Our Daily Drivers: Hardware and Software Edition

In this episode, Colin and CJ discuss their audio and video setups, ideal microphones, cameras, and software for content creation. They dive into the specifics of the equipment they use and recommend budget-friendly options for those just getting started. Additionally, they touch upon some useful applications and tools that streamline their workflows, and discuss their experience with various developer-related projects.

Our Daily Drivers
1. Shure SM7B
2. Shure SM58
3. Cloudlifter
4. Triton Fethead
5. Scarlett Solo
6. Eleven Labs
7. YouTube Studio
8. Google Experimental Music Effects
9. Descript
10. Apple Studio Display
11. Sony A6100
12. Elgato Camlink
13. Elgato Key Lights
14. Elgato Streamdeck
15. OBS
16. Audio-Technica ATR2500
17. Shure MV7
18. Handmirror app
19. Cleanshot
20. Skitch
21. Warp
22. Neovim
23. iTerm2
24. OhMyZsh
25. Alacritty
26. VS Code
27. ngrok
28. zoxide
29. eza
30. fzf
31. Raycast
32. Fantastical
33. Textmate
34. CJ's /uses page

Find more audio gear at Podcast Method

Creators & Guests

Host

CJ Avilla

Developer Advocate @StripeDev. Veteran. 📽 https://t.co/2UI0oEAnFK. Building with Ruby, Rails, JavaScript

Host

Colin Loretz

I like to build software and communities. Building software at @orbitmodel 🪐 Coworking at @renocollective 🎙Sharing software learnings on @buildandlearn_

What is Build and Learn?

A podcast about software development and developing ourselves as software engineers. Hosted by CJ Avilla and Colin Loretz.

CJ: What's up, Colin?

How's it going?

Colin: good.

Pretty good.

You got your microphone facing
the right way this time.

CJ: Oh my gosh, I was looking
at the mic last time because we

were going to talk about tools.

And I didn't notice in the past that
there was that directional, there's like

a little directional icon helper thing.

And yeah, I've been talking into
this mic backwards for five years.

So hopefully this sounds a little
better, a little less echoey.

Yeah, it also helped to like
read the manual and see like

how they sort of expect you to,
you know, talk into this thing.

So hopefully it sounds a little better.

We'll

Colin: what mic are you using?

CJ: This is the Shure SM7B.

So it, I think it's the same one
that's pretty popular among podcasters.

And when I got it 2020 ish, I guess it
was one of the, Best ones you can get.

The thing that I don't like about
this is that it requires so much gear.

So on my desk, in order to use this mic,
I have a cloud lifter and a focus, right?

Which are two other devices that are
required to get it, to plug in via USB and

have all the right power and everything.

You know more about the cloud
lifter than I do for sure.

And like this whole setup, I just
know that this is like, what's

required to get it going and yeah.

So, I don't know.

Maybe let's start with yours too.

Like, what are you rocking over

Colin: Yeah.

So I have a kind of industry standard.

This is like the microphone that you'd
see on any stage at, you know, open mic.

It's the sure.

S SM 58 or just maybe S S 58.

Yeah.

SM 58.

It's, you know, indestructible
for the most part.

I don't believe it needs
phantom power like yours does.

So yeah, yours requires, phantom
power and it's so gain hungry that

you have to have the cloud lifter.

I think mine doesn't require it, but I
have and I think this is the first time

I think you could be able to see it.

This thing in the center is my cloud
lifter, but it's called a Triton fat head.

It was just cheaper than the
cloud lifter and I didn't want

something else on my desk.

So it does make my mic
really, really loud.

Phone like comically long.

Cause then I've got the XLR
cable players into that.

But that gives me more gain.

Just like your cloud lifter gives you
more gain so that we don't have to

like try to boost our audio and posts.

Sometimes I.

I have people working
in offices next to me.

So I sometimes like in subconsciously
tone down my, my speaking too.

It's something I'm trying to work on.

And just like not care, just be louder.

But so yeah, I've got the sure.

I've also got the focus, right?

Scarlet solo on my desk.

I kind of wish I didn't have
to have that on my desk.

That might be something I changed.

