Apps
- macOS (I am a moderator here)
- Obsidian
- r/MacApps (My favorite)
- Tales From Tech Support
- Trump Criticizes Trump: 35,000+ Tweets, No Self Awareness
- Late Stage Capitalism
- r/PoliticalHumor 2024: The Sequel Nobody Asked For
- MarchAgainstNazis
- What Is This Thing?
- ThatsInsane
- What's Wrong With Your Dog? | I mean, really...
- Tip of My Tongue: When you can't remember that…thing…
- Charge percent and time in menu bar
- Detailed battery information
- Configurable low and full battery alert
- Configurable Themes
- File name
- Date modified
- Date created
- Kind
- Size
- Path (the location of the file)
- Comments
- Tags
- Version
- Pages
- Authors/Artist
- Title
- Album
- Track NO
- Genre
- Year
- Duration
- Audio BitRate
- Audio Encoding Application
- Audio Sample Rate
- Audio Channels
- Dimensions
- Pixel Width
- Pixel Height
- Total Pixels
- Height DPI
- Width DPI
- Color Space
- Color Profile
- Alpha Channel:
- Creator
- Video Bit Rate
- Total Bit Rate
- Codecs
- md5
- sha256
- Camera Make
- Description
- Camera Model Name
- Owner Name
- Serial Number
- Copyright
- Software
- Date Taken
- Lens Make
- Lens Model
- Lens Serial Number
- ISO
- FNumber
- Focal Length
- Flash
- Orientation
- Latitude
- Longitude
- Maps URL
- Camera Make
- Description
- Camera Model Name
- Owner Name
- Serial Number
- Copyright
- Software
- Date Taken
- Lens Make
- Lens Model
- Lens Serial Number
- ISO
- Fstop
- Focal Length
- Flash
- Orientation
- Latitude
- Longitude
- Maps URL
- Obsidian - an extensible note-taking app that is also well suited for writers. I've composed more than 500K words in it during the past year.
- Clean Shot X - the best screenshot utility
- Raycast - an app launcher that handles much more
- Keyboard Maestro - the ultimate Mac automation tool
- Vivaldi Browser- my choice for web browsing for reasons
- PopClip - a text selection utility
- TextExpander - a snippets app
- Drafts - a text automation app
- Day One - the preeminent journaling app for macOS
- Default Folder X - an enhancement for open and save dialog boxes
- Hazel - a Mac automation tool for file management
- DropZone 4- a file shelf utility
- Toyviewer - a Preview replacement for images with editing capabilities
- Qspace | AppAddict - a substitute for Finder
- Scratchpad - a menu bar utility for floating notes
- BarTender - I didn't buy into the hysteria, I just set up some Little Snitch rules
- Better Touch Tool - multi-purpose automation app
- Find Any File - a search utility
- Things 3- a task manager
- Kiwi for Gmail - Not a well-known email app, but one I've used off and on for years
Enjoyed it? Please upvote 👇 - Correcting date and time data if it was incorrect on the camera
- Adding GPS data for later personal reference
- Removing GPS data for images shared with third parties or on the Internet
- Adding keywords for cataloging purposes
- Jason Kottke - one of the Internet's OG bloggers who posts regularly and who alwways seems to be finding the best stuff. - RSS Feed
- I've been reading NextDraft for well over a decade. Dave Pell says "I pluck the most fascinating news items of the day and then create a modern-day column which I deliver with a fast, pithy wit that will make your computer device vibrate with delight." -RSS Feed
- Feedle is a search engine for the IndieWeb where any search you fo can be turned into an RSS feed. Try it for any subject that interests you. In the meantime, subscribe to their curated feed of some of the best blog posts they've found -RSS Feed
- BearBlog is the home of two of my own online endeavors. It's also the home of many fine bloggers. Reading the most popular posts on the platform each day is a good use of your time and a good way to discover new writers - RSS Feed
- Murmel is a service that tracks the most shared stories on social media. The main feed covers a giant cross-section of the Fediverse, but you can subscribe to a personalized feed to see what the people you follow are sharing. - RSS Feed
- The last feed on the list is in way over its head. If you have a hard time sorting out where all the stuff I write about is being posted, you can subscribe to a single RSS feed and get it all out of one fire hose, including my weekly bookmarks and my updated /now page in addition to AppAddict, Living Out Loud and Linkage. - RSS Feed
Enjoyed it? Please upvote 👇 - Strict default settings protecting against trackers, ads and scripts
- uBlock Origin included by default
- Fingerprinting resistance, including protection against canvas, font, and WebGL fingerprinting.
