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Amerpie by Lou Plummer

Working in educational IT since the 90s. Dedicated Mac user trapped in a PC world. Obsidian fanboy. Blogger. Friendly 😊
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Apps

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    Having Fun with Wikipedia

    Wikipedia

    Not long ago, an Internet friend and I discovered a way to find out what the apps were that we installed on our first iPhones. For both of us, it was an app to access Wikipedia. One of the world's most popular websites, it's come a long way since it's inception. While there was a time when teachers discouraged students from using it, today Wikipedia is seen as a valuable resource full of links to its sources. It's such an excellent source of unvarnished truth in a world increasinglu controlled by maniacal oligarchs, that it's under attack by them. They seek to destroy what they cannot control.

    There are several tools and websites that make Wikipedia rabbit holes fun to go down.

    Weeklypedia- join a list to receive a weekly email with the top twenty Wikipedia articles and top five Wikipedia discussions from this weekk, available in English and more languages.

    WikiTok - This website combines Wikipedia and TikTok to fight doomscrolling. WikiTok users can swipe through an endless stream of Wikipedia article stubs, discovering random facts and interesting information along the way.

    I Made a Graph of Wikipedia... This Is What I Found - YouTube - A deep dive into the network of Wikipedia and some of the the most interesting, bizarre, and unique articles on the website.

    Obsidian Web Clipper Templates - For any obsidian fans, this collection of templates for the web clipper includes on that allows you to import complete articles with media straight into your vault.

    Use KIWIX to Access Wikipedia and Other Resources Offline AppAddict - You can download Wikipedia, along with all of the pictures and videos!

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    Using Kagi Search Engine on a Mac - Software and Tips

    Kago Logo
    Kago Logo


    For those not familiar with it, Kagi is a subscription based, no-ads, privacy-focused search engine that provides an extreme level of customization. Unlike DuckDuckGo, which relies on Bing for most of its results, Kagi has its own scraper and while it does make API calls to other search engines, it is not totally reliant on them. Understandably, not everyone needs or wants to pay for privacy, but for people in vulnerable communities or who are politically active in ways that aren't supporting their nation's current government, it is a valuable resource.

    Privacy Pass

    Kagi recently released Privacy Pass, " a privacy feature that allows you to use Kagi Search without revealing your identity. When enabled, it lets you perform searches anonymously while still verifying that you're a valid Kagi subscriber. Think of it as a digital token system - similar to getting tokens at an arcade, where once you have them, you can use the services without showing your ID each time." To use Privacy Pass, you need to install a browser extension that enables it.

    Kagi Search Extension

    Kagi also has a search extension that automates setting it as your default browser and also provides for continuing a search session is a private browsing window.

    Using Kagi with Safari

    Since Apple limits the selection of custom search engines in Safari, due no doubt to the $18 billion that Google pays them for the right to be Safari's default search engine. There is a good work around though, Xsearch for Safari lets you instantly switch between multiple custom search engines from the Safari address bat. It works in macOS, iOS and iPadOS.

    Kagi Features

    Kagi has zero ads and zero trackers. It's so secure that what you search for can be totally separated from your identity. You can customize your results easily. If, like any sane and rational person, you don't want to see any stories from the popular news channel that was fines $700 million for lying on the air last year in your search results, you can block the site from ever appearing. If you realize just how many answers to life's questions can be found on Reddit, you can tell Kagi to prioritize the site. In fact, you can customize up to 1,000 sites, either by blocking them or by promoting results from them.

    I created a list of sites that are over-represented in search results because of search engine optimization,. It's not that their content is good. It's that the sites are engineered through content farming and keyword usage to appear high in search results. You can copy and paste the list right into Kagi's settings and never have the sites pollute your searches again. Because of problems with the mainstream media in the US, I also created a list of alternative news sources that I told Kagi to prioritize.

    You can make your own custom search environment. Kagi calls that a Lens. Kagi Lenses allow you to customize your searches by specifying which websites (and other parameters) you see in your results. They provide a few Lenses to get you started, such as one to search only online discussions and forums.

    Have more questions about Kagi? Get all the answers here.

