Latest news with #NathanDrescher
Android Authority
9 hours ago
- Business
- Android Authority
Fastmail replaced my Gmail and I'm never going back
Nathan Drescher / Android Authority I had the digital equivalent of an epiphany the other day. I opened my inbox and saw…email. Only email. There were no ads, no AI-generated summaries, and no prompts. It was a strange, yet welcome, feeling after years of using Gmail. Checking my inbox no longer felt like an argument with an algorithm. That's because I switched to Fastmail earlier this year. It all began when I started distancing myself from American big tech platforms, where Google sits high on the list. I wanted something more private and more personal, with less bloat. Fastmail, an Australian company, caught my eye as a well-regarded alternative to Gmail. Six months in, I am confident I made the right choice. Would you leave Gmail for something more private? 0 votes Yes, already have. NaN % I'm thinking about it. NaN % Maybe, if Gmail gets worse. NaN % No, I'm staying with Google. NaN % Why I left Gmail and Google Calendar Nathan Drescher / Android Authority It wasn't only because Gmail is part of a big monopolistic American tech corporation. It wasn't only the insane amounts of data it collected. It was the cluttered UI and the push towards AI-driven features I never asked for. Google Calendar, meanwhile, does its job, but has begun to feel like it's trying to be something more than it is. Gemini is snooping more and more in Calendar, trying to be helpful but getting in the way. All of it felt more corporate than personal. What I wanted was a fast, private email that respected my time and let me work. I wanted a calendar that synced reliably across platforms without becoming another vector for distraction. I seriously considered Proton Mail. I have great respect for what the company is building. However, I have heard from others about occasional delivery hiccups, and I can't afford to miss an interview with a subject or an important follow-up with a client. Reliability was non-negotiable. Proton was out. How Fastmail fits into my daily life Nathan Drescher / Android Authority Fastmail handles all my email needs. The interface is clean and responsive. No tabs, no promotions. Just email. I can choose between a folder or tag structure, and I went with tags. It's one of the things I enjoy about Gmail. The Fastmail app is more than just email. There's a dropdown in the top left that allows me to switch to Calendar, Contacts, Notes, and even a cloud drive. The base plan comes with 50GB of storage, which isn't bad for $60 a year. The built-in calendar has been surprisingly strong. It syncs perfectly with the email side of the app, so appointments and meetings can be quickly added. I can share calendar events with others, even if they don't use Fastmail, and it looks great, as well. The base plan comes with 50GB of storage, which isn't bad for $60 a year. One feature I didn't expect to appreciate so much was the filtering system. I can control exactly how messages are sorted and what gets archived and flagged. It's like Gmail's labels, but with the user in mind. Notes are simple, but they work, and sync instantly between all devices. However, they're not as powerful or quick as Google Keep, so I still use that as my primary notetaking app. That said, I wasn't looking for a notes replacement. What I gained by switching Nathan Drescher / Android Authority The biggest gain in my life has been peace of mind. Fastmail isn't tracking me. My messages aren't being profiled, and Fastmail isn't trying to sell me anything. I pay it once a year, and it delivers my emails. I also gained reliability. Everything feels faster, with messages loading instantly and folders responding immediately. The search works great. There's no AI engine or smart features getting in the way. There's no AI engine or smart features getting in the way. Nathan Drescher Fastmail gives me control. I have control over my email and my calendar, and I can decide how things look and behave. That kind of ownership is preciously rare in modern digital services. Of course, there are still limits Nathan Drescher / Android Authority Nothing is perfect. Notes are barebones, and like I said, I don't use it often. It's certainly not a replacement for Keep. There's no deep integration with voice assistants, which could be a dealbreaker for some. I'm okay with it myself. There's also a learning curve when it comes to setting it up. I use a custom domain and had to mess around with my host's MX records, something I know little about. Once set up, however, it stayed out of the way. And it's not free. In this case, I'm happy to pay for something that works. I don't like being the product, after all. Fastmail gives me what I want Nathan Drescher / Android Authority It's a private and reliable alternative to Google's suite of apps. Sure, it doesn't have all the AI bells and whistles, but I see that as a selling point. I still use Google Keep, and I'm fine with that. I didn't set out to replace it, and the built-in notes feature that comes with Fastmail is more of an added bonus than a core feature for me. This was about finding tools that weren't American and respected my time and privacy. Fastmail has done exactly that. Fastmail is more than capable if you're looking to step away from the big tech oligopolies. You don't need to sacrifice usability, because Fastmail isn't trying to be clever. It just does its job well.
