=== TOTAL CHARACTER COUNT: 11,891 ===


=== SITE HEADER ===
Alexander Kvamme
The personal website and blog of Alexander Kvamme.

=== ABOUT PAGE ===
Hey, I'm Alex.

## Work

* I invest in early stage AI startups with [Quiet Capital](https://www.quiet.com)
    * [Taalas](https://www.taalas.com)
    * [Chroma](https://www.trychroma.com)
    * [Fauna Robotics](https://www.faunarobotics.com)
* I build companies with [Trey Doig](https://www.linkedin.com/in/treydoig/)
    * We're currently working on a new company in the world of AI inference (funded by Quiet Capital).
    * At the dawn of the LLM era, we built Echo AI (acquired by Calabrio/Thoma Bravo).
    * When the iPad came out, we built SeatMe (acquired by Yelp), which was one of the first B2B iPad apps. That's now Yelp Reservations/Waitlist.

## Links

* Socials
    * [X](https://x.com/kvamme)
    * [LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/in/akvamme)
    * [Github](https://www.github.com/apfk88)
* Random websites I've made
    * [carajillo.me](https://www.carajillo.me/) (also redirected from suchagreatdrink.com)
    * [thecostofintelligence.com](https://www.thecostofintelligence.com)
    * [kvam.me/snatch](https://kvam.me/snatch)

## Fun

* Parenting
* Reading (lindy non-fiction, indiscriminate science fiction)
* I'm currently training to complete the [Secret Service Snatch Test](https://www.chroniclesofstrength.com/200-rep-secret-service-kettlebell-snatch-test/)
* Krav Maga
* Cooking
* Guitar

=== BLOG POSTS ===
---
Title: New Computer Setup
Date: 2025-02-13T00:00:00.000Z
---


In the age of AI, I seem to be buying and setting up new computers way more often (RAM maxing). Here's a guide I use to do it. I hope one day, AI can read this and do it for me (that's assuming I even need to use a computer in the future).

## Table of contents

## Initial Setup
* Migration Assistant: never. Fresh start.
* Skip Apple Intelligence - it's crap.

## Before anything else
1. Install [1Password](https://www.1password.com) - so you can login into everything else
  * Turn on developer experience and setup SSH agent
2. Install Browser
  * For personal, I use Safari
    * Install extensions: 1Password, Matter
  * For work, I used to use Arc (RIP), now [Brave](https://brave.com)
      * Setting to vertical tabs
      * Add to sync chain (extensions installed automatically)
  * Log into Google, Github, X
3. Install Terminal: [Warp](https://www.warp.dev)
4. Install Xcode Tools (takes 10 min) `sudo xcode-select --install`

## While Xcode Tools are downloading, install some apps
### IDE
* [Cursor](https://cursor.sh) as my main squeeze
* [Zed](https://zed.dev) - I'm experimenting with Zed + Claude Code as an alternative
### AI
* [ChatGPT](https://openai.com/chatgpt/download/)
  * set shortcut to `Shift+Cmd+Space`
* [LM Studio](https://lmstudio.ai)
* [Ollama](https://ollama.com)
```bash
# If you want to download some models in the background:
ollama run gemma3
ollama run deepseek-r1
ollama run llama3.2
```
### Productivity
* [Superwhisper](https://superwhisper.com) - for voice to text
  * set right `option` key for push to talk
* [Granola](https://granola.ai) - for battery optimization
* Email: [Superhuman](https://superhuman.com)
* Calendar: [Notion Calendar](https://notion.so/calendar)
* [Notion](https://notion.so)
* [Figma](https://www.figma.com)
* MS Word, Excel, Powerpoint (open and login)
* [Raycast](https://www.raycast.com)
  * Hotkey `Cmd+Space`
  * Alias `c` for contact search
  * Hotkey `Shift+Cmd+C` for clipboard history
* [Mochi](https://mochi.cards/) - spaced repetition
### Comms
* [WhatsApp](https://www.whatsapp.com/download)
* [Signal](https://signal.org/download)
* [Slack](https://slack.com/downloads/mac)
* [Zoom](https://zoom.us/download) - start a meeting asap to get permissions set up
### Other
* [Spotify](https://spotify.com)
* [VLC](https://www.videolan.org/vlc/)
* [Amphetamine](https://apps.apple.com/us/app/amphetamine/id937984704?mt=12)
* [Screen Studio](https://screen.studio/)
* [Flux](https://justgetflux.com/)
### Security/Privacy
* [Mullvad VPN](https://mullvad.net/en)
* [Little Snitch](https://www.obdev.at/products/littlesnitch/index.html)
* [Install NextDNS profile](https://my.nextdns.io/setup)