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    Lots of Updates from Sindre Sorhus

    Sindre's Apps on My Mac
    Sindre's Apps on My Mac


    Whether you know who Sindre Sorhus is or not you still may be using one of his many popular and mostly free apps. Sindre is a full-time open-source developer currently based in Thailand who is responsible for more than 1,000 packages at npm, the world's largest software directory. In his spare time (LOL) he creates wonderful macOS and iOS apps.

    He's recently been on a tear with updates, adding new features and dealing with bugs. A couple of apps that used to be free are now paid because of the support demands, according to Sorhus. Most of his recent updates require macOS, but older versions are still available for users who have not upgraded.

    Actions for Shortcuts

    • New actions added:
    • Get System Color
    • Get All System Colors
    • Format Text List
    • Is Location Services Enabled
    • Is Screen Saver Active
    • Send Distributed Notification
    • Wait for Distributed Notification

    Shareful

    Shareful makes the system share menu even more useful by providing some commonly needed share services. The latest release requires macOS 15.

    • Copy - Copy the shared item to the clipboard and so you can quickly paste it into another app.
    • Save As - Choose a directory to save the shared item to.
    • Open In - Open the shared item in any app.

    Pandan

    Pandan is a time awareness tool, not a traditional time tracker or break reminder. It shows you how long you have been actively using your computer, to make you aware and let you decide when it's time to take a break.

    Folder Peek

    Folder Peek  is the GOAT of menu bar access apps. I liked XMenu from Devon Technologies, but Folder Peek has more features and is just as rock solid in performance. Folder Peek lets you put folders full of whatever you want on your menu bar. You can make a folder with app aliases for your most used apps or add your entire applications folder. Give your documents folder its own menu bar icon or add an alias of it to another folder. My personal setup is a single folder with aliases for:

    • Home folder
    • Documents
    • Downloads
    • Screenshots
    • Approximately 20 apps


    Amazing AI

    Generate images from text using Stable Diffusion 1.5. Simply describe the image you desire, and the app will generate it for you

    Color Picker

    • Quickly copy, paste, and convert colors in Hex, HSL, and RGB format
    • Show as a normal app or in the menu bar
    • Toggle it from anywhere with a global keyboard shortcut
    • Make the window stay on top of all other windows

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    Pieoneer- Multi-Use Pie Menu

    Launcher
    Launcher


    Pieoneer    , by developer Martin Lexow, is a pie menu app with three primary use cases.

    App Switcher

    Using any hotkeys you like, you can summon a round (pie) menu with the icons of all your running icon s. If there are any you don't want appearing in your app switcher, you can exclude them. I use an alternative finder (Qspace), so the regular Finder is excluded from my pie menu. The menu appears immediately after being summoned and can be navigated via arrow keys or clicked with the mouse. If you have a multi-button programmable mouse or if you use a utility like Better Touch Tool, you can set up mouse buttons or trackpad gestures to summon the Pieoneer app switcher.

    Launcher

    The launcher is activated similar to the app switcher — with a unique hot key combination, mouse button or trackpad gesture. The best use case for the launcher is to use it for your second tier of apps, ones that you use regularly, but don't necessarily leave running all the time. I added eight apps, but ten or twelve would also work.

    Controller


    Controller
    Controller

    The most intriguing use case for Pieoneer to me is the controller function. With it, you can add menu commands to the pie menu, for example, in your browser, you could add the command to open your internet history, to see your bookmarks, to open a location — which puts the cursor in the address bar so it can also be a search shortcut with your default search engine. If you take the time to set it up with your most used apps, you won't have to try to remember so many commands to take advantage of keyboard shortcuts.

    You get Pieoneer in the Mac App Store for $9.99. Other apps by the same developer include Polycapture, Keystroke Pro and Cursor Pro.

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    Stickier - Free Notes App with Power User Features

    Stickier
    Stickier


    Stickier is a free sticky notes app that ticks a lot of boxes when it comes to useful features.

    • iCloud sync for use on multiple devices
    • Quick notes feature with custom hotkey for quick text entry
    • Custom note color, text color and background image if desired. You can set a default for all notes and change individual notes to make them stand out
    • Custom text, text size and margins
    • Import and export notes
    • Clickable links
    • Checklists
    • Menu bar and/or dock access

    Stickier keeps a history of changes to each note, allowing you to revert to an earlier version or recover data if you need to. You can share the text of any note via the Mac share sheet. When it comes to pinning notes, you can leave a note open at its regular size, or you can collapse it so that it shows only the first line of text. You can choose the size and location of each note, moving it anywhere you'd like on your display.