Android Authority
06-06-2025
- Android Authority
ChatGPT wasn't built for this, but it's now the center of my daily routine
Calvin Wankhede / Android Authority It hit me while I was standing in the grocery store with my phone out. I don't use note-taking apps anymore. My shopping list was sitting in a persistent chat with ChatGPT, right where it had created it for me after helping me plan my family's meals for the week. It even specified my daughter's favorite yogurt. This wasn't a one-off. I had slowly started using ChatGPT as a productivity tool for every part of my personal life. It started when I grew tired of juggling multiple apps for notes, lists, and reminders. I didn't want to bounce between half a dozen apps just to get stuff done. ChatGPT, as it turns out, is slowly turning into my super app, and I'm not sure that's what it was designed for. Would you use ChatGPT to manage your daily life? 0 votes Already do NaN % I might try it NaN % Not for me NaN % I didn't even know you could NaN % My use of AI is a little unconventional Nathan Drescher / Android Authority My day starts with a check-in. I open a persistent chat I call 'Today.' It's kind of my central hub. I get it to remember my day's tasks, set priorities, and work through what needs doing. If I tell it what times I have things to do, it's great at arranging my schedule for me. I'll ask it to help organize things by urgency, and it handles it all for me. When something new comes up, I just type it in. No form fields, no UI clutter. I keep a rolling list of time-sensitive items I review throughout the day. I need to remember to check it because ChatGPT doesn't have push notifications, but the low-friction input means I don't forget to capture things, so it evens out. Shopping and meal planning live in another chat. The grocery list gets updated throughout the week. It's easy to meal plan and then have ChatGPT create a shopping list, organized by section of the grocery store. I can input what foods I have on hand and it will spit out some suggestions for quick meals. When I purchase something, I simply tell it, and the AI automatically crosses that item off the list. All parts of my personal life are managed this way. Errands, kids, health. They're searchable, and ChatGPT is great at resurfacing information with a single command. That's more than I can say for a lot of productivity tools I've tried. It works better than it should Kaitlyn Cimino / Android Authority I don't believe this is what Sam Altman and the OpenAI team had in mind for ChatGPT. And I didn't set out to use it this way. In fact, I didn't find many uses for it at first. I never liked AI-generated slop, whether written or visual. As a journalist and writer, I've been kind of hostile to AI. But then I began using it for web searches, and that evolved into recipes, and budgeting, and then I learned it could take notes, and, well, it just sort of happened. ChatGPT is everywhere. It's always synced. I don't have to worry if something was saved. I don't have to remember which app I saved it in. It's all in one place. There's no UI to learn or settings to tweak. I just type what I need and it does the rest. There's no UI to learn or settings to tweak. I just type what I need and it does the rest. Nathan Drescher The persistent chat format is powerful because it remembers what I told it earlier, and it keeps context better than any standalone tool. Notes and lists can be updated easily. I can even change priorities mid-thread, and ChatGPT picks it up without skipping a beat. Most importantly, it reduces mental overhead. Everything is centralized and handled by something objectively smarter than many people. It's not all roses and sunshine Nathan Drescher / Android Authority All that said, ChatGPT is not perfect. The lack of push notifications is a real pain point I've had to learn to work around. Unlike a dedicated reminders app, which can notify me on my phone, laptop, and watch, I need to manually open ChatGPT and ask it to show me my next reminder. It can send me an email for each reminder, which can then push to my device, but it's a bulky workaround. There's also no integrations with calendars or emails. It cannot handle recurring tasks or automate workflows. If I forget what I put in a note or a task I created, there's no way to get it back. There's no visual structure, either. No kanban boards, no drag-and-drop timelines. This means I need much stricter self-discipline to use it as my second brain. I need much stricter self-discipline to use it as my second brain. Nathan Drescher Finally, it's not built for collaboration. That's why I don't use it for work. It's useless when working with a team or editors, but for personal life management, it's surprisingly effective. The unintended productivity app for me ChatGPT is not a productivity app. Maybe that's why it works so well for me. It's conversational, always available, and adapts to my sometimes crazy day without forcing me to follow a strict system thought out by someone else. It's replaced a lot of my apps, including task managers, note-taking apps, and spreadsheets (although Google Keep will always be on phone). It's good enough that I'm not looking for replacements. This won't suit every kind of user. But if you're like me and prefer to brain dump rather than meticulously organize, then ChatGPT might just be the second brain you didn't know you had.
