TIL that you can open a copy of a message in Apple Mail to edit and resend it via ⇧⌘D. I never thought about this feature, but it seems quite useful.
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:
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🌐 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.
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😠 I have a strong opinion about Apple’s statement regarding alternative marketplaces during The Talk Show Live and the latest announcements about missing features in the upcoming iOS update in the fall concerning the DMA. I have long considered whether I should write it down in detail. But I’d rather save my energy for discussions with my teenage son, behave like an adult, and might simply take the advice to get an Android device as my next phone 😇.
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🤖 How absolutely freaking cool is this: I made an AI LEGO® PixelArt Robot?!
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🎮 Speaking of awesome: Doom x Mario Mod.
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💻 There are some Mac games—available at a discount for a limited time.. I bought GRIS, which is BTW on sale for Steam right now as well.
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🎉 Thanks to Ben and Ehqo and will now look for discounts on games on Game deals and IsThereAnyDeal.
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💸 Speaking of discounts. Some long-established macOS apps are once again on SummerFest sale. For some of them, I wish they were a bit more modern 😎.
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🪟 There is just another free and open-source window manager for macOS that looks promising: Loop - Window management made elegant. Bookmarked just in case I have to switch from Rectangle some day.
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📈 Another app I’ve bookmarked in case I need it: ProcessSpy - View macOS processes with command line arguments.
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📝 If you don’t want to subscribe to Drafts to quickly jot down text snippets and move them to other places and also don’t really warm up to Bebop, you might want to check out Funnel: Quick Capture as recommended by Thomas.
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🔌 I have completely lost track of my USB-C cables. Which ones can only charge, which ones support fast data transfer? So I recently bought two gadgets recommended in the c’t1: Treedix USB Cable Tester2 and Gianac USB Adapter3 and now I know that I only have one high-speed USB-A to C cable and only very few USB-C to C cables supporting it.
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🖥️ I have been using my ASUS ROG Swift OLED PG32UCDM monitor for about a week now and I am blown away by its panel. Still don’t like the gaming vibe, though but hey, I bought a gaming monitor so nothing to complain about. Was playing Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart on my PS5 and enjoy it so far.
As always, have a wonderful week ahead! 🙋♂️
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German computer magazine ↩︎
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behind paywall: www.heise.de/select/ct… ↩︎
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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.
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🔍 Somewhere I stumbled upon fastfetch-cli, which can also be installed via Homebrew; a nice tool for the CLI.
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🗓️ 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.
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🖼️ Very beautiful wallpapers: macOS Sequoia 1984 Macintosh Wallpapers.
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📱 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.
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🎬 The trailer for DOOM: The Dark Ages was released.
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🤖 Robb has declared war on AI companies: Blocking Bots with Nginx and Perplexity AI Is Lying about Their User Agent.
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🐻 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.
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😊 I was very pleased that Lou mentioned me on his Junited List.
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🎮 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
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ours is only Full HD and 32" 😢 ↩︎
I wonder how many people don’t know that in iOS they can access a multiple selection mode in lists with a double tap and hold, e.g. in Apple Mail, with which they can very easily mark many mails as read, for example. That’s only one of so many non-discoverable features in iOS.
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.
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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:
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🔑 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.
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🚨 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.
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🗺️ Organic Maps: Offline Map on the App Store now also supports iCloud sync.
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📚 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.
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🌐 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.
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📶 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.
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⏲️ 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.
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🍏 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.)
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🤖 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 🥰.
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📸 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 🤯.
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🧸 I had to stop collecting LEGO sets due to space constraints and definitely must not buy the Evercade Alpha Bartop Arcade System.
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🎮 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 🤷♂️.
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🎨 Speaking of which: more awesome skins for Delta: Delta Pocket - Transparent Edition.
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📱 And: Nintendo 3DS Emulator for iPhone Released in App Store With Caveats.
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🔋 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.
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🔋 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.
