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    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.

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    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.

    1. 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! 😄 ↩︎

    2. All subscriptions have been converted to Euros and annual subscriptions divided by 12. Some are family subscriptions, some are subscriptions with an education discount. ↩︎

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    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:

    • 🔒 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

    1. In between, also the new Reeder and Tapestry. I have the feeling that this will change a few more times in the near future. ↩︎

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    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.

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    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.

    CleanShot 2024-11-16 at 10.36.45.

    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.

    1. BTW my ID is 3136836414506186 😎 ↩︎

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    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.

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    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:

    • 🖥️ 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.

    • 📝 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.

    • ☀️ A hat that produces energy? Sure, why not: EcoFlow Power Hat.

    • 🚴‍♂️ 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

    • 🍏 I really hope that Apple manages to get a grip on macOS Sequoia Permission Madness.

    • 😢 I have once again been annoyed by poorly translated apps: Automated Translations in Apps: A Threat to Quality and Credibility.

    • 🌡️ 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

    • 👋 After actively ignoring Gruber in my podcast and RSS feed as well as social media for a while, I have now deleted all sources.

    • 🕹️ 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.)

    Have a sunny week ahead! ☀️

    Update

    • 2024-08-14: corrected paragraph about Type

    1. Lou was kind enough to point out that it is possible to define ISO formats as custom formats. ↩︎

    2. You can never have enough (pocket) knives, flashlights, bike lights, retro consoles, and gamepads 🤦‍♂️. ↩︎

    3. Of course, a few days after my purchase, the successor was announced 🤷‍♂️. ↩︎

    ∞

    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 🤞.

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    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:

    • 🖼️ 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.

    • 🖥️ 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.

    • 🌐 There is a public beta for Söka 2.0 available if you’re interested.

    • 📑 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.

    • 📱 Many people were excited about Unread for Mac. I don’t want another subscription and will stick with Reeder for now.

    • 📰 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.

    • 📁 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.

    • 🔍 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.

    • 🎨 This looks cool: Pixelorama - a powerful and accessible open-source pixel art multitool. Unfortunately, I am not talented enough to use such an app.

    • ☔ 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 😇.

    • 🎮 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.

    • 🤦 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.)

    • 🎧 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 🤦‍♂️.

    • 💍 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.

    • 🚴 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.

    Have a wonderful week ahead! 🙋‍♂️

    1. Lou took a closer look at the app and also provided a discount code. ↩︎

    2. also available on Setapp ↩︎

    3. many thanks to Hiro for the tip! ↩︎

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    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:

    • 📝 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.

    • 🖼️ 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.

    • 🤖 Meta released Llama 3.1 and it does indeed produce much better results with e.g. Ollama.

    • 🌐 Apple Maps launches on the web in new public beta - practical.

    • 🎮 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.

    • 🎁 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.

    • 🔠 Might come handy someday: Free Anagram Sentence Generator for English, German, French, and Spanish.

    • ✅ 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.

    • 🗳️ 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.

    • 🚑 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.

    • 🧱 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.

    • 🕹️ I’ve preordered Thank Goodness You’re Here! for the Switch.

    • 🎮 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.

    • 🎥 And fittingly: Watched The Super Mario Bros. Movie - it was very light entertainment, but not bad.

    • 📺 I think someday I should really watch all episodes of Double Fine PsychOdyssey.

    I wish you lovely summer days! 🌞

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    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! 🙌

    ∞

    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" 😢 ↩︎

    ∞

    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. ↩︎

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