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.
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.
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
I know there are now over two thousand plugins for Obsidian, and everyone uses a different combination. There are also countless lists suggesting various plugins. But that’s the great thing: The individual combination of plugins makes Obsidian exactly the (power) tool that each user wants it to be. So, here are my ten most important plugins1: Dataview: If the Dataview plugin didn’t exist, I might not use Obsidian but something else.
Tap. Record. Share. The easiest way to record anything, by far. It’s actually just that simple. At first, I wasn’t sure if I needed an app like this or what I’d use it for. However, it turns out to be really handy for capturing a few moments over the course of the day and exporting them as a short movie to your photo roll at the end of the day. And, of course, it can be used for many other much more creative ideas as well.
I think by now everyone has noticed that there’s another Indie App Sale going on. Take a look and see if there are any software bargains you don’t own yet but would like to have. Additionally, the Space/Time sale is also happening, where you can get some really good apps1 at a 50% discount. And at least one application that has been the subject of controversial discussions 😇. ↩︎
TIL that, in addition to hitting esc - which I already knew and use all the time - you can cancel a drag of a Finder item by dragging it onto the menu bar. Also, you can drag an item to the header of a Finder’s list view and don’t have to find an empty, safe spot to release it.
"It's a weather app. How much is there to say?" - Malin from Triple Glazed Studios' crack product marketing team The usefulness of additional weather apps besides the native Apple one is certainly debatable, but in addition to Looks Like Rain I really enjoy using Mercury Weather. Mercury Weather was (one of) the first to offer a trip feature, to see what the weather will be like at the destination at a given time.
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.
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.
The first cold days with hoarfrost. Everything silver and gray, only the fallen leaves of a tree added a touch of color to the scene.
If I could wish for something completely unrealistic for the Switch 2, it would be Nintendo allowing users to legally digitize old game packs and cartridges on the device, and play them via emulation. Imagine a Switch Online Plus subscription that permits connecting Nintendo-provided cartridge readers to your Switch. This reader (or readers) would support Game Boy, Game Boy Advance, NES, SNES, N64, Nintendo DS, and 3DS systems. Nintendo could sell them separately, potentially at premium prices.
Quickly and easily transcribe audio files into text with OpenAI's state-of-the-art transcription technology Whisper. Whether you're recording a meeting, lecture, or other important audio, MacWhisper quickly and accurately transcribes your audio files into text. MacWhisper is probably one of, if not the best Whisper client for macOS. The free version is already useful, while the Pro version is just great. You can do anything with it that involves spoken text and needs to end up as written text.
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.
I was using the new Reeder app for the last couple of months, but today I quit. For my number of subscribed feeds, it simply takes far too long to refresh. There are bugs, there is no support, and there is not even an OPML export feature. So, I purchased lire and set it up with Feedbin, a service I was not using before either. I’m curious to see what will come of this.
Fly
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.
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.
TIL that you can open the current macOS Finder window in Terminal by right clicking in the Path Bar in the bottom of the Finder window. So far I only used to drag the proxy icon on the Terminal icon in the dock.
In recent days, a lot of new hardware has been introduced, and for all these great new devices and gadgets, I consider myself part of the potential target audience. Apple has presented new iPhones, Apple Watches, and AirPods. Thanks to Apple’s decision to slowly and gradually roll out the promised AI features and not at all in Germany in the long run, the innovations of the iPhone 16 are limited for me.