    Custom formatting includes bulleted lists as well as bold, italic and strike-through text. You can use the return key to create a paragraph break in a note, or a button in the interface to create a new line without the paragraph break.

    You can get the app from the Mac App Store for free. The iOS app is $4.99.

    Thanks to @dhry@mastodon.social for the tip on this app.

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    Opting for Mac Apps That Are Immune to Changes in US Privacy Laws

    Privacy
    Privacy


    Many people have become concerned that changes in the US politics, the FCC and attitudes in the big American tech companies may result in less reliable privacy protections in the software they use. One solution is to move to using apps and services provided by European and Canadian companies. Australian writer Joan Westernberg did a deep dive on her tech stack recently, and here are a few apps she recommended, some of which I have featured previously on AppAddict.

    ToDoist - Europe

    ToDoist is a privacy first task and calendar app available for macOS and iOS available https://apps.apple.com/us/app/todoist-to-do-list-calendar/id585829637?mt=12. Todoist is a simple yet powerful planner tool that organizes both your life and work. It can also be used a habit tracker. Subscription based.


    iAWriter - Switzerland

    iAwriter a markdown/plain text editor designed especially for writing and document creation. It isn't a text editor in the fashion of VS Code or BBEdit. If you aren't a markdown wiz, all the commands are accessible from the menu bar. The simplified interface is its hallmark, but it has various powerful tools behind the curtains. Your documents are local by default, with options to use end-to-end encrypted storage solutions. More information

    Proton - Switzerland

    The Proton Foundation offers a list of encrypted services including email, cloud storage, a password manager, a calendar, and a VPN. None of its products are subject to US surveillance laws. It markets itself on its privacy features and isn't likely to follow the VC funded pattern of using your data to maximize profit.

    Joplin - France

    Joplin is an open-source notes app that offers a local only option or syncing on servers based in France. You can also opt for syncing on your choice of end-to-end encrypted services. It offers importing from various formats including Evernote, Markdown and plain text. It has a powerful web clipper and a plugin architecture, making it an extensible choice with support for multiple platforms.

    Vivaldi - Norway and Iceland

    Vivaldi is my browser choice for its built-in privacy and tracking protections and its extreme customization options. It has powerful security, power consumptions, appearance and tab management features as well as a built-in calendar, email and feed reader. There is a companion app for iOS.

    LibreOffice - Germany

    LibreOffice is a full-featured open-source office suite used by millions. It features a word processor, spreadsheets, presentations in an open format but can also open and save in Microsoft Office formats. Microsoft products are infamous for being telemetry filled and AI influenced. This is a solid privacy protecting alternative.

    Cozy Cloud - France

    Cozy Cloud is a personal cloud to gather all your data like bills, notes, and passwords. It's GDPR, privacy-focused, open source, and hosted in France. It has a limited free plan for you to investigate.

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    Announcing the AppAddict Newsletter

    Newsletter Logo
    Newsletter Logo


    If you like finding out about interesting and useful software, I'm making it easier for you to get detailed updates about what is available.

    I started posting reviews of Mac and iOS apps in April 2024. To date, I've reviewed over 300 apps, posted several roundups of free Mac software and offered advice on Mac automation. So far, I've been able to respond to every message from readers with personalized advice when asked. 

    I decided to start a Kofi page is to enable me to provide reviews to people who would like to receive them in newsletter form. I've had several requests and this appears to be an easy to manage method of getting the news about the latest apps to anyone who wants it in their inbox

    Each of my reviews contains a link to where you can download the software, as well as its cost - if there is one. I am not affiliated with any developer or commercial publisher. I've been downloading, testing and using Mac software since the days of the classic OS. Most of my reviews are recommendations, but I occasionally post a "stay away" warning if I find something egregious that I think folks should avoid.

    If you are a developer and would like me to review your app, contact me through the blog. I don't review every app I'm presented with, but if you've made something unique and helpful, I'll be glad to take a look and give you some feedback.

    Sign up here to receive AppAddict as a newsletter.

