∞

What caught my attention in week twenty-nine, 2024

In continuation of week 28, here are a few thoughts and things that caught my attention in the twenty-ninth week of 2024:

  • 📱 Just in time for its tenth anniversary the rewrite of Overcast was released. I had canceled my subscription months ago, but since it hasn’t expired yet, I downloaded the new version and used it over the past week. It seems significantly more performant than before, but its UI is still confusing. I think I’ll switch back to Apple’s Podcast App, which I am also not really satisfied with.

  • 📑 With Showdown, a free presentation app based on Markdown has been released. I’ve been using Deckset for a while, and then there’s Hyperdeck or, of course, iA Presenter, all of which can do similar things.

  • 📱 The first beta of Tapestry for iOS by the Iconfactory was distributed to Kickstarter backers; it is still just a concept; I am curious to see how it develops.

  • 🤖 Sindre’s AI Actions for the Shortcuts app now supports GPT-4o mini.

  • 🍌 BananaBin was released in version 1.0 and here you can find some other weird but useful macOS apps.

  • 🔋 The battery capacity of my iPhone 14 Pro was down to 79% after just 1.5 years, so I used Apple’s Express Replacement Service through Apple Care+. You have to hand it to Apple, I had the replacement device in my hands the next day. The migration went quite well. My second prepaid eSIM was not as easy to transfer, but it was eventually reactivated. But guess what didn’t work afterward? Altstore PAL along with Delta and Clip1. A knave who thinks ill of it.

  • 🚑 My wife had a collarbone fracture a few weeks ago, had to undergo surgery, and now has a plate inside her. About a week ago, she suddenly experienced severe pain again. It turned out that two screws had come loose. Now she has to be operated on again. I feel very sorry for her.

  • 🔪 The new Victorinox Damast Limited Edition 2024 was released. Additionally, as a big Victorinox fan, I found this video by Jon Gadget interesting. He was invited to the company headquarters after he had posted a critical video some time ago.

  • 🎮 Continued my journey in The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening .

  • 🌐 Enjoyed Everybody’s Free (to Make Websites), even though I didn’t even know the original before.

I wish you all a wonderful week and perhaps even relaxing holidays! 🌴

  1. I had to delete Altstore and both apps, restart my phone and reinstall the store and its apps and of course all my roms, settings and save files are gone … ↩︎

∞

What caught my attention in week twenty-eight, 2024

In continuation of week 27, here are a few thoughts and things that caught my attention in the twenty-eighth week of 2024:

  • 🆓 DEVONtechnologies released their free Neo Network Utility app for macOS.

  • 🛠️ Another new app from Sindre: Menu Bar Spacing - Customize the gap between menu bar items.

  • 📄 ‎BeyondPDF - BeyondPDF is your intelligent document companion, here to change the way you search for content in your PDF files. It works locally, without sending data to any AI startup, but so far, only for English texts. I am still waiting for a real use case and therefore cannot comment on its quality yet.

  • 🎥 Telestream - Use Continuity Camera from your menu bar!

  • 💸 There was another series of discounts for software from indie developers as part of the IndieAppSales. This time I didn’t go overboard like at the beginning of the year, but there were still a few very nice new apps to discover.

  • 💰 Speaking of discounts, Skoro 3.0 is still available at a reduced price.

  • 🍎 Apple has approved UTM SE for iOS on the App Store.

  • 📱 Many people in my Apple bubble are impressed by this really cheap and very stylish Android mobile phone. Instead of a used iPhone, I might also buy a CMF Phone 1 for one of my sons if the need suddenly arose. A few years ago, this would have been unthinkable for me. BTW, since the end of last week, the Vision Pro is now available in Germany, and I haven’t even thought about checking out the device in person. That would have been unthinkable a few years ago, too. Due to what I believe to be very poor software quality lately, their behavior towards developers, and childish actions against the EU’s demands, Apple has actually managed to kill any interest I had in new devices from Cupertino. What a shame 😢.

