Amerpie by Lou Plummer Profile Photo

Amerpie by Lou Plummer

Working in educational IT since the 90s. Dedicated Mac user trapped in a PC world. Obsidian fanboy. Blogger. Friendly ๐Ÿ˜Š
Obsidian Posts | AppAddict | Living Out Loud | /Now Page | Find Me

Apps

    โˆž

    Inoreader RSS Gets New Features

    Inoreader as a PWA
    Inoreader as a PWA

    Inoreader, the RSS app and service provider, got some new features today with the release of a new browser extension for Chrome, Firefox and Edge.

    • Save and organize content: Collect web pages and social media posts and tag them as you send them to Read later.
    • Annotate while you browse: Mark and annotate texts directly in your browser, then revisit your notes anytime in Inoreader.
    • Stay on top of your feeds: Monitor account activity, feeds, tags, and Team channels -- all without switching tabs.
    • Streamline article sharing: Share content to Team channels or set up rules for automated content distribution.

    Existing Features

    Custom Monitoring Feeds

    My favorite feature, hands down, are the custom monitoring feeds Inoreader allows me to create. It scours the web every hour to search for articles using my keywords. I have monitoring feeds to help me track my favorite software titles for news and tips/tricks. The wizard that creates these feeds lets me decide whether I want to search entire articles or just titles. I can search the entire Internet or just sources from sites whose main RSS feed I follow. As with all feeds on Inoreader, I can set up a highlighter for my search terms (Obsidian, Raycast, Keyboard Maestro, Micro.blog). I can filter out terms I definitely do not find interesting (Android, Apple Vision Pro, Trump). Finally, I can filter out duplicates and near duplicates so my feed doesn't get inundated on dates when one of my keywords makes the news, for example when updates to a certain title get released. It is possible to place all these keyword monitoring feeds into a folder and to view the output combined. I can even generate an OPML file with the output to share with others!

    Newsletter Subscription Replacement

    Inoreader allows me to generate email addresses to use in subscribing to newsletters. That way, I get the benefit of their content without having my mailbox clogged up. Like every other feed, these newsletters can be saved to OneDrive, Dropbox or Google Drive. I can export them to Pocket or ReadWise, Instapaper, Blogger, Telegram, Twitter, Facebook, Mastodon or a custom location.

    Automation

    If you highlight text in any RSS article or newsletter, you can use the highlight to trigger an IFTTT applet. You can do the same with any article you mark to read later. In fact, IFTTT has a dozen different triggers for Inoreader and over 2000 services you can connect it to. You can read your feeds in a web browser or in your choice of RSS readers like Reeder or NetNewsWire. I like their web interface so much that on a desktop, I choose to use a stand-alone web app of their site to read my feeds since it has easy access to most of the extra features offered. On my iPhone and iPad, I use their app as opposed to a separate RSS reader. Their iOS and Android apps have an offline mode allowing you to download content to read later, useful for flights and helping you avoid a separate subscription to a read it late service.

    Organization and Backup

    You can use folders or tags (or both) to organize your feeds. You can set up notifications for different keywords or material from certain sources. In the settings section of the Inoreader you can look at the health of all of your feeds and easily determine if one is down, allowing you to contact the blogger or publisher of the site in question. If you currently have an RSS provider or reader, Inoreader can easily import your feeds and conversely, it can export feeds for you if you want to use them elsewhere. Your feeds get backed up every day, and you can set them to be saved to a cloud folder synced with your computer so you can have ready access to them. I use Dropbox for this.

    Other Features

    • Built in podcast player
    • Turn Google News searches into feeds
    • Customize the look with your own CSS if desired
    • Get accelerated updates on certain feeds
    • Annotate and save articles
    • Multi-lingual content
    • Sync your YouTube subscriptions
    • Filtered Reddit feeds (see Obsidian posts without having to look at pictures of other people's graphs)

    Pricing for all the features I mentioned is $7.50 a month, paid annually. You can download Inoreader for iOS and iPadOS on the App Store.

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    โˆž

    Inoreader RSS Gets New Features

    Inoreader as a PWA
    Inoreader as a PWA

    Inoreader, the RSS app and service provider, got some new features today with the release of a new browser extension for Chrome, Firefox and Edge.

    • Save and organize content: Collect web pages and social media posts and tag them as you send them to Read later.
    • Annotate while you browse: Mark and annotate texts directly in your browser, then revisit your notes anytime in Inoreader.
    • Stay on top of your feeds: Monitor account activity, feeds, tags, and Team channels -- all without switching tabs.
    • Streamline article sharing: Share content to Team channels or set up rules for automated content distribution.

    Existing Features

    Custom Monitoring Feeds

    My favorite feature, hands down, are the custom monitoring feeds Inoreader allows me to create. It scours the web every hour to search for articles using my keywords. I have monitoring feeds to help me track my favorite software titles for news and tips/tricks. The wizard that creates these feeds lets me decide whether I want to search entire articles or just titles. I can search the entire Internet or just sources from sites whose main RSS feed I follow. As with all feeds on Inoreader, I can set up a highlighter for my search terms (Obsidian, Raycast, Keyboard Maestro, Micro.blog). I can filter out terms I definitely do not find interesting (Android, Apple Vision Pro, Trump). Finally, I can filter out duplicates and near duplicates so my feed doesn't get inundated on dates when one of my keywords makes the news, for example when updates to a certain title get released. It is possible to place all these keyword monitoring feeds into a folder and to view the output combined. I can even generate an OPML file with the output to share with others!

