Plain text workflows now have a content farm problem. Who'd a thought it!
The good news is that genuine voices can still rise above the slop, and will (I sincerely hope) stand out as beacons of light because of their wonderfully flawed humanness.
Medium (includes blog link) https://medium.com/@miscellaneplans/ptpl-211-content-farms-have-found-my-niche-but-the-humans-are-still-winning-2acdcb4c46e3
Blog https://ellanew.com/2026/06/08/ptpl-211-ai-content-farms-niche-internet
This week: How “open source” can be an attitude, rather than a feature of an app.
Do you have any to add to my 10 rules of responsible knowledge/file management?
Includes links to other related articles I’ve written on this topic (a theme I’ll likely be harping on about forever).
Medium (includes blog post link) https://miscellaneplans.medium.com/ptpl-210-the-open-source-wars-are-missing-the-point-0c5017222776
Blog https://ellanew.com/2026/06/01/ptpl-210-open-source-wars-miss-the-point
This week: How to reclaim focus for your distractible brain with a one-page weekly planner.
I love that it is light enough to always carry, flexible enough for both planning and freeform notes, and simple enough that I am consistently using it, week after week. Best of all, it's screen-free!
Medium (includes blog post link) https://medium.com/@miscellaneplans/ptpl-209-how-to-design-a-screen-free-one-page-weekly-planner-f9104672f0c6
Blog https://ellanew.com/2026/05/25/ptpl-209-screen-free-weekly-planner
This week I share three cool tech finds, no affiliates: plain text capture, a Bauhaus obsession, and the keyboard that finally fits my EDC:
- Capture for Obsidian @hiro
- Bauhaus Clock for iOS
- Nillkin foldable keyboard with trackpad.
Medium members https://medium.com/@miscellaneplans/ptpl-208-3-cool-plain-text-app-and-tech-finds-0fff212aaff6
Blog https://ellanew.com/2026/05/18/ptpl-208-capture-obsidian-bauhaus-clock-nillkin-keyboard
Next week: All about my new templates for planning your week in a 1-P (One Page Notebook) https://miscellaneplans.gumroad.com/l/1p-weekly-planner
What if your calendar was just a text file?
This week I show you how to build a todo.txt-format calendar — which is of practical use all on its own — and optionally view today's events in your Obsidian daily note.
It is inspired by calendar.txt, but it's not that. Yes, I know Emacs can do it all. It's not that, either, by design.
Medium (includes blog post link) https://miscellaneplans.medium.com/how-to-create-a-plain-text-calendar-with-the-todo-txt-format-41f0ce6f093d
Blog https://ellanew.com/2026/05/11/plain-text-calendar-todo-txt
This week: Productivity finds worth your time including new Mac and iOS apps, Apple tips, a cool name for plain text notes, and more.
Medium (includes blog link): https://medium.com/@miscellaneplans/ptpl-205-apple-shortcuts-handrolled-notes-and-apps-worth-your-attention-70e7b88c945d
Blog: https://ellanew.com/2026/04/27/ptpl-205-productivity-picks-apple-apps-tips
This week I take a look at placing Obsidian queries in nested callouts. Includes CSS for customising your own colours and icons.
https://ellanew.com/2026/04/20/ptpl-204-hide-obsidian-queries-in-folding-callouts
The Pilot Kakuno is a surprisingly good fountain pen to write with for the price. This is the F, on regular office 100 gsm paper folded to A7. More on the cheap but good writing instruments I’m using in the next #ptpl post.
#fountainPens #1-P #1P
Testing free alternatives to my Setapp apps. The surprise - Shottr does OCR too, so it ends up replacing two apps at once!
Do you use the the Mac ⌃⇧⌘4 shortcut as much as I do, I wonder? It’s perfect for simple screenshots that need pasting. I use it when putting photos on here, to ensure no location metadata gets embedded.
Medium (includes blog link) https://medium.com/p/0ee08fb2ac31
Blog https://ellanew.com/2026/04/06/ptpl-202-replacing-setapp
I've been looking at the subscription software I use. The evaluation process is not as straightforward as I thought it was going to be!
So I'm looking into the concept of ownership. What does it really means when the things you rely on don't exist in any tactile sense? My Meema's house holds some clues.
Medium (includes blog post link) https://miscellaneplans.medium.com/what-meemas-1940s-cottage-taught-me-about-software-subscriptions-dbbf30458725
Blog https://ellanew.com/2026/03/30/ptpl-201-meemas-1940s-house-software-subscriptions
Ellane
