I actually learned a couple of new things about TextEdit and Terminal.
2025.03.09.
2025.02.26.
Mihai Parparita is asking on Mastodon:
What are good examples of early Mac OS X software (10.0-10.4 era, pre-Intel switch)?
Then providing the initial list.
- OmniWeb, OmniGraffle, OmniOutliner and other Omni Group software
- Transmit 2, Unison, Candy Bar, Pixadex, and other Panic software
- Audio Hijack and other Rogue Amoeba software
- NetNewsWire and MarsEdit
- Watson
- Acorn
- TextMate
- Quicksilver
- VoodooPad
- BBEdit
- SubEthaEdit
- GraphicConverter
- iCab
- Camino
- Fetch
- Default Folder X
- MenuMeters
- DEVONthink
- CodeWarrior
- Resorcerer
- FruitMenu, WindowShadeX and other Unsanity haxies
- LiteSwitch X
- DragThing and PCalc
- TinkerTool
- LaunchBar
- Path Finder
- Konfabulator
Good memories, although most if these are still alive and well.
Read “It’s still worth blogging in the age of AI”
Blogging is essential because it provides knowledge and serves as a valuable reference for us and others.
On the other hand, getting recognized as a blogger these days is rarely going to work. People are increasingly consuming different types of content these days, and this is largely due to the way AI is changing the way we interact with the web.
That said, having a blog for thinking out loud is still the best way to learn and then “report” it, even if we’re the only ones reading it.
2025.02.18.
Read “Never Look at Your Files Again: Wikilinks, Tags, and Search in iA Writer”
Lately, I started to do a bunch of (what I call) Project-based Zettelkasten™, which are just git repositories containing a bunch of Markdown files related to different projects.
This post reminds me that iA Writer can grab all that stuff and make it available in one app.
Previously:
2025.02.17.
Bookmarked “Zen Browser”
I’m not a big fan of Arc (it just overcomplicates the browsing session), but if you want something similar based on Firefox, then the Zen browser could be interesting.
2025.02.10.
Bookmarked “Meishi: a tiny productivity system”
This is not more for me, but I love the idea of using the MagSafe Wallet this way.
Bookmarked “(mac)OStalgia”
Mac(os)talgia is exploring my 2020 work-from-home routine with an added touch of nostalgia. How would have the same workflow looked like with the tools of today and the limitations of yesterday.
I would take this Mac OS 9 design of Slack, Zoom, and Figma immediately.
2025.02.08.
Read “Can anyone stop President Musk?”
Yet more reading about President Musk (I’m gonna steal this).
Read “The Government’s Computing Experts Say They Are Terrified”
Elon Musk’s unceasing attempts to access the data and information systems of the federal government range so widely, and are so unprecedented and unpredictable, that government computing experts believe the effort has spun out of control.
Lately, I feel early Gilead vibes while reading the news.
Read “The Field Notes Thing”
I try to operate on the “Nothing Doesn’t Go in Here” principle. Flipping through the notebook that is on my desk right now, I see shopping lists, notes from conference calls, sermon notes, a little chart I made when working on some invoices for Relay, a doodle of the Widgetsmith icon I made for some reason, and a lot more. A receipt for a recent meal with a friend fell out of it onto my lap; I’ll probably tape that into the notebook for safekeeping.
The good thing about Field Notes is that you don’t have to care about it. It doesn’t feel pristine like some other brands. So, I mainly capture similar things, but I group them by date. I have meeting notes, programming session notes, random ideas, outlines, journal entries, etc.
These notebooks are a trail of breadcrumbs dating back almost 15 years. If I flip through an old one, I get a glimpse of what was going on in my life at that time. I can go to the notebook I was using when we launched Relay, or when I quit my job. I like having them on hand; seeing them in my studio each day makes me happy.
I never scanned my old Field Notes but kept them safe in a wooden box. I don’t care if they are destroyed someday since I use my notebooks as a temporary capture tool. If something is interesting, I’ll transfer it to my GTD system or just scan that part of the notebook.
Otherwise, the notebook can be discarded.
Previously:
2025.02.05.
Read “Programmers are modern-day computers”
Programming as we know it is in a process of dying out.
Most haven’t come to terms with it yet.
I’m just saving this, so I can look back at it in 3 years and see if it’s becoming true or not.
Read “Google removes pledge to not use AI for weapons from website | TechCrunch”
Google removed a pledge to not build AI for weapons or surveillance from its website this week. The change was first spotted by Bloomberg. The company appears to have updated its public AI principles page, erasing a section titled “applications we will not pursue,” which was still included as recently as last week.
Asked for comment, the company pointed TechCrunch to a new blog post on “responsible AI.” It notes, in part, “we believe that companies, governments, and organizations sharing these values should work together to create AI that protects people, promotes global growth, and supports national security.”
Shit, I just finished watching the Terminator movies yesterday.
2025.02.04.
Read “Introducing Apple Invites, a new app that brings people together”
Well, meh…
Tapestry
I like Tapestry. It’s going to be a great app, and people seem to like it. No Mac app for now though.
I’m just not sure why everyone was complaining about Reeder 5 when it was released doing basically the same thing.
2025.01.31.
