Maybe this is the best article yet about using the Zettelkästen method. Use it as an entry point for the system, then head over to zettelkasten.de to learn about the details of each step in the process.
2020.01.03.
2020.01.02.
Replying to: MuellerSimhofer:
As user I’ve seen Spotlight implementations for document based apps (usually just using NSUserActivity), but the problem is that they usually duplicate results. You get one result from Files and then another one from the app’s index.
Also keeping the index up-to-date seems hard, since I can delete files outside the app, but the app’s index still contains it: I have to start the app, to get the index updated. I’m curious how you guys can solve this for MindNode.
Replying to: MuellerSimhofer:
I haven’t implemented anything like that for myself, but Spotlight indexes the Files app anyway. What’s the point of building a custom index?
2020.01.01.
The Smartphone Isn’t Evil, Chill
Ben Brooks writing about the topic of “smartphone addiction”:
Too much is getting blamed on smartphones — that people are addicted to the phone. Which isn’t actually true. People are addicted to Social Networks/Media — yes. But the phones, no.
I couldn’t agree more. People do all kinds of bullshit, like grayscaling their screens, turning off all notifications and using dumbphones from 1977. These are cheap and stupid lifehacky ways to not being honest with yourself and getting away from the real question: what are you really addicted to?
As I wrote before:
Well, I don’t want to pop the productivity bubble of blocking stuff, but what helps is deleting your account from Facebook. The same applies to phone addiction: you have to remove those time-wasting apps from your devices and then be mindful of how you’re using your phone. Turning on an accessibility setting then complaining about colored app icons that make us addictive to stuff is just stupid. Addiction is a way bigger problem than that. You have to acknowledge that your phone is just a tool and it’s your responsibility what you’re using it for.
2019.12.30.
I’m doing my last GTD Weekly Review this year. It’s gonna take a couple of hours, but it’s nothing different than doing any other review in mid-year. That’s why I think new year’s resolutions are bullshit. Do something or don’t, but don’t wait because the Earth is gonna be in a specific position related to the Sun.
2019.12.25.
Yesterday we finished watching Mr. Robot with my wife. It was a perfectly constructed story that was slowly built-up right from the start. I’ll wait a couple of months, but I’m definitely going to rewatch the show, since a lot of small details was hidden in previous seasons. These are going to get a completely new meaning now that we know how it ends.
Meanwhile, I’m just gonna listen to the original soundtrack by Mac Quayle, which is just as good in itself as the series was.
Mr. Robot is a masterpiece.
2019.12.11.
Actually @jack, you know what? Go and invent another protocol, but make sure it can’t be used to edit posts.
Jack Dorsey plans to fund a small group of developers to came up with an open and decentralized standard for social media that Twitter would support. Like we don’t have that already used by almost all federated social networks…
I disabled Gutenberg yesterday.
At first, it does look great, but after switching off the visual editor, it becomes a simple textarea. There isn’t even an insert media button, so I reverted everything to the old one. It should be supported for another 3 years, so I’m fine for a while.
2019.12.10.
I know Apple has the new Pro Display XDR, but there is still a place for another 27-inch display which is made for developers. I have an LG UltraFine 4K connected to my iMac and I love it, but the design is so un-Apple.
2019.12.08.
Dave Winer made a video about how he blogs which is very unique. Basically he edits an OPML file that gets synced to scripting.com—it also looks like an outline. I like how quickly he can change anything on his blog.
I made a lot of adjustments to my blog to use IndieWeb technologies, so in essence: I can reply, like or repost tweets, receive mentions as comments here, and update my status, all from Decoding.
This is really cool, since I can keep everything under my control, but I can participate in social services.
Replying to @ttscoff:
Almost there with around 2.7%. https://indiewebify.me/validate-h-card/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fdecoding.io
2019.12.07.
I hate iPhone cases but I’m going to get a leather one from Apple. I just dropped my phone on the floor and it landed on top. I was lucky, it survived it without any damage, but I got scared for a second.
Replying to @zsbenke:
Also, I should be able to reply to my own tweet.
2019.12.06.
I have comments and webmentions again on my blog. It feels nice.
While almost everybody is moving mindlessly into the cloud, I try to move out of it more and more and store a lot of my stuff locally (some of it are not even synced). I’m very conservative about my privacy lately. Although I use iCloud when I can, for 3rd-party syncing services, I prefer the ones where I can host them on my own server. I still use some services which store my data on their own servers (like YNAB), but I’m trying to get rid of them quickly.
One week ago I started running my own WebDAV server for OmniFocus and DEVONthink. There is an easy-to-follow tutorial from Bytemark that explains how to set up a couple of Docker containers with an automatic reverse proxy and SSL renewal service using Traefik.
I bought a cheap $5 server on Digital Ocean which is located in Frankfurt, that’s way closer to me (I live in Hungary) than OmniGroup’s sync service which is located in the US, I assume in Seattle.
