Apps
- Temporarily disable a startup item without removing it from the list
- Use different sets of startup apps which you can choose at login
- Backup/restore login sets
- Stop/Start all or a single Login Item with the push of a button (you can also use the contextual menu)
- Set a delay between any items during login
- Add any process, such as login helpers inside application packages
- Skip items that need network access when there’s no network available
- Mount network drives
- Apple native, written in Swift
- Import/Export items to/from System Settings
- A scratchpad for temporary text snippets
- Published blog posts
- Bookmarks via Raindrop.io
- People you work with (co-workers)
- Customers/Clients
- A record of your daily appointments
- Weather reports
- Restaurants where you've eaten
- Recipes
- Watched YouTube videos
- Watched movies
- Watched TV shows
- Music you've listened to
- Games you've played/bought
- Apps you want to buy
- Receipts via email
- Apps you own
- Analytics reports from your web site or blog
- Registration info for software you've purchased
- A record of interactions with your family members who live separately
- Random photos
- Saved blog posts from writers you like
- Phone numbers and contact information
- An outline of your online security plan (DNS, VPN, Firewall, Ad Blocker, Password Manager), just don't include passwords in plain text%
- Copies of your insurance cards
- Lyrics to your favorite songs
- Profile pictures to use on web sites
- A list of numbers to call if you lose your wallet/purse
- Podcasts you want to subscribe to
- Books you've read/want to read
- Vacation plans
- Your favorite memes
- Copies of vital documents like birth certificates, marriage licenses etc.
- A copy of your resume
- Your current and past goals
- A copy of your will
- A copy of your healthcare power of attorney
- The random poem you've written
- Cue sheets for long bicycle rides
- Jokes you want to remember
- A list of things you love
- A record of completed tasks from your task manager
- Your favorite quotes
- Transcripts of your Q&As with ChatGPT or Google Gemini
- Saved emails
- Notes from training you've attended
- The encryption key for Bitlocker or File Vault
- A brag document for your job
- Technical "How to" documents for computer related tasks
- Genealogy info
- Wifi passwords
- Imported web pages from your read it later service
- RSS feeds from your favorite blogs
- Software manuals
- Appliance manuals
- Default settings for your computer
- A record of your Amazon purchases
- End of the year "Best of" articles to check out on books, TV, podcasts, movies, articles
- Screenshots of social media posts you like
- Purchasing wish list
- Templates for various dataview queries
- Terminal or Powershell commands too complicated to remember
- How to write in Markdown
- Search tips, syntax and operators for your favorite search engine or AI
- API Keys for various web services
- Templates for your Obsidian plugins
- Templater snippets
- All the topics in your quotes collection
- Drafts blog posts
- A history of your social media posts
- A "To Watch" list for YouTube and television
- A daily gratitude list
- A record of new things you've learned
- Alarm codes for your relative's houses
- A dataview query for notes created today
- A dataview query for notes modified today
- Waypoint Folder Notes for your important folders of notes
- Ability to boot any version of macOS 12 or macOS 13, including betas
- Ability to boot some ARM-based Linux distros (tested with Ubuntu Server and Ubuntu Desktop)
- Built-in installation wizard
- Select from a collection of restore images available on Apple's servers
- Install the latest stable version of macOS
- Local restore image IPSW file
- Custom restore image URL
- Install a Linux distro from a local .iso file
- Select from a collection of Linux distros
- Install Linux from URL
- Boot into recovery mode (in order to disable SIP, for example)
- Networking and file sharing support
- Clipboard sharing
- Customize virtual machine hardware configuration
- Save and restore macOS virtual machine state
- Create new file - add any file type you want
- Commonly used directories - I added Downloads and Screenshots
- Commonly used apps
- Commonly used scripts - supports shell and AppleScripts
- Show/Hide Files
- Lock/Unlock Files
- Color picking - copy Hex or RGB
- Cut-paste, move, and copy files
- Add files to encrypted archive
- Open Terminal or iTerm 2 at location
- Change Folder Icon
- Resize or convert image
- Remove item from disk (as opposed to sending it to the Trash)
- 10-band audio equalizer
- Volume keys for devices that don't support the native keys (like HDMI and display port audio)
- Headphone EQ
