawbacks (no linux support, no wifi, hard to repair, proprietary connector, no FLAC, "unhackable" except [2]), but I'll take it together with the benefits. I desperately tried to replace it with other (Android) devices, such as: - Unihertz Jelly 2 - Fiio M6 - HiBy M300 but they are all to bulky, slow, miss important features or just feel bad to me. [1]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-fmLFcv49gY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-fmLFcv49gY [2]: https://github.com/CUB3D/ipod_sun https://github.com/CUB3D/ipod_sun
- Brajeshwar 2y agoI have gone through many apps and begun to simplify as much as possible. I try to be independent of any particular app; instead, I build up usage patterns. So, I do have to spend extra time, especially in the beginning, for most tools I use regularly. I also try to stick to native (OS-built-in) apps as much as possible. For instance, Apple Mail—mine has a stark layout[1] with just two panes and no tools visible (nothing)—I learned the shortcuts as a muscle memory so I can get lots done. When I forget, I remember the keystrokes to fire up the panes, toolbar, etc. What I use and swear by now are physical Pen(s) and Notebook(s). For notebooks, Midori[2] stationery is “my precious” for now. I shuffle between a few fountain pens (Lamy, Kaweco, looking for more) and a bunch of gel, sketch, and felt roller pens (Rotring, Parker, and the like). Midori is expensive to buy in India. I need to get a bunch while traveling next time. 1. https://cdn.oinam.com/img/oinam/brajeshwar-apple-macos-mail-2022.png https://cdn.oinam.com/img/oinam/brajeshwar-apple-macos-mail-... 2. https://www.midori-japan.co.jp/english/ https://www.midori-japan.co.jp/english/
- jesterson 2y agoHuawei MatePad Been using for a year mostly for reading, now I can't go anywhere without it. Large screen, reasonably good to view sites or read a book.
- __rito__ 2y ago- Syncthing (for syncing files without paying anybody) - Ebookdroid and PDF & DJVU Reader (for reading books and papers. Have great features that seems obvious yet absent from other apps) - Lithium (best EPUB file reader) - Antennapod (best app for podcasts) - Obsidian, Simplenote (for notetaking) - Raindrop (for bookmarking) - Sketchbook (for drawing) - Fedilab (for connecting to the Fediverse) - Feeder (FOSS RSS reader app) - Flora Incognita, Plantnet (use AI to recognize plants and flowers) - Sweech (opens up a wifi file server) - Xplore File Manager (THE best file manager app for android) - 8 bit Wonders (Emulates old computers like Commodore 64) - Poe (for different LLM chatbots) Some dev apps: MicroREPL, Termux, X11-BASIC, notin, Sensor Server, ntfy, nRF Connect, gFORTH
- sphars 2y agoSoftwar, self-hosted FreshRSS. I haven't used RSS since trying Feedly for a few months after Google Reader was killed. I like reading all my "updates" in a single unified location, and FreshRSS has been fantastic for my needs. Hardware, my jailbroken Kindle Paperwhite. I've used the same device nearly everyday going on about 7-8 years. Still works great and battery life on airplane mode lasts a good 3-4 weeks. I keep airplane mode on permanently, and transfer whatever I need with Calibre.
- andrei_says_ 2y agoI use cleanshot 30+ times a day and it’s perfect. Things. So simple yet powerful. Basecamp is incredible for collaboration. Obsidian. SublimeText. Recently started using n10.app and it does help with focus. Ruby is such a beautiful language. I feel grateful every time I use it. CraftCMS is small and perfect.
- tentacleuno 2y agoSupersonic -- amazingly-good Subsonic client for the desktop. I've gone through... way too many Subsonic clients, and I just can't find one that beats Supersonic; my only complaint is that, for some reason, MPRIS can be intermittent. The developer's also like... super responsive on GitHub, and frequently pushes updates to make it better. Great stuff! :-) https://github.com/dweymouth/supersonic https://github.com/dweymouth/supersonic
- purple-leafy 2y agoFor me here are some revolutionary apps and products - Protonmail - Proton pass and aliases are amazing. No more spam emails or unsubscribes. - Apple Podcasts. Really enjoy CoRecursive, Darknet Diaries, and Advent of Computing - Goodreads - Flightradar helped me get over a massive fear of flying (I would check flight radar for every plane flying overhead and it literally fixed me) - Codewars has been really fun for programming challenges - Svelte was fun to play with - Ultrawide curved monitor, amazing for dev - Switching from Windows, to Linux, to Mac has been great I’m really grateful for the web itself. I like Librewolf for browsing. Grateful for browser extensions, they are fun and annoying to build at the same time I’ve been enjoying Microsoft Learn lately for learning C#. C# is quite fun to use. HackerNews is a great community and happy to have moved to it from other communities
- ilrwbwrkhv 2y agoI use Workflowy for everything. Have used it from the time it launched and never needed anything else for planning and task management.
- bimodalblitz 2y ago[dead]