    Newsletter Subscription Replacement

    Inoreader allows me to generate email addresses to use in subscribing to newsletters. That way, I get the benefit of their content without having my mailbox clogged up. Like every other feed, these newsletters can be saved to OneDrive, Dropbox or Google Drive. I can export them to Pocket or ReadWise, Instapaper, Blogger, Telegram, Twitter, Facebook, Mastodon or a custom location.

    Automation

    If you highlight text in any RSS article or newsletter, you can use the highlight to trigger an IFTTT applet. You can do the same with any article you mark to read later. In fact, IFTTT has a dozen different triggers for Inoreader and over 2000 services you can connect it to. You can read your feeds in a web browser or in your choice of RSS readers like Reeder or NetNewsWire. I like their web interface so much that on a desktop, I choose to use a stand-alone web app of their site to read my feeds since it has easy access to most of the extra features offered. On my iPhone and iPad, I use their app as opposed to a separate RSS reader. Their iOS and Android apps have an offline mode allowing you to download content to read later, useful for flights and helping you avoid a separate subscription to a read it late service.

    Organization and Backup

    You can use folders or tags (or both) to organize your feeds. You can set up notifications for different keywords or material from certain sources. In the settings section of the Inoreader you can look at the health of all of your feeds and easily determine if one is down, allowing you to contact the blogger or publisher of the site in question. If you currently have an RSS provider or reader, Inoreader can easily import your feeds and conversely, it can export feeds for you if you want to use them elsewhere. Your feeds get backed up every day, and you can set them to be saved to a cloud folder synced with your computer so you can have ready access to them. I use Dropbox for this.

    Other Features

    • Built in podcast player
    • Turn Google News searches into feeds
    • Customize the look with your own CSS if desired
    • Get accelerated updates on certain feeds
    • Annotate and save articles
    • Multi-lingual content
    • Sync your YouTube subscriptions
    • Filtered Reddit feeds (see Obsidian posts without having to look at pictures of other people's graphs)

    Pricing for all the features I mentioned is $7.50 a month, paid annually. You can download Inoreader for iOS and iPadOS on the App Store.

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    โˆž

    How to Get a Word Count for Any Folder in Your Obsidian Vault

    Word Count
    Word Count

    A Python script that will count the words in a folder of markdown files. #Obsidian #ObsidianMD #PKM

    I use Obsidian to write a minimum of three blog posts every day as well as technical documents for my job.ย  Of course, I also compose and edit notes in it too. At the end of 2024, I was curious to see how many words I'd written on each blog during the year. Unfortunately, I could not find a plugin that could do this, but I suspected that Python probably could. After working on it for a while with the help of Google Gemini, I had an easy to run script that would work on any folder in my vault.ย  If you have any Python experience, you won't find this difficult at all to use. The only edit you need to make is for the path of the folder you want to evaluate. Just save this in a text editor like BBEdit with a .py extension. Change the permissions on it using chmod and it will be ready to run.

    chmod +x pythonScript.py

    The Script

    \#!/usr/bin/env python3
import os

def count_words_in_markdown(filepath):
  """Counts the number of words in a markdown file.

  Args:
    filepath: Path to the markdown file.

  Returns:
    The number of words in the file.
  """
  with open(filepath, 'r', encoding='utf-8') as f:
    content = f.read()
  \# Simple word counting by splitting on whitespace
  words = content.split()
  return len(words)

def count_words_in_directory(directory):
  """Counts the total number of words in all markdown files within a directory.

  Args:
    directory: Path to the directory containing markdown files.

  Returns:
    The total word count across all markdown files.
  """
  total_words = 0
  for filename in os.listdir(directory):
    if filename.endswith(".md"):
      filepath = os.path.join(directory, filename)
      total_words += count_words_in_markdown(filepath)
  return total_words

if __name__ == "__main__":
  directory_to_search = "PUT THE PATH TO A FOLDER HERE"  \# Replace with your directory
  total_word_count = count_words_in_directory(directory_to_search)
  print(f"Total words in markdown files: {total_word_count}")

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    โˆž

    How to Get a Word Count for Any Folder in Your Obsidian Vault

    Word Count
    Word Count

    A Python script that will count the words in a folder of markdown files. #Obsidian #ObsidianMD #PKM

    I use Obsidian to write a minimum of three blog posts every day as well as technical documents for my job.ย  Of course, I also compose and edit notes in it too. At the end of 2024, I was curious to see how many words I'd written on each blog during the year. Unfortunately, I could not find a plugin that could do this, but I suspected that Python probably could. After working on it for a while with the help of Google Gemini, I had an easy to run script that would work on any folder in my vault.ย  If you have any Python experience, you won't find this difficult at all to use. The only edit you need to make is for the path of the folder you want to evaluate. Just save this in a text editor like BBEdit with a .py extension. Change the permissions on it using chmod and it will be ready to run.

    chmod +x pythonScript.py

    NOTE: A kind person on Reddit pointed me toward a plugin that has this functionality if you'd rather go that route. It is called Novel Word Count.