- Magic boost has been upgraded from previous versions
- Menu bar meters for output device, input device, open/active apps
- Monitor backups from anywhere
- Secure credential storage (planned)
- Insights dashboard
- Monitor up to 5 machines
- View the last 200 backups
- 1 year monitoring retention
- Community support
- Writing assistants that correct spelling and grammar or do other text manipulation
- Basic question answering or search engine type functions
- Translates selected text into the language of your choice (select language in settings)
- Summarize big blocks of selected text, very useful when researching
- Spell check (can be turned on/off in settings)
- Tracks flight numbers
- Pops up a calendar when a time string is selected, allowing you to add it to Google or Apple Calendars
- Calculates the result of a math formula
- Explain selected programming code in plain language
- See creation and modification dates
- See the album (if any) the image is in
- View a history of the images you've examined
- Move to the next or previous photo in the album
- View a slideshow
- Add the photo to an existing or new album
- Delete the photo
- Share the photo via the Mac share sheet
- TrashSweep - For anyone who churns through a bunch of files, whether you are a chronic downloader. doing video editing or just overworked, automating the size of your Trash can be accomplished with this app that lets you set a certain size limit and when you reach it, begins deleting files on a first in, first out basis. Never be shocked by the size of your trash again.
- Speediness — Sindre Sorhus - I'm making a rule that every list of good apps posted on r/MacApps has to include one from Sindre Sorhus. This app uses the macOS network-quality command line tool under the hood to give you better results than Ookla or fast.com. You can pair Speediness with other tools to have it run automatically and display the results in your menu bar. See the app's website for instructions.
- JuxtaText - If you use an AI based grammar and spell checker that doesn't tell you what it changes in your test, use this app to find out yourself. Paste your original text in one pane and the corrected text in the other one, and let JustaText show you what got changed.
- QuickRecorder for Mac This free app allows you to record your entire screen, an area of the screen you define, an application, a particular window or a mobile device connected via USB. In addition, it records system audio without the need for any extra drivers or applications.
- KeyCastr - This free and open-source app is for anyone who does presentations, make videos or shares their screen. It allows your keystrokes to be displayed and you can choose the size, color, time on screen and the fade delay. It also shows mouse clicks.
Free Startup Manager with Many Options
macOS doesn't make it easy to manage your startup options anymore.
The app, Startup
Manager, by developer Arie van Boxel brings back some of the options
that have been removed and adds quite a few more. If you use Startup
Manager, you can once again choose the order in which apps launch, and
you can have them hidden on launch as well.
Other features include:
Startup Manager doesn't have any control over items that macOS
launches in the background.
When You Find Something that Sparks Joy
(Note: this is a repost from my tech blog from a few months back. I was a wee bit busy this weekend being a supportive husband and was away from my computer)
I often make the comment on Reddit or Mastodon that Obsidian, a cross-platform note-taking application, is my favorite piece of software since Netscape Navigator 2, the browser that practically everyone used when we transitioned from AOL and CompuServe to the real Internet back in the 90s. Back then, we discovered new and interesting web pages daily. The Internet was full of hastily constructed and esoteric material, and it all seemed so magical. For our whole lives, we'd had to wait until 10 past the hour for the radio to give us a weather forecast, and now we could use this marvelous piece of software to go to weather.com whenever we were curious. It was revolutionary and amazing, and it took a while to get used to.
Eventually we did get used to it, along with all the other marvels over the past nearly 30 years. I find myself quite jaded sometimes. The computer I carry in my pocket can do almost anything, and I'm still referring to it as a phone, the same name I used for the hard-wired wall mounted rotary dialed device at my grandmother's house. I no longer marvel at being able to do my Christmas shopping from my couch or following a baseball game pitch by pitch, knowing the speed of every thrown ball and the batting average of every hitter right up to that at bat.
