I have been a long-time user of the SearchLink service developed by Brett Terpstra. I use it so regularly that I have it tied to a button on my Stream Deck, as well as keyboard shortcut, ⌃ + ⌘ + L.
Last night I attempted to use SearchLink while typing in the all new MarsEdit 5. Instead of it working as it always has, I received a confounding error:
The action “Run Shell Script” encountered an error: “-e:1778:in `scan': invalid byte sequence in UTF-8 (ArgumentError)
from -e:1778:in `ddg'
from -e:987:in `parse'
from -e:2147:in `<main>'”
This was beyond me. I knew that MarsEdit 5 had a new foundational text editing platform, so I assumed whatever had changed was probably a bug related to that. I also tried SearchLink in BBEdit (another great Mac app made by legendary Mac developers, Bare Bones Software) and the problem appeared there too - which shot somewhat of a hole in my MarsEdit theory.
Nevertheless, I emailed Daniel Jalkut, developer of MarsEdit, with a support request. He quickly responded saying that he doesn’t use SearchLink, but would look into it.
I also sent a support request to Brett. Very quickly Brett asked a further diagonostic question, then while I was asleep (welcome to Australia-USA relations), he emailed me through an updated version of the SearchLink script. Brett had determined that DuckDuckGo, the engine powering SearchLink, was suddenly providing results in a zipped format. The new version 2.2.27 fixes the issue.
So within hours of noticing a problem with SearchLink, I again have a working version that supports the all-new MarsEdit 5 — and every other Mac-assed Mac app1 that works with services2.
The Mac indie developer community is amazing. I thank them, and encourage you to support them by buying and using their products. Let’s keep this thing alive.
Kudos to you, 1Password, for registering the domain macassedmac.app in defense of Electron-based 1Password 8. I don’t know what to think. ↩︎
I got a new pair of glasses a couple of days ago. They’re playing havoc with the muscles of my left eye. It’s early so I guess I wait a few more days to see if I become accustomed. This is the worst part of getting new glasses.
I taught Benji how sports brackets work. Now he is building his own World Cup version. 😍🥰🤩⚽️
Ferrite 3 offers an enhanced, modernised UI all across the app.
I couldn’t edit Hemispheric Views without Ferrite. Believe me, I tried. If Ferrite wasn’t available, I’m not sure our podcast would be either. Version 3 is an insta-upgrade for me. While it has a list of new features, the faster playback speeds are the real seller.
On this episode, Martin and I walked through my path into podcasting, starting all the way — and I’m not kidding — from when I was a toddler. It was a fun discussion, and I’m honored that Martin asked me to be a part of the project.
Of course, I can’t help but mention my own appearance on Really Specific Stories, but I encourage you to binge the whole run.
This is a post mentioning @vincent to help him test @gluon
Excuse me @rosemaryorchard - are you still developing When.Works? Does it work?
I’ve cancelled my Fantastical subscription that expires in March 2023. My need for the bookings service may be declining. That, plus their price increase, means I will go back to BusyCal through Setapp. If it turns out I really need bookings, then I will reassess at the time.
Poor USA. The goalie has been poorly treated by his defenders. ⚽️
The Fantastical price increase is a bummer, because it’s a double whammy for me as an Australian user. Our weakened exchange rate multiplies the scale of the increase.
Thanks, Medibank data breach. I really appreciate you holding onto my details as an ex-customer, allowing it to be shared on the dark web following its theft. Great stuff.
There are now three blogging services that I admire, all of which are run by humans - not corporations. Humans making websites was what made 1.0, back in the Netscape Navigator days, great. Blink tags, under construction logos, and multi-colour Times New Roman font. It was joyous because it was the web at human level.
The Internet is healing.
My mental health energy meter is reading at about 3% today. Can we shut it down today and reconvene tomorrow? 🪫
This article was originally written for the April 2022 edition of Hemispheric News, delivered as part of the Hemispheric Views podcast member bonus program, One Prime Plus.
I love to use native software but it feels like I’m the last of the troops that has been put on the final line of defence, guarding against the marauding ‘web apps’.
It appears that most users are more than happy to load a copy of Google Chrome and run a bunch of web apps in fullscreen mode. This is what I see in my day job, as companies use Xero, Hubspot and any other number of web apps to run their companies.
On a personal level things aren’t much better with Google Apps, YNAB, etc. sharing the platform with a growing number of Electron apps such as Discord, 1Password and Slack (and, of course, Obsidian).
So I end up feeling like one of a declining number of people who prefer an app that utilises the native architecture of the client platform. Either people don’t care or they actively prefer web apps.
I actually think it’s the former (users not caring) combined with development houses caring more about cost management and not actually putting the user first. If they were willing to invest development resources in native applications I am sure people would enjoy them. But they don’t care enough to force developers' hands.
So we end up with the best app to meet profit targets — not the best app.
As much as Apple invests in outlandishly fast and impressive hardware, what’s the point if all it means is that the platform can successfully run more Chrome tabs? Is that really what we have arrived at?
Apple is not helping by not investing in their own first platform applications, either. They are creating meh apps across macOS as they attempt to consolidate development efforts through shared Swift/Catalyst implementations. Nothing seems better or more powerful than it was a decade ago.
I hope that now Apple has its hardware house in order, that it can focus on its software.
I’d love to hold off the web app barbarians at the gate just a few years longer.