When I switched to OmniFocus from Things, one thing I missed from Things was the instant and invisible syncing that they offer. Cultured Code really nailed that one: you can change anything in your Things database and it instantly shows up on your other devices, even in the background. OmniFocus’s sync was always slower for me, but shortening the distance between the server and the client looks like boosts the performance in a very big way. Using my own sync server located in the EU, I’m getting almost the same speed in OmniFocus as Things has. The good thing is that my data is now hosted on my own server.
DEVONthink also getting some speed increase compared to iCloud, but it’s not that big of a difference as with OmniFocus.
2019.12.04.
Let’s try posting something from MarsEdit.
After months of work, I’m switching back from Jekyll to WordPress. I’m just tired of regenerating my website every time I want to post something to it.
The best: I can use MarsEdit again!
2019.11.12.
Mesmerizing Translucent Waves from 19th Century Paintings
What separates Aivazovsky’s seascape paintings from others is his ability to replicate both the intensity and motion as well as the translucency and texture. His energetic waves and calm ripples are equally effective.
That glow! I have no idea how you can create an effect like that on a simple painting.
2019.11.06.
2019.10.31.
After playing around with the idea for a while, I'll switch from OmniFocus to the new Reminders app, because I'm curious how well it works as a simple GTD app. I still envy the deeper Siri/Shortcuts and iOS integration.
2019.09.21.
I've just started playing around with Shortcuts in iOS 13.
This thing is gonna be huge! ?
2019.09.09.
Just a quick tip for LaunchBar and Apple Music users.
2019.09.08.
Thinking about investments
I started to research a couple of money-related topics, like investment, frugality or how can I make a passive income. I see the following patterns emerging:
It’s very important to think about investments in the long term. I can’t get a 50% profit in a day, it’s more likely that my funds will get a 5-10% percent increase in 25-50 years. If you’re making millions on stocks or something, it’s very likely that you had luck or it’s your job that you do all-day. For me, it’s more appealing when people take their time, research and understand their investments. I like this related Warren Buffett quote:
Never invest in a business you cannot understand.
I have to reconsider my relationship with money. It’s important to think about every purchase as an investment. Every asset/tool I buy has to have a job.
There is a need to stop the urge to buy new stuff constantly. If I always chase after new things, then I’ll miss the ones I already have. I want to invest more time into rediscovering what I have and sharpening my existing tools.
I have to make a habit of checking YNAB Trends on a weekly basis. It gives me the statistics required to know where my money went, so I can adjust my budget, but more importantly, I can reflect on how well my purchases serve me.
2019.09.02.
That moment when you dictate to your Apple Watch, press Done, and it replaces some parts of the perfectly understood text to something stupid.
Really cool looking wallpapers for all Apple devices. It also has versions for displays with P3 color.
Okay, I had enough with that bullshit that Google does with AMP. I can’t even find the link to the original site anymore, it just loads this dumbed down version and that’s it. It feels like using WAP again…
I’m switching to DuckDuckGo everywhere. At least they don’t fuck around with the open web (and have a dark theme). I’ll use LaunchBar or bangs when I need to search something on quickly Google.
2019.05.24.
Smartphones Are Toys First, Tools Second
David from Raptitude:
If you time-traveled to the 1960s, or even the 1980s, and tried to describe smartphones to the people you met, they wouldn’t believe you.
It would simply seem too good to be true—an affordable, pocket-sized device that provides:
- instant telegrams or phone calls, from anywhere to anywhere, usually free
- maps of virtually every city or rural area, even showing current traffic conditions
- searchable encyclopedias
- up-to-the-minute news about anything in the world
- step-by-step instructions for doing virtually anything
- quick translations between dozens of languages
- endless articles, courses, movies and TV shows
- a camera that takes stills and video, and can transmit them to anyone instantly
- the means for anyone to create their own regular column or newsletter, or audio or video broadcasts
- the ability to adopt new functions at any time, usually for free
These are just a few basic smartphone functions, but to your new friends, they would all sound like life-changing superpowers. Their imaginations would run wild at how much easier such powers could make their lives.
They might assume that due to these devices alone, people of the 21st century will be achieving their most important goals at multiplied speed. It would be hard for them to believe that even one of those superpowers—the ability to find decent instructions for virtually any task, for example—wouldn’t make a person vastly more capable and fulfilled. Imagine what would they pay for those powers.
This is a very inspiring thought to guide my smartphone usage, but I don’t agree with the rest of the article. I’m reading stuff like this for years now, and we’re are always returning to the same solution: limit your smartphone usage which will solve your control problems. Also, it’s always the phone’s fault. You are the one who sets up stupid notifications and installs time-wasting apps, not the phone.
You can set up rules of what you’re going to install, but don’t blame the phone. It’s your fault if you can’t stop using social media or playing stupid games. Just remove them, don’t try to invent systems and blame it on the tool.
Also, I never understood people who just toss away their devices, then call themselves zen. You clearly have a problem of control. Throwing away a tool that can help you with so much is just ignoring a problem. It is true that a smartphone can feel like a superpower, but you know:
With great power comes great responsibility.