macOS
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If anyone reading here happens to have anything to do with any of the apps mentioned, please don’t misunderstand: Those are all awesome apps, otherwise I would never have subscribed to them before! 😄 ↩︎
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All subscriptions have been converted to Euros and annual subscriptions divided by 12. Some are family subscriptions, some are subscriptions with an education discount. ↩︎
- 🔒 Mail Client: Mail.app
- 🔒 Mail Server: iCloud with custom domain and posteo.net
- 🔒 Notes: Obsidian and some stuff left in Notes
- 🔒 To-Do: Reminders (and Things at work)
- 🔒 iPhone Photo Shooting: iOS Camera
- ✨ Photo Management: Photos, supplemented by Photomator and PowerPhotos
- 🔒 Calendar: Calendar
- 🔒 Cloud file storage: iCloud Drive
- ✨ RSS: Classic Reeder (macOS) and Lire (iOS) in conjunction with Feedbin 1
- 🔒 Contacts: Contacts
- 🔒 Browser: Safari
- 🔒 Chat: iMessage, Threema, WhatsApp
- 🔒 Bookmarks: Anybox
- 🔒 Read It Later: Readwise Reader
- 🔒 Word Processing: Pages (MS Word at work)
- 🔒 Spreadsheets: Numbers (MS Excel at work)
- 🔒 Presentations: Keynote
- 🔒 Shopping Lists: Pons
- 🔒 Meal Planning: Mela
- 🔒 Budgeting & Personal Finance: YNAB
- 🔒 News: Mastodon, tagesschau.de
- 🔒 Music: Apple Music
- ✨ Podcasts: Apple Podcasts
- ✨ Password Management: Apple iCloud Keychain with 1Password as backup
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BTW my ID is 3136836414506186 😎 ↩︎
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🖥️ 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.
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🖥️ BetterDisplay - Unlock your displays on your Mac - was updated to version 3.
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📝 Quick Note Taking - Type made the rounds. Lout has (of course) already written about it. I like the idea, but the app
does not support ISO formats for date and time and it1 does not fit into my personal Obsidian workflow, as I would have to configure a new note daily. However, I can imagine that the app could be great for many people. I will stick with Drafts in combination with Actions for Obsidian, though. -
📷 The image uploader for micro.blog Mimi Uploader was updated.
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☀️ A hat that produces energy? Sure, why not: EcoFlow Power Hat.
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🚴♂️ I really like my Lumos Ultra Fly Pro bike helmet and the matching Firefly are used in a variety of ways within my family. I also really like their announced new, smaller Firefly Mini.2
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🍏 I really hope that Apple manages to get a grip on macOS Sequoia Permission Madness.
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😢 I have once again been annoyed by poorly translated apps: Automated Translations in Apps: A Threat to Quality and Credibility.
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🌡️ For many months now I bake bread (yeast and sourdough) several times a week. I distrusted the temperature display of our oven and was therefore looking for a reasonable thermometer I can place inside my oven. I came to the conclusion, that this is one of those categories of items for which there is only trash available to purchase. Ultimately, I bought the meat thermometer Meater 2 plus. I suspect that my Meater will never see the inside of a raw piece of meat and I dislike their target group marketing and even more dislike their advertising campaign (woman lets food burn and star chef, of course a man, rushes to help 🤦♂️) BUT I still found the product very interesting. My Meater now measures the dough temperature, supposedly to the decimal point. (The reading of the ambient temperature seems to be completely off as well but the internal readings seem to be awesome.) It does leave an ugly hole in the bread, but the endpoint (96-98 °C, depending on the dough) can be determined pretty well. (For the first loaves, it was 5 - 10 minutes longer than the maximum duration stated in the recipe; so I have already learned something about our oven.)3
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👋 After actively ignoring Gruber in my podcast and RSS feed as well as social media for a while, I have now deleted all sources.
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🕹️ DOOM + DOOM II was released - The legendary action FPS is enhanced, combined, and now available on modern platforms! Nice move: Existing owners of DOOM (1993) and/or DOOM II on any of the above platforms receive a free upgrade to the new combined game, and can still access their previously owned versions. So, I could download the new version for my Steam Deck, Switch, and PS5 for free. (Of course, I own a legal copy of Doom and Doom II for all these platforms.)
