I realised I missed out the Youtube and App recommendations yesterday, so I’ll do two of each today! Which actually gives me a chance to write about how I’m planning my ideas for blog posts and recommendations.
I have a google spreadsheet where I jot down the apps and youtube channels, along with a quick line about why I use or watch them. So far I have about twenty in each column which have just come off the top of my head. Obviously that won’t be enough for a whole year’s worth of recommendations but I think that’s good because it’ll give me a challenge to find new Apps and Youtube videos to check out.
I also have a google document where I write down some ideas for topics that I’d like to write about. Nothing too coherent, but the idea is to just write down some ideas in an ‘idea’ phase and then choose one of them to write about. This separates the idea to the planning phase, which is a technique that I also try to use for when I am coding my own programming projects.
The last 3 companies I worked at used Agile with weekly or bi-weekly sprints. The basic idea is to plan in advance what work is to be done during the upcoming sprint before actually doing the work. This allows me to gauge what tasks will be done and to track the progress. This was essential when working in teams so that the project can be tracked amongst multiple people and also to keep to a schedule.
When working on my own projects I still keep a kanban board with my own tasks to keep track of the project. The process of working through the tasks in a sort of planning phase using the task board is analogous to the spreadsheet and notes. In a way it helps me to separate my thinking from higher level tasks and ground-level work, both of which are important but require different states of thinking.
Apps
Inshot video editor https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.camerasideas.instashot&hl=en_GB&gl=US
When I create videos for youtube, I like to do everything on my phone for convenience. There are relatively limited features compared to another app like Kinemaster, but it was priced right and had enough features to do what I needed. Features I found particularly convenient is it has royalty-free music tracks built in, so you can attach music tracks easily. There are likely other more featured apps out there, and likely on an actual computer but for now it serves my needs.
Youtube Vanced (and Smart Tube on Fire Stick)
These are Youtube apps for Android and Amazon FireStick that I use all the time. They are identical to the regular Youtube apps but no Ads. I also have adblock on Chrome on my laptop so that I don’t get ads with videos on my laptop. So I don’t waste time or get interrupted with Ads.
There’s a bit of moral dilemma as to whether or not Ads are good or not. These alternative apps are all legal, but the ads help to fund the content producers. Certainly not the only way, as most videos I see tend to have sponsors as well as links to Patreon, but without viewing the Ads, it is another source for ‘struggling youtubers’ that is gone. I personally resolve this dilemma by knowing how hard it is to be successful making revenue-driving apps. It’s all part of the game.
Youtube Channels
I’m not exactly a car guy but I do have an interest in cars, particularly about the cars in Britain I remember seeing when I was young.
HubNut (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCfxlBQnvNXX6o-2KbCMszWQ) This channel has a collection of relatively ad-hoc reviews of older British cars and also videos about repairs on them. I enjoy watching these videos as he provides interesting insights into the cars he owns and also looks at cheap cars I remember when I was young. I found this channel when I was searching for my first car, Citroen XM! Every car review has the most important test that no other reviewer does, the Triangle of Doom test!
BigCar (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCTGrgT-Ld4kH3CxHnCMGn8w) This channel investigates and presents the history of many car companies and specific models. It’s really interesting to me to hear about the tribulations and history of the development. There is a consistent level of quality and some of the most memorable videos I remember were the AMC Pacer (An interesting looking very wide American hatchback) and Austin Maestro and Montego cars