    The Script

    \#!/usr/bin/env python3
import os

def count_words_in_markdown(filepath):
  """Counts the number of words in a markdown file.

  Args:
    filepath: Path to the markdown file.

  Returns:
    The number of words in the file.
  """
  with open(filepath, 'r', encoding='utf-8') as f:
    content = f.read()
  \# Simple word counting by splitting on whitespace
  words = content.split()
  return len(words)

def count_words_in_directory(directory):
  """Counts the total number of words in all markdown files within a directory.

  Args:
    directory: Path to the directory containing markdown files.

  Returns:
    The total word count across all markdown files.
  """
  total_words = 0
  for filename in os.listdir(directory):
    if filename.endswith(".md"):
      filepath = os.path.join(directory, filename)
      total_words += count_words_in_markdown(filepath)
  return total_words

if __name__ == "__main__":
  directory_to_search = "PUT THE PATH TO A FOLDER HERE"  \# Replace with your directory
  total_word_count = count_words_in_directory(directory_to_search)
  print(f"Total words in markdown files: {total_word_count}")

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    Nominations for Obsidian Gems of the Year for 2024


    Obsidan Logo
    Obsidan Logo


    These are the different categories and the products nominated by the community for the 2024 Obsidian.md Gems of the Year, an annual tradition on Discord. Have fun investigating the favorite new and existing complements to what, I think, is the best app to come along since the invention of the browser.ย 

    1. Best content
    2. Best template
    3. Best tool
    4. Best existing plugin
    5. Best LLM integration
    6. Best third-party integration
    7. Best new theme
    8. Best new plugin

    Best content

    Best template

    Best tool

    Best existing plugin

    Best LLM integration

    Best third-party integration

    In this category we're highlighting the work of individuals and teams creating plugins that rely on other services, including paid services.

    • ๐Ÿ‡ฆ Are.na โ€” by javierarce
    • ๐Ÿ‡ง Enveloppe โ€” by Enveloppe
    • ๐Ÿ‡จ Harper โ€” by Automattic
    • ๐Ÿ‡ฉ Instapaper โ€” by Instapaper
    • ๐Ÿ‡ช Lรฉgifrance โ€” by carnetdethese
    • ๐Ÿ‡ซ Relay โ€” by no-instructions
    • ๐Ÿ‡ฌ Typefully โ€” by Sรฉbastien Dubois
    • ๐Ÿ‡ญ Yanki โ€” by kitschpatrol

    Best new theme

    Best new plugin

    In this category we're highlighting the work of individual developers creating standalone plugins.

    โœ‰๏ธ Reply by email

    โˆž

    Nominations for Obsidian Gems of the Year for 2024


    Obsidan Logo
    Obsidan Logo


    These are the different categories and the products nominated by the community for the 2024 Obsidian.md Gems of the Year, an annual tradition on Discord. Have fun investigating the favorite new and existing complements to what, I think, is the best app to come along since the invention of the browser.ย 

    1. Best content
    2. Best template
    3. Best tool
    4. Best existing plugin
    5. Best LLM integration
    6. Best third-party integration
    7. Best new theme
    8. Best new plugin

    Best content

    Best template

    Best tool

    Best existing plugin

    Best LLM integration

    Best third-party integration

    In this category we're highlighting the work of individuals and teams creating plugins that rely on other services, including paid services.

    • ๐Ÿ‡ฆ Are.na โ€” by javierarce
    • ๐Ÿ‡ง Enveloppe โ€” by Enveloppe
    • ๐Ÿ‡จ Harper โ€” by Automattic
    • ๐Ÿ‡ฉ Instapaper โ€” by Instapaper
    • ๐Ÿ‡ช Lรฉgifrance โ€” by carnetdethese
    • ๐Ÿ‡ซ Relay โ€” by no-instructions
    • ๐Ÿ‡ฌ Typefully โ€” by Sรฉbastien Dubois
    • ๐Ÿ‡ญ Yanki โ€” by kitschpatrol

    Best new theme

    Best new plugin

    In this category we're highlighting the work of individual developers creating standalone plugins.

    โœ‰๏ธ Reply by email

    โˆž

    Slash Page Highlights

    Slash from Guns-n-Roses

    Last year, when Robb Knight created the Slash Page website, I spent an afternoon creating a few of my own. Since then, I've periodically updated them as life has continued around me. Robb defines Slash pages as "common pages you can add to your website, usually with a standard, root-level slug likeย /now,ย /about, orย /uses. They tend to describe the individual behind the site and are distinguishing characteristics of the IndieWeb."

    Although some grumpy types rebel at the thought of having the same pages on their blog as others have, as is their God-given right, I happen to enjoy seeing how original different people can be as they riff on the same ideas, If you've created your own Slash pages, feel free to drop a link in the comments so others can check them out.

