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Calendar Hero
Let’s be honest. I’m an idiot. If it weren’t for technology holding my hand and functioning as a second brain, I wouldn’t be able to make it through this modern world. That’s why I trust software to remember all the things I would otherwise forget. And with the number of meetings I’m in now, it really helps if my calendar is front and center. So, another week, another app. This time it’s a small little open-source calendar for your macOS Desktop I call Calendar Hero. I made it last week after I was late to a meeting because, well, I was vacuuming and not thinking about the day ahead. I used another Mac app to do this, but it stopped working for me sometime during Catalina in 2019. I missed what it did, so I reimplemented a simple version of it last week. This is Calendar Hero.
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TextBuddy for macOS
"You either die a programmer, or you live long enough to see yourself build a text editor." —Harvey Dent (or someone) Two weeks ago, I released TextBuddy - a new text editor for macOS. And now I'm finally getting around to sharing why I built it.
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Receipts
Ten months ago I drafted a post about how incredible the Apple ecosystem is when all the pieces fit together. It was a month into the pandemic and I found myself walking through a real-life Apple commercial in the grocery store. I was a bit stunned when I got back to my car and it sorta hit me just how well the entire end-to-end experience worked. As a lifelong adherent of the positive influence and power that well made software and hardware can have over our lives, I was taken aback. And so while I was planning on finishing my thank-you post to Apple this weekend, that’s not going to happen. Instead, let’s talk about receipts.
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Roundabout Syncing
<p>I don't mean for this blog post to only be more complaining. It's just my dumb solution to a Finder bug I've been running into for years. And also a great example of how a little bit of automation can go a long way. (And an even better example of how unique the macOS ecosystem is that tools like this can exist - and how scared I am that (despite assurances) we seem to be headed in a direction where powerful and clever apps are not wanted.)</p> <p>Anyway, something must have broken in Finder around when Apple integrated iCloud Drive into macOS Sierra in 2016. That's when I noticed that the files on my Desktop would stop appearing on...my Desktop.</p>
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An Email Followup About Standing Desks and Ultrawide Monitors
<p>An online friend emailed me after reading my previous standing desk post with a few questions about the monitor pictured on my office desk.</p> <p>My reply kept getting longer and longer (go figure) until I decided I might as well publish it here in case anyone else finds it interesting. Without further ado, here's another 869 words about ultrawide and multiple monitor setups.</p>
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Ow, My Back
<p>We officially went into quarantine on March 22. One hot afternoon in June, I found myself in the garage with a pair of shears, a screwdriver, and a hammer so I could cut an inch of leather off my belt and punch a new hole.</p> <p>All in all, I had lost twenty pounds by doing nothing.</p> <p>But did I feel better? Not at all. By May, I was hurting. The next month I was in pain. That summer was nothing but agony from muscle and skeletal pain.</p> <p>This post is all the fun, nerdy details that went into making my home and work offices more comfortable. It was a bit of self-preservation mixed with stress-shopping. But if you want the TL;DR, I can sum it up with two words:</p> <p>Stop. Sitting.</p>
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240 Invisible Pixels
<p>I'm generally happy with Big Sur, but the focus on design over usability in many places is baffling to me. One of the worst offenders are the redesigned banner notifications.</p> <p>Here's my solution for dismissing them.</p>
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One Year of App Pricing Experiments
<p>One of my goals for 2020 is figuring out a financial path forward for my little software business - particularly around how I price and sell my apps.</p> <p>I've been mostly open about the fact that, for a few years, I was incredibly fortunate enough that my software business was successful enough to be my full-time job. I've also been pretty honest that sales started slipping in 2017 before cratering in 2018. The reasons for the decline are varied - some my fault, others outside of my control.</p> <p>But this post is about figuring out what can work in the years ahead. And the genesis of that experiment began last July when I started planning in earnest and setting up the infrastructure to convert my main app to a subscription model.</p>
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Standup.app
<p>Standup.app is a tiny little Mac app that I made last week because I needed it in my day job. I'm not sure what to do with it or what will ultimately become of it, but, as usual, I figured I should make the app available in case anyone else finds it useful.</p> <p>It helps facilitate the super-short standup call I run with my team every morning.</p> <p>It also serves double-duty as a weird, helpful presentation utility for the seemingly never-ending stream of video meetings I have throughout the day.</p> <p>I know there are other solutions out there, but this one is mine and built to my odd specifications.</p>
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The Apple Hero 2020 Needs
<p><a href="https://rakhim.org/">Rakhim</a> is the hero we need in 2020.</p> <p>Please don't let the comedic nature of <a href="https://twitter.com/freetonik/status/1322144670886100992?s=20">the video</a> turn you away. I'm not sure if there is a better way he could have presented this.</p> <p>Stay for the entire trainwreck so you can appreciate the focus of a two-trillion dollar company that says subscription services revenue is the future.</p> <p>He really does make some excellent observations about usability, attention to detail, care, and obviousness in software.</p> <p>I cackled for the full 18 minutes.</p>