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🌐 If you ask nicely, you might be able to test a new web-based feed reader: An introduction to Sublime Feed.
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💻 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.
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🛠️ 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.
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🎙️ 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 😈.
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🗣️ 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.
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🇪🇺 This weekend are European elections. Go vote! (And vote for a democratic party!)
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🍏 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 😢.)
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🙋♂️ I’ve received my fist feedback email to a blog post I wrote. Friendly shout-out to Darren!
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😮 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! 🙋♂️
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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
- Vanilla - Hide Mac menu bar icons for free,
- Ice - Powerful menu bar manager for macOS3,
- iBar - Menubar icon control tool,
- Barbee - Hide Menu Bar Items,
- Hidden Bar - An ultra-light MacOS utility that helps hide menu bar icons (also on MAS),
- OnlySwitch, and
- Better Touch Tool.
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
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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. ↩︎
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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. ↩︎
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That’s the one I just started using without any particular reason and it works just great so far. ↩︎
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Of course, there are already speculations that the texts were not written by him and were created by ChatGPT. ↩︎
TIL that on macOS you can open an image with Quick Look by hitting Space bar and then just select all recognised text (⌘A) and copy it (⌘C) to your clipboard 🤯.
What caught my attention in week twenty-two, 2024
In continuation of week 21, here are a few thoughts and things that caught my attention in the 22. week of 2024:
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🚴♂️ 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).
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🌦️ CARROT Weather has been released in version 6.
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💻 The trick on how to Get ChatGPT for Mac and skip the waitlist actually works seamlessly.
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⏯️ This week, I repeatedly1 came across IINA - the modern media player for macOS - which I amusingly already had in my bookmarks collection but hadn’t looked at yet. While I was at it, I finally connected Transloader with Downie. BTW: Papertube - Turn any YouTube podcast, TED Talk, or chat into easy-to-read text with real speaker names: I need to take a closer look at it when I get the chance. And while I’m at it, cobalt also looks like an interesting service.
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📝 pixelgraphix pointed out Bebop. If Drafts is an overkill (or maybe too expensive) for you, you might be able to quickly and easily push texts to Obsidian with this really nice app.
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📅 I use Dato, but if you’re only interested in the Week Number in the menu bar, you can install the app of the same name from the same developer for free.
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📱 I completely overlooked that there is now a sister application for iOS for Carbon Copy Cloner. I need to check it out when I get the chance.
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🎥 Kino - Pro Video Camera from the makers of Halide has been released. It also looks very promising.
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🎮 In a quiet moment, I need to take a closer look at this: Another Majora’s Mask PC Port Is Here.
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🎮 I wasn’t aware until now that you can even run Android on the Steam Deck. I’ll keep that in mind until I figure out what I would actually use it for 😎.
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💻 Recently, I wanted to find out what a specific setting is called in English in macOS System Settings, so I set up a virtual macOS installation with UTM - Virtual machines for Mac. Wow, that was easy. (Unfortunately, I can’t manage to access external USB devices/hard drives yet.) Next, I should get into Docker…
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🎮 This week, after more than two months, my “repaired,” i.e., replaced Playdate arrived. It’s now the third one. Maybe this one will last a bit longer 🤞.
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🎮 I also acquired an old Nintendo N64 console. The picture quality of PAL games on the PAL version of the console is abysmally bad on my LG LED TV. Interestingly, NTSC games, started from the Everdrive, look good 🤷♂️.
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🌐 I was happy to hear from Adam again.
Have a great week and take care 😇
TIL that the number of a CR battery indicates its diameter and thickness. For example, CR2032 is 20 mm wide and 3.2 mm thick.
In the whole Pro discussion about the iPad, I always miss the decisive factor for me: There is no multi-user support. I’m not going to spend €2000 on an ultra-modern device that only one person in the household can use, whereas a Macbook Air is available to the whole family for a very similar price.