## After XCode finishes, set up local dev environment
I really try to avoid customizing (no dotfiles, vanilla zsh, etc), just to make it easier to setup and maintain. I also don't copy over past brew lists and just install as needed.
* Homebrew `/bin/bash -c "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Homebrew/install/HEAD/install.sh)`
  * `echo >> /Users/ak/.zprofile`
  * `echo 'eval "$(/opt/homebrew/bin/brew shellenv)"' >> /Users/ak/.zprofile`
  * `eval "$(/opt/homebrew/bin/brew shellenv)"`
* UV: `curl -LsSf https://astral.sh/uv/install.sh | sh`
  * `uv python install 3.12`
* FNM: `curl -fsSL https://fnm.vercel.app/install | bash`
  * `fnm install 22`
* Github CLI: `brew install gh`
* PNPM: `brew install pnpm | pnpm setup`
* Claude code: `pnpm install -g @anthropic-ai/claude-code`
* Docker: `brew install docker`
* Vercel: `brew install vercel-cli`
* Cloudflare: `brew install cloudflare-wrangler`
* Other: `brew install mactop node nvm postgresql@16`
* SSH Keys:
```bash
ssh-keygen -t ed25519 -C "your_email@example.com"

eval "$(ssh-agent -s)"
touch ~/.ssh/config
open ~/.ssh/config

# add to config
Host github.com
  AddKeysToAgent yes
  UseKeychain yes
  IdentityFile ~/.ssh/id_ed25519

# run in shell
gh auth login
gh auth refresh -h github.com -s admin:ssh_signing_key
gh ssh-key add ~/.ssh/id_ed25519.pub --type signing
```

## Clean up and update defaults
### Clean Up
  * Delete Numbers, Pages
  * Clear the Dock (hold option and drag off everything)
  * Turn Dock auto-hiding on
### Menubar
  * Stats: `brew install stats`
  * Menubar Management: `brew install jordanbaird-ice`
  * [Itsycal](https://www.mowglii.com/itsycal/)
### Change Defaults
  * System Preferences
    * Turn off all notification sounds (if there's a way to do this in the shell please tell me)
    * Disable dictionary lookup: Trackpad -> Point & Click -> Look up & data detectors off
    * Disable Spotlight search key commands
    * Hotkey for upper right desktop reveal
  * Turn off Apple Passwords in Safari
  * Finder Settings
    * Settings → General
      * Sync Documents and Desktop
      * New finder window > ~
    * Settings → Advanced
      * Show filename extensions
      * When performing a search -> Search the Current Folder
    * Settings → Sidebar
      * Add ~ to Favorites
    * Create `~/Dev` folder and pin it
      * Settings > General >
    ```bash
    # show Library folder
    chflags nohidden ~/Library

    # show hidden files
    defaults write com.apple.finder AppleShowAllFiles YES

    # add pathbar to title
    defaults write com.apple.finder _FXShowPosixPathInTitle -bool true

    # restart finder
    killall Finder;
    ```
## Thanks
Thanks to [swyx](https://www.swyx.io/new-mac-setup) and [Eugene Yan](https://eugeneyan.com/writing/mac-setup/) for inspiration.


=== END OF POST ===

---
Title: Books that stick with me
Date: 2025-01-03T00:00:00.000Z
---


My only measure for a book is "does it stick with me?". Does some part of the book randomly pop up in my head as I go about my day? They happen to also be the books that I like to re-read. The following are books that have stuck with me for some reason or another (which are sometimes very random).

