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 😅.
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.
Monday, March 11, 2024
Continuing from week 09, here are a few thoughts and things that caught my attention in the 10th week of 2024: 🌸 Michael made incredible paper flowers and you can help him picking the best one: Battle of the Blooms 2024. 🎥 In addition to Office Space, Jason made The Matrix Gifs available as well 🥳. 🎞️ Full of Themselves: An analysis of title drops in movies (thanks Robb).
Sunday, March 3, 2024
In continuation of week 8, here are a few thoughts and things that caught my attention in the 9. week of 2024: 🎥 Inspired by Jason’s awesome OfficeSpace.gif, we (re)watched Office Space (1999) as a family. We had a lot of fun. 😆 Cool: RSS IS DEAD LOL. 📚 Bookmarked Calibre Sync. It seems like a great way to access your Calibre library on the go.
Sunday, February 25, 2024
Continuing from week 07, here are a few thoughts and things that caught my attention in the eighth week of 2024: 📱 Simple Scan • Quick Scanner was teased by Agile Tortoise. Curious to see if this will be a better solution than just opening the Files.app and initiating a scan from there. (Actually, I’ve never checked if those generated PDFs have automatic OCR.) ☑️ Twodos - Simple Todos: Interesting concept but definitely too basic for my needs.
Monday, February 19, 2024
Continuing from week 06, here are a few thoughts and things that caught my attention in the seventh week of 2024: 👌 So, I think I’ve read and seen enough about the Apple Vision Pro for now. I hope I’ll stay firm and wait at least for Gen 2 and not want to buy it as soon as the AVP is available in Germany. However, I still find this video noteworthy: What Reviewers Aren’t Telling You About Apple Vision Pro.
Monday, February 12, 2024
Continuing from week 05, here are a few thoughts and things that caught my attention in the sixth week of 2024: 🤦♂️ Last week, I failed to configure my Mac as a WIFI Access Point with NordVPN. This week, I tried to do it with a Raspberry Pi 4. Since I no longer have a monitor with an HDMI input, I connected the Raspi using a micro-HDMI to HDMI adapter, HDMI cable, HDMI Capture Card with a USB-A connection, and a USB-A to USB-C hub to my iPad 🤯 What a mess but it worked with HDMI Monitor - Orion perfectly fine.
Saturday, February 3, 2024
Continuing from week 04, here are a few thoughts and things that caught my attention in the fifth week of 2024: 🎮 This week I had to repeatedly curb my nearly uncontrollable urge to buy gadgets I don’t need - so far quite successfully. I did not order the Ayaneo Next LITE nor pledged the Ayaneo Flip - World 1st Dual-Screen Windows Handheld on Indiegogo. I definitely do not need more gaming handhelds at the moment, even though I don’t own one that supports Windows games yet.
Sunday, January 28, 2024
Continuing from week 03, here are a few thoughts and things that caught my attention in the fourth week of 2024: 🌐 I didn’t quite understand the commotion about the DMA this week. Gruber proved himself to be a true patriot once again, and I still don’t understand where exactly the doomsday mood is coming from. Whether Apple has chosen an appropriate strategy, I don’t know either, see also Apple ruins its big week.
Monday, January 22, 2024
In continuation of week 02, here are a few thoughts and things that caught my attention in the third week of 2024: 🖨️ Almost 2 years after Anker introduced its V6 Color Engine for the M5 3D printer, it cancelled it. You can either get a $600 discount for an as yet unannounced product, or they will refund the paid money. I’ve opted for a $330 refund. Although it’s a pity, I think it was the right decision for Anker to pull the plug on this product.
Sunday, January 14, 2024
In continuation of week 01, here are a few thoughts and things that caught my attention in the second week of 2024: 🏋️ After my Covid infection in early December, followed by exhaustion, I started with a training program. It includes (indoor) cycling, strength training, and yoga sessions. It’s exhausting, but it also feels good to finally be able to challenge my body a little again. 📚 Additionally, I wanted to read more, watch movies more regularly, meditate daily if possible, and do other nice little things more frequently.
Sunday, January 7, 2024
In continuation of week 52, 2023, here are a few thoughts and things that caught my attention in the first week of 2024: 🤔 I read some blog posts about One Month Without and I always find it interesting to see what people are willing to give up for a month. I did this spontaneously in the first half of 2023, giving up alcohol, caffeine (not entirely true, I did drink green tea a few times, but completely abstained from coffee, cola, etc.
Sunday, December 31, 2023
In addition to week 50, here are a few thoughts and things that caught my attention in week 51 and 52, 2023: 🖼 Many new iPhone wallpapers made the rounds: Gameboy style, iPod style. On Reddit, there are some simpler versions available for free (Original, iPod Mini), and moreover, Basic Apple Guy has recently released some very nice ones, Aurora Gradient and Ugly Christmas Sweater Wallpapers (Mac Edition), and just published his Rewind 2023: Wallpapers.