What caught my attention in week twenty-one, 2024
In continuation of week 20, here are a few thoughts and things that caught my attention in the 21. week of 2024:
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⌨️ 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. I actually really like the keyboard, but this week I finally pulled the plug and bought a Logitech MX Keys for Mac. I should have done this six months ago. I get along with it unbelievably better.
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📱 And in week 01 I was tempted to order a Clicks Keyboard for my iPhone. Glad I did not do this.
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💻 Speaking of devices I find interesting but won’t buy: Daylight - A More Caring Computer. If there was just an affordable Android-based e-ink reader I could use Readwise Reader on. (570 € for an PocketBook InkPad Eo is too much.)
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🔍 &udm=14 is the suffix you want to use for Google searches. This AI stuff is really getting bananas and completely out of control it seems.
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📦 I am waiting now for almost two months for Panic to ship a replacement for my broken playdate. It seems the first package was lost and maybe I’ll receive the next one.
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🎮 Fortunately, this parcel did not get lost and I have I received my GB Operator and went through my ROMs collection. I was irritated to find out that my “Super Mario Advance 4” is on a rewritable unofficial ROM cartridge. It cost about $20 and looks absolutely genuine to me. Why do people go to so much trouble to fake these not-so-rare and not-so-expensive cartridges?
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🎨 Sean Fletcher is currently working on another Delta Skin, this time for the NDS: Delta Duo (Preview). I really like it.
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📱 And if someone has lost track of all the iOS emulators, the Beginner’s Guide To iPhone, iPad, and Apple TV Emulators might help, and for newcomers to Retroarch, the iPhone & iPad Starter Guide on YouTube could be helpful.
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🎬 Andre mentioned Switch TV ON - TV shows and movies in detail. It seems to be a great source for finding information about shows, actors, etc. Like Callsheet but without a subscription.
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⏲️ If you are looking for a simple and free focus / Pomodoro timer, Breaks: Focus Timer might be the right iOS app for you.
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🔒 Little Snitch — Network Monitor and Application Firewall for macOS has been upgraded to version 6.
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Nice set of rules from Lou and Alexandra. I would say that you absolutely can’t go wrong with it in your life.
Have a nice week! 🙋♂️
Finished reading: Doom Guy by John Romero 📚
What caught my attention in week twenty, 2024
In continuation of week 18, here are a few thoughts and things that caught my attention in the 19. - 20. week of 2024:
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🚴♂️ 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. Train travel is an absolute disaster in our country, and that makes me very sad and angry at the FDP (the party that provides our transport minister). But that’s a topic for another time.
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📵 During the bike tour, I decided to take a one or two-week break from social media. I deleted my Mastodon clients from my devices (I already don’t use Threads, Instagram, X, Facebook, etc.) and also avoided YouTube. I still read a few posts in my RSS reader, though. So, do I feel better now? I don’t think so, but it was good anyways, I think.1
What else was interesting to me?
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🚴♂️ Hammerhead Karoo 3 In-Depth Review: Worth the Upgrade?: there’s a successor to my current bike computer. Since my two biggest criticisms, battery life and responsiveness, have obviously not been addressed, I am not in danger of wanting to spend the 500 € (!) for it for now.
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🎮 RetroArch has been released for iOS and similar platforms. For those who aren’t totally into retro gaming, dedicated emulators like Delta, PPSPPP are probably the much more convenient way to enjoy some old games. Nevertheless, it’s wonderful to see that RetroArch now runs on the iPhone and especially on the AppleTV! (I use a dedicated Raspberry Pi with Batocera or my Analogue Pocket with its dock for the TV, though.)
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📑 PDF Squeezer is now also available for iOS.
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💾 Carbon Copy Cloner has been released in version 7, and I took the opportunity to support the developer by purchasing the upgrade.
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🖼️ If you have an old, currently unused iPad lying around (I’ve heard there are new ones 😇), you might want to check out Synced Photo Frame by Re-Frame and repurpose it as a digital photo frame.