I'm going to be moving.

my office, which is always fun to
like figure out what, what's going

to be the refactor of the gear.

What's going to, you know, what's
going to work for me there.

And then, yeah, I think like
a quick rundown, what other

things do you have audio wise

CJ: I would say other like audio,
like stuff, I guess I'm using

oftentimes in videos or shorts or
kind of like any other content.

The, the audio stuff that comes
to mind is 11 labs for generating

voice And then I also use like the
YouTube studio, creative music.

That's all like creative commons
and available for anyone to use.

I find that's like plenty.

It's not, it's not tons and
tons of tracks, but it's

plenty to what I need done.

And then recently I've been playing
around with Google's sort of

experimental music effects thing.

So we'll drop a link in the show
notes, but there's like a pretty cool

generative tool where you can type in,
like, I want it to sound like lo fi.

I want some lo fi beats with some
piano and whatever on top of it.

And you can kind of like generate tracks.

So there's a, yeah, there's a
few different companies like

that, that, that generate tracks.

But a lot of the times I'm cleaning
up the audio with Descript.

So Descript is the, the software that I
use now for everything audio and video.

So whether I'm editing a screencast
or I'm editing a podcast,

I'm using Descript for both.

And it's just gotten so good that
I haven't needed to drop into

anything else like ScreenFlow
or any sort of Adobe tools.

So.

Colin: Got us both.

We're both paying for it.

CJ: yeah.

What about you?

What else have you got got on your desk

Colin: I guess video wise I do, I
do, I have an Apple cinema display

in front of me or I guess the
studio display which has a camera

in it, but my old monitor did not.

And I already have it set up.

So I'm running a Sony, a
6, 100 with a cam link.

And this is one of those things where
like, I don't know if the focus, right.

Is the thing that's stealing
all the power from my monitor.

But the cam link with.

Like the one cord into the
laptop and the focus, right.

And the cam link, all these things,
like I have to plug my mouse into

my computer or it will not work.

And I don't know

CJ: Mm.

Colin: why.

So that's where like I would love, like
Sony now has a new camera where you just

plug USB straight into the computer.

You don't have to have a cam
link, which is an extra expense.

So I don't want to buy a whole
new camera just for that.

But if this, for whatever reason ever
takes a dive, I think that's on the list.

Or maybe just the studio display
camera might just be fine too.

So that's video.

And then I have two Elgato key
lights on either side of me.

And I use their like little
app to set it to like a white.

I guess we can even dial in, what is this?

About 4, 800 Kelvin light.

And then like when I'm coding,
I dim them down to like 2, 900.

Just cause I can't deal with the blue
light all the time, but it makes us look

CJ: Nice.

Yeah, the, it's surprising, I think when
you first get into making content for

YouTube or whatever, how much goes into
lighting and audio and you don't need it.

You can get started
without any of this stuff.

Like you could just use your
iPhone to shoot any of it.

But then like, yeah, like going down
the rabbit holes that that exist

around making your content higher
quality is pretty interesting.

Colin: Oh, and I mean, the iPhone
is probably one of the best

cameras you could use for it now.

Like a lot of people are using
that as there's like an actual

mode in the iPhone now for that.

CJ: Have you ever used a, like a
teleprompter or do you use any like

software to do like pre recorded or
pre written, I guess, scripted content?

Colin: have not.

I, I'm very curious to try the Elgato one.

It's pretty cool, but I have not,
I usually do things pretty live.

So like I'm sure that it
would be better for it.

Like I know a lot of YouTubers
or course creators try to script

it and then just try to read it.

And then it's a skill to learn how to
talk to a teleprompter without just

like Looking super creepy, but yeah,

CJ: the, the reason I asked is like,
I, we have, or I, I've been using a

teleprompter for like a couple little
things where I used it for things that

Stripe for some prerecorded content.

And it was great at like looking down
the barrel and, you know, saying what

you need to say, but it also was so much
extra stuff just hanging around and on

top of the camera so that you can get.

This thing set up and
then you lose your phone.

You like lose access to your
phone or an iPad or whatever.

But for me, I was just using my phone as
like the kind of the teleprompter screen.