    My Slash Page Home

    Check out the links to the individual pages of you want to see the whole thing. These are a few highlights

    /Interests

    /Nope

    • No, Mr. Paywall, I do not have to pay to read. I haz skillz.
    • Pay TV with commercials is an oxymoron
    • I donโ€™t want to upsize, super-size or biggie size. Bruh, have you seen my waist?
    • Person at my door, I donโ€™t want to buy magazines, home security or anything else
    • I want gas, not a carwash for my rusted out 2005 Camry

    /Someday

    • Eat dinner in New Orleans
    • See assault rifles banned again
    • Palestine
    • Go to my Momโ€™s 100th birthday party
    • See a woman elected US president

    /Blogroll

    /Save

    /Feeds

    /Subscriptions

    Blogs
    Joan Westerberg $4.17
    Jason Kotke $2.50
    Hey Dingus $1.00
    Matt Langford $1.00
    Flohgro $1.00
    Keenan $1.00
    Manuel Moreale $1.00
    Numeric Citizen $1.00

    | | $12.67 |

    Enjoyed it? Please upvote ๐Ÿ‘‡

    โˆž

    Strategies for Preserving Digital Memories

    Digital Memories Graphic

    I have copies of blog posts I wrote in the 1990s for my first blog posts on GeoCities. I've lost count of how many computers I've accessed them on. I have copies of digital photos I took using a Sony Mavica camera, which used a 3.5 inch floppy to save the images. All of those songs I downloaded using Napster during its brief moment in the sun, I have all of them too. In fact, I have multiple copies of all of those memories. It's not hard to do and if you don't have a system, you should create one.

    Tips for Saving Documents

    The two best formats for saving text based documents are as plain text/Markdown or as PDFs. Microsoft Word might be ubiquitous, but the format changes and you are never guaranteed to be able to open old Word documents in new versions of the application and across platforms. Luckily, the ability to convert a Word document into a PDF is bulit right into macOS and Windows.

    How I do convert a Microsoft Word document to PDF format? - Ask A Librarian

    Use Plain Text to Future-Proof Your Writing | Writing Pursuits

    Tips for Saving Photos

    I have copies of my photos on an external hard drive and on three different cloud services. It's easy to set up a modern computer or phone to automatically save photos to multiple cloud services. If your photos are valuable to you, and I consider mine to be priceless, make an investment in having multiple copies.

    Set up and use iCloud Photos - Apple Support

    Google Photos: Edit, Organize, Search, and Backup Your Photos

    Transfer Photos and Videos to Amazon Photos - Amazon Customer Service

    Tips for Saving Music

    If you have music your purchased from an artist at a coffee shop or after a bar concert, chances are, it's not going to be on Spotify or Apple Music. If you have bootlegs collected over the years, you want find that on commercial streaming services either. To make sure you keep a copy of those important tunes regardless of what happens to your computer, put a copy of them on an external drive and a cloud drive, like Dropbox, Google Drive or One Drive. If you use Apple Music, you can upload them using a special Apple service and listen to them in the cloud.

    Subscribe to iTunes Match - Apple Support

    Tips for Saving Memories

    If you are a Mac user, I highly recommend the journaling app, Day One. When you pair Day One with the automation service IFTTT, you can use it as a record for your whole life. I save my location history, media consumption, social media entries, blog posts and my own hand written memories in Day One. You can use it to create paper version of your journal and PDF versions.

    Day One Is Popular for a Reason | AppAddict

    Connect Your Mac Apps with IFTTT | AppAddict

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    Apps for Trakt

    Trakt
    Trakt


    The extensible tracking service, Trakt, for keeping up with your TV and movie watching habits has been around a while. You can use Trakt in a browser, but It has an API that allows app developers to incorporate the Trakt database into their products. Recently, Trakt got a significant new feature with the introduction of scrobbling, the automatic addition of shows watched to your personal database from five of the largest streaming services:

    • Netflix
    • Max
    • Hulu
    • Amazon Prime
    • AppleTV+

    It also added scrobbling from several popular media centers and players, like Plex, Kodi and VLC

    The features in the Trakt API and companion apps allow you to track what you're watching, add to lists, discover, find where to watch (via a partnership with Just Watch), see what's up next and get recommendations. Trakt has a free tier and a pro tier. I've had a pro membership for a decade. It provides a lot of value, and I've recommended it to everyone in my family. If you would like a free one-month pro trial, use this link.