I experienced an Internet revival late last year. After an aborted attempt to retire early, I'd lost interest in keeping up with technology. I quit following the news, stopped downloading software and spent hours scrolling trash subreddits like "Am I the Asshole". Out of desperation, I went back to work to have something to do. Even though I went back into the IT field, I was still ambivalent. Instead of being on a Mac like I was used to, I was assigned a slow old Dell full of Microsoft software. It did not spark joy. Then one day I picked up my old iPad and for some reason launched my RSS reader. Many of the blog feeds were years old and dead, but some were still active. I started reading them, first from boredom and then with interest. People were talking about apps I'd never heard of. I cracked open my MacBook and started downloading updates for the OS and the hundreds of apps I'd collected over the years. It took a while.
A British blogger, Robb Knight, had created a page where people were listing their default apps in all kinds of categories. I wanted to get on the fun. I'd been working in the Apple/Mac/iOS space since the late 90s and except for the short break after retirement, I'd always been fascinated by software. In order to get added to Robb's site, I had to start a blog. I signed up at Micro.blog, registered a domain and started writing. One app I saw mentioned over and over that I'd never used was Obsidian. It's free to download, and you can use it all you want without paying a dime unless you want to take advantage of their sync service, something I did a little later.
I documented my learning process in Obsidian as it progressed. I'd download a plugin, watch a YouTube video, configure my setup, use it for a few days and then write a post for my blog. I'd cross post it on Reddit and use a hashtag on Mastodon. I went for months living and breathing Obsidian. I started doing all my writing in it. I pimped out the template for my daily note, incorporating more and more of my life into it. I integrated key email messages via IFTTT, Dropbox and Hazel. I synced my bookmarks from Raindrop.io. I started using Omnivore as my read it later service simply because it automatically imports into Obsidian. I started my first GitHub repository to share 500 Markdown notes containing my quotes collection. I managed to get Obsidian to do every single thing I'd once used Evernote for.
Because of Obsidian, I've been able to learn to blog in the 21st century. I have four different blogs on three different platforms. I've got good notes and records and tens of thousands of words of web posts in my vault. Although I still write about the app occasionally, I've moved on to writing reviews of other software and even into non-technical writing. It's amazing that something as simple as a plain text editor at its core has been at the center of my tech and real-life revival. It is so powerful and so extensible that it almost defies belief. The community around the app is generally helpful, supportive, curious and open. I've even interacted with the CEO of the company on social media.
So, to the folks in whatever Bat Cave Obsidian is developed in, thank you for making such a wonderful tool. I owe you one.
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Obsdian’s Many Uses
In all my time using a Mac, I’ve never found more uses for a
single app as I have for the note taking app, Obsidian. With a robust selection of
over 1900 plugins, Obsidian can be configured to import and manipulate
data from a great many sources. It can even be used for publishing.
Using the Dataview plugin makes it function like a database. It stays
open at all times on both my Macs. There are a great many resources to
help you master it, including on Reddit, Discord, the developer’s
website, YouTube and numerous blogs.
Here are 77 use cases
Virtual Buddy - Run Mac and Linux VMs with Ease on Apple Silicon for Free
If you want to test out betas without endangering your primary
machine or if or if your a developer looking to test backwards
compatibility with previous versions of macOS with your app or even if
you just want a safe way to test software you want to try before adding
it to your daily driver, take a look at Virtual Buddy, by developer
Guilherme Rambo, a
GitHub release with 5.1K stars. It also runs several Linux distros
if you have a need for that.
You can choose a Mac release (including betas) from a long list ranging from macOS 13.3 all the way to macOS 15.1 RC1. If you have a URL for another IPSW or an IPSW you have already downloaded, you can use them as well.
If you want to install a beta of a version higher than what you are running on you host computer, all you need to do is download the latest device support package from Apple which you can sometimes download from their website but cal always get if you install the latest Xcode beta.
The developer lists these features:
Today on App Addict - Mouse Boost - Right-Click Powerhouse - Integrates into Finder to add extra functionality
Mouse Boost - Right-Click Powerhouse
One of the most useful features of Finder replacements like
PathFinder or Qspace Pro is the enhanced right-click menus they offer
with features like cut, copy and paste for files and the ability to
create different types of new files among others. Not everyone wants to
replace Finder though for various reasons like security and system
overhead. Luckily, there is a handy utility, MouseBoost,
from developer gmshrek that adds numerous features to the right-click
menu in Finder itself.