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🖼️ Photo Tape - Connect Images: the app looks like a pretty neat way to simply merge images.
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🔖 Plinky - Easily Save Links: there’s another bookmark manager. I just bought the lifetime license for Anybox and therefore my search (for now) is over.
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⏳ Time - Ring - the elegant and fun way to count down to your most anticipated events! For those interested who haven’t yet paid for Pinning, Up Ahead (which has resumed development), Countdowns, or one of the many other apps and are looking for a simple, free option.
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🎮 I installed chiaki4deck on my Steam Deck and can now effortlessly do PS5 Remote Play. However, I fear that someone might empty half the PSN Store with my account, but certain risks have to be taken 😬
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🎮 Due to the early access release of Hades II, the first one was very cheap, so I bought it for the Steam Deck and started playing it. Actually, I wanted to keep my hands off these rogue-like games, but it’s just too good.
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🌞 Have a great week!
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That was also the reason why there was no blog post from me last week. I assume almost no one noticed ;-) ↩︎
What caught my attention in week eighteen, 2024
In continuation of week 17, here are a few thoughts and things that caught my attention in the 18. week of 2024:
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🚀 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.
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🕹️ It seems like every week a handful of new retro handhelds hit the market. Whether interest will wane due to Delta, I don’t know, but for those like me who have long lost track of all the different devices, take a look at Handheld List.
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🐰 Following the humane AI pin disaster, the second AI gadget, rabbit R1, doesn’t fare much better: Rabbit R1: Barely Reviewable. But at least it’s orange, costs only a fraction of its sibbling, and looks totally cute on a shelf next to a playdate console. Speaking of which, in week 12 the crank handle of mine broke, I sent it in for repair, and now the replacement device has been waiting somewhere in America to be shipped for over 4 weeks 😢. I’m curious to see if I will ever see my playdate again 🤞.
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📦 On Bento3D you can easily click together boxes for your 3D printer according to your needs and download the corresponding .stl files. I wish it were compatible with Gridfinity.
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⌨️ I am a long-time Typinator user and there are a bunch of other alternatives for text expansion, but someone1 mentioned Espanso. So, this might be worth checking out if you’re still on the hunt.
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🖱️ As previously mentioned, I own a KeyCue license, which I don’t really utilize, but a nice feature is its ability to add your own shortcuts to menu entries. If you only want to use this feature and have so far not employed the cumbersome method of doing it via the Settings app, you might want to take a look at the free app CustomShortcuts – Customize menu keyboard shortcuts.
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⌚ For months, the capacity display of my Apple Watch S7 stood at exactly 80%. Apple replaces the battery for free if it drops to 79% and you are paying for Apple Care. I was about to file a class-action lawsuit because I was sure the value would never drop to 79% 😇. However, this week it finally happened and my watch was replaced. It’s great not to risk the watch refusing to work in the afternoon. I think this also means I can get by with my current model for another year and not be in a bind wanting a new one in the fall. What I found interesting was that despite a backup, not all settings were transferred to the new one. So, I had to search in vain in the Watch app on my phone and then in the settings directly on the watch for where to set that a simple swipe on the watch face switches to another. I couldn’t find it and had to consult the internet. I’ve had better experiences with Apple’s UI in the past I must say. A few other little things were also not set correctly. It’s as if an intern at Apple had quit, and now the latest settings are no longer included in the backup routine 🤷♂️.
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🎮 I had actually forbidden myself from buying games for other platforms if I already own them for one. Well, buying Hades for less than 9 EUR for the Steam Deck, even though I already have the PS5 version, was definitely the last exception 🤦♂️. Luckily, Nintendo stubbornly prevents me from logging into their eShop with my mobile phone (despite the disabled ad blocker and paused pi hole), so at least I’m not in danger of acquiring the Switch version as well.
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📚 I wish it wouldn’t cost 300 € to have Reader running on an E-Ink Android device.