- 2024-08-14: corrected paragraph about Type
- CleanShot X
- Default Folder X
- Ice
- Keyboard Maestro
- LogiPresentation
- MacWhisper
- Microsoft Teams
- OwlOCR
- QuickLens
- ScreenFloat
- ScreenSnapAl
- Steam
- Superkey
- TeamViewer QuickSupport
- Xnapper
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🖼️ 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.
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🔄 Speaking of alternatives: Diffraction might be a (currently free) alternative to Acorn.
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🔍 And if you only want to find (even the smallest) differences between two images, you can check out ImageDiff.
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🖥️ Somehow, mini apps for the Dynamic Island of various MacBooks were making the rounds this week. I came across NotchDrop (FOSS), MediaMate ($7), Notchnook ($25), and DynamicLake Pro1 ($14). Since I mostly use my MacBooks with larger monitors, I currently don’t need these apps. But maybe in the future.
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🌐 There is a public beta for Söka 2.0 available if you’re interested.
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📑 GoodLinks also received an update and now supports highlighting text on web pages after subscribing via IAP. Since I am very happy with Readwise Reader, which admittedly is very expensive, I don’t need it. If I weren’t, I would definitely take a closer look at this feature.
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📱 Many people were excited about Unread for Mac. I don’t want another subscription and will stick with Reeder for now.
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📰 Speaking of RSS, Tapestry is slowly taking shape and looks promising. However, the concept only works for me with a very limited selection of resources, and I find it very difficult to choose the right ones.
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📁 Nimble Commander - Free dual-pane mac file manager with classic design, charged for power users. A possible alternative for those who don’t have a license for Forklift2, Path Finder2, or Commander One2.
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🔍 There are countless different apps that help you find files on your Mac in addition to Spotlight. There is now another free app that promises to do just that: File Find by Pixel-Master - Search and find files fast and easily.
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🎨 This looks cool: Pixelorama - a powerful and accessible open-source pixel art multitool. Unfortunately, I am not talented enough to use such an app.
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☔ Carlo discovered Merry Sky. Looks cool, too and like a free, supercharged web version of Looks Like Rain. Well, probably the other way round - but what the heck 😇.
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🎮 I like the idea of a game controller that can be used with your mobile phone and a Nintendo Switch: GameSir G8 Plus Bluetooth Mobile Controller.
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🤦 I first thought it was a joke because it’s so cringe: Friend. Maybe they just want to get the addresses of people who urgently need psychological support? (They already have their own addresses, though.)
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🎧 I was about to throw away our Beats Solo3 because the ear pads were starting to disintegrate. Luckily, I learned that you can buy replacements very cheaply and mount them yourself. And If I had studied the instructions more carefully, I wouldn’t have almost destroyed them during the process 🤦♂️.
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💍 There were increasing rumours this week about The Apple Ring and Health Tracking, presumably in response to Samsung’s Ring. I would also find such a device very attractive. After my first COVID-19 infection at the end of last year and the resulting break in my streak of closing my rings every day for several years, I’m no longer as keen on achieving this, but I still pay attention to them. On the other hand, I’m getting bored with the design of my Apple Watch(es), which I’ve been wearing on my wrist for almost 18 years now. Therefore, some variety in the form of other watches or none at all would certainly be welcome. Samsung will surely not integrate its Ring into the Apple Health universe (although this would probably be possible even without DMA). So, I just have to wait for Apple or just ignore my rings.
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🚴 Due to my wife’s shoulder surgery, we unfortunately had to cancel our vacation. We will now have to go hiking in the French Alps another time. However, I still took three days off from work and did what I would have done on vacation: ate very well, read a book3, finished a game on my Switch, but spent only little time on the computer overall. Oh yes, I finally went for a bike ride again, which I hadn’t had time or motivation for lately.
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📝 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.
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🖥️ Apparency for macOS - The App That Opens Apps - received a nice update at the beginning of the month.
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🖼️ PicArrange for macOS as well; although I have not yet found whether the text-based image search happens on-device or sends anything to the cloud.
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🤖 Meta released Llama 3.1 and it does indeed produce much better results with e.g. Ollama.
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🌐 Apple Maps launches on the web in new public beta - practical.
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🎮 Along with a few new applications, Fortnite is now even coming to the AltStore PAL. Let’s see if Apple will “coincidentally” allow it back in the regular App Store. It’s also a shame that Apple has managed to make the update and installation process so broken on my system that it barely works without restarting or reinstalling the AltStore or the apps.