    Mac Apps

    My current choice of apps for Trakt integration is Sequel Entertainment Database, an app that also provides lists and tracking for print and audiobooks as well as games. It is in iOS/iPadOS app that runs on Macs with Apple Silicon. There are several other well regarded apps that run natively on the Mac.

    iOS Apps

    I've used various iOS apps with Trakt over the years, and my favorites are:

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    โˆž

    Apps for Trakt

    Trakt
    Trakt


    The extensible tracking service, Trakt, for keeping up with your TV and movie watching habits has been around a while. You can use Trakt in a browser, but It has an API that allows app developers to incorporate the Trakt database into their products. Recently, Trakt got a significant new feature with the introduction of scrobbling, the automatic addition of shows watched to your personal database from five of the largest streaming services:

    • Netflix
    • Max
    • Hulu
    • Amazon Prime
    • AppleTV+

    It also added scrobbling from several popular media centers and players, like Plex, Kodi and VLC

    The features in the Trakt API and companion apps allow you to track what you're watching, add to lists, discover, find where to watch (via a partnership with Just Watch), see what's up next and get recommendations. Trakt has a free tier and a pro tier. I've had a pro membership for a decade. It provides a lot of value, and I've recommended it to everyone in my family. If you would like a free one-month pro trial, use this link.

    Mac Apps

    My current choice of apps for Trakt integration is Sequel Entertainment Database, an app that also provides lists and tracking for print and audiobooks as well as games. It is in iOS/iPadOS app that runs on Macs with Apple Silicon. There are several other well regarded apps that run natively on the Mac.

    iOS Apps

    I've used various iOS apps with Trakt over the years, and my favorites are:

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    Using Obsidian and Drafts Together

    Drafts and Obsidian
    Drafts and Obsidian


    When using a Mac for writing, I'm all in on the notes app Obsidian, a plain text/Markdown editor. With it, I use various plugins to create a personalized workspace that provides me with all the tools I want. I use

    On iOS, however, I prefer to write using Drafts, also a plain text tool, but one designed as a temporary holding spot until the text is moved to its final home. Drafts has an online directory where you can find extensions that add to its capabilities, making it useful with various apps, not just Obsidian. I use it with Things 3, Google, Dropbox, Google Drive, Day One, Gmail and ChatGPT. There are also extensions to format Markdown and for other text manipulation actions.

    My problem with Obsidian on iOS is that although the program now opens much quicker than it used to, it is slower than I'd like to sync, even though I am a paid Obsidian sync user. It's also prone to crashing and restarting if I try to do certain things while it's syncing. Sometimes, if I've started my daily note on my Mac and I if try to open it on my phone before the sync finishes, my existing content gets overwritten or a duplicate file is created. To avoid creating content on the phone with Obsidian. I just use it as reference tool.

    Both Obsidian and Drafts are universal apps. Anything you create on one hardware platform eventually becomes available on all platforms, Mac and iOS. Here are my different use cases for Drafts with Obsidian.

    Send to Obsidian (link)

    This action creates a new note in the inbox of my vault with the contents of the Draft. I only use one vault, but if I used more than one, I could use different versions of this Drafts extension to send notes to different vaults.

    Append to Daily Note (link)

    If I have information in a Draft that I want to add to my daily note, this extension appends the information to the bottom of the note verbatim. It's best not to run the extension until after opening Obsidian for iOS and letting it sync.

    Append to Daily Note With Time and Place (link)

    This action adds a time stamp and the GPS coordinates to the text appended to the bottom of my Daily Note. I use this a lot when traveling.

    Notes Created from Vivaldi with an Apple Shortcut (link)

    The Obsidian web clipper works with Safari but not other browsers. I use a shortcut available through the sharesheet to send web pages as Markdown files to Drafts. Then I can send them on to Obsidian, from my phone if I need to, or I can just wait until I am back at my Mac.

    See More Obsidian Posts

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    Using Obsidian and Drafts Together

    Drafts and Obsidian
    Drafts and Obsidian


    When using a Mac for writing, I'm all in on the notes app Obsidian, a plain text/Markdown editor. With it, I use various plugins to create a personalized workspace that provides me with all the tools I want. I use

    On iOS, however, I prefer to write using Drafts, also a plain text tool, but one designed as a temporary holding spot until the text is moved to its final home. Drafts has an online directory where you can find extensions that add to its capabilities, making it useful with various apps, not just Obsidian. I use it with Things 3, Google, Dropbox, Google Drive, Day One, Gmail and ChatGPT. There are also extensions to format Markdown and for other text manipulation actions.

    My problem with Obsidian on iOS is that although the program now opens much quicker than it used to, it is slower than I'd like to sync, even though I am a paid Obsidian sync user. It's also prone to crashing and restarting if I try to do certain things while it's syncing. Sometimes, if I've started my daily note on my Mac and I if try to open it on my phone before the sync finishes, my existing content gets overwritten or a duplicate file is created. To avoid creating content on the phone with Obsidian. I just use it as reference tool.

    Both Obsidian and Drafts are universal apps. Anything you create on one hardware platform eventually becomes available on all platforms, Mac and iOS. Here are my different use cases for Drafts with Obsidian.

    Send to Obsidian (link)

    This action creates a new note in the inbox of my vault with the contents of the Draft. I only use one vault, but if I used more than one, I could use different versions of this Drafts extension to send notes to different vaults.

    Append to Daily Note (link)

    If I have information in a Draft that I want to add to my daily note, this extension appends the information to the bottom of the note verbatim. It's best not to run the extension until after opening Obsidian for iOS and letting it sync.