  • 🏳️‍🌈 Niléane from MacStories published an article about her impression that LGBT and Marginalized Voices Are Not Welcome on Threads. She and Federico received the unfortunately expected feedback directly. I don’t understand why people have such a problem with others just being different from them. What are they afraid of? It’s great to see that Niléane received a lot of support from within the Mastodon community and many people took this as an opportunity to donate to various organizations.

  • 🤧 My cold is getting better. I hope that I can finally get back on my bike in the course of next week.

  • 🎮 Analogue announced an Aluminum Edition of the Pocket. Unfortunately, it’s unaffordable for me. Additionally, the Odin 2 Mini looks extremely tempting, and the Ayaneo Pocket EVO with an OLED screen has also been announced 🤷‍♂️.

  • 🎮 Instead, I’ve added the SCUF Nomad Mobile Gaming Controller to my wishlist. (BTW there’s a review at Retro Game Corps if you’re interested.)

  • 🕹️ I finally played through Firewatch and started The Legend of Zelda - Link’s Awakening on my Nintendo Switch.

Have a nice week! 🌞

∞

IndieAppSales Summer 2024

Indie App Sales! is running again, this time from July 9th to 10th.

The last sale wasn’t that long ago, so the list of apps I checked out or bought this time is significantly shorter than my last one. However, this still means that those who didn’t make a purchase last time might find something they like this time.

  • Authenticator App Widget - thinking about buying it; I should delete my Twilio account and I can still not decide if I should keep my 2FA in iCloud Keychain, hardware token, 1PW or an independent third party app
  • Bookmarks - URL manager - I just have to buy and try every bookmark manager out there
  • Bookmarks+ - c.f. Bookmarks 😎
  • Fasty: Intermittent Fasting - downloaded (may always be available for free)
  • Find Any File (FAF) - Lou recommended it before and now was a good opportunity to purchase it; did not try yet myself
  • GamingBuddy: Games Discovery - looks interesting, but it’s regular price is not worth it for me and therefore I won’t go with the discount for the first year either
  • Gentler Streak - I think I will skip it this time again
  • Plinky - looked briefly into the free version; even 50% off $45 for the yearly subscription is way too much money for me, esp. considering the fact that Anybox only costs $18 / a or $45 for Lifetime
  • PowerPhotos - I actually use several photo libraries at work, but I think I can probably continue to get by without this app; if I do need it, I just have to pay the full price, which is not that much more expensive than its sale price
  • Söka: Al Bucket List Generator - I enjoyed using Söka but I am just not travelling enough
  • Surfed - History & Bookmark Manager - bought the Lifetime Purchase and will re-evaluate

What did you buy this year? Are there any other gems that I have overlooked so far?

∞

What caught my attention in week twenty-seven, 2024

In continuation of week 25, here are a few thoughts and things that caught my attention in the twenty-sixth and twenty-seventh week of 2024:

At the end of the 26th week, I suddenly became ill. It started with a sore throat, followed by headaches, cough, runny nose, and total exhaustion. I am still not completely fit. Covid tests were negative, but I suspect that I caught the summer wave 🤒. Since I spent a lot of time sleeping in bed, I could only evaluate a few things, but I bookmarked a few programs that might be helpful later on.

  • 🖼️ Upscayl - Free and Open Source AI Image Upscaler.

  • 🌐 WiredBuddy - The missing icon for ethernet interfaces. And matching: Online Check by Sindre Sorhus.

  • 🚶‍♂️ Strolly - Generated daily walks: The app generates short (or longer) walking routes based on your location. I imagine the app to be quite helpful, especially if you are somewhere else and want to plan a dog walk.

  • 🗑️ BananaBin - Lets you know when to empty the MacOS Bin. This is definitely the app I was waiting for! (And 100% worth giving it full disk access 😇.) And be sure to install Ball as well.

  • 💻 About-This-Hack - Discover your hardware on macOS with this simple, user-friendly hardware info app that retains the beloved design language of the classic ‘About This Mac’ interface, while gaining access to a wealth of additional features.

  • 📝 Zavala: This promising looking outliner had flown under my radar until now.

  • 🗺️ Avenue-GPX-Viewer - A simple and easy GPX viewer for macOS. I use myTracks, but if you are looking for a simple and open source GPX viewer, you could check out Avenue.

