Go to the Lab Notes
The future of the operating system
In my current work, I am exploring new and renewed ideas for how personal computing can expand what people are able to think and do.
This work is primarily shaped by exploring the “operating system of the future,” and creating an experimental new environment for personal computing.
Lab Notes
While exploring the OS of the future, I publish Lab Notes that document my progress, experiments, and concepts to intentionally “work with the lab door open,” inviting others’ thoughts along the way.
The Potential Merits of an Itemized Operating System
Article · 34 min. read · Publ. June 6, 2021
Projects
These projects experiment with the concepts from my research on the future of the OS in real-world use cases.
Tag Navigator
Plugin for Obsidian
Symphonies
Organizer & Planner
Reimagining email
My career began with reimagining email and finding ways to build that vision on top of the existing email protocols.
Mail Pilot is an email client that introduced new perspectives and useful features to email in 2012, including reminders (later adopted by other apps as “snooze”). After a record-breaking Kickstarter campaign, it went on to become the #1 paid app in the Mac App Store at launch. It is available today as a native app for macOS and iOS.
Throttle is a service that introduced sender-specific addresses in 2015 to give email receivers fine-grained oversight and control over the transactional and bulk email headed their way, and is often turned to as a home away from the inbox for less urgent email.
Products
These products have come from of my research and experimentation in email.
Mail Pilot
Reimagined email client
Throttle
Email throttling service
Background
My core work is independent research in software. I’m deeply curious about the future of personal computing. I believe it’s one of the most important things we’ve ever made, and that it’s in its infancy; that we’re still settling into the medium this new technology enables.
Over time, I’ve found that the journey to quality is quantity, and as such, I try to engage in many small experiments throughout my work.
You can see pretty much everything that I work on over here: Pretty Much Everything.
Interviews & more
Some selected podcast interviews and others’ articles.
October 29, 2021
The Stack Overflow Podcast
December 16, 2020
Computer Science at Virginia Tech 50th anniversary profile
March 19, 2020
Nylon: AIM is Back to Get You Through Quarantine
February 25, 2015
Slate: “Email overload: Building my own email app to reach Inbox Zero.”
The Weekly
Updates published most weeks.
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Interface ideas for the OS of the future · What are the fundamentals with which personal computing is done? · The future of personal computing software · The future of personal computing hardware · Taking itemized systems online · What might the internet look like when we introduce items? · Treating the transformation of data as an important piece of data itself · Finding higher-level primitives for development in personal computing · All archives »
Some other things: Songs I'm Made Of is a show I host in which songwriters tell their story in episodes woven together with both their own songs and the ones that inspire their work. In the first season, we met nine fantastic songwriters. Season two will begin soon. Simple Habits is a simple app for tracking habits from your phone. And you can check out everything else at Pretty Much Everything.
My work is graciously supported by the community. Members get access to the Member Magazine and other perks. Supporting my work helps make more of it happen, most of which is published for members and non-members alike.
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