PTPL 036: Omnivore or Reader-Free vs Paid Read-It-Later Apps
Plus, Logseq and Obsidian's spatial canvases compared, and another PKM newsletter I think you'll like
This week —
It’s okay to take a (short) break from doing your dishes — and clearing your inbox
TFT Hacker’s thoughts on Logseq and Obsidian’s spatial canvas offerings
Omnivore vs. Reader: is paid really that much better than free?
Why my brain dumps feel so much better on paper than they ever did in my (digital) daily notes
Curtis McHale’s PKM Weekly newsletter: this dude gets an A for attitude
Productivity Tips and Inspiration
It’s okay to leave the dishes
You don’t have to do the dishes every day, and you don’t have to reach inbox zero or process your other information-gathering spots every day.
When you know what the non-negotiables are, the very short list of things you must get done in order to keep functioning, you can rest content even when there are dirty dishes in your inbox sink.
Read what Mike Curtis has to say about recognizing the signs that are clearly telling you it’s okay to take a break.
Spatial canvases: is Logseq’s better than Obsidian’s?
TfTHacker discusses how spatial canvases can “quickly unleash the creative side of our minds” in this article.
He points out that the Obsidian implementation is a little behind Logseq, because the former is creating everything from scratch. Logseq have chosen a hybrid approach, integrating the third party tldraw instead of coming up with their own drawing tools.
I’m still playing around with how Excalidraw can immediately fill that gap, and I’ll be watching what Obsidian develop in the way of drawing tools.
While I don’t know anything about the technical side, Obsidian’s approach is looking a little like Apple’s: until they can build it themselves, a reduced feature set is all you’ll see. That’s nothing if not consistent, from a company built on letting you own your own notes.
Adventures in Plain Text (and a little paper)
Omnivore vs. Reader
This week I’ve been exploring Omnivore, a free (for now), open source read-it-later service. I’d previously been using Matter, but jumped ship (sorry guys) when they announced they were shifting their service to paid.
Am I a stingy so-and-so who wants everything for free? No! And and little bit yes.
I’m happy to pay for services that provide value their free competitors do not. Matter weren’t offering me anything Omnivore isn’t providing for free, so it made sense to swap.
Next step: learn how to jump on board Omnivore’s Obsidian integration!
The Big Question: Will I regret not upping my Readwise subscription to include the soon to be paid Reader feature? Sometime later this year Reader is set to be an additional cost for subscribers not already on their top tier. The FOMO is real…
Reader, should I choose to jump on board, would naturally supersede Omnivore, but at a significant hit to the wallet. It seems I have only a short time left to explore it seriously, and decide whether the value it provides (and will provide) will be worth it.
Paper and freeeedom
The thing I love the most about writing my brain dumps on paper these days, is the feeling of absolute freedom to write whatever I want, as messy or neatly as I feel like writing at the time.
As I said a few days ago in my article comparing Rocketbook with the Paper Saver notebook, thoughts seem to flow like water when it doesn’t matter what, how, or how much I write. And best of all, there’s no need to store piles upon piles of completed notebooks!
Too Many Notebooks (Or Anything Else)? Don’t Kill Your Stuff; Transform It
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I like Curtis McHale’s approach to using paper as part of his plain text, Obsidian universe. This dude has gimmick-free Attitude with a capital A. I like it.
With rare exceptions, I’ve always enjoyed writing because I continue to change what I write about to focus on what I find interesting.
So that’s my niche, what I find interesting. Join me…or don’t. I’ll still be here writing about stuff in another 15 years.
I feel ya, Curtis! That’s my story, too. I hope.
A new tool doesn’t fix the problem when the problem is you.
Ouch! — But it’s the kind of ouch all serial app-switchers need to feel, right?
…Very few will realise that they are the problem and make some changes then pick a tool and get back to doing their work instead of just looking for new note tools all the time.
I recommend signing up to Curtis’ PKM Weekly newsletter. It’s a quick waffle-free read, full of valuable links and ideas.