Features
You can save your settings in iCloud and import them on other computers. MouseBoost may also be called from a hotkey. Any element you choose not to use can be toggled off so as not to clutter your interface. You can also fold any element into a unified MouseBoost submenu.
There is a built-in 21 day free trial. The app can be purchased via IAP for $5.99 It is available in the Mac App Store.
SoundSource from Rogue Amoeba
The default Mac controls for audio aren't that great if you have
multiple sound outputs, laptop speakers, Bluetooth earbuds or external
speakers in a docking setup. Rogue Amoeba's SoundSource is an
example of what granular control should look like.
A menu bar app that can be summoned with a hotkey or turned into a floating window, SoundSource offers machine wide controls for Output, Input, and Sound Effects settings for all system devices with a slider for each one's volume control. There is also a button for a feature called Magic Boost which does a great job of enhancing sound quality, particularly on a MacBook's speakers. A drop-down menu provides you with a choice of the default output.
This same functionality can be controlled on a per-app basis. You can set Apple Music to always play on your external speakers with Magic Boost enabled, while having system sound effects played at a quieter level on your MacBook speakers. Should you need to switch to a Teams Meeting or a Zoom call, the system will automatically switch to your earbuds when you open the corresponding app.
SoundSource has 17 different Shortcuts actions. You can use Shortcuts to create custom sound settings for different situations by controlling sources and volume levels with the apps choose to open.
Other features include:
There is a free trial at the developer's website. The upgrade price is $19 and the purchase price is $39.
Online Communities of the Past and Present
Although I used a local BBS and AOL chat rooms back in the day, the first online community I ever found a home in was at Epinions, a dotcom company that paid you to write reviews of commercial goods, including books and albums. You could use HTML to dress up what you wrote, so there was a small but satisfying thrill in learning how to be good at that. As usual, they had an off-topic category too, where you could write about whatever you wanted, and I contributed there all the time. People could follow you and send you private messages. I eventually outgrew it, but I tried to find a guy from there recently, after 27 years, and I succeeded because he's still using the same unique username.
When I had a Geocities website, part of it was dedicated to Vietnam veterans and their kids. I corresponded with quite a few men and women who were eager to have someone to talk with about their experiences. I live near a giant army base, so all the vets I know have comrades-in-arms everywhere they go, but the 18-year-old who got drafted from Iowa in 1967 and did his year in hell didn't always have that, and I was glad to hear them out, publish their stories, and generally just be as supportive as I could.
I was in some great bicycling forums around the turn of the century, one of which still sends me birthday greetings every year. I went as far as Georgia to meet folks from there for an organized ride.
For a few years, believe it or not, I took part in the local newspaper's community forum, which was mostly a cesspool of name-calling and ad hominem attacks on liberals. I'd write outrageously provocative stuff about W. Bush and his wars just to stir up the flag wavers. They doxed me regularly, and the woman I was married to absolutely hated me going on there. After a while, it wasn't fun anymore, so I stopped.
When I hiked the Appalachian Trail, I kept an online journal every single day and posted to a website called Trail Journals. As a result, I had people up and down the East Coast who wrote to us and visited us on the trail. It wasn't unusual to meet trail groupies who knew all kinds of our fellow hikers from reading their journals. More than a decade later, I am still in touch with people I first met through that journal.
Then we enter the long dark winter of the soul—Facebook was all there was. I never really used Twitter for anything other than news, so I didn't find much social about it. My Facebook experience is much the same as many folks. In 2008, it was a place to keep up with friends and family and to reconnect with people from the past. Today, it's the same toxic hellscape for me as it is for everyone else. I mostly stay there to see pictures of my grandkids. In 2017, I had a viral post that caused me to get literally thousands of friend requests, many of which I accepted for the hell of it. I met plenty of cool people, including a friend I eventually met in Derry, Northern Ireland.
My experience on the IndieWeb since I joined micro.blog in January has been my favorite experience out of all of them. In 10 months, I've posted more on Mastodon than I did on Twitter in 15 years. I have three accounts on different servers. I closed my Twitter account too, not wanting to send any traffic to what is essentially the Nazi Bar of the Internet. I am a happy customer of OMG.LOL, 500.social, and Onephoto.club. Aside from Micro.blog, I also use Scribbles and BearBlog.
