This probably explains why I couldnāt get MarsEdit to launch yesterday. Sorry @danielpunkass mjtsai.com
Apple Server Outage Makes Mac Apps Hang on Launch
Own Your Content
Om Malik on Instagramās Updates:
I feel sad for photographers who think their future is on Instagram and the social network it brings. They donāt realize that they are there to help sell tchotchkes.Ā
The latest āfeaturesā added to Instagram provide a timely reminder that the only safe haven is owning oneās content. A personal website and domain name remains the most reliable way to avoid your content serving as feed stock for a commercial enterprise.
Whatās this? My desk setup is being investigated by @martinfeld and @burk? Thatās the topic driving this HVmini - your bite-sized snack of Hemispheric Views podcast goodness.Hemispheric Views 007: HVmini // Battlestations ā Andrew’s Desk
In terms of quality of apps and experience using them I would currently rank them: #1) iPadOS #2) iOS #3) Web #8,968) Mac
I like the ranking as a result of some kind of Electron/web-wrapper Mac app that HEY is using. Mac-assed Mac apps required.
I have to say that I am mightily excited about the new Apple Silicon Macs. For geeks around the world, this is a great day. #mbnov
I got home from work today and passed out sleeping for the next 3 hours. Didnāt plan on that. On the bright side, it might help in terms of waking up at 2am to watch the Apple event live.
An elderly man driving a car almost crashed into my car today. I had to take immediate and drastic evasive action. #mbnov
Hey, look, science works
Vaccine development typically takes many years, even decades. But the coronavirus vaccines have been a rare success story in the response to the virus, able to move forward because of a flourishing of new vaccine technologies, a backbone of prior work on emerging pathogens and a mentality that rarely exists in the world of vaccine development ā of governments and companies willing to devote nearly unlimited resources to make sure that a vaccine succeeds.
While early days, this is encouraging. Isnāt it amazing what science can achieve.
Imagine if the world started trusting science to deal with other issues, like climate change, for instance?
A thing that is a staple of sci-fi movies, but which I donāt think will ever exist, much to my disappointment, is the force field. #mbnov
My Subscription Services
Steven Garrity at Acts of Volition writes of the online services he pays for. This prompted me to make my own quick list.
Some of these links include referral codes, but that’s not the motivation driving this post. They do, however, help me out.
Internet Infrastructure
Micro.blog
Where I spend a lot of my Internet socialising time. It also hosts my blog, photos and podcast.Blot
An alternative blog that I set up mainly because I was interested in Blot. I really should be spread across two locations, but what can you do?Fastmail
For secure and private email and calendars.iCloud
My cloud storage of choice.
Software As a Service
Textexpander
I rely on this for some templating. I don’t like it’s interface. If there was something better, I’d switch.Inoreader
Solid RSS reader that has many features I don’t use.Harmonizely
The only online booking system that works well with Fastmail.Setapp
I use enough of the apps provided through Fastmail to make it worthwhile.Blackblaze
I’ve been burnt by hard drive failures in the past. I hope never to have to actually ever restore anything.YNAB
I can only afford all these subscriptions because YNAB helps me budget for them.Sanebox
Keeping the clutter from my inbox.1Password
Secure, unique passwords are mandatory in my world.
News
Australian Financial Review
Got a 3-month discounted trial.
Unlikely to continue past this month.The Washington Post
Got a cheap deal.
Unlikely to continue upon its conclusion.The Saturday Paper
Got a cheap subscription.
One of the few places for longer-form Australian journalism.
I don’t love it though, and expect not to continue.
Entertainment
Apple TV+
Still on the free trial but I’ve enjoyed enough of the content that I will stay.Apple Music
I’m in the Apple ecosystem and I like being able to call up music from wherever.
Its playlists are never as good as the ones on Spotify.Netflix
It’s the default.Amazon Prime
Has enough content to keep us onboard.Disney+
Good value for the kids, and The Mandalorian.The Unmade Podcast
I laugh more through this podcast than any other.NBL Pocket Podcast
I am a co-host, so I have to support it!Dithering
An enjoyable and insightful bite-sized podcast. Pay for the things you want to exist in the world.Like You Podcast
A great relaxation podcast for children. I admire what the creator, Noah, is doing.
iOS Apps
Day One
I’ve been journalling in Day One for many years. I run hot and cold with it, but I enjoy the metadata it captures in addition to my thoughts and memories.Drafts
Where text starts (when I remember). Used to kick-off OmniFocus templates for work.Pzizz
Coming to the end of a 5-year subscription.
Used less than I used to, but is still helpful at bedtime.AnyList
Reliable shopping list and recipe manager.
