2023.03.16.

Of course, we need to merge the Mac and the iPad…

We’re entering the spring, and the Mac and iPad Pro are on a collision course.

How about, no?

Because Federico doesn’t like Stage Manager and iPadOS doesn’t have multi-channel audio capabilities currently, I don’t want my iPad to become a Mac, and I don’t want my Mac to have a touchscreen (and become an iPad). And I especially don’t want them to be merged into one device (buy a Surface Pro if you want to have everything in one device, that will surely be fun).

I fear that I’m going to have to wait a couple of years for the Apple computer I want to exist, and I’m not sure anymore that iPadOS can evolve in meaningful ways in the meantime.

And I fear we will end up with an OS that is just copying macOS because we must repeat the same “Apple can’t evolve iPadOS” narrative on MacStories every two years.

While discussing iPadOS, I’m also tired of hearing about the “there are no pro apps for the iPad” argument. Let me tell you something: there are many pro apps available for the iPad, only they feel different since the device these apps are running on is very different.

Where are the pro app reviews of Affinity Designer, Affinity Photo, Affinity Publisher, or DaVinci Resolve on MacStories?

And what about Ulysses, Craft, Things, MindNode, Pixelmator Photo, or Keynote, which are fantastic on the iPad? Are those pro apps enough? I use these apps every day for “serious work” on the iPad, but I also have other pro apps on my Mac for development because it is just better for that task.

Or should we have Final Cut Pro and Xcode for the iPad? That’s what Apple pundits mean? Are you seriously expecting Apple will port FCP with all its features available in the 1.0 release, and it will be usable on an 11-inch iPad Pro?

I’m sure Apple will release more of their pro apps for iPadOS down the road, but don’t expect it will work like the desktop version. Apple pundits, of course, will complain about it not being like the desktop version, like they do with Photoshop being simpler on the iPad.

Let me remind you that Photoshop and Final Cut Pro (or Logic Pro, for that matter) are apps with decades of development history. Nobody will bring the same level of functionality to the iPad on day one. If you want to use the desktop version of Final Cut Pro, then use the damn desktop version of Final Cut Pro.

Let’s not forget that iPad Pros, which are at the top of the food chain for iPadOS, have the same CPUs as Macs at the bottom of the food chain. If we consider a MacBook Air mainly made for everyday tasks (maybe with a bit of “pro-work” here and there), what performance are you expecting from an iPad Pro with the same CPU?

There are many low-hanging fruits to be fixed on iPadOS, but let the damn thing shine on its own. If Apple merges these two platforms, like how pundits want them to, we will end up with a freak-show.

2023.03.14.

How to Plan Anything by Email Alone — and why it’s Faster – Just Use Email

Interesting article about how we can use emails to collaborate on projects:

For something temporal, and for groups of eight people or less, I believe email is superior for planning. Pretty Trello boards may look like you’ve got your act together, but you still have to type it out, get others to agree, and not forget important details. Trello can’t help you think. Even though software like Trello is quite easy, that doesn’t mean its universally understood the way email is. The documentation for Trello still must be read and understood.

I’m one of those people who like to communicate over email because it’s quick, and you can organize your end in any way you want.

The problem with a planning approach like this is that some people can’t use email appropriately. They create new messages when they should reply; they forget to answer questions etc. It happens on other platforms too. Usually, they are terrible with planning in general. So people blame email for being old and unusable.

Nowadays, a lot of people are in love with Slack.

Let me tell you a secret: it is even worse for work-related communication and project management in any possible way because it is closed, everyone has to use the same horrible client, and people expect instant communication from it (and don’t get me started on people who want everyone to use the status field as team Twitter).

People who couldn’t manage their emails started to blame it, which made companies switch to Slack, where these people are still the bottlenecks in the process, but now everyone has to use the same crappy client.

2023.03.05.

The first demo of RubyGPT integrated into macOS

As an AI language model, ChatGPT has gained a lot of attention lately. It is widely known for being quite powerful and having impressive natural language processing capability (especially for programming). This is why I decided to create a Ruby gem, RubyGPT, built on top of the newly released ChatGPT API which will enable me to chat with ChatGPT from the command line.

I recorded a demo of how RubyGPT works. I encourage you to watch it to understand better how this tool can make interacting with ChatGPT more efficient. It can be used directly from the command line or integrated into almost any editor and used like an interactive REPL.