I have accounts on Instagram, Threads, BlueSky, Pinterest, Nostr, Pixelfed, Farcaster, and Tumblr, but I use them mostly to syndicate what I write on my blogs.
I do love Reddit, where I've had an account for nearly 19 years, despite its checkered past. Syndicating AppAddict there has driven lots of traffic to my website. Earlier this year, I volunteered to become a moderator of r/macOS, a subreddit with over 300K members. That's been interesting. I get a chance to help out newbies and to stamp out some toxicity, so what it lacks in actual fun, it makes up in satisfaction.
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Good Old Time Machine Editor - A Useful Free Utility
By default, the built-in macOS backup utility, Time Machine, makes
a new snapshot on your designated backup disk once an hour. This can be
problematic during your work day if you need the full system resources
of your computer, but it has decided to start copying a bunch of files
to your backup. The venerable utility, Time Machine Editor, a free app
by developer Thomas Clement is the solution to this problem. To use TME,
you first need to go into Time Machine options in System Settings and
set your backups to "Manually." Download and install TME from the developers's
website or through Homebrew.
brew install --cask timemachineeditor
Once installed, you can choose any of several options to schedule Time Machine backups. On my work iMac, I chose to stop the backups between 8am and 5pm when I am using the computer but to continue hourly backups after that. To be on the safe side, TME allows you to create local disk snapshots during the time you are not writing to your backup disk. They are very fast to make, and provide additional restoration points. Since they are local, they do not protect against a disk crash but can be useful if the machine goes away from the backup disk for a while.
I've used this utility for more than a decade, and it's never let me down.
Encrypto - Free File Encryption App
Sharing sensitive data via email or cloud services is risky without using encryption. Advanced users can use Disk Utility or a compression app like Keka to make a disk image or ZIP file with a password but an easier solution and one with a few more features is Encrypto from MacPaw.
Encrypto takes any file or folder and secures it with 256-bit AES encryption. Instead of relaying the password in a separate email or phone call, you can create a password hint with the app that only the recipient would know. You can send the encrypted file via email, Messages, Airdrop, cloud sharing, a USB drive or any method you choose. You can also use Encrypto to create encrypted archives on your own computer for an extra layer of protection if you want to.
Encrypto is a free app, available in the Mac App Store.
Make Your Internet Better Today
I'm going to be that guy who finds something cool and then wants everyone to join in. The ad blocker that I use, Ublock Origin, is in danger of being neutered by Microsoft, the company that makes my browser, Edge, which I use for some very specific reasons. If you use Google Chrome (and most of you do), your ad-blocking capabilities have been seriously dampened by Google's decision to implement new standards for browser extensions. Don't panic though. There is a solution that is free and will make your computer more private and your browsing faster. That solution is NextDNS, a free service that blocks ads and malware from ever loading on your computer in the first place. If you set this up, you can even stop whole domains from ever loading. Imagine having Twitter never polluting your presence ever again. Not only that, but you can be protected from all kids of Internet bad guys, like those who use domain name typos to trick you, or from known bad actors, over 100,000 known domains are blocked by default.
You con't have to be super technical to get this set up. There is plenty of documentation and help available. Go sign up today!
NextDNS - The new firewall for the modern Internet
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Duplicati - Free Encrypted Offsite Backup for Your Mac
I am a firm believer in establishing a backup routine with multiple failsafes. I've managed to hold on to some of my data for over 25 years as a result. Yep, I still have the MP3 files I downloaded from Napster in the 90s. I run a Time Machine backup and I make regular SuperDuper full disk clones. For offsite data storage, I recently discovered Duplicati, a free, open-source backup program that uses encryption to securely store your data on various cloud services, local drives, or remote servers. It offers flexible scheduling, versioning, and incremental backups for reliable data protection.
The free plan covers up to five computers. I downloaded and installed the client. It launches a web interface that walks you through setting up you first backup. To test it, I elected to create a backup of my Obsidian vault using my free Dropbox account as the file storage destination. I elected to back the files up every 24 hours and it has been running every day at exactly the time I selected.
