WEEKLY WHEATIES #2515
Tracking Apps, Open AI, TikTok, Hero Assistant
In this newsletter:
📝 Post: How Tracking Apps Help Find the Sweet Spot Between Performance and Stress
🗞️ In Case You Missed It: Open AI and ChatGPT
🗞️ In Case You Missed It: TikTok Updates
😎 Pick of the Week: Hero Assistant
📦 Featured Product: Minecraft Wall Torch
📝 How Tracking Apps Help Find the Sweet Spot Between Performance and Stress
Something I’ve read about lately I thought was pretty interesting is known as the Yerkes-Dodson Law. And no, not that Dodgson. Essentially, the normalized curve shows how one’s level of stress varies with their performance [of a given task]. One end of the chart (low stress) indicates boredom, while the other end of the chart (high stress) indicates burnout. In between these extremes are the optimal levels exemplified by growth and learning.
Our levels of stress may provide a good guess of our possible outcome. For example, if we have little stress towards some task, we may not perform it well. However, too much stress towards that same task may also cause us to not perform it well. At some point, tracking stress levels and/or completeness of a task may help with our overall performance by keeping stress at bay but just high enough to keep us aware and engaged.
The middle is the sweet spot in most cases, but the middle can also widen or shrink based on other external factors. These may include: physical activity (working out, going for a walk, playing a sport or hobby); eating healthy (possibly counting calories or macros); drinking plenty of water; having healthy relationships with friends, family, and coworkers; how much sleep we are able to get on average; how much money we have to pay the bills; and much more. Tracking these helps with stress levels to some extent, but at least provides information and context.
In the past, I’ve talked about To-Do Apps, Tracking Habits, and Super-Apps that combine multiple types of apps. There’s no wrong way to track to-dos or habits, nor is there any super-app that will do anything and everything you’d want from an app. Some of these super-apps may even track both to-dos and habits. But let’s now throw another curve ball - what about notes, our calendar, and the weather?
Ultimately, the app that helps best is the one you will actually use. Check out this week’s pick of the week below for one of my favorite apps to track to-dos, habits, while also tying into my calendar, reminders, the weather, notes, and a grocery list — Hero Assistant.
I wanted to stress how useful tracking things can be not only for mental health but also for physical health. As mentioned, we can track our food intake, workouts, budgets, plant care, taking out the trash, and the list goes on and on and on. There are hundreds, if not thousands, of apps developed to help you track anything and everything.
Just for fun and to minimize the app picks, here are some niche habit-tracking apps.
Beli - track and rate restaurants you’ve visited
Color Your Habit - gives a weekly, monthly, and yearly view of habits
11pets - tracks everything nose to tail of your pets
Fill it Forward - tracks your water refill while helping donate to charitable causes
iNaturalist - tracks plants, animals, and insects
Lucidity - tracks and allows journaling for your dreams
Merlin Bird ID - identifies and tracks birds by picture or sound
Pretty Progress - track anything in a widget on your home screen (and it’s pretty)
Symple - tracks health and well-being
Tody - helps track cleaning routines
What unique, niche, or daily tracking apps do you use?
🗞️ ICYMI: Open AI and ChatGPT
Open AI and ChatGPT had some pretty substantial announcements last week compared to the following few weeks and months. First off, ChatGPT's memory can now reference all past conversations. This was somewhat possible before, but it required a bit of ‘hacking’ or using a plug-in. This will be good and bad in my opinion. I’m assuming most people use AI for work and personal things - not to mention the things used for others, for fun, or just to test things out. In this case, you may not want particular conversations impacting future ones. Luckily, this feature can be turned on or off, and you can simply tell ChatGPT to remember something specific from any conversation if you wish.
As Open AI prepares to sunset GPT-4 for GPT-4o, they are also working on an Agentic Software Engineer (A-SWE). Other than some specific terminology and use cases, it’s unclear how this is anything too new in the AI space. There are tons of apps and plug-ins for most chatbots that do many of the same tasks. Even the GPTs within ChatGPT can do this. However, being first-party with feature sets that are pretested and approved may give users and enterprises a bit more confidence to actually use them.
🗞️ ICYMI: TikTok Updates
The US and Chinese governments are still working on an agreement for the possible purchase of TikTok for US use. Of those in the mix, Amazon said to make a bid. Until a purchase goes through, President Trump announced a second 75-day delay against enforcing the divest-or-ban law. As of writing, the app is still available to download and use in the States. Time will tell how things move forward.
😎 POTW: Hero Assistant
As mentioned in the post above, Super-Apps and the like are plenty in both the Android and Apple App Stores. There are some that work extremely well in one instance but may not work well in another. I’ve tried a bunch of them over the years (especially To-Do apps), and many of them work well for a while until I dive deep and figure out what’s missing. A few months back, I found the app Hero Assistant. Unfortunately, it’s currently only available on iOS. However, it also works well with Siri (by mirroring the Reminders app) and can connect to my calendars very easily. Other apps in this space couldn’t do both of those two simple things well while still offering the many other features of Hero.
I really enjoy the ‘day’ view, which shows the next items on my calendar, the day’s weather outlook, reminders or habits and goals due, and even the top news stories based on the interests I choose. You can add a reminder, schedule an event, add a note, and much more via text or voice. Another app-specific feature — if you’re like me and your phone is forever on silent, you can set specific notifications to alert you with a sound, overriding your phone’s silent mode. Notes and To-Dos can be shared with a friend or family member if desired, too. My other favorite part of this app is the home screen widget that shows the next few calendar events, my To-Dos, but even better - by tapping the plus sign on the widget, the app opens with a voice prompt already engaged, allowing me to add a reminder that quick.
Lastly, I’ve been in contact with the developers a few times, and, at least for the foreseeable future, this will stay a completely free app. The way they monetize the app is through grocery orders through Instacart. And here’s where it gets even better. If you use Instacart, you can get up to 5% cash back on the order by placing your order through their app. Download it here and check it out!
📦 Featured Product
In light of the Minecraft Movie coming out (and being a great one for adults and kids alike), I’d like to present to you the Light Up Wall Torch! This battery-powered ‘flashlight’ can be wall-mounted or carried around to investigate things that go bump in the night. You can pair multiple torches to protect multiple mobs from spawning or just make your bedroom (or your kids, I guess…) resemble their Minecraft house. If Minecraft by itself isn’t nostalgic enough, check out Tobuscus’ video - Safety Torch.