    Append to Daily Note With Time and Place (link)

    This action adds a time stamp and the GPS coordinates to the text appended to the bottom of my Daily Note. I use this a lot when traveling.

    Notes Created from Vivaldi with an Apple Shortcut (link)

    The Obsidian web clipper works with Safari but not other browsers. I use a shortcut available through the sharesheet to send web pages as Markdown files to Drafts. Then I can send them on to Obsidian, from my phone if I need to, or I can just wait until I am back at my Mac.

    See More Obsidian Posts

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    SnapMotion - High Quality Image Captures from Video, Made Easy

    SnapMotion Interface
    SnapMotion Interface

    Trying to capture high-quality images from a video can be a frustrating and time-consuming ordeal, requiring the use of multiple apps , the limitations of your screenshot utility, inexact dimensions and extra post-production work. Or you could just use SnapMotion from developer Needed Apps.. SnapMotion can load and play any video format compatible with Apple's QuickTime Player: MPEG-4, HEVC and MPEG-2, MPEG-4, HEVC, H.264, H.263, H.261, Apple Pro Res, DV, Motion JPEG. It can easily handle 4K and 8K videos without bogging down.

    To use the app, you can load a video from one of three sources:

    • A file on your drive
    • A video in your photos library
    • A video from a URL, if the site allows it. The promotional material claims that SnapMotion works with YouTube URLs, but in testing, that turned out not to be accurate. Still, You can use an app like Downie to easily download about any video you can access online.

    You can scrub through the video until you find the scene you want to capture as a still image, Then you can advance in increments as small as one frame at the time until you find the exact image you want. If our prefer, you can use the batch capture feature to generate thousands of images, which you can then evaluate individually.

    SnapMotion captures images in four formats: PNG, JPEG, TIFF and HEIF. You can adjust the DPI up or down from the default of 72. If your source video contains metadata, you can elect to import that along with your images.

    You can download a free trial of SnapMotion on the developer's website.ย  It is also available for purchase on the Mac App Store for $8.99. Purchasing it from the App Store also provides you with access to the iPad and iPhone version. If you have a Setapp subscription, it is included.

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    SnapMotion - High Quality Image Captures from Video, Made Easy

    SnapMotion Interface
    SnapMotion Interface

    Trying to capture high-quality images from a video can be a frustrating and time-consuming ordeal, requiring the use of multiple apps , the limitations of your screenshot utility, inexact dimensions and extra post-production work. Or you could just use SnapMotion from developer Needed Apps.. SnapMotion can load and play any video format compatible with Apple's QuickTime Player: MPEG-4, HEVC and MPEG-2, MPEG-4, HEVC, H.264, H.263, H.261, Apple Pro Res, DV, Motion JPEG. It can easily handle 4K and 8K videos without bogging down.

    To use the app, you can load a video from one of three sources:

    • A file on your drive
    • A video in your photos library
    • A video from a URL, if the site allows it. The promotional material claims that SnapMotion works with YouTube URLs, but in testing, that turned out not to be accurate. Still, You can use an app like Downie to easily download about any video you can access online.

    You can scrub through the video until you find the scene you want to capture as a still image, Then you can advance in increments as small as one frame at the time until you find the exact image you want. If our prefer, you can use the batch capture feature to generate thousands of images, which you can then evaluate individually.

    SnapMotion captures images in four formats: PNG, JPEG, TIFF and HEIF. You can adjust the DPI up or down from the default of 72. If your source video contains metadata, you can elect to import that along with your images.

    You can download a free trial of SnapMotion on the developer's website.ย  It is also available for purchase on the Mac App Store for $8.99. Purchasing it from the App Store also provides you with access to the iPad and iPhone version. If you have a Setapp subscription, it is included.

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    Quick Tips for App Installation Using Hazel

    In this post, I show you how to automate the installation of Mac apps in the two post popular formats ZIP and DMG, so that all you have to do is download a file from a developer's website and with no further action from you, the app will end up in your Applications folder just like if you'd downloaded it from the App Store.

    Typically, when you download a Mac app from a developer's website, it will come in one of three formats

    1. ZIP Archive
    2. DMG Disk Image
    3. PKG - Package Installer (requires manual installation)

    You can automate the installation of ZIP archives and DMG dish images with Hazel and a ninety-nine cent app from the Mac App Store.

    DMGs

    The app that works best for me is RapiDMG. When you make RapiDMG your default app for opening disk images, double-clicking on the file mounts the disk image files, extracts the application contained in it to the Applications folder, deletes the DMG (if that is your preference) and then highlights your new installed app in the finder. To automate it, create the following rule in Hazel for your downloads folder.

    RapiDMG
    RapiDMG

    ZIP Archives

    You don't need any additional software to extract and move applications. Everything is built into Hazel. You'll need to add two rules for your downloads folder. The first will extract the app from the archive. The second rule will move it to the Applications folder.

    Unarchive Zip Files
    Unarchive Zip Files
    Move to Applications
    Move to Applications

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    Quick Tips for App Installation Using Hazel

    In this post, I show you how to automate the installation of Mac apps in the two post popular formats ZIP and DMG, so that all you have to do is download a file from a developer's website and with no further action from you, the app will end up in your Applications folder just like if you'd downloaded it from the App Store.

