Challenging Your Digital Defaults

We all make choices about the software/hardware we use. Some of these decisions were well-thought out but your situation has changed, some of the decisions were poorly thought out, and the remaining decisions might still stand. You don't know which is which until you review things though.

Here are the changes I've made recently:

• News Consumption method - For a few months, I was using AI-curated News Aggregation websites (https://www.newsminimalist.com and https://www.boringreport.org/app) -> w3m for an even more minimal feel when digesting aggregated news sites (ie https://clime.cloud/news) -> RSS feeds via newsboat (for maybe a day) - > RSS feeds via newsraft for the past two weeks. It has been a breath of fresh air and is integrating nicely w/ some TUI apps that I use already. Also there are popular news sites w/o RSS feeds, but they do post on BlueSky regularly and I have used them as RSS feeds instead.

• Trying out different text browsers - I have been using w3m for the past year or so. Recently I tried links -> elinks -> back to w3m for good lol.
• Browser New Tab Images - I almost never see my background when i'm working on my device, but I do see the new tab frequently. I use Tab Nine to cycle through collections (read: albums) on Unsplash. I was using random collections and they started to feel repetitive and/or would blind me at night w/ a very bright picture. As a change of pace, I decided to upload some photos I've taken and use that instead. Ikea effect is definitely in full swing there.
• Phone Launcher - Historically, I've used the stock Android/GrapeheneOS launcher. I recently heard about KISS Launcher and made the switch last month and it's night and day. Much more intuitive but it required me powering through the initial friction of trying a new launcher
• Android Keyboard App - I have been using HeliBoard but I tried using CleverKeys for a while. It is basically Vim for virtual keyboards in that it requires that you rethink how you type but it is more efficient than the alternative. The swype functionality was lagging after a while though, so I've jumped back to HeliBoard for the time being, but it is something I may revisit down the road
• LLM - I have used Claude almost exclusively and will continue to do so since it's the ideal combination of state of the art and the most moral company out of the lot (which isn't saying much at face value, I know but they, for the moment, seem to care more than their competitors about whether they destroy the world). With that said, I was using an API key and accessing it through LibreChat. I had a good strategy going for the last 10 months or so where I'd have deeper conversations through LibreChat, but surface level convos w/ a weaker model via the free website. I went from paying $20/mo -> $3-4/mo in API charges. With the release of Opus 4.6, I racked up $20 in like 2-3 weeks. i think it became clear that this will be a pivotal piece of software for me moving forward, and so instead of paying $20/mo again, I bit the bullet on an annual subscription
• Book reading device - I have a Boox tablet but it broke so I had to send it for repairs. It was a go-to device for me, but fwiw, I had a 5th Gen PaperWhite lying around that I had purchased to DeDRM my library so that I could upload it to Calibre and read it w/ KOReader. I had a relatively straightforward experience jailbreaking the kindle and it has been my go-to device. Turns out I like the compact size more than the Boox. It took 3 months to get the Boox back (just got it back last week) and while I finally got around to rooting that as well, I am sticking to the Kindle for the time being.