Category
AI & Tools
69 posts in this category.
VHS Hands-On: Turn Terminal Recordings into Replayable Code
Charmbracelet VHS uses .tape scripts to control terminal input, pauses, themes, dimensions, and output formats. I used a 662-byte Tape to generate a 16.92-second bilingual demo and extracted a PNG screenshot from the MP4.
Four Months with Zen Browser: Chrome Is Now Just for Netflix
I’ve used Zen Browser as my main browser for four months. This article covers its auto-hiding sidebar, Workspaces, Glance, Split View, Firefox extensions, and the Zen Mods I use, along with why I still need another browser for Netflix.
AnyDoc Hands-On: Convert Word to Markdown in Under 1 Second, Ready for Agents to Use
I used AnyDoc to convert documents to Markdown at high speed. This article covers the complete CLI and Agent Skill workflows, the document structure it preserves, and how it differs from Marker and MinerU.
witr Hands-On: Find What Is Using a Port—and Why It Is Running—with One Command
I started a Node service on my Mac that occupied port 5173, then used witr to trace the process, its launch source, and its socket. I also cover the TUI, useful commands, and the private information to check before sharing screenshots.
Syncthing Hands-On: Syncing Folders Between Mac and Windows Without Cloud Storage
I connected a Mac and a Windows PC with Syncthing, tested two-way file sync through a shared folder, and documented an encryption-setting mistake plus a sync conflict.
LosslessCut Tested: A 5-Minute, 600 MB Video Cut Almost Instantly
LosslessCut copies media streams through FFmpeg without re-encoding. I tested it with a roughly 5-minute, 600 MB video and documented the free download, I/O shortcuts, and keyframe limitation.
LuLu Field Test: A Look Before a Mac App's First Outbound Connection
LuLu is a free, open-source macOS outbound firewall. When a program with no rule establishes an outbound connection, it shows the program, destination, and signing info. This article covers which default settings are worth keeping after install and how to judge the alerts.
Snapzy Hands-On: A More Complete Free Alternative to macOS Screenshots
Snapzy is a free, open-source native macOS screenshot app with inline annotation, scrolling capture, OCR, screen recording, and built-in editors. I tested its capture-and-annotate workflow and explain how to avoid shortcut conflicts.
img2threejs Tested: Can Codex Turn One Image into a Three.js 3D Model?
I tested img2threejs with GPT-5.6 SOL at medium reasoning. Complex subjects such as an F1 car failed quickly, while a simple NES controller produced clickable buttons, multiple views, and an exploded view. This article covers the results, practical limits, and Codex installation.
Pake Hands-on: Turn Threads into a Roughly 10MB Mac App with One Command
Pake is an open-source Rust and Tauri tool that packages websites as desktop apps for macOS, Windows, and Linux. I used it to turn Threads into a standalone app, from a terminal command to an app inside Applications.
MOLE Hands-on: Let an AI Agent Analyze First, Then Clear 15GB from Your Mac
MOLE is an open-source macOS maintenance tool for the terminal. I used mo analyze, mo status, and mo clean --dry-run to inspect disk usage and caches, then cleared 15.29GB. It also gives AI agents a safe way to analyze first, with a human approving cleanup.
Twinkle Tray: Adjust Multi-Monitor Brightness from the Windows Taskbar
Twinkle Tray is a free Windows utility that lets you adjust the brightness of multiple external monitors directly from the system tray, with support for keyboard shortcuts, scheduling, and DDC/CI monitor control.
Marker Hands-on: Is It Easier Than MinerU for PDF-to-Markdown?
I tested Marker’s fast mode on an Apple Silicon Mac. It is already useful for ordinary text-based PDFs, but equations and tables can still fail. I also explain where it fits next to MinerU.
Zed Hands-on: A Smooth AI Code Editor I Have Been Trying Lately
I recently moved a project into Zed and found it surprisingly pleasant to use. It feels responsive, and it can bring ChatGPT, Codex, and MCP into the same workspace without asking me to abandon VS Code.
WhatCable Hands-on: See What Your Mac USB-C Cables Can Actually Do
WhatCable is a macOS menu-bar app that reads the negotiated state of USB-C cables, ports, and connected devices. In my test it surfaced USB4/Thunderbolt at 40 Gbps, 240W capability, an e-marker, and 4K 144Hz display details.