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🎁 The German computer magazine c’t had a review of the WOWCUBE ENTERTAINMENT SYSTEM - a very cool idea. Maybe a possible Christmas gift? I’m curious whether their software platform will flop or survive.
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🔠 Might come handy someday: Free Anagram Sentence Generator for English, German, French, and Spanish.
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✅ I’ve mentioned One Million Checkboxes in week 27, here you can read a little bit more about the author’s journey Dealing with unexpected popularity.
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🗳️ My Mastodon timeline has become much more interested in American politics since certain events. I follow this with some interest. However, I couldn’t initially understand the sudden memes about a certain person’s couch. Thanks to JD Vance couch memes, explained: Why AP pulled its story, now I know.
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🚑 My wife had shoulder surgery again. It’s no fun; now six weeks of complete rest are prescribed, and we really hope that the collarbone, or rather the implanted metal plate, holds this time. We had to cancel our vacation because of this. It’s a shame, but her health definitely comes first.
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🧱 I have quite a huge LEGO collection (> 700 sets and > 2200 minifigs) but stopped collecting a while ago, mainly due to space constraints and of course because it was becoming increasingly expensive. But I might be tempted by this set: LEGO 71438 Super Mario World: Mario & Yoshi.
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🕹️ I’ve preordered Thank Goodness You’re Here! for the Switch.
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🎮 Of course, I am enjoying Nintendo World Championships: NES Edition on my Switch quite a bit and found this guide helpful. You can download a free PDF copy if you have a myNintendo account. Additionally, I am currently playing the remake of Dead Space on the PS5.
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🎥 And fittingly: Watched The Super Mario Bros. Movie - it was very light entertainment, but not bad.
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📺 I think someday I should really watch all episodes of Double Fine PsychOdyssey.
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📱 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.
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📑 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.
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📱 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.
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🤖 Sindre’s AI Actions for the Shortcuts app now supports GPT-4o mini.
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🍌 BananaBin was released in version 1.0 and here you can find some other weird but useful macOS apps.
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🔋 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.
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🚑 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.
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🔪 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.
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🎮 Continued my journey in The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening .
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🌐 Enjoyed Everybody’s Free (to Make Websites), even though I didn’t even know the original before.
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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 … ↩︎
Swift Shift
Manage your macOS windows like a pro
"Swift Shift lets you move/resize windows with your mouse without
searching for tiny arrows or window titles. It's the fastest way to
organize your workspace to your liking." - just press and hold (custom)
modifier keys and move your windows around. Gone are the days looking
for a tiny free spot to grab a title bar 🤩.
PowerPhotos
The ultimate toolbox for Photos on the Mac
If you need to split, combine, merge or somehow manipulate your Apple Photos.app library, PowerPhotos is the way to go.
Countdown Timer Pro
Create highly customizable countdown timer overlays with ease using Countdown Timer Pro, a completely free macOS app.
There are several other apps like Countdown Timer Pro available for
macOS, but it is very well executed and free. What more could one wish
for?
BookPlayer
A wonderful player for your M4B/M4A/MP3 based audiobooks.
In addition to an eBook
Reader I was looking for a dedicated audiobook player. I think, I've
found it. BookPlayer leaves nothing to be desired. If you want, you can
view its source code on GitHub, or support
the developer with a Pro subscription, which then enables features like
iCloud Sync and standalone Playback on the Apple Watch. BTW I use the
ancient looking, but still working Audiobook Builder to
convert countless separate mp3 files to one combined M4B audiobook.
Yomu
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.
Folder Preview
BarCuts
A Surprisingly Useful macOS Shortcuts Launcher.
"A macOS menu bar app that surfaces your relevant Shortcuts workflows
when you need them. "Tag" workflows to an application, and when that app
is in front, BarCuts will show its tagged workflows in a menu, ready for
you to access." - nothing to add. One thing done right. Very useful, as
Carlo's other apps. (I heavily rely on Actions For
Obsidian for my Daily
Notes in Obsidian.)
Zero Duplicates
Find and Remove Duplicate Files with Confidence
I was looking for an app that can easily remove duplicates from my hard drives. There is a fair number of apps available, but lots of them look shady to me. Not this one. The best thing is that it is free to use and has a very friendly and responsive developer.