  • 🌍 Overlap - Time zones made simple.

  • 👀 DockDoor - Window peeking for macOS. Personally, “too much” for me but maybe great for you …

  • 💸 Support an Indie Developer today! - Indie App Sales is back for our July ‘24 Edition for two days only - July 9-10! Lot’s of discounted apps 🥰.

  • 📊 Datawrapper - Create charts, maps, and tables. Looks like a very promising web application.

  • 💰 YNAB has unfortunately increased prices again. I still can’t imagine life without it, but Canion has already started looking for alternatives.

  • 🐘 Thanks to Michael I can look up all those custom Mastodon icons (emojos) of a given instance from the web. (BTW if you’re interested in additional data, you could check out Mastowatch.)

  • 💻 Mac OS Fake Update Screen: That’s a great one for procrastination for sure. And right after the update is finished you can visit One Million Checkboxes.

  • ✏️ Habib linked to the Hyper Realistic Pencil Drawings of Metallic Objects by Kohei Ohmori. Wow!

Stay healthy and have a great week! 🙌

∞

TIL that you can scroll the list of Shortcuts in Apple’s Shortcut menu item.

Screenshot of a list of shortcuts in the menu bar icon
∞

TIL that you can open a copy of a message in Apple Mail to edit and resend it via ⇧⌘D. I never thought about this feature, but it seems quite useful.

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What caught my attention in week twenty-five, 2024

In continuation of week 24, here are a few thoughts and things that caught my attention in the twenty-fifth week of 2024:

As always, have a wonderful week ahead! 🙋‍♂️

  1. German computer magazine ↩︎

  2. behind paywall: www.heise.de/select/ct… ↩︎

  3. behind paywall: www.heise.de/select/ct… ↩︎

∞

What caught my attention in week twenty-four, 2024

In continuation of week 23, here are a few thoughts and things that caught my attention in the 24th week of 2024.

My eldest son has a guest student from America visiting, who will be staying with us for the next three weeks. Last week was therefore very much about preparation and, after his arrival, a lot of social activities. I really hope, he enjoys his stay with us 😅.

I still watched the WWDC keynote and exceptionally listened to the Talk Show. I will leave the further reporting and commentary to others. Besides that, there was very little I watched this week or that I had a chance to try.

  • 🔍 Somewhere I stumbled upon fastfetch-cli, which can also be installed via Homebrew; a nice tool for the CLI.

  • 🗓️ If you would like to use an event countdown iOS app but don’t want to spend money on a subscription for Up Ahead or Pinning, you might want to take a look at Countdown Widget - The best app for your important events.

  • 🖼️ Very beautiful wallpapers: macOS Sequoia 1984 Macintosh Wallpapers.

  • 📱 A new version of Barcodes for iOS was released. I don’t carry many plastic cards anymore, but this seems to be a very nice app to digitize them.

  • 🎬 The trailer for DOOM: The Dark Ages was released.

  • 🤖 Robb has declared war on AI companies: Blocking Bots with Nginx and Perplexity AI Is Lying about Their User Agent.

  • 🐻 Somehow, half of my timeline seems to be discovering Bear Blog, and I had to first learn that it has nothing to do with the app Bear - Markdown Notes.

  • 😊 I was very pleased that Lou mentioned me on his Junited List.

  • 🎮 My wife doesn’t like video games being played in the living room, and she also doesn’t want to tolerate a bigger TV there1. On the other hand, my 24" 4K LG monitor for the Mac in my room unfortunately doesn’t have an HDMI input, so I could only use the PS5 remotely or when she was already in bed. That should change, and last week I was looking for a monitor that is at least 27" in size, provides 4K, 120 Hz, 90 W USB-C PD Upstream with DP alt., Audio out, at least one HDMI input, and could actually be purchased. The picture quality should also not be terrible. There are shockingly few options. Anyway, it ended up being the ASUS ROG Swift OLED PG32UCDM and I am totally blown away 🤷‍♂️🤦‍♂️🤣.