Does the Elgato one have a screen on it?

The, the, okay.

Yeah, that's

Colin: I've, I've wanted it to maybe
like just throw discord up onto it.

So I'm not reading from it,
but that way you can see the

people that you're talking to.

Like if you use a prompter that
way, you're actually looking at

the people you're talking to.

Or you could put chat on it so that then
you still, if you're doing streams or live

events, you still have your full monitor.

You can still do things.

And then you have chat up on the
teleprompter, which can work too.

I guess they also sell some really
narrow screens that can go like

below or next to your monitor.

And you can just pin chat to
that, which is kind of fun.

But yeah, then you get into like your desk
looks like command center with all that

CJ: Yeah, exactly.

Speaking of command center, have
you seen the the stream deck,

like the Elgato stream deck?

It's just like a bunch of
keys that you can press.

Yeah.

I think so Aaron who ran for
many years, the air table.

Streams and now he's at Webflow.

He has the sickest setup where
he has like all these OBS scenes

like built into his stream deck
that helps him flip between them.

Very cool.

I think it's a lot of work to get set

Colin: It is.

CJ: you want it, you know.

Colin: I have one and I had like a first
gen one that died and then they sent

me a new one because it just totally
went like blue screen of death on me.

Like you could see the panels turning on.

But then I got a new one
and I just haven't figured

out what I would use it for.

And on this setup, my power hungry
things are already an issue.

So like I didn't want to add yet
another thing in the mix, but it

does work nicely if you have the
prompter or the Elgato key lights,

like they all work in that same world.

There's also.

A little discord plug like a discord
extension now, so you can like mute and

unmute and discords join certain channels
and stuff like that too, which is nice.

CJ: Very cool.

Yeah, I think, I don't know.

If you were getting started today
and you had, you wanted to like

not go crazy on the budget, what
would you recommend people get into?

Colin: Yeah.

I mean, I would do honestly that if you
are already on a Mac book pro or like,

like M whatever, M one, M two, M three,
the microphone on the Mac book pro,

like if you had to is kind of amazing.

By itself.

The problem is if you're typing, you're
typing right next to the microphone.

So if you had to, I would just do that.

And then I would use your iPhone as.

the video mode, webcam mode.

If you wanted to go a little bit up
from that, I honestly, a good light

is like, just one Elgato key light.

I think they're like
60 bucks or something.

Lighting is going to make your
crappier camera better no matter what.

And then this microphone is like 50 bucks.

So I think the problem with this is XLR.

So like getting, There's
a audio technica USB mic.

That's like, if you Google it,
you'll find it as like the entry

mic that everyone recommends.

And honestly, for the dollar and gear
you know, relatively, you're not going

to see that much of a difference.

It's audio technical.

I think it's the AT 2020.

Oh, that's a camera.

CJ: What do you think about
the like blue Yeti USB

Colin: They're kind of awful.

CJ: Okay.

Colin: I think as long as you can figure
out how, like you were talking about the

top of the show, as long as you talk into
it correctly, it can be good, but there,

they are kind of pricey for what they are.

And I want to say it's the Audio
Technica AT, it's like the AT line.

So like AT100 or AT1000, something like
that, those are, you're going to, and

I'll actually will share a link to like,
there's a podcast guide that is pretty

nice for being able to, to get started.

I don't know.

What about you?

What would you start off with?

CJ: I think the first investment
I would make is audio.

I think you can get pretty good video
out of you know, your iPhone or even

like basic webcams, you know, like
the Logitech I forget it's like the

nine 20 C or something like that.

Just like the USB webcam is plenty good to
make content for YouTube and the internet.

I would, yeah, so I definitely
start there and then.

I've had, I don't know, I had like
pretty decent success with the blue Yeti

early on, but I, this was like when I,
I mean, this wasn't, this wasn't when

I knew nothing about audio because
I still know nothing about audio.

So I, yeah, I mean, it worked, it worked
fine for the like small use cases that

I had, but yeah, there was definitely
some, I remember there were some issues

because our, Team and specifically
like the video editor was like, no,

you got to upgrade that to the sure.

So blue, blue Yeti was what we
were using in the very beginning.

