Tools I Use, 2026

Gmail.com. I use Gmail exclusive for all email. I’ve experimented with several (including, more than once, hey.com!) but keep coming back to Gmail. I need its single sign-on, and its calendaring functionality locks in with so many things. It’s a bit of a 70% solution, and ceratin things aren’t “right,” but the things it does are good enough and it is seemingly required by many different apps.

iCloud.com email, is what I use to receive all email newsletters. I separate these from my Gmail accounts to keep the noise level down in my main email; and I use “Hide my Email” to be able to easily stop newsletters I don’t want to receive, even if their unsubscribe link doesn’t work.

Dropbox: I have a Dropbox Pro account with a terabyte of space; all my files are backed up here, and Dropbox’s version history has saved me several times.

Obsidian: My Zettlekasten (database of notes) is now stored exclusively in Markdown files in an iCloud folder (so it syncs to my phone–I would prefer Dropbox but then I lose phone access). I use Obsidian to access those files–it automatically manages all the links between notes.

Apple Photos: I store photos in my phone in Apple Photos.

Fathom AI is my notetaker of choice. I like the way it does summaries of the meeting. I’ve compared it to Gemini’s note-taker inside Google, and Fathom’s is far better and more accurate, generally, plus it records video that I can click straight to.

Matter. This is where I store articles that lets me read and highlight and tag articles, but I’m using it less and less in favor of storing directly in my Zettle if it’s meaningful. I may drop this in the long run, but it’s also a good place to store things for casual reading (like on planes, etc).

Mailchimp has been my email newsletter manager for hundreds of issues. I’ve tried other services and always come back to Mailchimp.

Google Meet is what I use for nearly all online meetings. (I’m also able to use Zoom if someone needs to.)

Kindle: I love Amazon Kindle. I have hundreds of books/files in it. I use my Kindle App on iPhone/iPad far more than I do my actual Kindle, at this point. In 2020⁄2021, I’ve been using the Kindle to get samples and buying books in paper form, because I get less distracted (no notifications in a paper book).

Tripit maintains my travel calendar automatically. Anytime I purchase a flight, Tripit (which monitors my Gmail account) automatically sucks the flight data in and gives me a nice itinerary. It syncs to the iPhone/iPad app as well, so that’s always up to date, and shares the itinerary with my wife, so she has quick access to my schedule.

Apple Classical for music that is lyrically free and good for concentration. (I tried brain.fm but then switched to this.)

Apple’s Keychain. I used to use Lastpass, but since I became a Mac-only user, I use the one built in to Apple products.

Safari/Chrome. I’m pretty browser agnostic these days, but since I’m a Mac user, I tend to use Safari most.

No Social Media. After years on Twitter, I have largely abandoned it–with the exception of one list that follows weather forecasters in the case of severe weather–and with it all social media. There’s just not enough return for the time spent on it. I maintain a list of weather trackers for times when tornadoes are nearby. I’m in Twitter maybe once or twice a year, and never in anything else.