2023.10.29.

My Micro.blog integration was broken since April. 😳

It’s a good thing that they have account logs. Otherwise, I wouldn’t figure out that my feed was too big.

I fixed the RSS feed, so new posts should be imported into my Micro.blog timeline. I also updated the sidebar to link to my Micro.blog/Mastodon profile.

I know it’s not Mastodon technically, but still easier to explain and understand than this:

You can follow me via Mastodon by searching for my profile (zsbenke@decoding.io) from your instance).

Maybe I should update the blog sidebar to link to my Micro.blog profile instead of explaining how to follow me on Mastodon.

Micro.blog would handle that too.

Publish daily notes to my Zettelkasten from Bike

  • I’m tinkering with the idea of using my Bike journal to publish to my Zettelkasten directly.

    • Blogging with Bike

    • I don’t use month based files anymore in Bike, I create a new outline for each day.

  • My Zettelkasten is a Jekyll based site, so I have to work with Markdown content.

  • In theory, I would use my publish script to manage the Zettelkasten daily notes in the same pipeline as my WordPress posts.

    • Publish from Bike to Decoding

    • Daily notes would be pre-filtered though.

      • I just export notes with the ZETTEL marker only.

      • I have to create a new Bike document for each entry before converting it to Markdown because I want to have separate notes for each entry, not just one big daily note.

  • I could use a daily Markdown file and keep that open in The Archive app, but I want to use Bike for this, because it is the best thinking and outliner tool.

    • Also I’m already writing my journal in Bike. I don’t want to have another app.

  • As an interim solution, I created a Keyboard Maestro macro which copies and pastes the current entry into Drafts (and also converts it to Markdown), where I can post it manually.

2023.10.23.

Append-only storage and developing ideas

There are multiple ways to develop ideas. Sometimes the best one is where you can’t change the history of an idea. It’s there as breadcrumbs to go back in time and see how an idea was developed.

Other people use email as an append-only note-taking tool and storage medium. From How I use append-only log to store information:

Choose any email client you like and basically dump all your PDFs, notes, digitized papers, files into it as it arrives from various sources. Just write a meaningful subject that you can search for later. You can use labels or folders to organize, but mostly just send it to an email address of your choice and archive it. Usually, you will not even read it again after you have saved it.

The E-mail format itself is well understood and has many features. The max attachment size of most service providers is around 20 MB. It’s more than enough. Try to use plain text for just taking short notes and messages to yourself. If you want to dump more than 20mb of files, just archive it or split into many emails or upload it to cloud storage and copy and paste the link to email.

When you need the information. It’s there. Always.

No more fiddling with the file managers, renaming. It is saved as it is.

Even if you would like to edit, you can just forward the message again to yourself with the edit and delete the original one.

You can also use it to schedule mails and track future tasks, TV shows, anime, movies or Reminder to yourself in the future. If you are working on a piece of text for a long time, you can just keep it as a draft and keep working. It will be auto-saved.

I am a fan of the bullet journal method. Handwritten text is immutable. The same goes for emails. Once you send it, it becomes immutable.

I don’t know if other use emails to store all their digital content in emails like me. But it’s a pretty neat trick.

Here’s how Steve Jobs used email to write his Stanford commencement speech:

In January 2005, John Hennessy, the president of Stanford, asked Steve to give the commencement address to that spring’s graduating class. Steve agreed.

On and off for the next six months, Steve took stabs at writing his talk. He emailed stories and memories to himself. He asked friends, Apple colleagues, and the screenwriter Aaron Sorkin for their thoughts. In the end, however, he wrote the speech on his own. Even three days before the event, Steve was unsatisfied with his talk. He sent it to a friend, warning, “I’ll send it to you, but please don’t puke. I never do stuff like this.” He was still refining the speech the morning that he gave it. Uncharacteristically, Steve read from the lectern, rather than memorizing his text (as he did with Apple keynotes) or speaking extemporaneously from a few scrawled notes (as he did in nearly every other talk).

Steve was happy with the speech—he emailed himself a copy a few days after giving it—but he generally deflected the praise that he received for it. “I bought it on CommencementSpeeches.com,” he joked to one person. The commencement address has been viewed millions of times online and is included[…]

These use cases are similar to how I use email threads to develop ideas in the GTD capture phase, where I’m leaving notes for myself within an email thread. All I have to do is send a reply to my own address by replying to an email, so Apple Mail keeps the message in the same thread.

One of the benefits of using this method is that I can still see the email as part of the thread, but my notes will be kept private.

This is helpful for various purposes, such as making code review comments or jotting down ideas by replying to email notifications but changing the recipient to my own address, which acts a bit like the poor men’s version of HEY’s sticky notes

I also have another app where I keep journal entries called Everlog. I’m thinking about applying the same append-only storage idea there and never editing my Everlog entries after I added them. It is also an append-only app, where entries shouldn’t be changed afterward, only deleted. I can always add a follow-up to an entry but I should never change it, so I can see how something was developed over time.

This is why I like to use Drafts for capturing and drafting ideas. I can easily edit them while I’m working on the idea, but I shouldn’t change them too much after I share them with their destination app (except when I continue working on them).