It's funny.

You can look back at the Stripe
developers, YouTube channel, and

like the first videos that we made in
2019 where the lighting is literally,

I just took like a desk lamp and
shot, like pointed it at myself.

And then, you know, I got
feedback, Oh, the lighting is too.

Glary on one side.

So I just got another desk lamp
and shot it at the other side.

They were like, Oh, I got to soften it.

So I just like hung tissues over the,
over the bulbs and like kind of made

my own soft boxes and it was so hacky.

But yeah, starting from those
early days with, yeah, you can,

you can get started however, right.

And then just build

Colin: Yeah, and I mean I agree like
audio, so let's just say like if you made

a video people can get through watching
a bad video, but as long as the audio is

amazing there's something about listening
to something that's grading on you or

just hard to hear that just doesn't work.

So if you, and to get practice, like
just podcasting and just doing audio,

like we record this, the video and
the audio and we dropped the video.

But doing just the audio
will get you a feel for it.

Like I used to edit And wow, I can't
remember the name of that software

audacity which is free to use for editing
and you get a sense of waveforms and

what happens when you adjust things and a
level it and all these different things.

If I was starting over today,
Not necessarily budget,

but it's not too expensive.

I would probably replace all the mics,
the XLR cables, the Scarlett with the

Shure MV7, and that is basically your
mic, but USB and you just lose all the

stuff that could go wrong or fiddling
with knobs and just taking up space.

So that's, I think you probably
would see that Mike a lot.

It runs like, I guess
there's a few of them.

There's the MV7X, like between
170 and 270 for that mic.

But the, I mean, cause the Focusrite
is over a hundred dollars by itself.

So, you know, you could easily
replace all those things for the

same price and just have one MV7.

CJ: There have on the focus, right
on the front of it, there's a button

in order to like increase the gain.

I have to push this
button that says 48 volts.

If I don't push that button, then
the computer doesn't pick up any

Colin: Yep.

CJ: And I sometimes forget to
do that when recording videos.

And it is such a painful experience
to record an hour long tutorial.

Go to edit it and realize that, Oh no,
your microphone just like turned itself

off and you didn't capture any of the
audio and you've got to start over.

So that, yeah.

Definitely been bitten
by that in the past.

And so I, I've now have like this nervous
habit of like peeking over to see like, is

my 48 volt button, you know, like lit up.

So

Colin: Well, this is, this is
an excellent segue into software

that you kind of have to have on
every machine that you, you start.

I have been looking for this.

If someone has heard of
this, please let me know.

I think it's something I'm going
to have to eventually just build.

But what I really want is
Because I have this for video.

I have a monitor that is called hand
mirror and it just, you click on

hand mirror and it just shows you in
your menu bar what the camera sees.

And so I use this before I join calls.

If I want to just see what the frame
is, I can just like click on it and it

peaks in the camera and shows me what it
sees and you can switch between cameras.

I want that for audio.

I want a level meter.

That and I was like, I've looked in
the app store, I've looked all over.

It doesn't seem like it'd be that
hard because it's not, it's just, I

don't know that people have built it.

Cause they probably don't think
they can charge money for it.

I think hand mirrors premium
now has what I'm talking about.

I just have not tried it yet.

So I'll have to play around with that.

They have a mic check feature, but what
I want is like an always on screen.

CJ: hmm.

Colin: Meter.

Because then you'll, you don't have
to be like, you'll, it'll just be flat

if you forget to push that button.

So

CJ: Yes.

Yes.

And one of the features that I love
of ScreenFlow for recording is you do

have like a monitor, they have like
a monitor feature where you can turn

on this monitor thing and it'll show
you your video and your audio levels.

And I like usually drag that off screen.

Descript does not have this.

And it was like one of the things that
when I started using Descript to actually

record the video or the screencast,
I started digging around and looking

through help articles and wondering
like, what, like, where can I find

the monitor, like the self monitor?

So does hand mirror work?

Like, well, it works at any point,
like while you're recording,

while we're on a call right now.

Nice.

Okay.

Yeah.

That might be the thing that I
start using then with Descript.

