Wednesday, November 26, 2025
PSA: Right now is a good time to buy Indie Software for macOS and iOS. There are lists online with hundreds of discounted apps, e.g. indieappsales.com or github and Lou has a Roundup of his AppAddict Reviews on Sale. But it’s even easier than this. Just buy all the apps you don’t own yet from the Editor’s Choice bundle. You’re welcome ;-)
Friday, June 13, 2025
I have been listening to podcasts regularly for a very long time, actually since the iPod era. Sometimes more, sometimes less. Of course, I’ve tried many apps because of this. I’ve used Pocket Casts, Castro for a long time, Overcast, and then one app or another, going back to Apple’s Podcast app a few times. Somehow, there were always things that bothered me. Sometimes the interface was too complex, and sometimes I missed essential features.
Thursday, May 8, 2025
An independent reader for book lovers. I was looking for a third party alternative to Apple's Books.app - found it: Yomu EBook Reader. Single purchase if you want pro features, like iCloud sync, or just support its developer. Screenshot Yomu Homepage (07.05.2025) www.yomu-reader.com
Thursday, February 20, 2025
Rediscover the joy of reading your favorite writers and publications with Unread. Unread is a (not exactly cheap, subscription based) classic RSS client for iOS, iPadOS, and macOS with a strong focus on design and typography and a perfectly harmonised feature set. I am thrilled. Unread Homepage Screenshot (2025-02-20) www.goldenhillsoftware.com
Monday, December 2, 2024
I use a variety of apps and services across iOS, macOS, and the web. Most operate on subscription models, and although I aim to keep each subscription under € 5 per month, the total monthly cost can quickly become significant. At the end of 2023, I reviewed all the apps and services I was subscribed to and decided to cancel some of them. Now, one year later, it’s time to revisit my list of subscriptions.
Monday, December 2, 2024
Make Screenshot Stitching Easy with Picsew! Picsew is IMHO a truly underrated app whose potential is not immediately apparent. Among scrollshot stitching and other things, you can e.g. effortlessly add device frames to screenshots and pay less for its full version than you pay for other apps in a single month. Highly recommended. Picsew App Store Screenshot (02.12.2024) apps.apple.com/us/app/picsew-scrollshot-collage
Monday, November 25, 2024
It has now been over a year since Andrew, Martin, and Jason of Hemispheric Views listed their app defaults, causing probably the biggest internet movement of 2023, documented with meticulous detail by Robb. Time to update my list. Indicated are unchanged entries (🔒) and updated entries (✨). I still use the various categories as written by Andrew: 🔒 Mail Client: Mail.app 🔒 Mail Server: iCloud with custom domain and posteo.
Saturday, November 16, 2024
I’ve recently started collecting something new again. I don’t mean video games, LEGO minifigures, retro handheld consoles, SAKs, or virtual Pokémon trading cards 1. This time it’s crown caps. I did this already as a kid, and at a certain stage, my own kids started doing so too. But, the collection needs physical space and always looks a little messy. I have never found a nice way to store or display them.
Wednesday, October 2, 2024
As an enthusiastic Obsidian user, over time I’ve built a rather complex system consisting of about 15 different shortcuts that are triggered sequentially by a master shortcut. At the end of each day, these shortcuts collect data from various apps and add them to my daily notes in Obsidian. It was undoubtedly a challenge to develop this system, and without the Actions for Obsidian plugin, it would have been impossible. It’s definitely not elegant, but rather a bit of a hack, though it worked wonderfully for the past six months or so.
Monday, August 12, 2024
In continuation of week 31, here are a few thoughts and things that caught my attention in the thirty-second week of 2024: 🖥️ If you’re tired of always having to find a tiny free spot on an macOS app window to move or resize it, then this app might help: Swift Shift - Manage your macOS windows like a pro. 🖥️ BetterDisplay - Unlock your displays on your Mac - was updated to version 3.
Monday, August 5, 2024
In continuation of week 30, here are a few thoughts and things that caught my attention in the thirty-first week of 2024: 🖼️ I’ve mentioned the image viewers Lyn and PicArrange before, but this week Musebox made the rounds. I will take a closer look at it when I get a chance. 🔄 Speaking of alternatives: Diffraction might be a (currently free) alternative to Acorn. 🔍 And if you only want to find (even the smallest) differences between two images, you can check out ImageDiff.
Sunday, July 28, 2024
In continuation of week 29, here are a few thoughts and things that caught my attention in the thirtieth week of 2024: 📝 Might be handy, but not sure if I will actually use it: WeExpire - Create emergency notes that can be read by your trusted contacts only after your death. 🖥️ Apparency for macOS - The App That Opens Apps - received a nice update at the beginning of the month.