Duplicati also works with Google Drive, One Drive and Box as well as Azure Blob and Amazon S3. It works with Windows machines too, in case you want to add one of those to your free account. Be default is uses AES-256 encryption standard, but you can choose PGP encryption as an option.
The free plan includes:
ClicKnow - A Different Kind of AI Tool
Most AI tools on the market these days fall into one of two categories:
ClicKnow by independent developer aike9m studio doesn't do either of those things. It also doesn't require a monthly fee or the use of your own API key. What ClicKnow does is act on text you select to perform a variety of functions. It is compatible with PopClip in that you can have apps running at the same time and get full functionality from both of them.
ClicKnow Features
All the actions take place as popups in the app you are working in. There is no switching between apps to get your results. You can copy data right from the ClicKnow interface. If you are working in a multilingual document or even a social media app with an international flavor, the multi-language support is awesome. The ability to get any text explained, whether it is complex scientific terms or the latest Internet slang, is better than any dictionary app.
ClicKnow comes with a free trial. A single license is good for two
Macs. The one-time cost is $12. You can download it from the developer's
website.
Procrastinator's Anonymous
My absolute favorite time to do something is "not right now." I never put gas in my fuel tank until the warning light comes on. The pharmacy used to put my medicine back on the shelf until they learned my patterns. I told Wonder Woman that I was going to buy a new pair of shoes for about a year before I actually ordered them. It's not that I am lazy; I do plenty. It's just that I need A LOT of time to think about doing things before actually doing them. I don't know why the prospect of seeing something that needs to be done and then actually doing it is repugnant to me, but it is.
I have collected quotes for years. I have a number of applications to keep them, plus a plain text repository that I maintain on GitHub. I'm super diligent about identifying quotes I want to save, copying them to a specific workspace in an app I use, and making sure I've got all the pertinent metadata: author, source, etc. And that's where the process gets bogged down. I may wait until I have 40 or 50 quotes saved up before I sit down and make myself catalog and tag them and file them in the various places where I like to keep them for reference. For a while, I tried to make doing that a part of my nightly checklist, but that habit did not stick.
There are other computer-related chores that I put off. I have all the emails from Netflix, Hulu, Max, etc. filtered into a specific mailbox so that I can go through them all at one time and add shows and movies that look promising to our playlists. I have an app, Sequel, that consolidates the playlists, so I don't even have to go to multiple websites to add them. I even have a recurring task set up in my to-do app to remind me to do this every Sunday, typically the slowest day of the week. Yeah, I am about three months behind.
We have a spare bedroom where I usually take naps on off days. The cheap bed frame I ordered from Amazon literally came apart, as in it separated into pieces. I was still napping away on the mattress and putting up with the crazy tilt and weird lumps. Wonder Woman found out about it, and BOOM, instantly fixed. She is a procrastination enabler.
Some things can't be put off, obviously. One of my jobs is preparing dinner for us. She is perpetually hungry because her ultramarathon training burns a lot of calories, and she needs to keep her energy levels up. I learned a long time ago that delaying meal times was a non-starter in our house. All I need is a hangry super heroine coming at me looking for a meal!
I'm also pretty disciplined about my blogging. I am currently riding a 204-day streak of posting every day. If I know I'm going to have a busy night, I try to knock something out in the morning before work or at lunch, although sometimes I just have to stay up late. When it comes to habits, I am always better off if I do them 100% regularly. The last time I meditated with discipline, I managed a 365-day streak, and my Apple Watch rings record is a consecutive 617 days without missing one. All this is balanced by streaks I have for putting things off, like replacing my deck, which I have now successfully stalled for two-plus years.
I don't think this makes me a terrible person. At least, I hope it doesn't. One day I might have to do something about it. .
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Kiano - A Unique Image Sorter and Viewer for Apple Photos
Kiano, a
free app from the Visual Computing Group, provides a unique way to view
and search your photo library. On my M3 iMac, it analyzed 22K images in
about two and half minutes. It then displayed a grid of all the photos
grouped together by similarity to one another. For example, all the
landscape images I had showing broad expanses of sky were together, as
were the man, many dual selfies of my wife and i. You can choose to have
the sorting weighted towards color or towards content. Clicking on an
image opens it within the program, where you can make your search even
more granular by it having it find all the images that are similar to
the one you have selected. From that interface, you can also:
You can download Kiano from the Mac App Store. There is also a version of the app for iOS.
