Greg Davis

Update required to priors on re: value of voice-to text typing.

New AI/chat interfaces ChatGPT warrant a retooling around efficient text input. Unlike traditional search engines, these tools allow for freeform, conversational prompts where you can ramble—even ridiculously so—and still receive accurate and context-aware results. This shift makes voice input and other text productivity hacks invaluable for crafting natural, creative, and detailed queries quickly, ultimately enhancing your workflow and efficiency.

• 1. Using Voice to Text on Mobile more frequently: Voice input has simply become much more productive and so the likelihood of it making sense to use has shot up.
  How to use voice to text on Android

• 2. Text Replacement on Android: Leverage custom dictionary entries for automated text expansion. For instance, I added “yav” to my dictionary, which expands into a pre-written response for inquiries about availability on platforms like Kijiji or Facebook Marketplace. This saves time and ensures consistent replies.
  Step-by-step guide for Android text replacement
• 3. Text Replacement on Windows: Use tools like AutoHotkey, Beeftext, or PowerToys for text substitution. I switched to Beeftext because it’s lighter weight for simple text replacement tasks compared to AutoHotkey or PowerToys.
  Video guide to Beeftext
• 4. Windows Voice Typing: Don’t overlook Windows’ built-in voice typing feature. Press Windows + H to enable voice keyboard input on your PC. This works just like mobile voice typing, making it a great option for quick inputs.
  Tutorial on Windows voice typing

Sending yourself an email is sometimes the faster way to get a note down. I don’t know if I’ll ever get away from that habit. I’m still bummed Google Voice assistant took that capability away 🙁

But still, I had a thought that it would be convenient to have certain emails automatically add content to a Google Doc, and get them out of my inbox with some automation.

Normally I would use Zapier for something like this. And it does have this capability. But the free plan only supports up to 100 tasks/mo, and the paid tier starts at over $40/month.

With the added support of AI support I realize that using Google Apps Script is waay more accessible these days and worth considering for something like this. This was completely free and runs on a schedule every hour but you could set up various triggers for this.

The script automates the process of appending specific Gmail emails to a Google Doc based on a label you assign. When new emails are tagged (manually or via filters), the script pulls their subject, date, and content, adds them to an ongoing document, and updates their label to mark them as processed—perfect for organizing and centralizing information without manual effort.

 function appendEmailsToDoc() {
  var triggerLabelName = "labelname1"; // Label to identify emails to process
  var processedLabelName = "labelname1-archive"; // Label to apply after processing
  var docId = "XxXxXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX"; // Google Doc ID
  // Access Gmail labels
  var triggerLabel = GmailApp.getUserLabelByName(triggerLabelName);
  var processedLabel = GmailApp.getUserLabelByName(processedLabelName);
  if (!triggerLabel) {
    Logger.log("Trigger label not found: " + triggerLabelName);
    return;
  }
  if (!processedLabel) {
    Logger.log("Processed label not found: " + processedLabelName);
    processedLabel = GmailApp.createLabel(processedLabelName); // Create label if it doesn't exist
  }
  // Get threads with the trigger label
  var threads = triggerLabel.getThreads();
  if (!threads || threads.length === 0) {
    Logger.log("No emails found with label: " + triggerLabelName);
    return;
  }
  // Open the Google Doc
  var doc = DocumentApp.openById(docId);
  var body = doc.getBody();
  threads.forEach(thread => {
    var messages = thread.getMessages();
    messages.forEach(message => {
      var subject = message.getSubject();
      var content = message.getPlainBody();
      var timestamp = message.getDate();
      // Append email content to Google Doc
      body.appendParagraph("Subject: " + subject);
      body.appendParagraph("Date: " + timestamp);
      body.appendParagraph(content);
      body.appendParagraph("------------------------------");
    });
    // Remove the trigger label and add the processed label
    triggerLabel.removeFromThread(thread);
    processedLabel.addToThread(thread);
  });
}

👀

This seems to be the best general reading device humans ever have invented.  Compared to a Kindle, the page is much larger, the color choice is excellent, scrolling is easy, it is far better for showing maps, and it captures far more of “does this feel like reading a book?” impression than a Kindle ever did.  It also can handle all sorts of glare and sunlight issues.

– Tyler Cowen

Hyperbole? Will be interesting to see where this and the backlash against devices for kids etc. goes.

Personally I am happy with a kobo for a alternative device.
– no/low blue light mode for reading in bed without bring a phone or tablet or laptop into the bedroom
– native ePUB file support
– integrates with Pocket so I can have bookmarked articles at the ready
Debating trying the new Kobo, it seems to have good reviews.

The only thing I find lacking in a Kobo is an easy way to send a bit of text to my inbox if I want to dump a thought.

Sad.

I’ll never understand why with all the talk about platforms taking over the web and the consequences of good journalism dying (ie. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=REmGYaLNCFg), we can’t circle back to good old RSS feeds.

Screw Twitter and Substack and Patreon, etc., just give me a good RSS feed and a way to pay for it, and RSS with filters (I use Inoreader) is better technology we’ve had for 20+ years.

Even The Economist just stopped publishing the full World This Week feeds and now just has the first few Politics/Business headlines. I’m so disoriented not having that to read on my Kobo anymore. I need a good replacement RSS feed for a basic rundown of world events…

Finally figured out this workflow workaround for getting full text articles onto Pocket (and on to my Kobo) from websites that won’t share full text webpages via RSS.

1. Read Email Later
2. Connect to Pocket.
3. For problematic websites, from RSS reader (I use Inoreader) use the email share shortcut and use your Read Email Later address.
4. Connect Pocket to Kobo.