Colin: it only I don't I will have
to test the audio levels feature

because I think it's like you're
doing a mic check I don't know if

it's always on but I haven't tried it.

So we'd have to test that But yeah, I'm
actually surprised because even in here

we get like a little three meter like it.

It's not that helpful in In the web app.

Cause I don't trust, I want it at the
system level to know, like, is the

computer getting the audio versus,
you know, an app asking permission for

your microphone and all this stuff that
could go wrong between, between the two.

So that's kind of video stuff.

Hand mirror gets installed instantly.

Yeah.

Clean shot for screenshots is
something that I use extensively.

I think we've talked
about that in the past.

Taking a screenshot, marking it up, doing
gifs, doing videos, stuff like that.

CJ: Are you, do you use
clean shot also for video?

Is that what

Colin: yeah, you can clip a
part of the screen and record

it as either a video or a gif.

So I use that a lot.

Dropping in, like reproducing
a bug or something like that.

CJ: Very cool.

Yeah.

I've been using Descripts like
quick recording for like, instead of

loom, you can do a quick recording
and put it up and they host it

and share the link and everything.

And what's cool about that too, is that.

Even if it's like a, a two second
thing that I want to share, I can

still go in and like edit in Descript
before like, you know, uploading

or republishing or whatever.

And so I

Colin: you get your
transcript and all that stuff.

CJ: Yeah, exactly.

Yeah.

But I, yeah, I usually use sketch
for marking up screenshots and

this is an old school Evernote
tool that I probably installed in

2015 and just keep, keep around.

But I recently have been wanting
to do some more pro looking like

screenshot markups and sketches.

Like default arrow and boxes and, you
know, like a bubble font is pretty basic.

And so I, I don't know, like, it
seems like clean shot might be a

better option for like more yeah,
like more design friendly marking up.

I don't know.

What do

Colin: pretty powerful cause you
can set settings about like do you

want it to drop the background?

Do you want it to put it
on in a browser window?

Like there's, do you want to shadow
it like automatically so you don't

have to go in and edit it yourself.

And sometimes I use it just
to like throw screenshots into

discord, but then you can edit it.

Highlight arrows, all the
stuff you can do in sketch too.

So yeah, I think you probably
are on the last leg of sketch.

Like I am seeing like someone being
like in March of 2024, I just got a new

MacBook pro and can't find sketch too.

CJ: Oh,

Colin: So you better hold on to whatever
you use to install that with, cause

it's probably a rare commodity now.

CJ: yeah, I, I'm ready to move off of it.

Honestly, like, yeah, we'll talk about
this in a little bit, but I've been

building a tool for creating friction
logs and one like massive part of

that is I want to provide screenshots
and I want this, like when I put an

arrow in a screenshot, I want it to
look on brand for the site that I'm

using to host the screenshot thing.

And so I want it to have like
a certain flavor that I'm

just not getting from Sketch.

So.

Colin: We kind of run
into that at discord.

Like the screenshots in our docs are all
sizes, all resolutions, all different.

They do not feel cohesive.

And like sometimes even in the
same article, they're not the same.

So something I'm thinking about too.

What else are you using?

CJ: is, yeah, let's see.

So for my terminal, I've been using
warp for a while and there was a

bunch of controversy around privacy
and some other concerns around warp.

I didn't pay attention to any of it.

And I think it's still amazing.

Because it has built like
a built in LLM integration.

So when I'm at the terminal, I can hit
pound sign and then type in, like, write

me the command to delete all of my.

Local get branches that have already
been merged to main and then hit enter.

And it just goes out, finds
the right thing, comes back,

puts it in the terminal.

And then I just hit enter.

And so I don't have to
remember all of those.

So it's not as there's not as many
like customizations as I termed

to, which is what I was on before.

But it is fine.

And like the themes are fine.

And I basically live in warp.

Like that's kind of where
I spend all my time.

Yeah, like that between warp and
Chrome, I guess, or like kind of where

I spent 99 percent of my time on the

Colin: Nice.

Well, yeah.

And you're probably, are
you using NeoVim or just

CJ: Yes.

Yeah.

I, but I just use it inside of warp.