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    Hyperspace Frees Up Disk Space Without Deleting Files

    Hyperspace Icon
    Hyperspace Icon


    Developer, writer and podcaster, John Siracusa, has a new app you should try out if disk space on your Mac is starting to become scarce.

    I'm not convinced that anyone, anywhere, including Cupertino, truly understands the relationship between the disk space you actually have on your Mac and what the system reports. Cloud storage totals show what's in the cloud, not on your hard drive. Then there is the whole purgeable space concept. Another factor that contributes to the mystery and one that I just learned about is what happens on AFPS formatted drives when you duplicate a file. I'll let the legendary Mac developer, John Siracusa, explain:

    Today, most Mac users don’t even notice that using the “Duplicate” command in the Finder to make a copy of a file doesn’t actually copy the file’s contents. Instead, it makes a “clone” file that shares its data with the original file. That’s why duplicating a file in the Finder is nearly instant, no matter how large the file is. Despite knowing about clone files since the APFS introduction nearly eight years ago, I didn’t give them much thought beyond the tiny thrill of knowing that I wasn’t eating any more disk space when I duplicated a large file in the Finder. But late last year, as my Mac’s disk slowly filled, I started to muse about how I might be able to get some disk space back. If I could find files that had the same content but were not clones of each other, I could convert them into clones that all shared a single instance of the data on disk. I took an afternoon to whip up a ...scrip... to see how much space I might be able to save by doing this. It turned out to be a lot: dozens of gigabytes.

    There are plenty of Mac apps that will save disk space by finding duplicate files and then deleting the duplicates. Using APFS clones, this app can reclaim disk space without removing any files.

    If you have technical questions, there is extensive documentation on Siracusa's blog - Hyperspace

    Siracusa went on to convert the script he wrote into a native Mac app, written in Swift. You can get it from the App Store for free and run it against your Mac's file system to see how much disk space you can reclaim. If it's a significant amount, you have several subscription and purchase options:

    • $9.99 a month
    • $19.99 a year
    • $49.99 lifetime

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    Captin Solves a Major Mac Annoyance

    Screenshot of a settings window titled "General" with tabs for General, Displays, Icon, Sound, Updates, and About. Options include checkboxes for "Launch Captin at login" and "Show preferences on launch," both of which are unchecked. There are sliders for adjusting HUD window size between "Small" and "Large," and for setting "On duration" and "Off duration" with values of "0 s" and "1.5 s." Color options include a black background and text colors for "On" (yellow) and "Off" (red). A button labeled "Restore Default Setting" is at the bottom. The window is overlaid on a starry night sky background.
    Captin Prefs


    Unless you are an accomplished touch typist, which I am not, you probably spend a lot of time looking at the keyboard when working at your computer. Occasionally, those of us who type in this manner inadvertently hit the Caps Lock key unknowingly. When we finally check the display, we see a long string of text IN CAPITAL LETTERS. Fixing this is a PIA.

    Enter Captin, a free little utility that lets you know in every way possible when you have turned on Caps Lock, and not just visually. You can set a sound warning too.

    Notification Methods

    • HUD - Instant visual feedback
    • Menu-Bar Icon - Customizable LED color
    • Dock Icon - Theme-aware Dock-icon style
    • Customization - Color, duration, size, and sound
    • Multiple Displays - Adjust position for each display

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    Little Projects

    Vivaldi - 2025-02-24 at 20

    My wife is exceptionally handy and seldom asks me to do much. We aren't big gardeners. Our yard is well established, and it's easy to maintain. We pay to have big home improvements done, and the smaller projects we either do together or she just knocks them out. I will never forget when we first got together. We lived in a house with a pool. One day the pump just died, She went online, found the right pump, ordered it overnight. The next day she came home from her CPA firm, took off her business suit, unboxed the pool pump and installed it herself. In an hour, it was done. I was amazed then and I am amazed now.

    Since I am newly retired, I am working on making myself a routine and coming up with a few projects. Things I want to do daily include:

    • Going for a walk
    • A half-hour to an hour of housework
    • Cooking dinner

    Writing can now take up a sizable chunk of my day. I have a list of software to download and test before reviewing it for AppAddict. I plan to spend more time coming up with ideas to create link bundles about for Linkage. As far as this blog goes, my goal is just get better. I don't know what that looks like, exactly. I can take my time now, polish things a bit, quit using the word "awesome" so much, get better at commas - that kind of stuff.

