Matt FantinelModify

2025-11-27 00:45:25

Following the end-of-year tradition, here is an updated list of the apps I choose to use for the vast majority of my daily activities on my Mac and iPhone.

Other years: 2024, 2023.

Apps that are new compared to last year are marked with the ✨ emoji.

• 📧 Mail service: Fastmail
• 📬 Mail client: Fastmail✨
  • I used to use Apple Mail but got tired of its unreliability. Fastmail’s iOS app and web client on desktop are close to perfect, really.
• 📆 Calendar: BusyCal✨
  • More reliable than Apple Calendar and I love the “Current & Upcoming” widget on iOS. I don’t use a lot of the features, but since it’s included in Setapp, it’s a no-brainer.
• ✅ Tasks: TickTick
• 📝 Notes: Obsidian
• 🌐 Web browser: Vivaldi✨ on Mac, a mix of Vivaldi✨ and Orion✨ on iPhone
  • I wrote extensively about my migration from Arc to Vivaldi on the desktop. On mobile, Vivaldi is not as appealing. Orion scratches my need for simpler navigation when I just need to do a quick search.
• 📰 RSS Reader: Reeder✨
  • Readwise Reader was great but too expensive. Reeder works pretty well and it’s a one-time purchase that I’m pretty happy with.
• 🧮 Code Editor: Windsurf✨
  • It’s VS Code, but with better integrated AI features. It’s very powerful if used correctly, which I like to believe I’m doing.
• 👨🏻‍💻 Terminal: iTerm 2
• 🔎 Search: Kagi
• ⌨️ Launcher: Raycast
• ☁️ Cloud storage: iCloud
• 🌅 Photo library: iCloud
• 🌤️ Weather: Apple Weather
• 🎙️ Podcasts: Apple Podcasts / YouTube
• 🎶 Music: Apple Music
• 🛹 Clipboard manager: Maccy
• 🔐 Passwords: 1Password
• 💸 Budgeting: YNAB
• 💁🏻‍♂️ Social: Mastodon
• 🐘 Mastodon: Phanpy✨
  • Simply the best social media client ever. Everything is so thoughtfully put together. It’s a web app which is great on desktop, slightly less so on mobile (mainly Apple’s fault). I made an iOS version of it, which should be launched somewhere soon (just maybe not the App Store).
• 🎮 Gaming: PS5 and Switch
• 🖼️ Screenshots: CleanShot X

2025-11-24 22:50:57

First snow of the season

Photo taken on Fri, 21 Nov 2025

The snow made the Resegone Mountain even more picturesque than usual.

2025-11-24 20:57:48

LLMs are bullshitters. But that doesn't mean they're not useful , by Vladimir Prelovac

… wow. This is an amazing article that goes a bit into how LLMs work (is an easy-to-understand way), how flawed they are, and how useful they can be. Or dangerous.

Plus, the nurse and surgeon examples are hilarious.

2025-11-24 08:00:00

The birth & death of search engine optimization, by Xe Iaso

This article walks through how the concept of SEO (Search Engine Optimization) was born, how it inevitably became broken and how easy it is to “win” it, as long as your content is made up and not actual real information.

2025-11-24 00:22:03

The perils of doors in gamedev, by Tom Forsyth

This Mastodon thread is an amazing tale about game development, physics and time-traveling bugs.

2025-11-23 03:33:00

Swan in Lake Como

Photo taken on Sat, 22 Nov 2025

This swan was kind enough to pose around for a bit, even with the (very) cold wind.