Read “Why I Make Minimal Use of Social Media”
Here are a couple of highlights from Why I Make Minimal Use of Social Media:
I have a relative who loves to post about their perfect, loving family, filling their Facebook feed with happy family photos. But, as you might guess, they conveniently leave out the reality of their many conflicts and challenges. It’s a polished image that doesn’t show the truth.
Nobody’s gonna share their struggles and failures as much as their fun times, so I think this behavior is just for display. Remember that when you see something like this, it’s just a snapshot of their day. Nothing more, nothing less.
There are other ways to keep in touch with family members and friends. Emails and texts can be addressed to a group of contacts or individuals. By not using social media yourself, you can discourage others from using it as their preferred way to “keep in touch.”
I never emailed any of my friends, but we usually keep in touch via text messages. Texting is like having a peer-to-peer social network.
Bookmarked “Prevent a Mac laptop from turning on when opening its lid or connecting to power – Apple Support”
A Mac laptop with Apple silicon automatically turns on and starts up when you open its lid or connect it to power. With macOS Sequoia 15 or later, you can change this behavior without affecting your ability to use your keyboard or trackpad to turn on your Mac.
Fucking finally!
Update: I got too excited, this won’t solve the keyboard cleaning problems.
2025.01.27.
Read “Streams: Mail 3.0 concept”
Streams are not created on a personal basis, they are shared between people interested in them. Streams are like shared folders for individual threads. This additional layer keeps your communications organized: you don’t anymore have one cluttered inbox, threads are now sorted in streams with authors’ hands. Streams are high-level enough to make inbox organization effortless and not to introduce significant overhead.
Interesting ideas about making email from an inbox to streams.
2025.01.24.
Bookmarked “Memcam: Your camera, now with remembering superpowers.”
An upcoming capture tool for the iPhone camera that parses information from pictures and creates a useful output, like calendar events, contacts, shopping lists, etc.
Previously:
Bookmarked “RIFT Notes”
Quickly capture your thoughts and find them later.
Always ready to capture
Message-like interface
Instant-search, grep-like results view
Syncs .md files to your iCloud
Markdown syntax highlighting
Sweet retro look ’n feel, color themes
(inspiration: SCRL component/style)
View your notes on a map
Interesting app, which also uses the chat-based UI we seen with Strflow and Gibberish. I really like the design of this one, feels retro.
Also, it saves notes as simple Markdown files, which can be moved around, so there is no proprietary database.
Previously:
Bookmarked “Memos – Open Source, Self-hosted, Your Notes, Your Way”
A privacy-first, lightweight note-taking solution that allows you to effortlessly capture and share your ideas.
Open-source, self-hosted note-taking platform that allows users to create and store notes in an SQLite database. There is threading too.
Previously:
Bookmarked “Sublime Feed”
The first RSS feed reading service that’s tailored for a more calm approach that doesn’t make you want to scratch your eyes out. Embrace the FOMO and go with the flow of life.
A heavily HEY-inspired RSS reading service.
2025.01.20.
Read “The PC is Dead: It’s Time to Make Computing Personal Again”
How the rise of internet surveillance, algorithmic polarization of social media, predatory app stores, and extractive business models have eroded the freedoms once promised by personal computers.
In the short term, we can do things like support open projects like Linux, support non-predatory and open source software, and run apps and store data locally as much as possible. But some bigger structural changes are necessary if we really want to launch the era of Personal Computer 2.0.
Bookmarked “Creating a Plain Text Worklog”
A guide on how to create a detailed worklog that combines elements of a timesheet and a journal.
All is well in Micro Land! I have my books to read, my locally stored music to listen to. My family to interact with. We have not watched the “news” since November. The house is quieter, the stress is lower.
2025.01.16.
Bookmarked “Infinite Mac”
“Infinite Mac” is a project by Mihai Parparita that aims to make classic Mac and NeXT emulation easily accessible on the web using WebAssembly ports of various emulators, allowing a wide range of System Software/Mac OS versions to run online.
2025.01.15.
Read “Aim for an 80% success rate – Cole’s Blog”
Instead of striving for a 100 percent success rate, it’s better to aim for 80 percent.
Having a buffer allows you to move forward without feeling like you’ve failed when not everything goes as planned, which is often.
This is something I’m trying to learn currently. Most projects won’t even need 80%.
What happens on your device, stays on your device – until it doesn’t
macOS Sequoia introduces another new feature labelled Help Apple Improve Search, which sends and stores various search queries from Safari, Spotlight, and other sources to improve search results.
This feature, too, is enabled by default and is well hidden at the very bottom of System Settings > Spotlight.
I turned this off.
Dyet – Color your folder icons Automatically
A simple Mac app that colors the folder icon based on the tag color. It brings back the feeling of Finder labels.
Bookmarked “Developer Roadmaps – roadmap.sh”
roadmap.sh is a community effort to create roadmaps, guides and other educational content to help guide developers in picking up a path and guide their learnings.
Role-based and skill-based roadmaps, project ideas, best practices, and other resources for various areas of development including Frontend, Backend, DevOps, Full Stack, AI, and more.
2025.01.11.
PrivTracker – Private BitTorrent tracker for everyone
PrivTracker allows to share torrent files just with your friends, nobody else. Unlike public trackers, it shares peers only within a group which is using the same Announce URL. It really works like a private tracker, but can be generated with one click of a button.
This could be actually useful for sending large files, not just Linux ISOs. The code is available on GitHub, so could be used as a self-hosted service as well.