DBX: A Lightweight Database Tool for 70+ Engines, Including Supabase
DBX is an open-source database client with an approximately 20 MB desktop installer. I connected it to Supabase and explored its multi-database workflow, editor themes, AI assistant, and MCP integration.
OpenLogi Hands-on: A Local, Open-Source Logitech Options+ Alternative With a macOS HID Fix
OpenLogi is a local, open-source tool for selected Logitech HID++ peripherals, with button, DPI, and SmartShift controls. This guide covers Homebrew, macOS permissions, and one HID transport error; Windows worked directly after installation in my test.
Mos Review: Make an External Mouse Wheel Feel Smooth on macOS
Mos is a free macOS mouse utility that turns the step-by-step feel of an external mouse wheel into smooth motion. It also supports independent scroll direction and per-app scrolling profiles.
Lively Wallpaper Review: Free Open-Source Windows Live Wallpapers with Audio Sync and Auto-Pause
My hands-on look at Lively Wallpaper, a free and open-source Windows live-wallpaper app. It accepts videos, GIFs, web pages, and URLs, supports audio visualizers, and can pause wallpapers automatically for full-screen apps.
TRex Review: Copy Screen Text on macOS with OCR, QR Codes, Raycast, and Automation
My hands-on review of TRex, an open-source macOS OCR tool that puts selected screen text straight into the clipboard. It also reads QR codes, supports Raycast, global shortcuts, CLI, Shortcuts, and Watch Mode.
TranslucentTB Hands-on: A Few MB of RAM for a Better-looking Windows Taskbar
TranslucentTB is a free, open-source Windows taskbar utility that uses only a few MB of memory and almost no CPU. It switches between transparent, blurred, acrylic, and normal taskbar styles. I keep the normal style for maximized windows and blur for everything else, which balances readability with a cleaner desktop.
HeyClicky Hands-on: A Screen-Aware AI That Goes Beyond Dictation
HeyClicky is an AI assistant that lives beside your macOS cursor. It combines screen context with voice commands; here are my quick test results, free-tier limit, and multi-monitor issue.
Stats Review: Put Your Mac's CPU, Memory, and Network Status in the Menu Bar
Stats is a free, open-source macOS menu bar system monitor. I tested its installation, default menu bar layout, and CPU and memory panels for keeping an eye on CPU, RAM, network, and SSD activity.
Winhance Hands-on: Install Once, Then Manage and Remove Built-in Windows Apps
A hands-on look at Winhance's one-line PowerShell install, Traditional Chinese interface, and batch removal flow for built-in Windows apps. It brings debloating, system tweaks, and external app installs into one GUI.
File Converter Hands-on: Convert PNG/JPG to WebP from the Windows Right-click Menu
File Converter is an open-source file conversion tool integrated into the Windows Explorer context menu. I tested converting PNG and JPG images to WebP: no main app to open, just right-click the files. It also supports video, audio, and more image formats.
FineTune: Per-App Volume Control macOS Should Have Had
FineTune is a free and open-source macOS menu bar audio utility. It lets you adjust volume per app, route different apps to different output devices, and switch audio devices from one place.
Latest: A Small macOS Utility for Checking App Updates at a Glance
Latest is a free, open-source macOS app update checker. It lets you see which apps have new versions in one place, and supports apps from the Mac App Store as well as apps that use the Sparkle update framework. The feature set is simple, but it is useful if you want to regularly keep your Mac software versions organized.
MarkText: The Most Comfortable WYSIWYG Markdown Editor I’ve Used So Far
MarkText is an open-source Markdown editor, and its biggest feature is WYSIWYG editing: instead of switching back and forth between source code and a preview pane, you write and see the result directly in the same view. This article records how to download it on macOS and Windows, which file to choose for Apple Silicon, and how to fix the macOS “damaged and can’t be opened” warning with xattr.
QuickLook Hands-On: Bringing macOS Spacebar Preview to Windows, Smoother Than PowerToys Peek
I tested QuickLook, a Windows file preview tool that lets you preview PDFs, Markdown, images, videos, 3D models, and many document formats with the spacebar. It feels like macOS Quick Look, but supports a wider range of formats on Windows and feels smoother than PowerToys Peek in my use.