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📖 Anyone who has ever wanted to test how well they can type can do so by copying a book: Practice typing by retyping ENTIRE novels — TypeLit.io.
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💾 The small 88x31 icons in the website footer are enjoying great popularity again. BTW those by Andy are awesome. If you want to take a look at the originals from GeoCities, you’ll find them here: THE 88×31 ARCHIVE.
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🎮 I don’t own a Nintendo 64 console, but I’ve already ordered an EVERDRIVE-64 X5 just in case 🤷♂️.
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🎥 Watched The Terminator with my sons. Also, I resubscribed to trakt.tv. I think the service is worth supporting.
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🚴 Finally got to ride my bike outside several times this week 🥰.
Have a great week! 🙋♂️
I am so grateful that some clever mind once invented the bicycle 🙏🥰
What caught my attention in week seventeen, 2024
In continuation of week 16, here are a few thoughts and things that caught my attention in the seventeenth week of 2024:
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🖱️ 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. Guess, I have to evaluate “mouse drivers” now 🤦♂️.1
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🎮 The enthusiasm for retro gaming continues to hold on. Delta received its first update in the AltStore PAL (installation went absolutely smoothly) and a native iPad version has been announced for non-Europeans. Moreover, Sean Fletcher has released absolutely great skins for Deltas GBC und GBA cores.
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🖥️ macOS can also be beautified, as Louie Mantia, Jr. has updated his beautiful Time Machine icons. Thanks to Harshil Shah for bringing this to my attention.2
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🎮 And for all those who have now rediscovered their love for Pokemon thanks to Delta, BenRiceM has released the appropriate app: Ketchup for Pokémon.
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📝 As you might know, I switched from Apple Notes to Obsidian as my main notes app some time ago, but those who still use Apple Notes as their App Defaults now have in addition to NotesOllama another extensions available, ProNotes, which hopefully further improves working with it.
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📊 Speaking of Obsidian, for those still looking for new plugins, the current episode of AppStories Obsidian Setup Check-In and the blog post 10 Lesser Known But Super Useful Obsidian Plugins by Lou Plummer might be worth checking out. Additionally, Brett Terpstra has released a plugin for his brilliant Markdown Preview App Marked 2.
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⌨️ I own a KeyCue license and use the app less than I thought I would. The app is not exactly cheap, but fortunately, there are a number of alternatives for those interested, including KeyClu.
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🏋️♂️ Donovan has released a free Bodyweight exercises tracker for iOS.
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🍏 Apple users are being locked out of their Apple IDs with no explanation - fortunately, I have not been affected so far.
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🕹️ I also played a lot of Dead Cells on the Steam Deck OLED this week but couldn’t get past the penultimate level. I also briefly looked at Hades on the PS5. It looks very nice, but I need to play something other than RogueLi[kt]e games before I dive into this. I really long to be able to load a game save to progress in a game.
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📚 I know I definitely shouldn’t do it, but I’m thinking about whether or not I should spend 150 € on a book 🤦♂️.
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🎬 Watched Sterben, a German movie, in the cinema - very intense 3 hours.
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🤒 I’ve been sick with a cold for two weeks now and feel unable to exercise and in general struggling through the day. I’m really looking forward to hopefully getting over this next week.
Wishing you a beautiful week! ☀️
2024-04-29: Fix credentials for Time Machine Icons
CASIO fx-4800P
In the latest Clockwise episode Strap In and Forget My Email the question came up, what the oldest tech gadget was that is still being used. For me it’s an old CASIO fx-4800P calculator I got most probably 1990 🤯. I still use it several times a week, whenever I’m not in the mood for PCalc or Soulver on the Mac/iPhone.