    I have several tech projects underway. I used the process Jason Snell wrote about to download my entire Kindle collection instead of just select books like I did previously. It took just a few minutes to get all 555 of them from Amazon's servers to my hard drive. Now I have to set up Calibre and import them to remove the DRM and get them ready for use wherever I want them.

    Now that Amazon is keeping people from actually owning the things they've purchased, i found a way to get all my Audible books converted. Using the free and open-source tool, Libation, I am downloading another 500-plus books, but this process is much lengthier. Thankfully, the new Mac workstation I just set up can work on this job around the clock.

    I also want to get a local copy of all my photos for various reasons, mostly to use local search tools and for quicker access to them. I requested a Google takeout today and within hours I had 15 zip files of 10 GB each ready to download. I recently exported all my iCloud photos to Google, so hopefully the files I'm downloading will have all of them complete with metadata. I will let you know.

    I'm also going to pull my music collection out of the cloud so that I can set up a music server that not dependent on my Internet connection. I have about 30K songs from the olden days when we were still buying our own music, including some difficult to find bootlegs from Dylan, as well as many do it yourself albums from bars and coffee shops that aren't to be found on Apple Music or Spotify.

    To hold all this data, I've rounded up a pile of various hard drives I've accumulated through the years and looked at possible reusing the housing from some small external drives with upgrades. I found a supremely useful website for locating the lowest priced drives on Amazon, and I'll be keeping my eyes on that for bargains while I assemble this homemade NAS of mine.

    Enjoyed it? Please upvote 👇

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    Libation - Audiobook Downloader and Converter

    Libation
    Libation


    Amazon recently announced its intention to prevent customers from being able to download copies of their purchased audiobooks, a feature it had supported since the inception of the Kindle. Amazon is also the company behind Audible, the popular vendor of audiobooks. Although they have not said they will be revoking download access to this service, it is a possibility and audiobook owners looking for a way to back up what they have purchased are looking for a solution to make this content useful outside the Amazon walled garden.

    The solution I am using is Libation, a FOSS title available on GitHub. Libation is a bare-bones application without a fancy UI, but it is fully functional and takes only a few minutes to set up and use. After it converted my audiobooks into M4B files, a standard audiobook format which allows bookmarks, I was able to play my books using VLC and various iOS apps like the free Audiobooks MP3 and M4B Player.

    One warning - the file sizes are large. If you have a sizable collection, I would advise against downloading to your internal hard drive unless you have a lot of free space. Saving to an external drive would be a better option.

    Download Libation on GitHub.

    Features

    • Import library from Audible, including cover art
    • Download and convert all books to other audio formats (M4b and MP3)
    • Download accompanying PDFs
    • Add tags to books for better organization
    • Powerful advanced search built on the Lucene search engine
    • Customizable saved filters for common searches
    • Open source
    • Supports most regions: US, UK, Canada, Germany, France, Australia, Japan, India, and Spain
    • Fully supported in Windows, Mac, and Linux

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    My Obsidian Plugin List

    Obsidian is the GOAT!
    Obsidian is the GOAT!


    #Obsidian #ObsidianMD #PKM
    I'm not one of those people who tell others that the only or best way to use Obsidian is by eschewing plugins and going with a vanilla version of the app. If that works best for some people, that's fine, but in my experience, the real power and enjoyment of the Obsidian experience comes from finding plugins to extend the functionality of the app.

    My primary uses for Obsidian are:

    • Where I do all my writing
    • As a life record/journal
    • Personal database

    The plugins I use are the ones that help me with those tasks. I don't leave all of these turned on all the time. For example, I leave the importer plugin turned off unless I am going to use it immediately. Since I use Obsidian on multiple devices and sync with Obsidian Sync, I am able to use different plugins on each device, a feature you don't get with DIY syncing. I can also have different settings for plugins on different devices. I only use my primary computer with the plugins that sync with external services like RSS and Raindrop.io

    You can generate your own list of plugins to share with Share my plugin list by Benature

    My Plugins



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    Everyday Apps


    I never realized this blog would become as popular as it has. I picked up blogging as a hobby to accompany the other joy in my life, which is the never-ending process of refining my workflows to use the absolute best software for every task. Somehow, I ended up with three blogs, this one, Living Out Loud, Linkage and another that is a combined fire hose of everything put together. I'd be lying if I told you that I'm always able to remember what I've written on each platform. In 2024, I wrote 500K words. I'm too old to keep all that straight.