Like I'm using NeoVim, but
I'm like, yeah, it's just like

built into the terminal editor.

Colin: Yeah.

If you haven't seen.

CJ code, he doesn't need to leave
warp because everything is in NeoVim.

And yeah, it's amazing to watch.

I need to play around with them
more so I can get there too.

But we do a lot of stuff in VS code and
some people do like VS code with the

VIM bindings and things like that too.

But I usually install an
iTerm2 on this computer.

I am trying out Alacrity and I
don't know why you would need

Alacrity when I read what it is.

It is a free and open source GPU
accelerated terminal emulator.

focus on performance and simplicity.

It does not support tabs or splits though.

So I find myself opening
a bunch of windows.

I don't think I'm using it right.

Cause you can team X.

So I think it's just,
it's written in rust.

It's supposed to be super
performant and fast.

I installed it.

And then I also like added a bunch of
Zish things that has completely changed my

terminal to the point where I'm like, not.

As comfortable.

Like when I'm on my personal machine,
that's still an iterm and still has all

my old, like, Oh, my Z, Z shell stuff.

It's a lot different.

So I actually have been going
between two different environments,

but I'm trying it out.

I'll see if I can undo some of the
things that I've done, like just lots

of very cool terminal helpers and
stuff that I added that sometimes do

some magic for me, but mostly live in.

A terminal at just like with other apps.

CJ: yeah.

And the so the, when you're in Alacrity,
I've never actually heard of this

terminal, but so if you wanted to do Yeah.

Like if you have two terminals running
with different processes, you just

have two separate full windows open.

Okay.

Colin: And I think most people
are doing NeoVim with Tmux and

just doing it at one window.

CJ: I see.

I, yeah, there was a period of a few
years where I use T MUX pretty regularly.

And in the same sort of view, I
would split and on the left, I would

have like my, all my VIM splits.

And on the right, I would have
like several sort of just like

terminal, whatever shell windows
open for running different processes.

But recently I've just been like using
tabs, like just tons and tons of tabs.

So in work, we'll have like
five or six different tabs open.

One's running the web server.

One is like rails console.

One is Vim.

And another one inevitably
ends up being Vim.

And then just like whenever I need a
new terminals, like open a new tab and

it works fine and inside of them, I'll,
I'll use splits, but I don't use tabs.

Inside of them.

So it kind of like, that's my
separation is like splits in the editor

tabs in the terminal and that's it.

And yeah, it seems to work pretty
well, but yeah, jumping between

different windows might be tricky.

Colin: Usually when I do different
windows, it'll be like, I put

Ngrok in one window and then I
have my app running in another one.

So it's usually not like client
running in one back end, running

in one, or hopefully it's like.

I can do use yarn to run both
in one window or something, but

CJ: And then how would you say,
like, are you using that on top

of the terminals inside of VS
code or do you use the VS code

Colin: I do use the terminal
and VS code as well.

On this machine, we actually
work in coder instances.

So virtual environments.

So like.

We're using VS codes, remote explore
to like SSH into a full environment.

And so I will use the terminal there
because I am not on my machine, but

you could also just go from your
terminal and remote in, like if you

were running everything in warp,
you could just do that instead.

We just, all of our tooling
is built around VS code.

So most people are using that.

So yeah, there's that.

And then like in.

This alacrity test that I was doing,
this is a, this actually affects

all my Z shell stuff, but I have
zoxide, which is like a better CD.

I have as a, which is a better LS.

I have F F ZF for fuzzy finding, and then
a bunch of Zish, like auto suggestions,

syntax and highlighting stuff.

My, my terminal looks
completely different now.

And I'm like, not sure which one
of these things is changing what.

But it's.

Pretty cool to be able to like
alias CD into Zoxide and not even

be using the real CD anymore.

Can be a little bit weird when I want a
machine that doesn't have it because I get

used to, like I can just type in a folder
I've been to recently and I'm just there.

So, it's kind of nice.

CJ: Nice.

Yeah.

I was chatting with my teammate drew a
few weeks ago about his setup and he's

been like tweaking it and trying to
build it out of time and learning them.

And he's really into Raycasts right now.