Have a wonderful week! 🌟

Update 2024-06-18: added link to 🤖 paragraph

  1. ours is only Full HD and 32" 😢 ↩︎

∞

I wonder how many people don’t know that in iOS they can access a multiple selection mode in lists with a double tap and hold, e.g. in Apple Mail, with which they can very easily mark many mails as read, for example. That’s only one of so many non-discoverable features in iOS.

∞

macOS apps I wish were better

I am a long-time macOS user and over the decades I’ve tried a lot of different apps. Many I have used only briefly or they were discontinued after some time. However, some grow close to my heart, accompany me for countless years, and make my daily life easier. Nevertheless, sometimes some of them eventually lose their shine or fall behind, and I use them just out of habit or nostalgia, even though there are (supposedly) better alternatives.

Currently, there are mainly three programs for me that fall under this category:

DevonThink could have become the native macOS version of Obsidian for me, but with Version 3, I somehow lost access to it. Nowadays, I only use the app, which once shaped my workday, as a storage place for PDFs. That makes me sad.

Launchbar hasn’t seen any real innovations for a very long time, and more significantly, sometimes it starts with a delay on my Macs, which leads to unwanted keystrokes in other programs. There is a plugin system, but I wish the community was as motivated and diverse as with Raycast.

1Password was such a great password manager. Since the update to Version 8 and the switch to Electron, it no longer feels native, it’s sluggish and buggy. The Safari integration1 has become unusable for me, and I currently keep my passwords in both 1PW and Apple’s Keychain. I think with the appearance of Sequoia in the fall, I will probably say goodbye entirely. Even though it will be hard for me.

  1. for sure this is not only 1PW’s fault ↩︎

∞

What caught my attention in week twenty-three, 2024

In continuation of week 22, here are a few thoughts and things that caught my attention in the twenty-third week of 2024:

  • 🔑 As the Safari integration of 1Password is getting worse and worse - at least for me it is so buggy, that I have disabled the Safari extension and moved my passwords to Apple’s Keychain1 - I am looking for alternatives. I actually don’t want to store my passwords only with Apple, either. I feel too locked in there. But using 1PW in parallel with iCloud seems weird to me in the long run. So, I looked around and for the emerging passkey front I ordered a Token2 security key, which arrived this week. According to its description, it “combines hardware-based authentication, public-key cryptography, TOTP/HOTP, U2F, and FIDO2 protocols to protect your accounts.” To make a long story short, this post-password world is still way too complicated for me. OTP/HOTP, U2F, and FIDO2?! 🤯 The token stores passkeys but also 2FA codes, and I never know what exactly where and when. Sometimes passkeys alone are enough to log in, sometimes I have to enter an additional 2FA OTP, sometimes - as with Mastodon - the 2FA seems to be the passkey and I still need a username and PW! For the token2 to work, I have to touch it, enter a 6-digit code on my Mac, and then touch it again. That’s much more cumbersome than just putting my finger on the touch ID sensor of my Macbook. On my Mac, I can access the stored passkey (but not all or just the OTP tokens, I dont know) on the token2 only very awkwardly but at least via Chrome’s settings page. OTP codes can be accessed via the iPhone app but not the passkeys. WTF?! I don’t understand anything. In addition, my most important accounts still don’t support passkeys. Parallel to this, the macOS version of ProtonPass was released this week, and the annual subscription could be purchased for 10 €. What the heck, I thought, and I purchased it. The Mac app seems, like 1Password, to be an Electron app, and it feels like they just released a web wrapper. It is still far from being a viable alternative. Maybe I have to hope for the rumor mill come true and enjoy Apple’s standalone password manager starting this fall? Anyway, I could not agree more: A Passwordless Future Needs Portability.

  • 🚨 There was a bit of fuss this week about the app Bartender for macOS, which I have highly appreciated so far. I uninstalled it and have been using Ice since a couple of days, as mentioned. It works flawlessly.

  • 🗺️ Organic Maps: Offline Map on the App Store now also supports iCloud sync.

  • 📚 Sequel, the manager for a variety of media, received a major update. I am actually very happy with Booktracks, Gamery, and TV Forecast, but I started testing the app again. I am not yet sure if there is a place for an additional, more general app.

