I went for a bike ride this morning after a long time out. Was great to just get some relaxing exercise. Must do it more often.

I’m backyard camping with the boy tonight. A beautiful still night, currently 20 degrees, and I can hear his gentle breathing as he sleeps. This is a fun part of parenting.

Saw the HomePod in the flesh today. It sounds great, and is satisfyingly heavy. But I am still aware of all the cons, notably Siri’s incompetence. I still kind of want it, but AUD$499 is not cheap.

Those who fancy themselves leaders should welcome counterpoint views, as debate leads to better outcomes. Having a room of ‘yes folk’ does not a leader make.

I love Overcast but I am being tempted by Apple’s basic Podcasts app because of Siri integration and its ubiquity across devices. I really hope Apple enable SiriKit etc. for third party apps soon.

This xkcd is the truth. The bag struggle is real.

Oh no! My employer is moving us to Android phones. Guess I’m buying an iPhone and will be carrying two handsets now. My entire workflow is constructed around iOS apps. Android is a non-starter for me.

I had glandular fever months ago. Even now, on some days the fatigue and my throat glands flare up and kick my butt. Today has been one of those days. 💤

The kid is leaving home.

iPad Home Screen, 3 February 2018

I always find it interesting to see what apps people have on their iPad home screens, and how they have things arranged. So in the spirit of reciprocation, this is my iPad home screen at the moment.

I’m never entirely satisfied with my app layout, but this is what I’m running with now. I still don’t feel like I’m using the dock as efficiently as I could be.

That ChatMateforWhatsApp icon drives me mad with its ellipses. Couldn’t they just call it ChatMate? I also have an over abundance of email apps, but each one has different strengths.

Just updated my /now page

I had to buy a new printer today. There’s never any joy in buying a printer. The only good thing is that I no longer have to deal with the hassle of an inkjet as this time I chose a colour laser; the Brother HL-3170CDW. Doesn’t that name just roll off the tongue?

What a wonderful post by Brent Simmons, that eloquently sums up why I like the open web, and why I miss the way it used to work. inessential: Why Micro.blog is Not Another App.net

Sisyphus’ Notetaking App

I am always searching for the perfect notes app, and the best way to integrate that into my workflow. I’m not sure I have found the former and I haven’t achieved the latter, but I keep trying. It’s ultimately a Sisyphean task, because there’s always another note taking app just around the corner which will constitute a new way of working with it. Nevertheless, I try.

With our proliferation of devices it’s no longer enough to have a decent desktop-based notetaking process. Access needs to be ubiquitous, and that means cloud sync. While a few years ago that would limit the candidates significantly, nowadays sync is the price of entry. When the iPhone arose and syncing was hard, the best option was Simplenote. This app used its own sync engine to provide lightning fast sync. I had a large number of notes in Simplenote, but it was convoluted getting them on my Mac, which required Dropbox and NVAlt - an app which I love the concept of but it never really grew on me.

Nowadays there are an abundance of options, such as Apple Notes, OneNote, Notability, OmniOutliner, and the list goes on. The problem with this is fragmentation. Taking notes is one thing, finding them again later is quite another. If I don’t have all my notes in one location, they may as well be lost. Plus that location needs to be available wherever I am and whatever device I have to hand. Spotlight search is useful, but I want to know where that note is, and I don’t want to have to trawl through search results to find it.

For the moment I have settled on Bear for notes. It syncs reliably across iOS and macOS, it supports Markdown syntax and can export into a variety of formats. It also looks really pretty.

Despite my use of Bear, I haven’t totally solved the fragmentation problem. I continue to use Goodnotes for handwritten notes taken with my Apple Pencil, DEVONThink Pro for reference material, and Ulysses for long-form writing. So stuff remains scattered.

And so my stone rolls back down the hill…

I’m awake earlier than usual and the house is quiet. That is a rare treat.

Currently in the midst of a blue blood super moon with an eclipse. That could double as a pretty cool sounding drink order. 🍸

I love my kids, but the fact that there is just one more day left of summer school holidays fills me with pure, unadulterated joy.

Personal CRM Software

I’ve been experimenting with CRM software, as much to help manage my personal life and friendship groups as my work. Cloze seems the best option I’ve found so far. Unfortunately, it’s a fairly expensive proposition for something that won’t actively generate me money. HubSpot CRM is free, but the product itself seems pretty average. You get what you pay for, I suppose.

When I start looking around the web for software, I also get a bit disappointed that I chose to go with Fastmail for my email service. While all these CRM services have native integrations for GSuite and O365, poor standards-compliant Fastmail gets left behind. I’ve been able to get IMAP email to work, but not contacts and calendars.

Australia Day evening with family. 🇦🇺

🇦🇺 Happy Australia Day. 🇦🇺