Restoring Expensive Tech
Expensive tech has a habit of sitting idle. I’ve bought plenty of it, and the value only arrives when I connect expensive tech into my actual workflow.
You’re reading 350 words of a blog post that Claude created in my voice after using its OCR to read a page of my handwritten notes. I told Claude to review how I write by considering samples it has through its connection with my Obsidian Vault. Doing this process reinforces my apophenia (is that good?).
I’m putting Claude’s ideas inside a Blockquote. I edited this blog post inside my Obsidian before pasting it into my Micro.blog hosting platform.
This whole process took 75 minutes from handwriting in my Rhodia, to making an posting an audio, then letting Claude do OCR before suggesting a blog post in my voice, to posting the result inside the Microblog CMS.
This all started around 0730 with Claude reviewing my handwriting about my Bose QuietComfort earbuds. Blockquote content is unedited Claude.
They’re a lovely bit of kit, but silence is only useful if I have something worth hearing. The same goes for the Fire Point FP-5 Flamingo. It’s a Ukrainian ground-launched cruise missile, not a ballistic one, with a claimed range of 3,000 km and a 1,150 kg warhead (Liga.net, 2025a). On paper that puts Moscow within reach of launch sites in Ukraine, yet its chief designer has said Moscow’s layered air defences make it a harder target than other Russian cities (NV English, 2025). Iryna Terekh, Fire Point’s CEO, says production is still short of the target of seven a day (NV English, 2026). Even headline engineering is only as good as the system around it.
So I’ve been restoring value by building workflows around my tools, and each one has a “now” and a “soon”.
Talking Points OS. Right now this notional OS lives in my Vault, where my notes and ideas are organised and ready. Soon I’ll drive it by audio command, so I can speak a thought and have it land where it belongs.
Dashboard. Today, Claude summarises my project status in seconds. Soon I’ll be able to ask, “What does Coach say about Project 2611?” and get a straight answer from my own material.
CamPro. For now its project files stay tidy and findable inside my Drive. But soon it becomes an Educator OS paired with Camtasia, so recording, editing and teaching sit in one flow. I want to consult with Frances O’Donnell and Ken McCarthy about this–before DEC26.
Handwriting to blog post. This is the one I enjoy most. Right now my ideas are printed by hand in a Rhodia notebook, which is slow and wonderfully tactile. Soon a 300-word, Claude-powered blog will take that handwriting and turn it into something publishable.
You’re reading the proof of that last step. A handwritten list in a dotted notebook became this post without losing my voice along the way.
Restoring expensive tech isn’t about repairing hardware. It’s about giving each device or tool a job, then closing the gap between now and soon. Value comes from use, not from ownership.
Claude, Copilot/ChatGPT, and Gemini always want me to close with a Call to Action.
Which expensive gadget in your drawer deserves a second chance?
I need to cross-check these references but they were part of background I used with Tipp Today and Fran Curry.
Out of a habit that stretches back to my days as a university lecturer, I made an audio clip related to this post. During part of the 25 years I spent in classrooms, I discovered people would listen to me well beyond the tea room by catching up with my Topgold Audio Clips on Spotify.
Listen to “Restoring expensive tech Episode 739” on Spreaker.
References
Liga.net (2025a) Associated Press: Ukraine produces one Flamingo long-range missile a day. Available at: news.liga.net/en/politi… (Accessed: 14 October 2026).
NV English (2025) Ukraine’s Flamingo missile chief designer confirms combat use. Available at: english.nv.ua/nation/fl… (Accessed: 14 October 2026).
NV English (2026) Fire Point unveils proprietary turbojet engine for FP-5 Flamingo cruise missiles. Available at: english.nv.ua/nation/fi… (Accessed: 14 October 2026).