    I don't think I've ever shared the actual list of apps that I used to get work done here on AppAddict. These aren't the coolest or the most powerful or the best bargains, not necessarily. They are the workhorses that allow me to do what I need to do. I'm not saying they are the best for everyone. If you do a lot over email, you need something more specialized. I don't do much with spreadsheets or presentations, so I'm not even listing those.

    Most (not all) of the links here describe my use cases or what I like about the app and why I use it. All links contain download info.

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    Privacy Badger Extension from the Electronic Freedom Foundation

    Privacy Badger
    Privacy Badger


    Protecting your online privacy is an ongoing game of whack-a-mole with big tech. Google is making a big deal out of eliminating tracking cookies at the same time is implementing tracking based on digital fingerprinting for which few protections exist. One organization working on privacy protection solutions for this invasive technology is the Electronic Freedom Foundation (EFF). It's free privacy tool is a browser extension, Privacy Badger, available for Chromium and Firefox browsers. A Safari version is under development. Since tracker blocking is an ongoing struggle, it's good to know that the developers at the EFF are actively working on meeting the challenges of emerging invasive practices by big tech.

    Privacy Badger is not a traditional ad blocker, and it will not replace whatever you are currently using. The extension is focused on preventing companies big and small from tracking where you go on the Internet and what you do there. It doesn't work off a list of URLs. Instead, it uses an algorithm to determine if you are being tracked and takes action to block offending sites. For tracking sites that you want to have a relationship with, such as Meta or X, it provides clickable links to connect to them from external sites when you choose to. I like that it creates an opt-in situation for you.

    Privacy badger is compatible with native tracking prevention found in more secure browsers like Librewolf, Firefox and Vivaldi. As the political situation evolves in the US, protecting your browsing habits will become more important than ever. Take the steps needed to keep yourself safe from big tech and the government.

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    Sandkorn - Comprehensive Information on Your Apps

    Sandkorn Report
    Sandkorn Report

    Sandkorn, from developer Peter Borgas, is a free app that provides you comprehensive information on the apps installed on a computer, particularly sandboxed apps and what those apps are entitled to access.

    Every app you obtain from the Mac App Store today is sandboxed, isolated from other apps and information sources, however, the apps have certain entitlements to different resources on your computers, some of which, but not all, you can see in System Settings > Security and Privacy. On a Mac, what you see in your applications folder are actually bundles you can right-click on an app and select View Package Contents and see what is contained in the bundle. Some apps have plugins and XPC services bundled with them that have their own entitlements. BBedit has 18. Xcode has a whopping 90!

    Entitlements are things like:

    • Calendar
    • Contacts
    • Location
    • Bluetooth
    • Camera
    • Microphone
    • Printing
    • Incoming Network Traffic
    • Outgoing Network Traffic
    • Folders in your home directory

    Although I only have six apps showing in my Security and Privacy Settings that have permission to access my camera, there are 56 apps that are capable of using it. Theoretically, they should ask before I access a feature that requires its use, but I'm just a guy on my couch with a laptop. If you are analyzing software in a highly sensitive area, knowing these entitlements is vital information.

    Aside from the information I have already described, Sandkorn is the best app I've found for generating lists based on certain criteria, like architecture. If you're one of the people that recoil in horror over the prospect of using Rosetta on your precious M-series Mac, Sandkorn can tell you if you have any Intel apps installed. It can generate lists of pure Apple Silicon and Universal apps. If you keep apps in a non-standard location, such as an external or secondary hard drive, you can have Sandkorn scan those locations too.

    Get additional information on Sandkorn at the developer's website. Check out his other apps like Lingon X and Smultron while you're there.

    You can download Sandkorn from the Mac App Store.

