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Showing posts with the label productivity

First Look at Omarchy Linux

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AI-First Operating System I've spent the past month with Omarchy , and the short version is this: it is a fresh, lightweight Linux distro built for an AI-native workflow. Created by David Heinemeier Hansson (DHH) , Omarchy is unapologetically opinionated. Instead of a blank canvas, it offers a curated 'omakase' experience designed for the age of AI. The premise is simple: if you can use AI to generate an app quickly, you should be able to shape your entire operating system around the same workflow. I recently revived a 12-year-old ThinkPad X1 Carbon with Omarchy, and the difference was palpable. The machine felt notably snappier, more coherent, and more useful. All the hardware was fully recognised, including the fingerprint scanner. That is not a scientific benchmark, but it is exactly the sort of result that matters to a real user. Installation as a Speed Run One of the most striking things about Omarchy is how fast it gets you from power-on to a usable desktop. Th...

How I Use Notebook LM for Research Deep Dives and Study Guides

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What is it? Notebook LM is a research and study companion that helps you work with your own source material. I have been using Notebook LM for nearly a year to help prepare blog posts and do deep dives into topics that interest me. My usual workflow is simple: I collect trusted sources as documents, PDFs or web links, upload them into a notebook, then use chat to interrogate the content. From there, I use studio features to generate podcasts, video overviews, infographics, and custom reports. In practical terms, Notebook LM feels like a custom ad hoc retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) tool. You upload your documents, then query it in context rather than relying on a general model response. Custom Personas The default experience keeps improving, with better templates, export options, and integration with tools such as Gemini and Google Drive. Those defaults are a good starting point, but I get better outcomes when I add custom personas. Custom personas let me control scope,...