Umi-OCR Hands-on: A Free, Open-source, Offline OCR Tool for Screenshots, Batch Images, and PDFs
I tested Umi-OCR, a free and open-source offline OCR tool that supports screenshot OCR, batch image recognition, PDF document OCR, QR code scanning, and command-line/API calls. It does not require uploading files, and on Windows you can choose the Paddle or Rapid engine version based on your computer's performance.
PicSharp Hands-On: A Cross-Platform Open-Source Image Compression Tool for Batch Compressing by Drag and Drop
I tested PicSharp, a cross-platform image compression tool that supports macOS, Windows, and Linux. You can drag images or folders into it for batch compression, and switch between local compression and TinyPNG. It works well for organizing website images and article assets.
Meetily Hands-On: A Local AI Tool for Meeting Transcription, Transcripts, and Traditional Chinese Summaries
Meetily is an open-source, privacy-first AI meeting assistant that can record, transcribe, and generate summaries locally. I tested v0.4.0 and organized the installation flow, Chinese transcription model setup, Traditional Chinese summaries, and the situations where it makes sense to use.
BuhoCleaner Tested: The Mac Cleaning and App Uninstaller I’ve Used for Over a Year
I tested BuhoCleaner, a Mac cleaning tool, and share my experience after using it for over a year, including free version limits, paid pricing, menu bar monitoring, junk file cleanup, complete app removal, and everyday use cases.
Fan Control Hands-On: Detailed Fan Curves and Hardware Temperature Control on Windows
I tested Fan Control, a Windows fan control tool, from downloading the installer from GitHub Releases, installing it, switching to Traditional Chinese, auto-calibrating fans, creating curves, to adjusting monitoring cards and fan strategies in actual use.
Upscayl Hands-On: A Free, Open-Source Local AI Image Upscaler
I tested Upscayl, a free and open-source AI image upscaling tool, from installing it through GitHub Releases and Homebrew, choosing the language on first launch, selecting a model, and using the Digital Art model to upscale a He-Man image by 4x.
AppPorts Hands-on: Move Large Mac Apps to an External Drive and Still Launch Them Like Before
I tested AppPorts on macOS for moving applications to an external SSD, including downloading from GitHub Releases, removing Gatekeeper quarantine, switching languages, locked and unlocked migration, and what it feels like after the move.
Macs Fan Control Tested: The Free Fan Control Tool That Has Stayed on My Mac for Over a Year
I have used Macs Fan Control on macOS for over a year. This article records how to download it, the key points to read in the GitHub README first, temperature sensor settings, fan curve logic, and the usage boundaries I personally pay attention to.
Markdown Preview: A Lighter Way to Preview .md Files on macOS
Markdown Preview is a small macOS utility for opening and previewing .md files. It can become your default Markdown app, and supports Quick Look, search, font-size controls, appearance settings, plus Preview / Edit / Split modes.
Codebase Memory MCP Hands-On: Turning Your Repository into a Queryable Knowledge Graph for AI Agents
Codebase Memory MCP is a local code intelligence engine that turns a repository into a knowledge graph for AI coding agents. This hands-on guide covers installation, indexing, the 3D Graph UI, and practical CLI queries.
RustDesk Open-Source Remote Desktop Test: Controlling macOS from Windows
RustDesk is an open-source remote desktop tool that can control computers across platforms and also supports self-hosted servers. This article records my hands-on flow: downloading from GitHub, logging in, enabling permissions, setting a fixed password, and accepting the first connection.
HandBrake Hands-on: This Long-running Open-source Video Compression Tool Is Still Very Steady
HandBrake is a long-running open-source video transcoding and compression tool. I did a quick test this time with a 4K video: the original 106.1 MB file was compressed to 16.6 MB, and the image quality held up better than I expected. This post records my basic workflow and notes on choosing presets.
SmartSub 妙幕 Hands-on: The Least Fussy Local Video Subtitle Translation Tool I’ve Used So Far
SmartSub 妙幕 is a local-first desktop subtitle tool that can transcribe videos, translate subtitles, create bilingual subtitles, and burn subtitles into video. This article records my tests with DeepSeek translation, faster-whisper, CUDA acceleration, and how it differs from VideoLingo.