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    Using Reddit the Right Way - a Lesson Learned

    Reddit is Number 1

    Since I got my first account for an online service, Prodigy, in December 1993, I've done my best to use the incredible amount of freely available information. I've used the Internet to strengthen my professional skill set, to increase get more from my hobbies, and to discover possible new interests to investigate. That's been a constant, except for the two years after I retired the first time. A combination of being physically ill coupled with a deep bout of depression left me uninterested in almost everything. I slept like it was my job, didn't keep up with the news of the tech world or the world at large. The only thing I did on the Internet was scroll on my phone at night while waiting for my wife to get sleepy and turn off the light.

    I scrolled Reddit and not the good parts, usually. Reddit is full of niche communities, and I fell into some strange ones. Although I have never been a gig worker and the only food delivery app I use is for Dominoes Pizza, I became obsessed withe travails of Grubhub drivers. I became an expert on what sucked about their lives. I also read stories on "Am I The Asshole", which are convoluted, often obviously fake tales where people tell stories about their part in some drama, letting the Internet decide who was at fault. Spending time reading that kind of garbage did not spark joy. It did not teach me anything. It was just a weird stage I went through. I eventually came out of the depression, went back to work, got my mojo working and became the me that you know today. I left weird Reddit behind.

    I still use Reddit frequently. If you go to the wrong communities, things can be a little toxic. So, don't do that. You can also find kind, knowledgeable people who will share expert level advice and information just because there is an audience for what they have to offer. An example of that is AskHistorians, a fantastic resource for anyone who enjoys the subject.

    Rather than just suggest a bunch of individual communities, I made a few custom feeds which consolidate some of the best and most interesting places, along with a couple of feeds that are suited for nothing more than mindless scrolling when you need a break from the real world. Sometimes cat videos and the like are the best antidote to endless stories about the fascists taking over or long detailed articles on networking topologies if tech is your jam.

    Custom Feeds by Amerpie on Reddit

    You can add these to your Reddit sidebar as a custom feed or you can subscribe to individual communities

    tech 36 Sub Reddits

    This collection is heavily focused an Apple related software and devices. It contains posts on Mac and iOS apps and on different flavors of Mac computers, iPhones, iPads and watches. There are communities on a few productivity related Mac apps from independent developers. There is some tech humor and info for people who have worked in tech, but you don't need to CS degree o get value from this feed. Some of the communities in these collections are.

    politics 28 Sub Reddits

    My politics are decidedly left of center. I have a strong anti-MAGA attitude and I support communities under attack by the forces of darkness in Washington. This collection of Reddit communities about Resistance and Fighting back. It isn't focused on wonky white papers and middle of the road "let's just get along" niceties. Some of the communities in these collections are.

    edification 56 Sub Reddits

    When I want something on the more intellectual and stimulating side, this is the collection I browse. It's heavy on some of my favorite subjects: history, science, photography (just photos, not tech and gear) and a few feel good type communities. Some of the communities in these collections are.

    Scrollfest 1 and Scrollfest 2 132 Sub Reddits

    This is where I go when I don't really want to think too hard. Just let me look at some funny pictures and enjoy some Internet culture so I can keep up with what the kids are talking about. Some of the communities in these collections are.



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    Free Downloads from AppAddict

    Automation Quote
    Automation Quote


    I have a couple of downloads for you in this edition of AppAddict.

    Automation

    Although I am in no way a developer, I have created a couple of repositories on GitHub and placed some files there you may find useful. I am a big fan of Mac automation apps. There are plenty of tools that are inexpensive and relatively powerful for making the work you do easier and more streamlined. With the help of timed triggers, you can get your Mac to do things for you while you are asleep or away from the keyboard.

    Take a minute to look over the tasks I accomplish with just three apps, and then head over to GitHub and download the configuration files for each of the apps. You can download the macros, rules, and triggers I have already written for these three powerhouse apps. Use them. Take them apart and examine them. Improve on them. It won't be hard! AppAddict Automation Settings

    Keyboard Maestro
    My Top 10 Keyboard Maestro Macros

    Hazel
    My Favorite Actions for Hazel, the Preeminent File Management Software for the Mac

    Better Touch Tool
    Better Touch Tool Favorites


    Quotes

    I have collected quotes for years. I am still nursing an iOS app that was deprecated nine years ago to manage the portable version of my quotes library. I also have over 500 quotes saved as Markdown notes on Obsidian. You can find various Mac and iOS apps to manage quotes that extra features like tagging, biographies of the authors and room for links to the source material. You can download my collection here