Apps that make me smile
There are those apps that really do nothing productive but just make you smile while using your computer. One I really love is BananaBin a “playful reminder that it’s time to take out the trash”. Today Simon B. Støvring released another one of this kind: Festivitas, which “brings the holiday spirit to your Mac with festive lights for the dock and menu bar 🎄”. You can’t invest your money any better I think.
Update 2024-12-07: laptopllama mentioned “Typibara (a capybara pal that types with you) and Ball (a crucial app for the times where it’s important for you to bounce a ball out of your Dock)”. I instabought Typibara and Ball is also awesome.
Update 2025-03-19: Sindre Sorhus just released Googly Eyes - watchful eyes in your menu bar 👀
State of App and Services Subscriptions 2024 Edition
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. Some are new (➕), some I will definitely keep (🟢), others I need to (re)consider (🟡), some I won’t renew once their subscription period ends (🔴)1, others I already discontinued and no longer use (⛔), and for a few I bought a lifetime license (LT).
Here’s my current list2 of all the apps and services I’m subscribed to:
| App or Service | Cost / Month | Type | State |
|---|---|---|---|
| Apple One Premium | 31.95 € | m | 🟢 |
| MS Office 365 | 8.25 € | y | 🟢 |
| YNAB | 8.19 € | y | 🟢 |
| PlayStationPlus | 6.00 € | y | 🟢 |
| Nintendo Switch Online+ (Family) | 5.83 € | y | 🟢 |
| Setapp | 5.50 € | y | 🟢 |
| Feedbin ➕ | 5.00 € | m | 🟢 |
| Micro.blog | 4.63 € | m | 🟢 |
| Obsidian Sync | 4.45 € | y | 🟢 |
| NordVPN | 3.80 € | y | 🟢 |
| Readwise | 3.71 € | y | 🟢 |
| Arq | 3.22 € | y | 🟢 |
| omg.lol (2x) | 3.18 € | y | 🟢 |
| trakt.tv | 2.32 € | y | 🟢 |
| Play | 1.92 € | y | 🟢 |
| Hemispheric Views | 1.86 € | m | 🟢 |
| Mastodon | 1.79 € | m | 🟢 |
| Drafts | 1.71 € | y | 🟢 |
| Mercury Weather | 1.67 € | y | 🟢 |
| EchoFeed ➕ | 1.59 € | y | 🟢 |
| Chronicling | 0.83 € | y | 🟢 |
| TV Forecast | 0.83 € | y | 🟢 |
| Epic Weather Ride | 0.71 € | y | 🟢 |
| HealthFit | 0.50 € | y | 🟢 |
| TrainerRoad ➕ | 21.01 € | m | 🟡 |
| Disney+ (Standard) | 8.33 € | y | 🟡 |
| 1Password | 5.50 € | y | 🟡 |
| Kagi | 4.78 € | m | 🟡 |
| FDDB | 3.33 € | y | 🟡 |
| Ivory | 2.50 € | y | 🟡 |
| iConnectHue | 1.67 € | y | 🟡 |
| SwitchBuddy ➕ | 1.50 € | y | 🟡 |
| Looks Like Rain ➕ | 0.83 € | y | 🟡 |
| tinylytics ➕ | 4.17 € | y | 🔴 |
| Frame Screenshots ➕ | 1.50 € | y | 🔴 |
| Callsheet ➕ | 0.83 € | y | 🔴 |
| Reeder ➕ | 0.83 € | y | 🔴 |
| DayOne | ⛔ | ||
| ifttt | ⛔ | ||
| Neptunes | ⛔ | ||
| Overcast Premium | ⛔ | ||
| Personal Best | ⛔ | ||
| Söka | ⛔ | ||
| Timery | ⛔ | ||
| Training Today | ⛔ | ||
| Up Ahead | ⛔ | ||
| Wahoo Systm | ⛔ | ||
| Zenitizer | ⛔ | ||
| Anybox | LT | ||
| Photomator | LT | ||
| Waterllama | LT | ||
| Total: | 166.22 € |
In total, they cost 166 € a month and almost 25 € more than last year 🤔.
Actually, my goal was to spend less money on software subscriptions, not more. It didn’t really work out. Let’s see how it will be in a year.
As last year this list only covers tech related stuff. Charity and other related expenses are not listed here.