* **1984** by George Orwell
  * Newspeak and the cycle of break, rebuild, breaking again.
* **A Gentleman in Moscow** by Amor Towles
  * The flavors of honey.
* **Albert Einstein: Creator and Rebel** by Banesh Hoffmann with Helen Dukas
  * Albert zoning out (or as the kid's say, locking in)
* **Altered Carbon** by Richard K. Morgan
  * The concept of sleeves. And the name Takeshi Kovacs is hard to forget.
* **Amp It Up** by Frank Slootman
  * The only thing worse than zero customers is a few customers.
* **Assorted Short Stories** by Alastair Reynolds
  * Zima Blue. Galactic North. Weather. Diamond Dogs.
* **Atlas Shrugged** by Ayn Rand
  * Hank Rearden holding on.
* **Bad Science** by Ben Goldacre
  * Every time I see the word "homeopathic".
* **Barbarian Days: A Surfing Life** by William Finnegan
  * A different but equally gripping type of addiction.
* **Blindsight** by Peter Watts
  * Most people say the alien sticks with them, but for me it's the vampires.
* **Cryptonomicon** by Neal Stephenson
  * Enoch Root's memo on his trip through the jungle is one of the funniest things I've ever read.
* **Draft No. 4** by John McPhee
  * The importance (and craft) of choosing the right word. Like listening to an Inuit describe snow.
* **Elon Musk** by Walter Isaacson
  * The algorithm and the absolute rejection of stasis.
* **Fall; or, Dodge in Hell** by Neal Stephenson
  * The birthing of an artificial reality. Painfully detailed only like Neal can.
* **House of Suns** by Alastair Reynolds
  * So much. The Shatterlings witnessing the rise and fall of civilizations through time dilation, and the machine people, perhaps a bit too anthropomorphized but still unforgettable.
* **Hyperion** by Dan Simmons
  * The Shrike of course
* **Now It Can Be Told** by General Leslie R. Groves
  * Simply what was accomplished. The speed and logistical complexity.
* **Only Forward** by Michael Marshall Smith
  * The Neighbourhoods. Cats.
* **Ra** by qntm
  * Magic as low-level code against the universe's operating system.
* **Rainbows End** by Vernor Vinge
  * So much. I've read this book many times. Contact lens AR, ubiquitous networking/IoT, massive affiliate research networks, sming, gesture-based inputs.
* **Reamde** by Neal Stephenson
  * Sokolov. Badass.
* **Redemption Ark** by Alastair Reynolds
  * The conjoiners. Skade's crest.
* **Revelation Space** by Alastair Reynolds
  * Nostalgia for Infinity. Hyperdiamond and ice shields.
* **Seveneves** by Neal Stephenson
  * The first sentence. The space elevator sling.
* **Shantaram** by Gregory David Roberts
  * The overwhelmingly aliveness of India and optimism of the people who live there.
* **Shoe Dog** by Phil Knight
  * Phil's first list of maxims
* **Shogun** by James Clavell
  * Blackthorne's transformation. Honor and Seppuku.
* **Skunk Works** by Ben R. Rich and Leo Janos
  * Building incredible things on time and under budget.
* **Spin** by Robert Charles Wilson
  * The hypotheticals and time dilation
* **Swimming Across** by Andrew S. Grove
  * Arriving in New York with little money and no English, studying chemistry at City College. 
* **Termination Shock** by Neal Stephenson
  * T.R. Schmidt's agency – taking geoengineering into his own hands just yeeting sulfur into the atmosphere.
* **The Accidental Superpower** by Peter Zeihan
  * The importance of geography
* **The Bone Clocks** by David Mitchell
  * Simply the line that gives the book its name: "The elderly can’t die young. They can only die old. They are bone clocks.”
* **The Fish That Ate the Whale** by Rich Cohen
  * Overthrowing governments for bananas.
* **The Last Lion, Volume 2** by William Manchester
  * Churchill's morning routine 
* **The Overstory** by Richard Powers
  * A microcosm, or entire universe for some creatures, within the top branch of one big redwood.
* **The Power of One** by Bryce Courtenay
  * Geel Piet
* **The Prefect** by Alastair Reynolds
  * Choice and voting in The Glitter Band.
* **The Score Takes Care of Itself** by Bill Walsh
  * Answering the phone.
* **The Secret Life of Oaks** by Peter Wohlleben
  * Oaks as keystone organisms.
* **The Sun Also Rises** by Ernest Hemingway
  * People acting alive but underneath being empty.
* **The Wright Brothers** by David McCullough
  * The Wright Brothers as proto-tech-founders. Their work ethic and obsession.
* **There is No Antimemetics Division** by qntm
  * Blind spots. The lizard predator.
* **Zero to One** by Peter Thiel with Blake Masters
  * Monopoly.