    Typically, when you download a Mac app from a developer's website, it will come in one of three formats

    1. ZIP Archive
    2. DMG Disk Image
    3. PKG - Package Installer (requires manual installation)

    You can automate the installation of ZIP archives and DMG dish images with Hazel and a ninety-nine cent app from the Mac App Store.

    DMGs

    The app that works best for me is RapiDMG. When you make RapiDMG your default app for opening disk images, double-clicking on the file mounts the disk image files, extracts the application contained in it to the Applications folder, deletes the DMG (if that is your preference) and then highlights your new installed app in the finder. To automate it, create the following rule in Hazel for your downloads folder.

    RapiDMG
    RapiDMG

    ZIP Archives

    You don't need any additional software to extract and move applications. Everything is built into Hazel. You'll need to add two rules for your downloads folder. The first will extract the app from the archive. The second rule will move it to the Applications folder.

    Unarchive Zip Files
    Unarchive Zip Files
    Move to Applications
    Move to Applications

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    Facescreen - Useful Add-on for Screencasting and Presentations

    Facescreen
    Facescreen


    I often have to create screen recordings on my job to distribute to the people I support for tutorials. Occasionally I do screen sharing through Microsoft Teams when conducting training. Facescreen, a utility from developer Ram Patra, provides a useful complement to these use cases. It adds a feed from my webcam with a small configurable view of my face to personalize the video. In addition to the image, Facescreen also lets me add text, such as my email or a website related to the subject of the tutorial or training. It's a nice professional touch.

    Facescreen, like other apps from this developer, lets you customize almost every element of what is displayed.

    Image Adjustments

    • Shape
    • Aspect
    • Orientation
    • Size
    • Zoom
    • Color
    • Mirror option

    Text Adjustments

    • Font
    • Size
    • Color
    • Background color
    • Radius
    • Padding

    You have the option to run Facescreen as a login item and to customize keyboard shortcuts to show and hide the webcam image, toggle the text and adjust the size of the image.

    More information on Facescreen is available at its website. Facescreen costs $4.99. It's a one-time purchase which includes all updates. It will soon be available on Setapp. Although there is not a free trial, the developer has a no questions asked money-back guarantee. For more presentation help from the developer, check out Presentify.

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    Facescreen - Useful Add-on for Screencasting and Presentations

    Facescreen
    Facescreen


    I often have to create screen recordings on my job to distribute to the people I support for tutorials. Occasionally I do screen sharing through Microsoft Teams when conducting training. Facescreen, a utility from developer Ram Patra, provides a useful complement to these use cases. It adds a feed from my webcam with a small configurable view of my face to personalize the video. In addition to the image, Facescreen also lets me add text, such as my email or a website related to the subject of the tutorial or training. It's a nice professional touch.

    Facescreen, like other apps from this developer, lets you customize almost every element of what is displayed.

    Image Adjustments

    • Shape
    • Aspect
    • Orientation
    • Size
    • Zoom
    • Color
    • Mirror option

    Text Adjustments

    • Font
    • Size
    • Color
    • Background color
    • Radius
    • Padding

    You have the option to run Facescreen as a login item and to customize keyboard shortcuts to show and hide the webcam image, toggle the text and adjust the size of the image.

    More information on Facescreen is available at its website. Facescreen costs $4.99. It's a one-time purchase which includes all updates. It will soon be available on Setapp. Although there is not a free trial, the developer has a no questions asked money-back guarantee. For more presentation help from the developer, check out Presentify.

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    Disk Drill Revisited - Recovering 87K Files from a Drive That Finder Could Not Read

    Disk Drill
    Disk Drill

    I first wrote about Disk Drill several months ago. The review is below. I recently had a chance to put the paid version of the data recovery tools to work in a real-world situation. I was presented with a 2TB NTFS formatted drive that would mount on my Mac, but displayed the message "Drive not available" and showed no files structure in the Finder. The drive belonged to a relative who lost access to her cloud account when switching jobs and ended up with only one copy of her files from a 20-year career - on a bad drive.

    Disk Drill scanned the drive, and it was able to see files on it. It wanted me to make a byte for byte copy, but I didn't have another 2TB drive on hand. I had two 1TB hard drives and a dual drive bay, though. I used the Mac disk utility to combine the two physical drives into one logical drive and tried to initiate the copy again, but still got a message that the drive was too small. Since I knew that there was less than 100 GB of actual data on the drive, I was able to adjust the size of the number of bytes to be copied and the backup started. Although data seemed to be moving quickly, the progress indicator said the backup would take 28 hours. Ain't nobody got time for that.

    Rather than doing a byte for byte copy, which also includes unused space, I elected to Disk Drill's recovery option instead. I initiated it and began to copy files, sometimes quickly and at other times seeming to stop. I got messages about the disk having physical damage, but the program never quit. After about 90 minutes, I had 86K files recovered.