Contains a few random other lists as well.New York Times Crossword
Brain food, especially the earlier in the week puzzles!1Blocker
I don’t like Internet ads, and this covers macOS and iOS.Headspace
I had a run of around 150 days, then I just… stopped.Castro
The Inbox has saved me, but I do switch between this and Overcast.
Other
Readwise
I read a lot. I’m using this service to try to help me remember it.Flickr Pro
An unused subscription. It houses a semi-complete photo archive.
I don’t need this but I have a weird emotional connection to Flickr, despite hardly ever using it.
I should get rid of this subscription. Life would go on.
“Spend your free time the way you like, not the way you think youāre supposed to.”
ā Susan Cain, Quiet
Resurfaced with readwise.io
Iāve been waiting 4 years for this podcast from @gruber and @merlinmann castro.fm
Congratulations USA! You removed the stain on your country. Iām so happy for you all. Unite around this to build a stronger union. Repair starts now. šŗšø š³
A word a day for microblogvember. Why is it so hard to think of something interesting to say for the word inflate? #mbnov
My two go-to options for brain-exercise through puzzling are Good Sudoku and New York Times Crossword. #mbnov
Trumpās attacks on vote counts seem to follow an authoritarian playbook - The Washington Post
āThe Russian mentality is, āWhatever truth works for you in that moment is the truth you embrace in that moment,āāā Farkas said. āEven if you say something different two minutes later, it doesnāt matter. You call on that second truth for your immediate need, and your followers donāt care.ā
This is the most succinct explanation of Trumpās behaviour that I have seen.
If you tried one of our earlier episodes of Hemispheric Views but didn’t persist, try the latest one. We’re really hitting our stride. I think it’s the best yet. Doorbells, reverse sponsorships, Ted Lasso. All that and more in only 45 minutes. @Burk @martinfeld
My letter to Amiga Format
In the most recent episode of my podcast Hemispheric Views I mentioned the time I was featured in the Workbench section of Amiga Format magazine.
I loved the Amiga, and I subscribed to Amiga Format in addition to a few other British and Australian Amiga magazines. The highlight of my month was riding my bike to the newsagent to collect my reserved copy.
I always liked the productivity and system utility applications more than gaming. I was a weird kid like that.
Amiga Format’s Workbench section was the Discourse forum of its day. People would write in with questions (with letters as this pre-dated email) and the magazine experts would publish the question and provide a helpful response. It was this section where I learned so much and to this day, Internet forums are still the best way to learn things.
In any case, I recall being stumped on a problem so I wrote in to Workbench asking for some help. I am sure I sent it via Airmail, but even still, getting a letter from Australia to the UK, then into the printing and production cycle resulted in something like a 6-month lead time. I think I had forgotten about it after a couple of months.
Imagine my surprise then, when months later, I see my name in print, in the world’s best-selling Amiga magazine. This was huge! It was the April 1992 issue. That would have put me at 14 years old. Maybe I was 13 when I wrote the letter, who knows?
I kept my huge pile of Amiga magazines for years. Eventually, though, I had to say goodbye. I kept the issue that I was published in for longer, but finally I had to say goodbye to that one also. But I never forgot that I was in the Amiga Format magazine that had Felix the Cat on the cover.
That takes me to now. My friend and podcast co-host Jason Burk writes the best show notes in the podcasting business. He found and linked to an entire online archive of Amiga Format magazines. This was what I needed. I found my Felix the Cat cover, and brought up the issue.
There it was. Page 209. Workbench. “Missing Drawers”, from “Andrew Canion, Australia”. My letter lives on.
Article Full Text
Missing Drawers
From: Andrew Canion, Australia
I have been attempting to design my own split image icon for use as a drawer. I have copied the Empty drawer from my Workbench 1.3 disk. I have then split this icon using the IconMerge program on the Extras disk.
I then edit it with IconEd, and saved the two images back to disk before joining them into one icon with IconMerge again. The actual changing image works fine when I click once, but when I double click to open the drawer itself. I get an error message telling me that the drawer cannot be opened. I’m a relative beginner, so tell me in simple terms what am I doing wrong?
An icon is just a picture to click on. What you’re miss- ing is a directory with the same name (in this case, empty). You’re clicking on an icon, but your Amiga cannot find anything with the same name. To make a directory from the Shell, type:
Makedir nameofmydisk:Empty
It should work then. For nameofmydisk, put the name of the disk that you’re editing icons on. If the name has spaces in it, then you must put double quotes around the whole thing, for example:
Makedir "Name of my disk:Empty"
Iāve added a TritonAudio Fethead to my audio chain. Without it I had to set my EVO4 audio interface to about 95% gain to support my Rode Procaster. With the Fethead gain is now set at around 45% and the audio sounds much warmer and richer. Iām a fan!