    For your Mac, try this - Quotemarks - Quote Notebook

    For iOS, this one is great - Thoughts - Inspiration Manager

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    Battery Monitor: Health, Info

    Battery Monitor
    Battery Monitor

    In the modern era, a time when most people us laptop computers as opposed to desktops, keeping up with your battery's remaining charge is something we've trained ourselves to do. There are apps that let you make extremely detailed plans to carefully manage how your battery charges. These apps provide a wealth of information about your battery's lifespan and electrical data. In normal operation, they keep your battery from charging past 80% to help prolong its lifespan. They will also run a calibration cycle to allow your battery to come close to fully discharging and the fully charging. These practices are reputed to be necessary to get the longest lifespan for your battery. The two most widely used apps for this type of management are: BatFi and Al Dente.

    Not everyone believes these practices are needed or, indeed, are beneficial. They are satisfied with just monitoring their battery's health. A good free app for providing the information you need is Battery Monitor: Health, Info from Rocky Sand Studio, Ltd. It has a simple but useful feature set.

    Features

    • Charge percent and time in menu bar
    • Detailed battery information
    • Configurable low and full battery alert
    • Configurable Themes

    You can get Battery Health Monitor from the App Store.

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    FlexiBackup Solves Real World Problems

    FlexiBackup
    FlexiBackup


    I faced a concerning issue last year when it was time to replace my iPhone. For some reason, neither Apple nor I could solve. For over two years, my phone had failed to back up to iCloud. Over the 16 years I've been using Apple's flagship product, I've had to perform restores on multiple occasions. I'm not comfortable going without a backup of any technology device I rely on. The old school solution when iCloud doesn't work is to connect your phone to a Mac and back everything up to the computer's hard drive. The location where the backup is hard-coded, however. You don't get to choose a location for the save files. It's going on your hard drive whether you like it or not. My problem was that I only had a 256 GB hard drive and the backup from my phone consumed over 90 GB. After doing a lot of research and doing some hacking, a janked together a system using symbolic links to get the backup on to an external hard drive. It was a pain.

    If I'd had FlexiBackup from indy developer, Kah Seng, things would have been much easier. Seng's new app takes care of setting an external drive as the repository for iOS and iPadOS backups when you do them locally. If you have multiple family members using the same small iCloud storage account, this is an ideal app to add to your Mac, as long as each person has physical access to a computer where it is installed. You can do a backup and a restore by connecting a device to your Mac, launching FlexiBackup and running the native Mac utility.

    FlexiBackup requires macOS 14.6 or later and is compatible with all iPhones and iPads, regardless of the iOS version installed. The app is available for $5.99 on Gumroad. There is no free trial, but it comes with a 30-day money-back guarantee.

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    Improve your Google Searches

    I am in the process of moving all my Internet research to Kagi, but I wrote this for someone who needed these instructions today.

    Google, the advertising company that also has a search engine, is more interested in having you click on things it gets paid for than it is showing you the information you are looking for. Of course, it is also tracking every breath you take in case it figures out how to extract money from the very air you breathe. There are a couple of steps you can take to generate more useful information from the company's search results.

    Use a Different URL for your searches

    Google is the default search engine in most browsers. It pays billions of dollars for that privilege on iOS alone - one of the reasons your choice of search engines is limited on Apple products. Everyone knows the standard address for a Google search is just https://google.com. When you search there, you get a bunch of useless AI crap and ""suggested links". If you want the good old 10 Blue Links of yesteryear,  add “udm=14” to your default search URL, so it reads as “https://www.google.com/search?q=%s&udm=14” instead of Google dot com.

    To set this up in Chrome, go into Settings, then Search engine > Manage search engines> Site search.

    You can also do this in other browsers and in launchers like Raycast for Mac. Other search utilities like DevonAgentLite also support it.

    Filter SEO Churn With Ublacklist

    Ublacklist is an extension that totally blocks certain domains from appearing in your Google search results. You can also get it for other browsers. Once you have the extension installed, head over to this Codeberg page to subscribe to lists of sites to exclude from your search results. These lists were inspired by the article How Google is killing independent sites like ours on HouseFresh and Detailed.com's How 16 Companies are Dominating the World’s Google Search Results.

    There are more specialized but still helpful lists at Subscriptions | uBlacklist

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