  • 🌐 I also tried Surfed again because I actually find the idea of the app very cool. However, it somehow did not reliably record my history and synchronize it between my three used devices. This led to me not finding the things I was looking for, so I will let the subscription expire at the end of the month.

  • 📶 Little Snitch shows network usage in the menu bar on my work computer. If you are looking for a free alternative for just this function, you can check out ‎Scaler Bandwidth Monitor.

  • ⏲️ I have been using Rocket for a long time, but Horo - the best free timer app for Mac from the same developer had slipped through my fingers until now.

  • 🍏 Apple already announced the 2024 winners and finalists - Apple Design Awards. Congrats to ‎Crouton: Recipe Manager on the App Store. (I only wish there was an import feature for Mela, the app I currently use.)

  • 🤖 I’m Not Anti-AI spoke to my soul, and since I’m already mentioning Michael, I was very pleased with his mention in the Junited post 🥰.

  • 📸 I learned that on macOS, you can open an image with Quick Look by hitting the Space bar and then just select all recognized text (⌘A) and copy it (⌘C) to your clipboard 🤯.

  • 🧸 I had to stop collecting LEGO sets due to space constraints and definitely must not buy the Evercade Alpha Bartop Arcade System.

  • 🎮 However, I couldn’t prevent myself from acquiring a Nintendo N64 console. Thanks to 2x Line Doubler and RetroScaler N64 BlueRetro Wireless Controller Bluetooth Adapter, I can now play Mario 64 with my Nintendo 64 Bluetooth Controller. Please don’t ask why I don’t just do it via Nintendo Switch Online, EmuDeck on the Steam Deck, or simply my iPhone with Delta 🤷‍♂️.

  • 🎨 Speaking of which: more awesome skins for Delta: Delta Pocket - Transparent Edition.

  • 📱 And: Nintendo 3DS Emulator for iPhone Released in App Store With Caveats.

  • 🔋 If you don’t trust macOS’s built-in battery management, don’t use AlDente, and are looking for another application of this kind, you might want to check out BatFi – maximize your Mac’s battery lifespan. BTW I have decided that the built-in function must suffice for me.

  • 🔋 Same topic, different area: AirBattery - Get the battery usage of all your devices at once! I noted it down in case AirBuddy stops working someday.

  • 🌐 If you ask nicely, you might be able to test a new web-based feed reader: An introduction to Sublime Feed.

  • 💻 Johnny Decimal brings Ellane the command line of macOS. If you want to dive deeper afterward, I can definitely recommend Take Control of the Mac Command Line with Terminal.

  • 🛠️ I had planned months ago to finally dive into to the Gridfinity system. Somehow, I never had the time to pick out the right base plates. Thanks to the “reminder” from Marcus and the hint about these baseplates, I just started with one desk drawer. I already knew it, but oh, how awesome is that! I definitely won’t get out of this rabbit hole anytime soon. BTW thanks to Gridfinity Extended, you can easily click together all sorts of things with OpenSCAD.

  • 🎙️ MacStories has added two new podcasts to its family. The pilot episodes were entertaining. However, based on their teasers, I honestly expected a little more than using the Reminders backend in Fantastical or playing games on the iPad with a controller to get the hosts out of their Comfort Zone 😈.

  • 🗣️ German-speaking readers should try the dialect test from the Swiss Tages-Anzeiger, which has made its rounds on the web. I’m still unsure how they fake it, but the precision of the results is amazing.

  • 🇪🇺 This weekend are European elections. Go vote! (And vote for a democratic party!)

  • 🍏 Next week is the WWDC. It will not be a bug fix year once again. I hope so much that Apple can resist the urge to integrate pointless AI functions into every little app. (I just want a PDF reader that doesn’t mess up my annotations and a more stable system in general 😢.)

  • 🙋‍♂️ I’ve received my fist feedback email to a blog post I wrote. Friendly shout-out to Darren!

  • 😮 Apart from that, this week in my filter bubble I learnt once again that we are all just people with feelings and that they can be hurt very quickly. I hope that the apologies were sincere and, above all, that they are accepted. Being able to forgive is also a very important trait in a tolerant community.

