Hub · Tools
Reviews from someone who runs a one-person business and gets nothing for the endorsement.
This shelf is honest tool reviews from the inside of a solo practice. I use the tools, I switch when they get worse, and I write about both the wins and the moments a tool quietly became annoying enough to replace. Some posts cover specific apps. Some cover whole categories: task managers, note-taking systems, writing tools, browser setups, AI assistants. The take is honest about what's worth your money and attention.
There's an AI sub-section here too. The catalog isn't large yet, partly on purpose. The AI tools space is still moving fast enough that yesterday's review can be misleading by next quarter. The posts that do exist take a deliberately skeptical line on what AI is actually useful for in solo work. That turns out to be a smaller set than the marketing implies, but still meaningful.
If a post here recommends a tool, it's because I used it long enough to know how it ages. If a post here pans a tool, same. No affiliate-farm energy, no tool-of-the-week newsletter habits.
106 posts in this hub ·Tools & Resources · Technology · Artificial Intelligence
Start here
If this is your first time on this hub, these are reasonable entry points.
Carl Sagan wrote a critical-thinking checklist in 1995 that holds up better than 90% of media literacy content written this decade. Here are the nine questions, updated for AI content and productivity grifts.
Jonathan Birch built a framework for thinking about beings on the edge of sentience. I keep accidentally applying it to my Claude tab - and the question it raises about trust is one we'll all have to answer.
AI is mediocre at writing your draft and genuinely great at editing it. Here are the specific editing jobs AI tools for editing writing actually do well.
No automations, no 40-tool stack. Just a simple AI workflow you can fold into a normal workday, with one browser tab and zero setup. Here's what mine looks like.
Using AI to learn new skills can genuinely speed you up, or quietly fool you into thinking you've learned something. Here's how to get the first without the second.
The real AI data privacy risk isn't a dramatic hack. It's the client NDA you pasted into a free chatbot last Tuesday. Here's what to check before you trust a tool.
More in this hub
Neil Postman wrote about television in 1985. He was actually writing about every screen you've ever held. What we lost in the transition is bigger than most people admit.
A client asked point-blank if I'd used AI on their work. Here's what actually gave it away, and what it taught me about whether clients can tell you used AI.
Three AI subscriptions, one you open daily and two you forgot you're paying for. A skeptic's look at whether AI tools are worth paying for, and which to cancel.
Most AI meeting note-takers record a lot and help a little. Here's how to pick the best AI meeting note-taker for how you actually work, and when to skip it.
You don't need a 2,000-word mega-prompt or a course. Learning how to write better AI prompts comes down to a few habits that survive contact with a real task.
ChatGPT vs Claude vs Gemini, judged on actual work instead of benchmark scores. Where each one genuinely pulls ahead, and which one to pay for if you only pick one.
The honest version of how to use ChatGPT for freelance work: where it earns its keep, where it quietly costs you, and the line I won't let it cross.
Yuval Noah Harari predicted a lot of things about work and AI. Some of it held up. Some of it aged like milk. Here's the mid-decade audit.
Surgeons saved lives with a one-page checklist. Most freelancers are still trying to build a 40-page Notion system. Here's why the simpler tool quietly wins.
A simple financial dashboard that replaced dozens of tools, spreadsheets, and panic. Here's what changed.
RTO mandates are loud but overblown. Remote work isn't dead - it's just maturing past the hype.
Tired of scattered feedback, misaligned versions, and tools that don't talk to each other? Here are the ones that actually stick.