Sunday, July 21, 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.
Sunday, July 14, 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.
Monday, July 8, 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.
Sunday, June 23, 2024
In continuation of week 24, here are a few thoughts and things that caught my attention in the twenty-fifth week of 2024: 🌐 The outrage about unethical behavior by big tech companies wanting to make money with AI features continued. See for example: How We’re Trying to Protect MacStories from AI Bots and Web Crawlers – And How You Can, Too or Perplexity Plagiarized Our Story About How Perplexity Is a Bullshit Machine.
Monday, June 17, 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 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.
Sunday, June 9, 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.
Sunday, June 2, 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).
Sunday, May 26, 2024
In continuation of week 20, here are a few thoughts and things that caught my attention in the 21. week of 2024: ⌨️ In week 37 of 2023 I bought a Keychron K1 SE Wireless Mechanical Keyboard and have been trying to learn to type on the keyboard since then. My error rate was extremely high, and I found it exhausting to have to lift my fingers significantly higher than I am used to with other keyboards.
Monday, May 20, 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.
Sunday, May 5, 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.
Sunday, April 28, 2024
In continuation of week 16, here are a few thoughts and things that caught my attention in the seventeenth week of 2024: 🖱️ Logitech’s Mouse Software Now Includes ChatGPT Support, Adds Janky ‘ai_overlay_tmp’ Directory to Users’ Home Folders: It seems to be a good time to reconsider using SteerMouse or BetterMouse – Comprehensive mouse utility for macOS instead. In addition, lots of people seem to like Mac Mouse Fix.
Sunday, April 21, 2024
In continuation of week 15, here are a few thoughts and things that caught my attention in the sixteenth week of 2024: 🎮 This week was an exciting one for retro gaming on iOS. After some initial debacle with a ripoff GB emulator, which was pulled after a few days by Apple, another one, Bimmy, was pulled by its developer just a day after it was approved. But then the well-known Delta emulator developed by Riley Testut, which was previously only available via the AltStore was released worldwide in the App Store, except for Europe.
Monday, April 15, 2024
In continuation of week 14, here are a few thoughts and things that caught my attention in the 15. week of 2024: 🎮 I was briefly excited when I read that the first GBA emulator had landed in the iOS App Store. Unfortunately, it was not a legitimate app, and it was subsequently removed (again too late and why at all approved?) from the store: Apple Removes Game Boy Emulator iGBA From App Store Due to Spam and Copyright Violations - MacRumors.
Sunday, April 7, 2024
The week before Easter was once again very quiet in terms of new software and tech-related stuff. This was probably also because there was a lot to do at work before we went on our Easter vacation. For a few years now, we have been traveling more or less regularly during the Easter holidays together with my wife’s family. She has three siblings, all of whom have partners and children, and our dog joins us as well.
Monday, March 25, 2024
In continuation of week 11, here are a few thoughts and things that caught my attention in the 12th week of 2024: 😴 Actually, this week was a very quiet week in terms of tech-related stuff. It was probably because I was very busy at work and in the evenings, I preferred to relax with a game of Balatro1 instead of surfing the net a lot. 🛠️ This week, many things just broke.
Monday, March 18, 2024
In continuation of week 10, here are a few thoughts and things that caught my attention in the 11. week of 2024: 👀 Adam is once again working on something new: Neato. 🏦 IndieAppSales 2024 was going on last week and I bought some new apps. 📱 Just like for iA Presenter, there is now also an iOS version of Deckset. I had hoped that it might do without a subscription, but far from it.
Tuesday, March 12, 2024
Indie App Sales! is running from 12. to 13. March 2024 Here are some Apps I’ve looked into so far: Blur sensitive data with BlurData (macOS) → I don’t really need the app and then it’s a bit too expensive; not bought Bridges Link Formatting (macOS) → bought it and after I found the hidden “add folder” icon in the left pane thanks to the friendly support of its developer I really like what I’ve seen so far Bridges: Link Formatting → bought the iOS version as well Clorde → bought it and like the iOS widget (on my Mac) Countdowns - Event Countdown → already own the app and use it often and with pleasure DisplayBuddy - Control monitor brightness directly from your Mac → available via Setapp as well DoMarks → not sure if this is really better than Anybox Everlog Journal → I have heard a lot of praise for this app and you can get the lifetime option for a steep discount; I personally use Obsidian for journaling so I have no need for the app at the moment.