Sadia Khaf

 

TECH

I absolutely love trying tech gadgets that help me become more productive, improve my health, or add more joy and meaning to my life in some ways. I'm passionate about automation and routines that make tiny robots work for me and make my life less boring.
Here are some of my favourite apps, gadgets, and tools that have added value to my life in some ways and hopefully will add to yours as well.

📚Study Gear

🖥Computer

My work computer at home is a desktop computer with an Intel Core i7, 16GB RAM, Nvidia Quadro P400 graphics card, and 500GB storage. For my work, I use Windows 10 Pro. I also have a windows subsystem for Linux installed for my research, coding, and testing, which gives me easy access to Ubuntu and other Linux machines.
At work, I have another computer with slightly more powerful specs, but I have access to a super powerful EDGE server for all my machine learning simulations.

💻Laptop

My daily driver is a MacBook Air 2017 with 128GB storage, which I'm kinda getting bored of now. I want to try the Apple M1 chip-based MacBook since I'm quite excited for the future of RISC architecture in desktop computing.

📝Tablet

My most used gadget so far is the iPad 2020. I use it every single day for research, studying, taking lecture notes, reading books, workouts, cooking, drawing, writing blog posts, creating and editing graphics, and probably much more. I never understood the utility of a tablet until I got one. That's why this is perhaps one of the gadgets that have added a significant value to my life. I use it with the Apple pencil. Also,  a lot of the time, I have my AirPods connected to it. I love listening to podcasts, reading and listening to a book simultaneously, or talking to someone over the phone (yes, I take my calls on iPad instead of iPhone most of the time since I usually don't have my iPhone next to me the time).

Programs I use for Study

📕Mendeley Desktop

I organize all of the research papers I read in Mendeley Desktop. I use their integration with Overleaf to cite the works I want. Within Mendeley, I have a system of organizing, highlighting, and annotating the papers I read to quickly find what I need when I need it.

📗Overleaf

For writing my own scientific research publications, I switched from desktop-based LaTeX editors to browser-based editors after being introduced to Overleaf. It is even more helpful when you are working with a collaborator.

📓OneNote

OneNote is the one app that has all my life in it. Research work, Lecture Notes, French class notes, Home and Kitchen, Journaling, IoT projects, Raspberry Pi projects, smart home tech projects, YouTube brainstorming, notes for all of my websites (yes, I have multiple), blog drafts, and much more.

Computer Accessories

🔊Desktop Speakers

JBL GO is my Bluetooth speaker, but I have permanently placed it on my desk and connected it to my computer. Whenever I'm not in a meeting or watching a tutorial at 2x speed, I use this to play some focus playlist that keeps me in the "zone" for maximum productivity.

🎧Headsets

Beats Solo3 and HyperX Cloud Flight are the two headphones that I use for different purposes. Beats is usually for me to listen to music, while HyperX is the one I use for my meetings due to its better microphone.

📸Webcam

I use a cheap, basic NEXIGO 1080p HD webcam that works for all my meetings and presentations. The built-in microphone is not great if you are far from the webcam, but I usually use my headset's microphone instead.

⌨️🖱Keyboard and Mouse

I use Logitech M705 Bluetooth Mouse, which is my absolute favourite because of its smooth infinity scroll and three customizable buttons that I have configured for running code, navigating web pages, and multitasking views. I have 3 screens, so I use it at full cursor speed (the reason no one else can use my computer). For the keyboard, I use RII RK102 Wireless Keyboard, which I'm not particularly happy about. Any suggestions there?

🖥Screens

I use one BENQ, and two Dell Monitors for my three-screen setup.

Daily Use

🏡Hoobs - The Brain of my smart home

Hoobs is the program that integrates my non-Homekit compatible devices into my Apple ecosystem-centred home. I have installed hoobs on a raspberry pi 4 and added extensions for my MagicHome smart bulbs, Samsung TV, and EweLink smart switch. I have tried many smart bulbs with this, and so far, I haven't found a brand for which you cannot find an extension or hoobs.

📱iPhone

I switched from Android to iPhone in 2020, and I have been using iPhone XS since then. Overall, I'm pretty happy with the switch. There are definitely many things that I miss about Android, especially about my last phone OnePlus 5T. But there are also many things that I have grown fond of ever since becoming part of the Apple "ecosystem".