Have a great week! 🙋‍♂️

  1. whatever they are calling it now ↩︎

∞

Bartender Alternatives

Bartender was acquired and neither the original programmer nor the new owner informed about it. Since the app requires extensive permissions to perform its service, including screen recording, and the communication about the sale apparently went rather catastrophically1, many users are somehow concerned and are looking for an alternative. Fortunately, there are some, but I have not dealt with them much, as I have been using Bartender since its initial release many years ago.

So far, I have come across the following apps, which can now be looked at more closely with regard to their privacy policy and, of course, their suitability as a replacement:2

Which one are you using?

Most people seem to be very happy with Hidden Bar and Ice, both FOSS. And there is now an official (?4) response from Bartender’s original developer Ben Surtees you can read here or here. And another statement from the new owners was published on their blog as well.

Updates

  • 2024-06-07: added footnote 4
  • 2024-06-06: added update above and a link to Michael Tsai in footnote 1 😎
  • 2024-06-05: added OnlySwitch, thanks to Marcus, link to the github version of Hidden Bar, and link to AppleInsider
  • 2024-06-13: added link to new developer statement
  • 2024-07-17: added BTT

  1. There is only one small note on their support page informing about a certificate change. The full extent of this has been very nicely summarised on AppleInsider. You can read some more responses to this whole saga on Michael Tsai’s blog. ↩︎

  2. Alternatively, one can potentially revert to a Bartender version prior to the sale (5.0.48) and additionally block its connections to the internet, e.g., via Little Snitch. ↩︎

  3. That’s the one I just started using without any particular reason and it works just great so far. ↩︎

  4. Of course, there are already speculations that the texts were not written by him and were created by ChatGPT. ↩︎

∞

TIL that on macOS you can open an image with Quick Look by hitting Space bar and then just select all recognised text (⌘A) and copy it (⌘C) to your clipboard 🤯.

∞

What caught my attention in week twenty-two, 2024

In continuation of week 21, here are a few thoughts and things that caught my attention in the 22. week of 2024:

  • 🚴‍♂️ This week was relatively quiet in terms of tech-related news, partly because my wife had a bicycle accident in the middle of the week. I have borrowed a car, transported her 100 km from one hospital to the local one, she had surgery, and now she is hopefully recovering quickly at home and will soon be back on her feet (and back on the bike).

  • 🌦️ CARROT Weather has been released in version 6.

  • 💻 The trick on how to Get ChatGPT for Mac and skip the waitlist actually works seamlessly.

  • ⏯️ This week, I repeatedly1 came across IINA - the modern media player for macOS - which I amusingly already had in my bookmarks collection but hadn’t looked at yet. While I was at it, I finally connected Transloader with Downie. BTW: Papertube - Turn any YouTube podcast, TED Talk, or chat into easy-to-read text with real speaker names: I need to take a closer look at it when I get the chance. And while I’m at it, cobalt also looks like an interesting service.

  • 📝 pixelgraphix pointed out Bebop. If Drafts is an overkill (or maybe too expensive) for you, you might be able to quickly and easily push texts to Obsidian with this really nice app.

  • 📅 I use Dato, but if you’re only interested in the Week Number in the menu bar, you can install the app of the same name from the same developer for free.

  • 📱 I completely overlooked that there is now a sister application for iOS for Carbon Copy Cloner. I need to check it out when I get the chance.

  • 🎥 ‎Kino - Pro Video Camera from the makers of Halide has been released. It also looks very promising.

  • 🎮 In a quiet moment, I need to take a closer look at this: Another Majora’s Mask PC Port Is Here.

  • 🎮 I wasn’t aware until now that you can even run Android on the Steam Deck. I’ll keep that in mind until I figure out what I would actually use it for 😎.

  • 💻 Recently, I wanted to find out what a specific setting is called in English in macOS System Settings, so I set up a virtual macOS installation with UTM - Virtual machines for Mac. Wow, that was easy. (Unfortunately, I can’t manage to access external USB devices/hard drives yet.) Next, I should get into Docker…

  • 🎮 This week, after more than two months, my “repaired,” i.e., replaced Playdate arrived. It’s now the third one. Maybe this one will last a bit longer 🤞.