I also created a corresponding AppleScript that passes the currently edited file from BBEdit into the `rubygpt` gem, parses the request then updates the file, making it feel like an editable conversation.

RubyGPT can be helpful in programming sessions, brainstorming, or general inquiry. It feels like you’re editing a Markdown text with an AI pair.

I may release this tool if there is a demand for it.

2023.02.08.

2023.02.07.

2023.02.01.

My Clearing Out My Work Inbox

We can watch Chris Coyier going for a 13 minutes ride of cleaning newsletters and spam from his work inbox.

I usually try to unsubscribe from these type of emails too.

If I can, it goes into the trash. If I can’t, then it goes into spam. I don’t archive these like Chris does.

2023.01.31.

Replacing Craft with Bike as a thinking tool

The next decade of innovation is ahead of us, which means that the Web 2.0 “r” suffix (Flickr, Tumblr, etc) will be replaced with InsertNameHere AI.

2023.01.30.

The Open in Kaleidoscope Service

The Services menu is getting a well deserved love from the Kaleidoscope blog:

The Services menu, originally part of NeXTSTEP, was introduced to the Mac with the advent of OS X in 2001. Throughout the entire history of OS X (now called macOS), Services never received a lot of love or major updates. Luckily, Services continues to work to this day and can be remarkably helpful.

One of the things I like about LaunchBar is its integration with the Services menu. There is no need to install a bunch of LaunchBar plugins; you can simply reuse already provided system services and share extensions from installed apps.

Add to Kaleidoscope

Posting digital garden seedlings from Bike

  • I added a way to post digital garden seedlings to the blog.

  • What are seedlings?

    • Seedlings are half-done articles/notes kept in a digital garden.

    • They are like drafts, but we keep them public because not every one of them will be finalized.

    • I can also use seedlings to privately reply to people using my blog and send them the link.

    • Seedlings are entirely hidden, but you can find them if you know their URL.

  • The goal

  • Posting seedlings from Bike

    • There are note branches in my Zettelkasten, which can be migrated to a seedling, so I can start working on it.

    • I extract these notes into separate files, naming them using their number from my Zettelkasten.

    • I can invoke a simple Ruby script, which is going to prepare and post to my blog.

    • The script also links them using Hookmark, so I can switch back and forth between writing the post and previewing it.

  • Demo

  • Previously

2023.01.29.

Numbers can be used to store next actions and projects in a GTD system

I was thinking about making a more advanced GTD system in Numbers other than just using Reminders in macOS. This post lays out this idea in more detail.

First, create two tables for lists

We can store next actions of a GTD system in Apple Numbers by creating two tables for “Next Actions” and “Projects”.

  • The Projects list is just a list of projects with a completion checkbox, a title, and an optional due date field.
    • We could add optional notes or a project support field to link notes and other assets or link them using the title field.
  • The Next Actions list contains a completion checkbox, a title, a due date, a context, and an optional project field.
    • The context field can be a drop-down listing of all of our contexts.
    • The project field can be linked using a formula for the projects table title field.

Add groups for contexts

  • Grouping on the next actions table can be used to group next actions by context.
    • Contexts groupings can be folded, depending on where we are and what we want to see.
    • We can create sums for the number of next actions in a group.

Optionally, sync with Reminders

Writing an AppleScript for syncing with Reminders should be possible.

  • The script can create different Reminders lists for each context like Kinless GTD did for iCal back in the day.
  • The due date field should be assigned as a Reminders due date.
  • Next actions can be added to each Reminders list using the following format:
    • ✓ Next action title [Project Title]

Questions

  • Could it be possible to sync changes from Reminders back to Numbers using AppleScript?
  • How would we store task-related notes?
    • A new field can be long, but we can’t have fields under row without merging rows or columns.
  • What would be the benefit of this system other than just using a proper task management app like OmniFocus or Things?
    • I guess the reason is that Numbers is more flexible than Reminders and comes with every Mac.

2023.01.25.

2023.01.20.

I was thinking about installing a new Mastodon instance and creating a new account. Still, this blog is already capable of RSS and ActivityPub, so I’m not sure if I need the social aspect of yet another social network. I simply want to blog. It’s an easy to follow concept, and I have comments open if you want to leave a reply.