Are you using like a Raycast
Alfred type situation?

Colin: have Ray cast and I use
it purely to open other apps.

Like I do not use 99 percent of it.

I'm like, you know, command space,
notion, and like, that's it.

CJ: got it.

Yeah.

Same.

I tried for a while, but I found that
Raycast was like too many clicks almost.

Right.

Like there's a lot of extensions
and anybody can build an extension.

For it.

But the way that it works is like you
open your command palette, you type the

name of the extension, you hit enter.

And that brings you like
into the extension, it kind

of like opens the extension.

And then you have to like type
again, or like arrow up and

down again to do something.

I'm like, if I'm gonna, if I need
to like arrow around, I might as

well just do this from the browser.

And most of the things that I need or
would need from it are available either

in the browser or in the terminal.

And so I'm like, okay,
I've already got the tool.

So, yeah, I don't know.

I, I wonder if there's parts of
my process that could be sped up

by using Raycast or any of those
like spotlight type situations.

But yeah, I haven't, haven't really

Colin: like, just, just be okay
with not optimizing everything.

CJ: Yeah, I

Colin: The another one that's on
this list for me is Fantastical.

It's just my default
replacement for calendaring.

Mostly because when I'm usually on
a, I even put it on my work machine

because I, have you used Fantastical?

CJ: have not

Colin: it lets you create like a grouping.

So I have like the ability to see all
of my calendars, like my personal ones,

the reflective ones, the discord ones,
or I can create like a discord Venn

diagram and a personal Venn diagram and
I can toggle between them and it like

turns on and off different calendars.

So I can see, like, I don't want
to see every calendar at all times.

I don't want to see the discord PTO
calendar at all times, stuff like that.

So just more probably creature of habit.

And the last one, which I'm really trying
to replace with what we're going to talk

about next week, which is the second
braining type thing is that I installed

text mate on every machine purely as like
a scratch pad because it's like super fast

to open as many windows as you need to.

And it does mean that I usually have
like 10 unsaved text mate windows

open at any given time, and I'm
hoping to put those in a system that

is a little bit more organized and.

Like if I lose my, my machine
restarts, I don't lose all

my notes and stuff like that.

So,

CJ: Yes.

That would give me some
heartburn for sure.

Like not having those saved.

So,

Colin: sometimes I save them all
as just like, whatever the date

is and that never go back to them.

So,

CJ: Nice.

I agree that TextMate
is wicked fast to open.

And yeah, it's like a classic, right?

Like, the, the, the shortcuts or
whatever, like the, the early TextMate

shortcuts plus nice syntax highlighting.

It had like the, the early theming.

And there were a few Ruby
devs that used it early on.

You've watched like old peep code videos
with yeah, some, some early Rubyists text

mate was the go to and yeah, I still,
I guess have some nostalgia for it.

So yeah, it's

Colin: You can still install it.

It still

CJ: yeah, yeah, yeah,

Colin: Nice.

CJ: So yeah.

What are you working on with jumpstart?

This is exciting.

Colin: I've I've had jumpstart for a while
and not really built anything with it.

And I've decided to start working on my
own thing on the side to just have it.

And instead of like figuring out when
to find time for it, I've, anytime

I wake up early and just like.

There are some days where I wake up early
and I can just pop up and it's my day.

And sometimes that's at six 30.

So I've been trying to use that
time instead of like, just scrolling

on the internet or doing whatever
it's like time to time to code.

So now I'm gonna talk about what
I'm building yet, but I was pretty

impressed with how quickly I have
it running and being able to OAuth

with your Gmail account so that.

That's like all done.

Now I'm starting to think like how to
approach accessing your Gmail data.

So that's, that's what I'm working on.

CJ: hmm.

Yeah.

Very cool.

Very cool.

Is it, are you finding that the early
mornings is working, working well for

your energy for the rest of the day too?

Like

Colin: It's, it's been helpful
because I know if I want to work

on it, then it makes me make
decisions the night before about.

If it's like, I know that I can't do both.

So if I'm going to stay up late,
well, then I'm going to lose

project time in the morning.

And I'm not doing project that
night and projects in the morning.