What caught my attention in week sixteen, 2024
In continuation of week 15, here are a few thoughts and things that caught my attention in the sixteenth week of 2024:
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🎮 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. Here you can get it exclusively via the AltStore PAL, an alternate iOS Appstore.1 Its developer wrote a little about the availability of Delta and the AltStore PAL in general. Installing the AltStore and downloading Delta went as smoothly as Apple currently allows, and the app is just great. Very nicely designed, customizable through skins and comprehensive. However, I see myself rather less playing GB[AC]* games on my iPhone, as they bring more fun on the Analogue Pocket or one of my other devices with a built-in gamepad. However, the situation is similar to photography, you know, the best camera is the one you have with you …
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🕹️ If you’ve now gotten a taste for it and also want to play some of your legally acquired Roms on your Mac but don’t want to install an all-in-one solution like RetroArch or even ES-DE right away, you can also pick up some tips on stand-alone emulators here: Emulators aren’t new; here’s the great ones on the Mac. More emulators are also apparently in the starting blocks, and I also downloaded a C64 emulator, but I haven’t looked at it yet and therefore don’t know if this a valid recommendation.
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🧠 This week, MetaAI unveiled its new Llama 3 models, which can be easily downloaded to the Mac using Ollama with commands such as
ollama pull llama3:8borollama pull llama3:70b. If you prefer not to use the command line to interact with the LLM or any of the GUIs mentioned in Week 8, you might consider exploring Enchanted LLM. This app offers a free and slick interface to interact with Ollama’s LLMs. -
💻 I mainly use Rectangle Pro for window management on macOS, which also offers the possibility to throw windows into predefined areas via mouse gestures (Window Throw), but if you are looking for an alternative, you might want to check out the free Loop.
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🤖 This is so f*%king incredible: Farewell to HD Atlas. But of course that can still be topped: All New Atlas 🤯.
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🦉 As already mentioned on my little Site Project, DropScout for iOS / iPad is out of beta and available for free: DropScout tracks your Amazon products and alerts you when prices drop! Also mentioned there, since version 3.11, Soulver once again includes an iOS version that can be unlocked with a one-time purchase. After years of incompatibility, you can finally exchange files between macOS and iOS again. Did I mention before, that I love Soulver?
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💻 Lou blogged about apps that Open at Login on his Mac, and two apps were new to me. As Mission Control Plus - Put the “control” back in Mission Control - is included in my Setapp subscription, I started evaluating it. The app does mainly two things, it adds an X-button to Mission Control’s windows and several keybard shortcuts managing them. The other one was Backup Status - View the status of Time Machine right from your desktop or Notification Center. Bookmarked but not tried myself yet.
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💻 On A Better Computer, I stumbled across 10 useful Mac apps you may not have heard of and found Cleft quite interesting. However, it absolutely did not want to work for me and instead of transcribing my spoken text, it bombarded me with error messages and just deleted everything. Well, I might look at it again in version 1.1 or maybe 2.x.
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🛠️ Whether I spend a lot of time troubleshooting to get something running that I would like to accomplish depends strongly on the platform I’m doing it on and my expectations of the project/product.2 With Apple products or other commercial services, my tolerance for having to spend a lot of time to make something work as it should is quite low, for example. This was also one of the reasons why I switched from Windows to macOS about 20 years ago. I just didn’t feel like dealing with the fiddling anymore. With Linux projects, it’s different for me. I almost expect it to be difficult, and it’s fine with me because in general it’s open source and I heavily benefit from the hard work from others. So, I spent countless hours trying to set up a WLAN access point on a Raspi that is connected to my network via LAN and brings the connected devices into the network via VPN. (My regular router can’t do this, and I have one or two devices that I’d like to connect to the network via VPN, but I can’t install a client on them.) I ultimately failed and gave up a few weeks ago. Last week, I stumbled across the BerylAX GL-MT3000 and it took me no more than 5 minutes to get it up and running with NordVPN. This really blew me away.
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⏺️ The Stream Deck Neo was announced and looks really compelling to me.
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📺 Continued watching Palm Royale - still not sure about this TV series.
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🎥 Watch Riders of Justice - enjoyed that one.