⌚️Apple Watch

Apple watch SE is the second most impactful gadget in my life, after the iPad. In some ways, I would even rank it as the most impactful one since it has put me on track for a healthier lifestyle and kept me there so far. I'm obsessed with keeping the streak on my "activity rings," and it's a great way to keep me from sitting in front of my desk all day. The one area where I miss my Fitbit is the sleep-cycle tracking, which was considerably better on Fitbit.

🎧AirPods

I hate the silicon earbuds that create a vacuum in the ear and block all outside sound. It's something that makes me feel claustrophobic and just really irritates my ears. So I have always loved earphones that come without silicon and don't entirely block external sounds. I love my Airpods. They keep the ambient sound coming, don't irritate my ears with silicon, and don't fall off when running or doing workouts.

🙋‍♂️HomePod mini

I like falling asleep to ambient sounds and waking up to bird songs, but living in downtown Montreal doesn't really give me an opportunity for that. That's where HomePod mini comes in that knows my sleep schedule and plays exactly the right sounds at precisely the right times. I also have some automation setup for listening to Podcasts or playing something when I arrive home. It's been a nice buddy so far.

Apps

🗒Notes

Apple Notes app is my go-to for quick notes, scanning a document, jotting down a fleeting thought about a project or blog. But since I don't use iCloud storage, I run out of space on my devices pretty quickly, so I usually end up deleting stuff that I no longer need. That's why Apple notes app is more of a temporary Notes place for me.

🙉Reminders

The one app that I absolutely cannot live without is the built-in "Reminders" app on iOS. It is absolutely game-changing. I have my recurring funding renewal reminders, deadlines, trips, birthdays, watering the plants, grocery lists, and much more in Reminders. I have used a lot of "Hey Siri Add granola bars, milk, and chocolate chip cookies to my grocery list" in the kitchen.

❤️‍🩹Health

I use the Apple Health app daily to track my workouts, sleep, check my cardio fitness levels, and monitor my sleeping heart rate dips.

👟Fitness+

These days, Apple Fitness+ is my Netflix for workouts. I take it to the gym with me on my iPad or AirPlay to the TV when working out at home. I like the burn bar feature and the ability to see my workout stats live on the iPad screen while following a workout.

🤑Binance

I'm obsessed with keeping an eye on crypto prices. I don't necessarily act on them every day, but keeping an eye on the prices is important. I use Binance for all my crypto investments and use both the app itself and the iOS square widget on one of my iPhone home screens.

📻Podcasts

Every morning, I listen to BBC Minute podcast, the Lex Fridman podcast, and a few more using the podcasts app. I have actually set it to play these podcasts automatically when I stop (not snooze) my wake-up alarm.

📨Mail

The one thing where I wish my life could get more straightforward is the email app. I use Outlook on my PC and Apple Mail on all of my other devices. I have multiple email accounts, and I am not particularly satisfied with switching to Outlook on my PC, but there is just too much functionality missing in Apple mail right now. Any suggestions for the perfect email client that is cross-compatible?

YouTube

🎬iMovie

I edit most of my videos in iMovie on Macbook Air 2017. It is a surprizingly easy to use yet feature-rich program.

🔑Keynote

Keynote vs. Powerpoint will forever be a debate. I use both and will probably keep using both for various tasks. However, lately, I find myself using Keynote much more due to its ability to export images and videos with transparent background. That's why I used Keynote to create the subscribe animation and other such animations for my Youtube videos.

🎙OBS Studio

I followed this tutorial from Scott Hanselman to create my video submission for the three-minute thesis presentation for LaCIME day at my university. I also used OBS studio for live streaming my IEEE Hands-on Reinforcement Learning workshop.

🎞DaVinci Resolve 17

I have a love-hate relationship with my MacBook, and when it is in the hate state, I use DaVinci Resolve to edit my videos instead of iMovie. It has more features, and it is still a reasonably beginner-friendly program to use.

🎨Canva

All of my YouTube thumbnails and banners, and graphics are made using Canva. I love it because it only takes me a few minutes to create a thumbnail, logo, or a basic sketch in Canva.

🏋️‍♀️Gym

My running shoes are Addidas Ultraboost 21, and they are quite comfortable, breathable, and keep my knees and heels from hurting. For gym I have some basic gear from Decathelon, and for my workouts I usually use Apple Fitness+ on my iPad in the gym. Of course I track all my workouts with Apple Watch, which is a very useful companion for running and walking outdoors as well.