  • 🎮 I also acquired an old Nintendo N64 console. The picture quality of PAL games on the PAL version of the console is abysmally bad on my LG LED TV. Interestingly, NTSC games, started from the Everdrive, look good 🤷‍♂️.

  • 🌐 I was happy to hear from Adam again.

Have a great week and take care 😇

  1. among others at Markus (blog in 🇩🇪) ↩︎

∞

TIL that the number of a CR battery indicates its diameter and thickness. For example, CR2032 is 20 mm wide and 3.2 mm thick.

∞

In the whole Pro discussion about the iPad, I always miss the decisive factor for me: There is no multi-user support. I’m not going to spend €2000 on an ultra-modern device that only one person in the household can use, whereas a Macbook Air is available to the whole family for a very similar price.

∞

What caught my attention in week twenty-one, 2024

In continuation of week 20, here are a few thoughts and things that caught my attention in the 21. week of 2024:

Have a nice week! 🙋‍♂️

∞

Finished reading: Doom Guy by John Romero 📚

∞

What caught my attention in week twenty, 2024

In continuation of week 18, here are a few thoughts and things that caught my attention in the 19. - 20. week of 2024:

  • 🚴‍♂️ I was cycling with my wife for a few days along the former East-West German border. The weather was fantastic, the inclines were not to be underestimated but manageable. A bit of a shame, but we tried to take it with humour: Once again, we had to realize that the concept of Deutsche Bahn has unfortunately totally failed. Train travel is an absolute disaster in our country, and that makes me very sad and angry at the FDP (the party that provides our transport minister). But that’s a topic for another time.

  • 📵 During the bike tour, I decided to take a one or two-week break from social media. I deleted my Mastodon clients from my devices (I already don’t use Threads, Instagram, X, Facebook, etc.) and also avoided YouTube. I still read a few posts in my RSS reader, though. So, do I feel better now? I don’t think so, but it was good anyways, I think.1

What else was interesting to me?

  • 🚴‍♂️ Hammerhead Karoo 3 In-Depth Review: Worth the Upgrade?: there’s a successor to my current bike computer. Since my two biggest criticisms, battery life and responsiveness, have obviously not been addressed, I am not in danger of wanting to spend the 500 € (!) for it for now.

  • 🎮 ‎RetroArch has been released for iOS and similar platforms. For those who aren’t totally into retro gaming, dedicated emulators like Delta, PPSPPP are probably the much more convenient way to enjoy some old games. Nevertheless, it’s wonderful to see that RetroArch now runs on the iPhone and especially on the AppleTV! (I use a dedicated Raspberry Pi with Batocera or my Analogue Pocket with its dock for the TV, though.)

  • 📑 ‎PDF Squeezer is now also available for iOS.

  • 💾 Carbon Copy Cloner has been released in version 7, and I took the opportunity to support the developer by purchasing the upgrade.

  • 🖼️ If you have an old, currently unused iPad lying around (I’ve heard there are new ones 😇), you might want to check out Synced Photo Frame by Re-Frame and repurpose it as a digital photo frame.

  • 🖼️ Photo Tape - Connect Images: the app looks like a pretty neat way to simply merge images.

  • 🔖 Plinky - Easily Save Links: there’s another bookmark manager. I just bought the lifetime license for Anybox and therefore my search (for now) is over.

  • ⏳ ‎Time - Ring - the elegant and fun way to count down to your most anticipated events! For those interested who haven’t yet paid for Pinning, Up Ahead (which has resumed development), Countdowns, or one of the many other apps and are looking for a simple, free option.

  • 🎮 I installed chiaki4deck on my Steam Deck and can now effortlessly do PS5 Remote Play. However, I fear that someone might empty half the PSN Store with my account, but certain risks have to be taken 😬

  • 🎮 Due to the early access release of Hades II, the first one was very cheap, so I bought it for the Steam Deck and started playing it. Actually, I wanted to keep my hands off these rogue-like games, but it’s just too good.

  • 🌞 Have a great week!

