Skip to content
Gear$$$Expensive: Several hundred dollars and up.Apple

iPhone

Apple's phone, and where personal software ends up

Apple's phone. What lands on it is the interesting part: reading apps, AI agents, and now software people wrote for themselves. Distribution stays locked down. Anything you build yourself installs only on devices you key it to, yours and a short list of other people's.

Who backs it

Sorted by strength of stance

  • Apple writer · founder of MacStories

    Clips his iPhone to a magnetic holder on the side of the iPad, so a second screen sits permanently in view. Timers, lyrics and messaging move to the phone. That removed distractions from his iPad workflow rather than adding them, he says, because he stops closing and reopening his writing app.

    Source: MacStories: How I Modded My iPad Pro
  • Angel investor · AngelList and the Naval podcast

    The apps he vibe codes land on his own phone through the app store he built for himself, so a two line description over dinner can be a working app five minutes later. He opens Claude on the phone to drive a terminal on his desktop. Apple keys those builds to named devices, so friends and family get them and nobody else does.

    Source: nav.al: A Return to Code

Other entries filed under productivity.

  • Gear$$$Expensive: Several hundred dollars and up.

    Home gym

    A private training space at home, from a garage rack to a fully equipped room

    Backed by 7 of 62 stacks: 5 do it, 2 recommend it, 0 have discussed it
  • Gear$$$Mid: Roughly $50 to $500, or up to $50/month.

    Kindle e-reader

    Amazon

    E-ink reader that makes a daily reading habit easy to keep

    Backed by 6 of 62 stacks: 6 do it, 0 recommend it, 0 have discussed it
  • Gear$$$Expensive: Several hundred dollars and up.

    MacBook Pro

    Apple

    Apple's laptop, used as the one machine that runs the talk and the studio

    Backed by 4 of 62 stacks: 4 do it, 0 recommend it, 0 have discussed it
  • Gear$$$Mid: Roughly $50 to $500, or up to $50/month.

    Standing desk

    A desk that raises, so part of the working day happens on your feet

    Backed by 4 of 62 stacks: 3 do it, 1 recommend it, 0 have discussed it
  • Gear$$$Mid: Roughly $50 to $500, or up to $50/month.

    iPad

    Apple

    Apple's tablet, used here as the device the reading app runs on

    Backed by 3 of 62 stacks: 3 do it, 0 recommend it, 0 have discussed it
  • Gear$$$Cheap: Roughly under $50, or under $15/month.

    Paper notebook

    A bound notebook for thinking on paper away from a screen

    Backed by 3 of 62 stacks: 3 do it, 0 recommend it, 0 have discussed it

Gear entry · notes paraphrased from cited sources, quoted excerpts copied from the transcript they link to. Not medical advice. Not affiliated with, endorsed by, or reviewed by anyone listed. How this works.