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🕹️ Spent way too much money for discounted games on Steam and played a lot of Dead Cells. Really hard but I like it a lot.3
Have a nice week! 🙋♂️
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BTW I wouldn’t be surprised if Apple’s spontaneous change of direction regarding emulators was related to the AltStore PAL to take some wind out of the sails of the alternative app store, but maybe I’m going too far with that. Perhaps others can unravel this. ↩︎
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This paragraph was obviously inspired by a section of Clockwise. ↩︎
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BTW as of writing this, Dead Cells is no longer on sale on steam but for Nintendo Switch. So, if you own one, go and check it out. ↩︎
What caught my attention in week fifteen, 2024
In continuation of week 14, here are a few thoughts and things that caught my attention in the 15. week of 2024:
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🎮 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.
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🛠️ Jarod Blundy released another great shortcut: Simple MB Image Uploader.
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🏎️ I’ve learned that in Mario Kart 8, you can choose from 703,560 driver, kart body, tires, and glider combinations, but you can still be more clever than others: Mario meets Pareto 🤯.
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📱 At first, I was skeptical, but Simple Scan • Quick Scanner gets updated regularly and has reached a stage where it is definitely much more useful than a simple one-step shortcut or going into the Files app and initiating the scan from within there.
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💻 I am a long-time Bartender 5 user and don’t see a reason to switch. However, for those who don’t already have a Setapp subscription or don’t want to pay that much money for a “simple” utility app, iBar-Menubar icon control tool might be worth a look. However, you have to more or less blindly trust the developers, as their website will probably remain incomprehensible to many people.
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🛑 If it also bothers you that every App Store link in Safari directly opens the store instead of just calling up the overview page, maybe this will help: StopTheMacAppStore - Mac app that stops Safari from automatically opening the App Store app.
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🖥️ I used to have a version of iStat Menus (Setapp) running on every Mac, but nowadays I do without. However, there is also a number of alternatives, for example, the freshly updated Usage, which, for instance, also allows access to the status of the Mac from a mobile device, or the free Stats - macOS system monitor in your menu bar.
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📁 In week 9, I mentioned Manila, a free app that lets you change the color of a folder’s icon. There seems to be a similar paid upfront app called Foldery, that might be easier to set up and is regularly updated; bookmarked for the case that Manila stops working someday. If just a color is not enough, Folderizer might be worth a try, too. So far, I was occasionally using the Setapp version of Image2icon but might give the former a shot.
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🎮 I fell in love with Gamery - Game Tracker and switched to the app from GameTrack. Actually, I was looking for an app that runs both on iOS and macOS, but I am not very satisfied with the macOS version of GameTrack. The developer of Gamery has mentioned that he plans to enable the iPadOS version on macOS and is working on a native macOS version, too. That all sounds very good.
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🗓️ Sindre Sorhus makes so many great apps, and many of his programs are free. To support him, I bought the Mac App Store version of Dato even though it was available via Setapp, too. Anyways, if you’re looking for a free alternative, Itsycal for Mac or Calendrx might be worth a try.
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📸 I briefly looked into the new app from Aptonic, the developers of Dropzone (Setapp), called ScreenSnapAI - AI Powered Screenshot Manager. But that’s not for me. I will definitely stick with CleanShot X (Setapp) for the time being. By the way, did you know that pressing space to switch to window capture from capture area mode also works with CleanShot X and not only with the built-in macOS tool?
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🌐 The one and only master of the indie web, Robb, released EchoFeed. You have most probably already heard of his service to pipe an RSS feed to open web endpoints, like Mastodon or Micro.blog, etc. Love it.
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📲 Did you know that you can change the iOS wheel picker to a number pad by just clicking on it? I did not!
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🌍 Marcus reminded me that it is a very good idea to support OpenStreetMap. I am now an associated member.
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📺 Watched the Pilot of Palm Royale with my wife. Not yet sure what it will turn into.