You know I love to write. I’ve talked about it enough. If you’ve been reading my posts for a while, you’ll also know that I have a love/hate relationship with technology. I worked in technology for 25 years until I was laid off last June. Beyond that, I have been tinkering with technology on my own for just as many years.
I was thinking about technology today. I have been so focused on my writing and on finding a way to generate some income that I have all but forgotten how much I used to love tinkering. It got me thinking, what if I start showcasing my tinkering?
I haven’t tinkered in a long time. It’s been months. That’s a long time for a nerdy computer geek like me. My favorite way to tinker is to come up with creative solutions to problems I, myself, have.
For example, there’s a lot of good stuff on YouTube. Especially when it comes to music mixes. You can find them for studying, working out, sleeping, etc.
But I hate the YouTube interface, especially on my phone. I want the audio to play when I’m working out or in the car. Well, I have figured out how to download audio tracks from YouTube videos as MP3s.
Another thing that has been bugging me lately is task management. I have been using the Apple Reminders app for a long time. It works, but I can’t easily get my tasks into other apps. I can only use them on the phone or via the iCloud web interface.
Well, with a little research in my favorite AI (Grok), I came up with a solution. I created an Apple shortcut to add my spoken reminders directly to my Remember The Milk task list.
RTM is a task management app that’s been around forever. It’s available via a cleaner web interface than Apple’s iCloud, and I have access to their API so that I can write scripts against my lists. This makes it much easier for me to complete my tasks across multiple devices.
Finding these solutions brings me great joy. I love solving real problems. Especially the little ones that don’t seem important until you solve them. You then realize how much time you’re saving, or you see the added efficiency.
I can only imagine how I would feel if I solved these types of problems for others. The best I can do, right now, is share what I have done in a way that makes sense even to the non-technical.
It would be amazing to help even one person—besides me. That would make the effort of turning these solutions into workable tutorials worth it.
Are there any specific tech challenges you are facing? Please let me know, and I’ll look into solving it!
—Daniel