Kando Hands-On: My Favorite Cross-Platform Open Source Pie Menu Lately
Kando is a free, open source Pie Menu tool for macOS/Windows/Linux. You can bring up a radial menu with Ctrl + Space, then use mouse gestures to quickly open apps, websites, files, hotkeys, and macros. This post shares my actual experience using it and how I set it up.
Testing Horizon: Letting Codex Automatically Organize Daily AI News
I wired Horizon into my blog news workflow so it handles collecting sources, then hands them to Codex to write a daily AI news summary. This article records the installation method, basic usage flow, and what I thought after actually testing it.
Maccy Hands-On: A Lightweight, Keyboard-First Open-Source Clipboard Manager for macOS
When I organize information or develop on macOS, the issue I run into most often is window switching caused by frequent copy and paste. This article tests the open-source Maccy clipboard tool and shares my actual experience with shortcut activation, fast search, security filtering, and more.
Stirling PDF Hands-On: An Offline Open-Source PDF Tool That Handles 50+ Tasks Without Uploading to the Cloud
I recently tested Stirling PDF, an open-source PDF editing platform that runs entirely locally. It supports merging, compression, signing, and over 50 other operations — no need to worry about sensitive documents being uploaded to third-party cloud servers.
Microsoft PowerToys Hands-On: 4 Windows Productivity Tools I Would Not Want to Give Up
The Windows workflow issues I run into most often are the lack of macOS-like preview and quick launcher features. This article tests four useful tools in Microsoft's official PowerToys: spacebar preview with Peek, quick screenshot OCR copy, always-on-top windows, and a quick search launcher, with notes from my actual usage.
Codex Record & Replay Hands-On: Demo It Once, Teach AI Your Local Workflow
OpenAI Codex recently added Record & Replay. I tested how, in a local environment, you can demo a workflow once and have Codex record and automatically run script-based workflows like video compression.
Recordly Hands-On: Open-Source Screen Recording and Auto Zoom-In Editor (macOS/Windows/Linux)
I recently tested the open-source Recordly. It combines recording and post-production, automatically generates zoom suggestions based on mouse activity, and includes polish features like cursor smoothing, shadows, and borders, which saves a lot of time when making software demo videos.
CodexBar Hands-On: Monitor Quotas for 53 AI Coding Services from the macOS Menu Bar
CodexBar is an open-source macOS menu bar tool that tracks usage windows, credit balances, and reset countdowns for AI coding services such as Codex, Claude, Cursor, and Copilot in real time. This article walks through the installation flow, permissions, and provider setup based on hands-on testing.
optimizerDuck Hands-on: An Open-source Windows Performance and Privacy Optimization Tool That Blocks Unneeded Background Telemetry
optimizerDuck is an open-source Windows system optimization tool built with .NET 10 and WPF. This article tests its performance tuning, privacy telemetry blocking, GPU power optimization, and other features, and also provides steps for resolving Windows SmartScreen blocking warnings plus a Traditional Chinese language setup guide.
Hands-on with Handy Offline Voice Input: Paired with Breeze ASR 25, a Chinese-English Mixed Input Setup Built for Taiwanese Users
Handy is a free, open-source desktop voice input tool that runs fully offline. In this article, I test installation and configuration on macOS/Windows/Linux, paired with the Breeze ASR 25 model optimized for everyday Chinese-English mixed speech in Taiwan, to build a privacy-focused voice input experience.
Gemini 3.5 Live Translate Hands-On: New Two-Way Real-Time Voice Translation and Live API Developer Guide
Google has released the new Gemini 3.5 Live Translate model, supporting low-latency two-way real-time voice translation across more than 70 languages. This article walks through a hands-on test of the Google AI Studio web experience, explains how it works, and provides Live API development examples and WebSocket connection setup.
LLM Wiki Hands-on: Building a Personal Offline Knowledge Base That Large Models Can Organize and Update Automatically
Do your notes always feel tedious to organize? LLM Wiki is a personal knowledge base tool built around ideas from Andrej Karpathy. It can automatically read documents, run a two-stage chain-of-thought analysis, generate interconnected Wiki pages, and work well with Obsidian and local AI models.
