A collection of things I use, watch, listen to, and dig. This used to be a placeholder with 10 random items. Now it’s a real page that I actually plan to keep updating.
Claude: This replaced ChatGPT for me and it’s not even close. I spend every day in Claude Code building things, and Claude.ai is where I think, plan, and write. If I was down to my last $20, I’d buy a month of Claude and figure it out. ChatGPT used to be in this spot. It’s not anymore.
Floppydisk.com: Run by Tom Persky, the self-proclaimed last man standing in the floppy disk business. He’s been selling and recycling floppy disks for decades, sitting on hundreds of thousands of them in every format you can think of. The story of how he ended up here is fascinating, and if you’re into retro computing or floppy anything, this site is a treasure. I’ve ordered from him. You should too.
75 Hard: Started 5 times, finished twice, but could do it today. A serious life-changing program whenever you need a serious mental reset. Personally I steer clear of some of the cult-like vibes, but it’s always there as a lever to pull when it’s time to get my shit together.
Polk Audio R600s: My personal speaker grail right now. Got around $2k and want floor-standing, two-channel speakers? This is exactly what I’d recommend.
The Hard Thing About Hard Things: “Building a Business When There Are No Easy Answers.” Business is tough. Life is tough. Ben Horowitz takes you through his journey and the lessons he learned along the way. I try to reread this book every couple of years just to remind myself that the journey is supposed to be hard.
ShopGoodwill.com: This has become a daily scroll for me. It’s Goodwill’s online auction site and I’m always watching what retro computers are going for and keeping an eye on mini PC prices. I don’t need to buy anything. I just can’t stop looking.
Hetzner: Long gone are the GoDaddy shared hosting days. I’ve got a Hetzner VPS and I’m loving spreading my homelab beyond the house. Fast, affordable, and it just works. If you’re still on shared hosting somewhere, do yourself a favor and check these guys out.
Cloudflare: I’ve pretty much abandoned GoDaddy for everything at this point. Cloudflare handles my DNS, my domains, and it’s become the backbone of how I manage all my sites. It’s one of those things where once you switch, you wonder why you didn’t do it sooner.
OpenClaw: You can’t be a homelab AI nerd right now without messing with OpenClaw and watching the news around what’s happening with it. The whole space is moving so fast and OpenClaw is right at the center of it. It’s such an exciting time.
rez2ans: This one is looking amazing. It’s got me browsing eBay for a dedicated Linux desktop box just to play with it. All my Linux machines are headless servers so I can’t run it yet, but I’m supporting the project and watching it closely. If you’re into ANSI art, keep your eye on this.
Apps:
Haby: Habit tracker app. Set daily goals, do them. Game changer when you want to build habits.
Focus Guard: A Chrome extension that lets you block sites so you can focus. Muscle memory makes me click on sites that waste time, or deliver bad news, sometimes really bad news. This lets you block them and get back to work.
Things I watch:
Hardware Haven: So inspirational. The videos, the story of how he got to where he is. If you’re into homelabs, servers, or just building cool stuff, this channel is a must. I absolutely love his stuff.
Technology Connections: On the surface, it’s a simple YouTube channel with a monotone voice talking about technology and the history behind it. But it’s way more than that. It’s incredibly soothing, insanely informative, and honestly, one of my favorite channels.
Craigslist Hunter: YouTube series that’s basically ‘Pawn Stars’ without the scripted drama. It’s just a few guys running a pawn shop-style thrift store, usually dropping two episodes a week. Picture a camera at the register, watching real people wheel and deal all kinds of interesting stuff.
Podcasts I listen to:
Accidental Tech Podcast: Three nerds talking tech, Apple, and programming. This is a weekly listen for me and I think I can now officially call myself a John Siracusa fan.
Do By Friday: A Merlin Mann podcast that I listen to, because my favorite Merlin Mann podcast is no longer being produced.
This Week In Tech: Technology podcast, weekly, from Leo Laporte (ex-Screensavers).
Diggnation: It’s back. One of the first podcasts I ever listened to, by Kevin Rose & Alex Albrecht (also, both ex-Screensavers).
AI News:
Nate’s Newsletter: I’d call Nate the godfather of AI news. He’s got a really interesting way of delivering what’s going on and I keep up with a ton of what’s happening with AI and the workplace by following him. Subscribe to his Substack and follow him on TikTok too.
Music:
Vocal Synthwave / New Retro Pop Wave: Cliche vibe coder nerd anthems, perfect for late night AI work. Just hit play.