There is a way to follow me on Mastodon, though; you can do it by pasting the following handle into Mastodon’s search bar:

@zsbenke@decoding.io

2023.01.16.

2023.01.11.

Re-reading 43folders.com

I recently started making read/review-related GTD projects to be more disciplined about consuming websites and books. I do this because I want to extract information from them and not just read and forget it.

The current one is 43folders.com, which is old, but still contains many valuable tips and tricks regarding Mac productivity. I’m unsure if there is anything like that today like the Mac blogging scene was from 2003-2008 – maybe MPU Talk — when everybody was obsessed with GTD, QuickSilver, Mac OS X, and productivity. Good times!

Anyway… I started to archive interesting articles linked on 43 Folders into DEVONthink. Sadly, many of those blogs are no longer around, but archive.org has them saved.

Screenshot 2023 01 11 at 11 46 54

2022.12.26.

Downloading YouTube videos with DEVONthink

  • How I download YouTube videos into DEVONthink automatically.

    • 1. While browsing YouTube or checking my subscriptions from Reeder, I can save videos to my Decoding playlist.

    • 2. By subscribing to the channel using its hidden RSS feed from DEVONthink, I can get saved videos into my Decoding database.

    • 3. DEVONthink watches this RSS feed via a smart rule and downloads videos using yt-dlp.

    • 4. The script saves videos into my inbox folder at ~/Library/Application Support/DEVONthink 3/Inbox, which automatically gets imported by DEVONthink.

    • 5. From here, I can organize downloaded videos, start watching them and take notes.

Tweaking workflows

  • I constantly tweak my workflows this time of the year. I usually provide tools for others—that’s what I do for a living—but I also have to keep my knives sharp.

  • This year I’m tweaking two things.

  • Take better notes while watching a video.

  • Moving my Zettelkasten over to Bike.

    • I like to think about my Zettelkasten being a large outline. Keeping it inside Bike could be beneficial.

      • I’m trying to mimic the analog Zettelkasten (or Antinet).

        • I won’t use an analog one since I like the digital one’s benefits better, but I also want ideas from the analog one.

        • I’m a programmer and I use my Zettelkasten to understand coding concepts. I have some code snippets stored in SnippetsLab, so it’s easier to link to those from my Zettelkasten outline than keeping them on paper.

      • I can use the classical Luhmann IDs to add an ID each note.

      • I can nest notes under each other.

        • I can easily link notes together thanks to the Bike and Hook integration.

    • Disadvantages

      • I don’t have backlinks, but I’m not sure I need that inside a Zettelkasten.

2022.12.24.

This is just a test to see if Brid.gy POSSE works from a client.

Sometimes I forget how superb Micro.blog is. I can interact with Mastodon users but can also post directly to my blog.

2022.12.23.

  • I added ActivityPub integration to the blog, so you can follow me via Mastodon (or any other similar application that uses ActivityPub) by searching for my profile (zsbenke@decoding.io) from your instance.

Blogging with Bike

  • I had this short post from a couple of years ago, where Dave Winer showed how he could blog from an outliner in a video. Basically, he edits an OPML file that gets synced to his blog—the website also looks like an outline.

  • I still like this outline-based blogging approach. It is so easy to change and publish. I wanted to have this for myself too.

  • Jesse Grosjean (the guy who did TaskPaper) recently released an outliner app called Bike, which I often use. Since Bike is just using HTML behind the scenes, it occurred to me that if I feed that into a Ruby script, I could create something similar to what Dave has.

  • So, I created two scripts.

    • One is called publish_from_bike.rb, which accepts a Bike file and pushes changes to my blog.

    • The other is a simple AppleScript which starts the Ruby part, saves post permalinks into the Bike outline, and does some general housekeeping.

  • I have a small system to publish from my blogging outline. I use the following format.

    • 2022-12-23

      • 10:40

        • Posts with a timestamp are a published.

      • DRAFT

        • I can create drafts by marking them as DRAFT (or IDEA).

      • SKIP

        • I can also add notes or just bullets which will be skipped with the publishing script.

  • Here’s a video in action.

  • Plans

    • I want to have a proper toggles for these outline type posts, like Bike does.

    • It would be nice to mark them with a custom icon, like my other post formats has.

    • I may release these scripts if there is a need and they are well tested.

2022.12.19.

2022.09.16.