Text-To-Lottie Tested: Using an AI Agent to Generate and Preview Lottie Animations Locally
This article shows how to use Skia CanvasKit (Skottie) with a React and shadcn/ui control interface, letting a local AI agent write lottie.json directly and preview the animation through hot reload in the dev server.
Nous Hermes Desktop Native Installation and Setup Guide: Hands-On Test of a Cross-Platform AI Assistant and Unified Memory
Nous Research’s Hermes agent has moved from the terminal to a GUI. This article walks through a hands-on test of the native desktop app across three platforms, covering one-click migration for existing users, API provider setup, and connecting Telegram and Line to build a personal AI assistant.
CC Switch Extended Use: Testing Phone Remote Control for Your Computer and Codex Enhanced Mode
How can you use the exclusive features in CC Switch v3.16.1+ to keep Codex's official mobile login state and remote-control capability, while routing the actual model requests to third-party APIs such as DeepSeek? This hands-on guide walks you through an AI Agent setup where your phone controls your computer.
CC Switch Hands-On: A Local Routing Tool for Switching AI CLI Models with Your Own API Key in One Click
When using Claude Code or Codex in the terminal, how can you freely switch models, bring your own API key, or use DeepSeek? This hands-on article tests the CC Switch routing tool and walks through how to proxy AI CLIs while managing costs and MCP.
Removerized: An Offline Browser-Based AI Background Removal and Image Enhancement Tool
Removerized lets you handle background removal, upscaling, and batch processing directly in the browser, without uploading data to the cloud, balancing speed and privacy.
Open Design Hands-On: Quickly Building a Portfolio Homepage with a Local CLI
This time I handed most of my portfolio homepage UI over to Open Design. From choosing a local Coding Agent, picking a design system, and entering the brief, to generating the mockup and handing it off to VS Code, the whole flow was smoother than I expected.
Installing and Testing Modly, a Local AI Image-to-3D Mesh Generation Tool
Want to quickly turn 2D images into high-detail 3D models without paying or uploading private work to the cloud? Modly lets you run AI 3D generation directly on your local GPU.
Hands-on with OmniVoice Studio, a Local AI Video Dubbing Tool, plus a macOS Installation Pitfall Guide
I recently tested OmniVoice Studio, an open-source alternative to ElevenLabs + HeyGen. It supports 646 languages, runs automatic local video dubbing, and even works on a Mac mini. This article covers my hands-on notes, how to bypass macOS quarantine, and a voice comparison between Traditional Chinese and Simplified Chinese input.
Hermes Agent x HyperFrames Hands-On: A Guide to Automatically Generating an AI Assistant Self-Intro Video
I asked Hermes to make its own self-introduction video. From copywriting and HTML animation to rendering an MP4, the whole process was automated. What is HyperFrames? Why is it a better fit for AI Agents than Remotion?
DeepSeek V4 Pro x Hermes Agent: Self-Written Intro Review and Deployment Guide
I asked Hermes to write this itself. 1M context, $0.87 per million tokens, cross-platform deployment, autonomous screenshots, writing, and git push. This article was handled by AI from research to publishing.
World Monitor: Local Deployment of a Global Real-Time Intelligence Monitoring System with AI Analysis Integration
An in-depth look at World Monitor — from quick local deployment to integrating AI analysis. Learn how to build a real-time monitoring platform covering geopolitics, military, finance, and infrastructure.
Pi Coding Agent: Installing and Using a Lightweight Terminal AI Assistant
If you feel like most AI development tools are too heavy, or they force you to change your habits, Pi is worth trying because you stay in control.
Warp Terminal: Installing the Next-Gen IDE-Grade Smart Terminal and Optimizing Dev Workflow
From visual autocomplete and mouse editing to Blocks output, Warp is overhauling the old clunky terminal experience that everyone just put up with.
Installing Voicebox: A Local AI Voice Studio Guide
A developer-oriented guide to Voicebox — from macOS/Windows installation to voice cloning, and how to make your AI agent speak via MCP.
NVIDIA NIM Free DeepSeek-V4-Pro API Application and Multi-Framework Integration Guide
No credit card required, no trial period! This guide shows you how to connect to the newly released DeepSeek-V4-Pro and Flash models through NVIDIA NIM with minimal friction.