Related posts

Zettelkasten Note

2023.09.18.

Download iOS icons for Safari web apps using Shortcuts

I love how you can save web apps into separate apps via Safari in Sonoma like you can with Fluid.

Safari tries to fetch the default icon, but sometimes it’s not that pretty or it’s even in a wrong aspect ratio. Finding proper app icons is hard, but a lot of web apps have iOS versions, so why not use their icons?

I created a shortcut, which lets you search the App Store and download the raw app icon. Now you can also use the proper iOS style icon for the web app.

You can download the shortcut from here.

Here’s a video on how you can use it.

2023.08.09.

2023.07.06.

So people are running between Facebook and Twitter and vice-versa. And I’m just sitting here relaxed because I give away my last fuck about any social network.

I just want forums, blogs, and RSS.

2023.06.15.

2023.06.09.

Saving Siri replies as images

I just discovered that you can drag out complete Siri responses on the Mac and save them as images. It can be useful for saving reference data or images from the web.

Of course, you can also take a screenshot of the Siri window using the ⌘⇧4 keyboard shortcut, then pressing Space and selecting the Siri response.

2023.06.08.

Apollo is shutting down on June 30th.

It means that I officially end up using any social network.

I stopped using Twitter when Tweetbot was killed. I’ll do the same with Reddit too – which I liked better because the community was awesome, but I’m not going to visit a site that kills a superior app like Apollo.

All I need nowadays is a blog and an RSS reader and I’m good.

2023.05.21.

Get A Notebook And Write Stuff Down

Greg Morris writing about notebooks:

You don’t need to start a second brain, or do some weird PKM stuff, you just need to have a place full of things that will help you out. Record things you find interesting, things you need to remember, things that might help you work later on, literally anything you might need later on. You don’t need to start a commonplace book or anything, you just require a notebook around, all the time.

I start to wonder if there is a more straightforward way to manage ideas other than keeping a full PKM or Zettelkasten.

2023.04.07.

Adding Bike Shortcuts integration to my publishing setup

  • Previously…

  • I created two new shortcuts which are helping me to start to write a new post from Bike.

    • The first one called “Open Decoding File”, which opens (and optionally creates) the current month’s file.

      • I have monthly files, because of how my publishing script works.

      • It publishes every post from the currently opened Bike file, so I don’t want to keep the same long outline around for blogging.

        • It regenerates each post every time I’m adding a new one.

        • If there is a breaking change in the system, I can archive old files and just start a new one.

    • The second one just inserts today’s date into the top, with an “DRAFT” block which can be used to start writing a new post.

      • I added a Keyboard Maestro macro to run this one from Bike.

      • I can press ⇧⌥⌘T to add a new date block on the top.

  • These shortcuts are using the Shortcuts integration which is available in the preview version.

  • Here’s a demo video.

2023.03.23.

My Notebook System – ratfactor

This year is going to see my journal/log’s 10th anniversary and 100th notebook.

I read the whole article and took a lot of notes which inspired me to think about how I can consolidate my capture (logging) habit a bit more into one place, but still keep multiple capture tools.

After finishing this essay, it feels like Dave accidentally invented GTD for himself in a different form based on a stream of captured ideas that are moved up in the chain to have projects and next actions.

The part at the end where he writes about weekly, monthly, and yearly recaps feels very GTD-esque.

I actually tracked my time in a notebook like this before. I had a timestamp of when I started and when I ended a session of work. I have a long history of working in sessions, as I used to do a lot of freelance work, which requires time tracking (a session means that I focus on one task for a more extended period of time). My only question is how Dave transcribes his notebook entries into his digital system? I did it by hand, and it was awful.

Anyway, this is an excellent write-up of a fantastic system that I’m going to use as inspiration.

2023.03.22.

Ultra-mobile writing environments

So one thing I consider a compelling use case for a big iPhone and a small iPad mini is using them as a mobile writing environment. I could easily publish an essay from my iPhone or iPad mini just by thumb-typing. I want to explore this use case in more detail in the future.

We have had people doing this for years now, watch and read the following stuff from Patrick Rhone or Yuvi Zalkow.

I have a MacBook Pro and iPad Pro to write, so why am I interested in this phenomenon? I like when people think outside the box regarding their device usage.

The iPhone and the iPad mini are considered content consumption devices by almost everyone, which I’m afraid I have to disagree with. I create all kinds of things using these devices. I take photos, write notes and blogposts, sometimes create/edit Shortcuts, and SSH into remote servers to fix issues. Heck, I even edited an entire podcast episode on my iPhone using Ferrite while I was sitting on the train. It was actually quite fun to do. Being an owner of a big phone like the iPhone 14 Pro Max, I’m even expecting myself to use it more to create rather than consume.

Thumb-typing lengthy notes and blog posts on these devices maybe seems to be an ineffective way to write. Still, there is a focused environment to be found here—especially if you set up iOS to send only essential notifications—so even a smartphone can be a device that makes you focused.

I’m not going into details on notifications here, but let me just tell you, it’s not your smartphone that makes you distracted. It’s your laziness to set up notifications properly that makes you distracted.

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.