  1. That was also the reason why there was no blog post from me last week. I assume almost no one noticed ;-) ↩︎

∞

What caught my attention in week eighteen, 2024

In continuation of week 17, here are a few thoughts and things that caught my attention in the 18. week of 2024:

  • 🚀 Carlo just released a beta of UI Actions. It follows his awesome Actions for Obsidian, but with this you can script macOS apps that lack native shortcut integration. Definitely an app to keep an eye on, as an addition or alternative to Keyboard Maestro.

  • 🕹️ It seems like every week a handful of new retro handhelds hit the market. Whether interest will wane due to Delta, I don’t know, but for those like me who have long lost track of all the different devices, take a look at Handheld List.

  • 🐰 Following the humane AI pin disaster, the second AI gadget, rabbit R1, doesn’t fare much better: Rabbit R1: Barely Reviewable. But at least it’s orange, costs only a fraction of its sibbling, and looks totally cute on a shelf next to a playdate console. Speaking of which, in week 12 the crank handle of mine broke, I sent it in for repair, and now the replacement device has been waiting somewhere in America to be shipped for over 4 weeks 😢. I’m curious to see if I will ever see my playdate again 🤞.

  • 📦 On Bento3D you can easily click together boxes for your 3D printer according to your needs and download the corresponding .stl files. I wish it were compatible with Gridfinity.

  • ⌨️ I am a long-time Typinator user and there are a bunch of other alternatives for text expansion, but someone1 mentioned Espanso. So, this might be worth checking out if you’re still on the hunt.

  • 🖱️ As previously mentioned, I own a KeyCue license, which I don’t really utilize, but a nice feature is its ability to add your own shortcuts to menu entries. If you only want to use this feature and have so far not employed the cumbersome method of doing it via the Settings app, you might want to take a look at the free app CustomShortcuts – Customize menu keyboard shortcuts.

  • ⌚ For months, the capacity display of my Apple Watch S7 stood at exactly 80%. Apple replaces the battery for free if it drops to 79% and you are paying for Apple Care. I was about to file a class-action lawsuit because I was sure the value would never drop to 79% 😇. However, this week it finally happened and my watch was replaced. It’s great not to risk the watch refusing to work in the afternoon. I think this also means I can get by with my current model for another year and not be in a bind wanting a new one in the fall. What I found interesting was that despite a backup, not all settings were transferred to the new one. So, I had to search in vain in the Watch app on my phone and then in the settings directly on the watch for where to set that a simple swipe on the watch face switches to another. I couldn’t find it and had to consult the internet. I’ve had better experiences with Apple’s UI in the past I must say. A few other little things were also not set correctly. It’s as if an intern at Apple had quit, and now the latest settings are no longer included in the backup routine 🤷‍♂️.

  • 🎮 I had actually forbidden myself from buying games for other platforms if I already own them for one. Well, buying Hades for less than 9 EUR for the Steam Deck, even though I already have the PS5 version, was definitely the last exception 🤦‍♂️. Luckily, Nintendo stubbornly prevents me from logging into their eShop with my mobile phone (despite the disabled ad blocker and paused pi hole), so at least I’m not in danger of acquiring the Switch version as well.

  • 📚 I wish it wouldn’t cost 300 € to have Reader running on an E-Ink Android device.

  • 📖 Anyone who has ever wanted to test how well they can type can do so by copying a book: Practice typing by retyping ENTIRE novels — TypeLit.io.

  • 💾 The small 88x31 icons in the website footer are enjoying great popularity again. BTW those by Andy are awesome. If you want to take a look at the originals from GeoCities, you’ll find them here: THE 88×31 ARCHIVE.

  • 🎮 I don’t own a Nintendo 64 console, but I’ve already ordered an EVERDRIVE-64 X5 just in case 🤷‍♂️.

  • 🎥 Watched The Terminator with my sons. Also, I resubscribed to trakt.tv. I think the service is worth supporting.

  • 🚴 Finally got to ride my bike outside several times this week 🥰.

Have a great week! 🙋‍♂️

  1. Sorry, I forgot who it was 😅. Update 2024-05-06: It was most probably Marcus. ↩︎