I have a brain that likes to jump from topic to topic, in multiple directions, at the same time, at any given second. This tendency comes and goes with my general mental state, and it’s the leading reason I “consider all sides” when making a decision.
This trend is especially present when I’m addressing my geek needs. I’ve mentioned before that I have a habit of bouncing between applications and operating systems. Luckily, I’ve figured out ways to get this under control a bit in 2024 and I’m pleased with the progress I’ve made in this part of my life.
In 2025 I’m going to focus on taking this to the next level, at least a little bit. As I get older and technology becomes more complicated, usually for the sake of generating more revenue for the parties involved, I find that the amount of ‘friction’ introduced by an application or tech gadget is one of my strongest factors in considering its prevalence in my life.
I’ve been editing my latest video, scheduled to come out sometime this week, and I decided to bring my GoPro MAX along on my most recent hiking adventure. The GoPro MAX is a 360º camera, and while it doesn’t capture footage in 4K, it does capture footage in great 3K, and it’s fun to have 360 shots spinning around and the like once in a while.
The thing is, the GoPro MAX relies on GoPro’s proprietary video editing software to, at the very least, export the video to something any other video editing package can use. The GoPro Player is not a great piece of software. I don’t find it particularly intuitive and I usually end up feeling frustrated after processing a couple of video clips.
This is why I don’t feature a lot of 360º video in my YouTube episodes. There’s just too much friction between capturing the clips and getting them to the episode.
Don’t tell my husband, but I might need to look for another 360º camera that has a bit more compatibility with existing video editing suites.
Another area of friction that I’m always concentrating on is my note taking habits. For the past six months or so I’ve been using an application called NotePlan. Designed for the Apple ecosystem, the application does include a web version that is nearly on-par with the native application experience. This allows me to use NotePlan on my Linux computers as well, which is a must for me. In addition, NotePlan uses standard text files on the back end; I can edit these files directly from the command line, which is nifty. However, NotePlan is a bit expensive and has the dreaded subscription model for access. I really, really, really don’t like subscription based software. But this is where we are in the Informational Dark Ages, and greed will continue to rule during these times. To borrow an increasingly popular term, subscription based software is just part of the ‘enshittification’ of computing. However, I’ve tried other note management systems similar to NotePlan, and they introduce too much friction to actually capturing and managing my data effectively. When I can’t write things down quickly, even through digital means, there’s a fair chance that thought will leap out of my brain as another one moves into its place, and I’ll miss a good idea. So, for me, NotePlan is worth the subscription price and hassle.
It’s all part of the balancing the good and the bad.
And now I have the theme from “The Facts of Life” (season 2) jumping through my head.