    I did not have to pay the full retail price to use the recovery tools because the app is available as part of Setapp, a $10 a month subscription that gives you unlimited access to hundreds of software titles.

    Original Reviewย 

    Disk Drill 5 by Cleverfiles is marketed as data recovery software to retrieve lost files from internal and external drive media as well as iPhone, iPad and Android storage. Its website goes into considerable detail on its ease of use, its power and its ability to recover files. The free product allows you to preview what data is recoverable, but it takes the $89 paid product to actually recover your data using its full suite of tools. There are some free recovery options too, but they require you to implement some (included) tools before use.ย  ย 

    Free Tools


    Even if you aren't in need of data recovery, however, Disk Drill is a worthy download because of the bundle of free tools it includes:

    Disk Health
    Free S.M.A.R.T. Disk Monitoring Stays Alert for Any Potential Disk Issues. It works on both internal and external drives.

    Mac Cleanup
    Analyze Disk Space, Locate Unused Files and Space Hogs, Free Up Your Storage Effortlessly.

    Duplicate Finder
    Easily Find and Remove Duplicate File Locations on Your Drive.

    Recovery Drive
    Create Your own Bootable USB Drive for Free Mac OS X Data Recovery.

    Data Protection
    Protect Your Data with Recovery Vault or Guaranteed Recovery. Recover it for Free.

    Data Backup
    Create Byte-to-byte Disk & Partition Backups for Future Mac OS X Recovery. In my testing of this feature on the internal hard drive of an M3 iMac, Disk Drill said "This drive is encrypted with the Apple M1/2 Security Chip. You can still back it up into a byte-to-byte disk image, but it probably won't be recoverable." This leads me to believe that a product like Carbon Copy Cloner or SuperDuper! is better suited for the task. Disk Drill did fine, however, making a copy of a 500GB external disk.

    You can download all of these tools for free from Cleverfiles.

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    Disk Drill Revisited - Recovering 87K Files from a Drive That Finder Could Not Read

    Disk Drill
    Disk Drill

    I first wrote about Disk Drill several months ago. The review is below. I recently had a chance to put the paid version of the data recovery tools to work in a real-world situation. I was presented with a 2TB NTFS formatted drive that would mount on my Mac, but displayed the message "Drive not available" and showed no files structure in the Finder. The drive belonged to a relative who lost access to her cloud account when switching jobs and ended up with only one copy of her files from a 20-year career - on a bad drive.

    Disk Drill scanned the drive, and it was able to see files on it. It wanted me to make a byte for byte copy, but I didn't have another 2TB drive on hand. I had two 1TB hard drives and a dual drive bay, though. I used the Mac disk utility to combine the two physical drives into one logical drive and tried to initiate the copy again, but still got a message that the drive was too small. Since I knew that there was less than 100 GB of actual data on the drive, I was able to adjust the size of the number of bytes to be copied and the backup started. Although data seemed to be moving quickly, the progress indicator said the backup would take 28 hours. Ain't nobody got time for that.

    Rather than doing a byte for byte copy, which also includes unused space, I elected to Disk Drill's recovery option instead. I initiated it and began to copy files, sometimes quickly and at other times seeming to stop. I got messages about the disk having physical damage, but the program never quit. After about 90 minutes, I had 86K files recovered.

    I did not have to pay the full retail price to use the recovery tools because the app is available as part of Setapp, a $10 a month subscription that gives you unlimited access to hundreds of software titles.

    Original Reviewย 

    Disk Drill 5 by Cleverfiles is marketed as data recovery software to retrieve lost files from internal and external drive media as well as iPhone, iPad and Android storage. Its website goes into considerable detail on its ease of use, its power and its ability to recover files. The free product allows you to preview what data is recoverable, but it takes the $89 paid product to actually recover your data using its full suite of tools. There are some free recovery options too, but they require you to implement some (included) tools before use.ย  ย 

    Free Tools


    Even if you aren't in need of data recovery, however, Disk Drill is a worthy download because of the bundle of free tools it includes:

    Disk Health
    Free S.M.A.R.T. Disk Monitoring Stays Alert for Any Potential Disk Issues. It works on both internal and external drives.

    Mac Cleanup
    Analyze Disk Space, Locate Unused Files and Space Hogs, Free Up Your Storage Effortlessly.

    Duplicate Finder
    Easily Find and Remove Duplicate File Locations on Your Drive.

    Recovery Drive
    Create Your own Bootable USB Drive for Free Mac OS X Data Recovery.

    Data Protection
    Protect Your Data with Recovery Vault or Guaranteed Recovery. Recover it for Free.

    Data Backup
    Create Byte-to-byte Disk & Partition Backups for Future Mac OS X Recovery. In my testing of this feature on the internal hard drive of an M3 iMac, Disk Drill said "This drive is encrypted with the Apple M1/2 Security Chip. You can still back it up into a byte-to-byte disk image, but it probably won't be recoverable." This leads me to believe that a product like Carbon Copy Cloner or SuperDuper! is better suited for the task. Disk Drill did fine, however, making a copy of a 500GB external disk.

    You can download all of these tools for free from Cleverfiles.

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