Tag
#Productivity
57 posts and news items use this tag.
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.
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.
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.
Deskreen Same-Network Temporary Screen Sharing Hands-On: View Your Screen from a Phone or Another Computer
Deskreen lets you share your computer screen with a phone, tablet, or another computer on the same local network. This article records the actual workflow, suitable use cases, and notes about private IP addresses and privacy.
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.
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.
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.
AeroSpace Hands-On: Bringing Tiling Window Management to macOS
A look at AeroSpace, a tiling window manager, and how I use keyboard shortcuts to deal with messy macOS windows.
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.
LocalSend Cross-Platform Open-Source LAN File Transfer Tool: No-Setup Usage Guide
Transfer files quickly and securely over HTTPS on a local network between macOS, Windows, Linux, iOS, and Android, with no internet connection or account registration required.
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.
Pot (派了個萌的翻譯器) Hands-On: A Solid Cross-Platform Selection Translation and OCR Tool
Looking for a smooth translation tool that does not interrupt your workflow? Pot supports side-by-side comparison across multiple translations, accurate screenshot OCR, and a wide range of translation and LLM integrations, making it a practical efficiency tool for macOS, Windows, and Linux users.
RTK Terminal Token Reducer Installation and Hands-on Test: Cut Claude Code Costs by Over 70%
RTK (Rust Token Killer) is a high-performance Rust-based CLI proxy tool that automatically filters and compresses terminal output, saving 60-90% of token usage for AI-assisted development.
AltSendme Cross-Platform P2P File Transfer Tool: Serverless Setup Guide
No cloud, no signup. Transfer directly between Windows and macOS.
Antigravity Manager Setup Guide: Real-Time Monitoring for Multiple Accounts and Token Quotas
If you only care about two things: seeing quotas clearly and switching accounts quickly, Antigravity Manager is actually worth installing.
SuperCmd Open-Source Mac Quick Launcher: Install & Custom Command Setup Guide
Raycast extensions, voice dictation, and an AI assistant rolled into one open-source tool — could this be your new daily driver?
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.