Today on App Addict - Deskpad - A Virtual Monitor for Screen Sharing - If you have a large monitor and have the need to share your screen with others, you can experience issues when they can’t match your resolution. The free app, Deskpad, creates a virtual display within an application window that you can easily share with others. Launching Deskpad is equivalent to… - apps.louplummer.lol/post/desk… #Mac Apps 📝
Deskpad - A Virtual Monitor for Screen Sharing
If you have a large monitor and have the need to share your screen with others, you can experience issues when they can't match your resolution. The free app, Deskpad, creates a virtual display within an application window that you can easily share with others. Launching Deskpad is equivalent to plugging in an additional monitor. You can use the display settings in System Settings to change the resolution and wallpaper, as well as any other monitor specific setting you have access to. Whenever you move your cursor to the virtual display, the color of the window title changes to blue, so you will know it is active.
You can download the latest version from Github or use Homebrew.
brew install deskpad.
The current version is 1.3.2, released in October 2024.
Five Free Single Purpose Apps
I've been making my way through some of the recent additions at thriftmac
and testing some of the most useful looking apps. Here are five that
address some real world issues in a simple and understandable way. You
won't have to spend a lot of time reading documentation or setting up
intricate preferences. You can start using these quickly.
Blogs Are Not Commodities
Somehow, when I first investigated starting a blog, I managed to avoid the many websites devoted to creating a money-making machine USING THESE 10 SIMPLE TRICKS!!! The blogs I was familiar with weren't covered in ads, and I didn't have to pay to read them. There was an occasional invitation to buy the writer a coffee, but nothing high-pressure or gross.
A couple of weeks ago, Keenan, the creator of A Very Good Blog, wrote a long, heartfelt post about his lifelong relationship with his much-loved cousin and how the American political divide affected their relationship. It's the kind of work that deserves to be included in an anthology and everyone's Best of 2024 collections. It wasn't surrounded by banner advertisements or cut off in the middle with a place for paying customers to log in. No, it was offered to the world as the work of art it most certainly is. Many people have now read it, shared it, cried over it, and been inspired by it. The ability to write like that is a gift Keenan shares with the world. The people who recognize the richness of the Indy Web, the small web, and the blogs that comprise it are the grateful beneficiaries of Keenan's largesse. They, I mean, we, are a community who share pieces of ourselves, of our lives with one another because we feel called to do it.
I like to write, and of course, I want what I publish to be seen by as many people who might care to read it, but I don't want to approach what I have to share with a marketer's eye. My blogging style is mostly autobiographical and very personal. I write about my life, warts and all. I feel good when I finish a post. I'd never want to worry that I needed to appeal to this or that demographic or use certain keywords to make Google like me. I just want to tell stories, make people think, and be a part of the small group that rejects corporate algorithms in favor of honest engagement with an audience that isn't manipulated into viewing Living Out Loud, Linkage, or AppAddict.
Since 1994 I've made a living by helping people with technology problems in one way or another. Luckily, my interest in computers hasn't been ruined by doing it for a living. But that's just it. I already have a profession I love. I have no more desire to pad my bank account by blogging than I do in finding a way to monetize my bicycle or my hiking boots. It's shameful that there's a movement in this country to have people monetize their hobbies when what we need is a movement to make sure working people earn enough from their jobs so that they can have meaningful lives away from work.
I make no claims at artistry. I'm just a guy with a laptop and some spare time. I'm grateful to anyone who uses part of their precious minutes on this earth to read what I post. I'm not planning on stopping, and I don't think I'll ever be interested in taking money out of your pocket.
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Today on App Addict - Gladys - Free Shelf Utility that Syncs With iOS - I recently discovered Gladys, a free app that allows you to stash a variety of data types an a shelf on your computer display to retrieve later or to access from another computer or iOS device. I quickly tested: • A dragged image from a web page • Pasted text… - apps.louplummer.lol/post/glad… #Mac Apps 📝