So it's usually going to be
like, I'm trying to get away from

computers after work and stuff.

So usually like after work, I am not
in a place where I want to go code.

So this is kind of like the
paying yourself first type thing.

I'm just working on my own thing first.

And we'll see if it turns into a
thing that just as a toy for me to

play with or something that maybe I
can make available to other people.

CJ: nice.

Yeah.

I definitely have started to recognize
how much energy I get from making,

just making stuff for myself or, you
know, like working on stuff that's like

No judgment, no input from anybody,
no questions, no like bureaucracy,

no slow down, no nothing no critique.

Colin: You can just do

CJ: just like, I don't know.

Yeah, exactly how freeing it is.

I'm like, yeah, I like this font.

This is a cool ass font.

I'm going to pick this font, you know,
like, or I don't know, whatever, you

know so yeah, I started building out a
tool for, for building friction logs.

It was actually kind of inspired
by these like second brain, Tool or

like the second brain editor style.

So we'll, we'll talk about it obviously
more next time, but the building in

these chunks or blocks like log seek
has kind of inspired a pattern that

I want to use for friction logging.

So more to come on that, but yeah,
it's been fun to kind of like, just

build a little, build a little toy.

Colin: friction logging
tool is a personal project.

CJ: Yeah, so I think.

For, for a long time, I have wanted
to build a service for developer

products companies to provide
them with developer feedback.

So I am going to create like a first
look video that goes over a bunch of

You know, early observations about
their getting started, and then I'm

going to build a friction logs for them.

So it'll be kind of like super detail.

Let me go through an entire product
experience and end integrating

it, and I'll take copious detailed
notes as I go, and then the

last will be like a zoom call.

And then I'm going to be working with them
to like, just go over all the findings,

make recommendations, suggestions.

So this is, it's a service that
I'm working on building out.

And so as part of that, I want to
provide friction logs in a way that

is digestible by engineering teams
so that they can like take the

content of it and easily action it.

In the past, I've just written them
into a Google doc as like, there's just

giant stream of consciousness almost.

And at the end of that, Sometimes
they're like many, many pages long.

So that's right.

I, there was one that was like 20
something pages long and you just give

it to an engineering manager and they
have to kind of like go through each

bullet, pull it out, make a JIRA ticket
assigned to the right person and whatever.

And so each of those, my thought for these
friction logs, I'm going to build it in

such a way that like each of these chunks
can be actionable so that from the UI you

can click like add to linear or add to
JIRA and it'll open a ticket automatically

for you for each of those things.

So.

Colin: it.

It's got the why.

Yeah.

All of that.

CJ: Exactly.

Screenshots, like the whole shebang.

And

Colin: I remember, I remember working
on the Stripe premium app for Orbit.

We had a friction log in a Google
doc and it was, it was painful.

Like, and like even being able to do
back and forth comments with, with

the person who provided it and then
the PM or the engineer and assign it.

That's pretty cool.

I can see it.

CJ: So heckin on that.

Similarly, yeah, just on the side
when, when I've got free time.

And in the past we've talked
about how like we, we like these

side projects, but the way that
I procrastinate a side project is

by doing work, like actual work.

And so we'll see how much actual work
gets in the way of the side project.

Colin: Yeah, for me, it's been go
reorganize the kitchen drawers, or,

which I can't do at 6 30 in the morning.

So it's good.

I'm like, Chanel's asleep.

I gotta, gotta work on quiet things.

So very cool.

Well, I think a good way to wrap
this too, is we talked about

a lot of things that we use.

You have a users page
on your website, cjav.

dev slash uses.

I need to eventually build my own website.

I have like a template up
that I want to create my own

users page as well, but we'll.

Put links to a bunch of the things that
we talked about, a bunch of the gear.

Don't go buy all the stuff we use,
go find something that works for you.

But yeah, I think that'll
do it for this episode.

CJ: Awesome.

Colin: Cool.

Thanks for listening.

And as always, you can go check out
notes for the show at build and learn.

dev.

We'll have links to all the
things that we talked about.

We'll catch you next time.

CJ: Thanks for listening.

Bye friends.