[Thursdays Tech #3] Notion Calendar, AnyType, Obsidian Canva
News from the tools
It’s crazy.
So fast that it’s difficult to follow what’s going on.
I’m talking about the work of tools for creators, from note-taking apps to video creations.
It’s a blessing — a vast number of options to choose from — and a curse — too many to know which one will help you reach your goals.
That’s one of the aims of this newsletter: saving you time and giving you my perspective gained by countless hours spent on those apps so you create your tool stack — the one that fits your way of working.
Let’s see what’s up this week.
Notion Calendar
That’s the hot news: Notion has released a new app called Notion Calendar, separate from Notion but closely connected to it.
In practical terms, it means:
Having a unique calendar combining your Google calendar and Notion tasks (from multiple workspaces!)
Creating a Notion page associated with an event directly from the Calendar app
Access your Notion databases across the connected workspaces with a quick keyboard shortcut
Schedule meetings (think Calendly) linked to Google Meet
Use it as a content calendar by linking to a content database
And all the usual features of a calendar
That’s not a small addition. I was on the fence about leaving Notion for projects and task management, but I’m reconsidering it now.
AnyType
This week I decided to give it another go at AnyType.
Why?
First, because I’m obsessed with those apps (but I’m working on this addiction)
But more seriously it’s a fantastic combination of a note-based app such as Notion — faster, local-first and secure — and a graph-based app such as Obsidian — without the ugly interface and having to install a ton of plugins that are not always compatible.
I’m still discovering it but even if it’s not fully mature (beta version), it’s very usable and I like the interface.
It’s free for now and comes with a pretty good mobile app, all in sync across devices.
Obsidian Canva
As with Notion, I have a love-and-hate relationship with Obsidian. But I started to reconsider it seriously with their latest addition: the Canva.
Think of it as an advanced whiteboard/mindmap.
You can add cards and link them visually as in a mind map app, but you can also include your vault files.
You can also convert a card into a file, pretty useful when you brainstorm on Canva and want to save that and tag it as you’d do for a regular file.
I plan to use it for visual thinking and brainstorming my future articles as in the screenshot above (just starting!).
Really cool thing: you can include YouTube videos directly and take notes while you watch them inside your Canva.
That’s all for today and I’d love to hear from you about what tools you’re using, and what issues or revelations you have with them. Anything about tools and tech that helps you be more productive and creative!
Be technically great,
Frank