Friday's Digest - The Newsletter for Doctors & Scientists

Friday's Digest #124

Apps for Doctors & Scientists Worth Paying for

(and Those That Are Not)

Paying for apps can become very expensive.

But picking the best ones can save you money and boost your productivity.

January 10th, 2025

Friday's Digest - The Newsletter for Doctors & Scientists

For two decades, I've been developing tools that have improved my practice in medicine, dentistry, and scientific research.

Join me every Friday to discover a new tool you can integrate into your workflow as a doctor, a scientist, or both.

I believe in sharing knowledge, embracing automation, boosting productivity, and finding joy in the process.

Life Update
Tools and Tips
Readers’ Favorite
Stuff

Life Update

The move is officially over!

We've settled into our new place, with just a few pieces of furniture left to buy.

Since returning from Boston, these past few weeks have been the most challenging yet.

For those of you who are planning to return home from a fellowship or post-doc, moving to a new apartment is the most difficult part. At least, this is how it was for us.

Now, it's time to go back to basics.

The bread and butter 🍞 🧈🍴.

The good old 9 to 5.

Or, in my case, 5 to 9 😃.

Speaking of basics, today I'll share the paid apps I use every day.

These apps are worth every penny and are perfect for doctors and scientists in their work.

Number 124!

Let's do this.

Tools and Tips

In the past, software was either free or very expensive.

Back in 2007, when I was a PhD student, I remember my mentor paying astronomical prices for EndNote and Adobe Acrobat.

But things have changed.

First, instead of owning software, we now rent it through subscriptions.

Second, free apps are very limited.

This means paying monthly fees, typically from $5 to $30.

And here lies the problem.

Because these monthly fees seem small, it's easy to subscribe to apps you rarely use.

That's exactly what I'll discuss in today's newsletter.

I want to share the list of PAID apps I use every day.

I'll focus on apps I use extensively.

Later, we'll discuss paid apps you should avoid.

Let's start with the good ones:

🔵 Paid Apps Worth Your Money

1️⃣ Readwise Reader - This is THE app I use to read and highlight manuscripts and PDF’s. It includes AI-powered text summarization and text-to-speech capabilities. The reading experience is SUPERB.

💰 Price - $10 per month with annual billing. Students and academics can get it for $5 monthly. You can try it out for 60 days by following this link.

📺 Video - In this video, I explain how I use Readwise Reader.

2️⃣ Dropbox - This is my most trusted cloud backup app since 2010.

After trying every service out there (including the unreliable Google Drive and Microsoft OneDrive), Dropbox remains the only service that has never let me down.

💰 Price - $10 monthly with annual billing for 2 TB storage. You can get an extra 500 MB by following this link.

3️⃣ YouTube Premium - In today's AI-driven world, YouTube has become my go-to resource for learning and troubleshooting— much more reliable than Google search.

The Premium version removes ads and lets me download and listen to videos while the screen is turned off.

💰 Price - Typically $7-8 monthly, it changes by region.

4️⃣ Grammarly - English is not my first language, so this tool is very helpful. It helps me use past perfect correctly, and reduce unnecessary "that".

💰 Price - Sign up for a free trial and wait for special offers from their sales team. You can often get it for around $70 yearly instead of $140.

5️⃣ Anki - One of my best investments ever!

This flashcard app is perfect for students and early-career professionals memorizing complex information like anatomy.

💰 Price - One-time fee of $25.

📺 Video - In this video, I explain how I use Anki.

Now let’s discuss the apps I recommend to avoid.

🔵 Paid Apps That Are a Total Waste of Your Money

1️⃣ EndNote - While it's the most popular referencing app, it shouldn't be.

There's no good reason to use it, especially given its high cost.

Instead, I use Zotero— a fantastic reference app that handles all my citations.

📺 Video - In this video, I explain how I connected Zotero to Notion.

2️⃣ Adobe. Oh, Adobe.

It’s a very popular suite of apps, including Acrobat, Illustrator, Photoshop, and Lightroom.

But it comes with two major drawbacks: they significantly slow down your computer and raise serious privacy concerns.

👨🏻‍🏫 Guide - In this guide, I describe how I stopped using Adobe and started to use the alternatives.

3️⃣ Microsoft Office - The monthly subscription for Microsoft 365 is simply not worth the cost.

Instead, consider either purchasing a perpetual license (one-time fee) or using an institutional license through your university or your child's school.