App Defaults - 2024 Edition
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:
Sindre's New App: Supercharge
I purchased Sindre Sorhus' Mac app Supercharge, not because I’ve tested the demo version extensively or think I really need it or will even use it, but because Sindre has released so many different, really great software for free so far. I wanted to take this opportunity to reward him for his wonderful apps. For now though, I’m going to install Supercharge and see what it has to offer. I am sure I’ll enjoy using this one, too.
I have recently started collecting again
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.
A few weeks ago, I just decided to do it virtually. I use the app Collections together with a Apple Shortcut I set up. I can take a picture, use my shortcut to enter the name of the company, the beverage type and the shortcut extracts the location of the photo, the date, removes the background of the picture, and exports everything into my Collections database.
There, I have a nice list or grid view of all the crown caps I’ve collected. I can open a map and see where I found them, and I really do enjoy this kind of virtual collection so far.
Who knows, maybe you’ll find something you’d like to collect in the form of virtual memories too? If so, I can recommend the app Collections.
Broken Daily Notes Workflow thanks to iOS 18
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.
Despite my love for Obsidian, I must admit that the difficulty of importing data into the app, along with the non-native user interface, represents its biggest drawback. Nevertheless, I was extremely satisfied with my solution—until iOS 18 came along.
With the update to iOS 18, my carefully crafted system broke down. About half to a third of my shortcuts stopped working correctly. The errors occur mainly with internal iOS functions but also in conjunction with integrated actions from third-party apps like Chronicling. But it’s obviously Apple who broke it and there is nothing the developers can do about it at the moment. Every error causes the shortcut to stop entirely. Rien ne va plus—nothing works anymore. Over the past few weeks, I’ve spent a lot of time looking for workarounds, disabled certain functions but at the end I came to the conclusion that running the shortcuts on my Mac, which I haven’t updated yet, worked the most reliably—even though this introduced new challenges to my workflow, as certain apps just aren’t available there. (Looking at you, Apple Health.)
This situation has made me reflect. I even considered switching back to the native Notes app from Obsidian. Partly because I also wanted to take a look at Forever ✱ Notes, which has made the rounds through the Fediverse in recent days. It’s paradoxical: Apple’s poor software quality is driving me to avoid third-party software and return to Apple’s own apps?! No, that can’t be the solution. 🤷♂️
For now, I’ve given up and am hoping for iOS 18.1. Next year, I’ll probably hold off on updating not just my Mac but also my phone to the new release.
PSA: No More macOS 15 Sequoia Monthly Screen Recording Permission Reminders - I haven’t tried it yet because I haven’t updated to macOS Sequoia myself, but I’ll definitely keep that in mind for that day in the future.
What caught my attention in week thirty-two, 2024
In continuation of week 31, here are a few thoughts and things that caught my attention in the thirty-second week of 2024:
Have a sunny week ahead! ☀️
Update
macOS Sequoia Permission Madness
9TO5Mac reports that Apple is apparently planning to present its Mac operating system users with a copy of Microsoft’s Vista disaster:
With macOS Sequoia this fall, using apps that need access to screen recording permissions will become a little bit more tedious. Apple is rolling out a change that will require you to give explicit permission on a weekly basis to these types of apps, and every time you reboot your Mac.
I really hope this gets sorted out during the beta phase; otherwise, I will try to stay on Sonoma as long as possible. For years now, I’ve been waiting to upgrade until at least the first .1 release because Apple’s software quality hasn’t exactly inspired confidence. Additionally, Sequoia only has one new feature that genuinely interests me: iPhone Mirroring. And this won’t be available for EU users initially anyway. (The integrated AI stuff doesn’t interest me on the Mac at all, so I’m not sad about not having it in my operating system for the foreseeable future. I think it will be several years before it’s useful for anything until then I just use third party app for ChatGPT.)
But I currently use 15 apps that are allowed to record my screen:
The idea of approving these weekly or after every restart is not very appealing to me. Additionally, Apple apparently plans to make running apps installed from outside the App Store more difficult. Thanks a lot for nothing.
Well, let’s wait and see 🤞.
What caught my attention in week thirty-one, 2024
In continuation of week 30, here are a few thoughts and things that caught my attention in the thirty-first week of 2024:
Have a wonderful week ahead! 🙋♂️
What caught my attention in week thirty, 2024
In continuation of week 29, here are a few thoughts and things that caught my attention in the thirtieth week of 2024:
I wish you lovely summer days! 🌞
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:
I wish you all a wonderful week and perhaps even relaxing holidays! 🌴