- Encrypted SNI:preventing your Internet Service Provider (ISP) from seeing which websites you visit.
- No telemetry or data collection
- Privacy-focused search engine, DuckDuckGo enabled by default, although you can change it to Kagi or the engine of your choice:
- Cookie AutoDelete to automatically purge tracking cookies after each browsing session
- HTTPS-Only Mode on by default
- Blocks known malware sites through disconnect.me's list of over 5000 tracking and malicious domains
- WebRTC disabled by default to prevent IP address leakage
- Strict default settings for website permissions for your location, camera, and microphone
- Open Source
- Ethical community members
- Removes sponsored content, distracting elements on the home page, and search suggestions
- Wide range of customization options
- Browsers like Edge and Vivaldi
- Communication
- Productivity - Raycast, Obsidian,Better Touch Tool, Hazel, Cleanshot X, Unclutter
- Office Tools
- Menu Bar - Stats, BarTender
- Utilities - ImageOptim, Downie, Upscayl, Permute
- Maintenance - AppCleaner. PearCleaner, Onyx, Daisy Disk
- Creative Tools
- Media - IINA
- Developer Tools
- IDE Tools
- Terminals
- Virtualization
- Gaming
- VPN
- Password Managers
- Discouraged people from donating
- Tried to buy it
- Promised to dox and harass editors who have different views than the targeting organization
- AI subject selection
- Live text tool
- Data-driven graphics
- On canvas ruler
- JPEG-XL support
- Look up tables (LUTs)
- Super resolution (upscaling)
- Extensive export support
- Apple shortcut support
- Design logos and custom typography by adding text to paths or shapes.
- Remove backgrounds using Magic Wand and Instant Alpha Eraser.
- Combine images to create collages and layouts.
- Retouch images with Clone, Dodge, and Burn.
- Adjust contrast, highlights, and shadows with Levels and Curves.
- Export professionally with customizable color profiles, file formats, and precise size control.
- Layer capabilities
- Filters, effects and styles
- Basic and custom brushes (including Adobe imports)
- Magic Wand shapes
- Vector support
- Supports multiple file types
- RSS feeds
- YouTube channels
- Podcasts
- Mastodon
- Bluesky
- Micro.blog
- Tumblr
- Personal bloggers
- Hard news
- Tech news
- Combined Mastodon and Bluesky home feeds
- Favorite individual social media feeds, since you can add a feed for a single account holder (e.g. Kottke, AOC, Joan Westenberg)
- RSS feeds
- YouTube channels
- Podcasts
- Mastodon
- Bluesky
- Micro.blog
- Tumblr
- Personal bloggers
- Hard news
- Tech news
- Combined Mastodon and Bluesky home feeds
- Favorite individual social media feeds, since you can add a feed for a single account holder (e.g. Kottke, AOC, Joan Westenberg)
Using Reddit the Right Way - a Lesson Learned
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.
[Enjoyed it? Please upvote 👇](#upvote-form)
Free Downloads from AppAddict
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
Battery Monitor: Health, Info
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
You can get Battery Health Monitor from the App Store.
FlexiBackup Solves Real World Problems
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.
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
File List Export for Mac
One of the apps I recently picked up from the new Bundlehunt sale is File List Export by developer Georgios Trigonakis. This simple but surprisingly powerful utility is available for just a dollar right now. The normal price in the App Store is $7.99. You can get a trial version at the developer's website.
I tested the app by having it create a spreadsheet of my Obsidian vault containing 9722 files and 1843 folders. You can choose an output file in either csv or xlsx format. By default the app does not calculate folder sizes to speed up the analysis, but you can toggle it on if you want the information. On my M2 MacBook Air, the process was still relatively fast.
The most useful feature of the app is its ability to export metadata from files, particularly helpful for photos, video and music. Because the data ends up in a spreadsheet, you can manipulate and sort it in all kids of ways. If you have album artwork associated with your music files, it even gets exported into your spreadsheet. You also get the path of every file in your analysis, which can be helpful if you need to operate in the terminal.
For Every File, You Can Get This Info:
Exif Metadata for Your Photos
I Picked My Top 20 Apps
I'm not really bothered by having more than 500 apps installed on my Mac. According to Lingon X, I have 102 apps either as login items or running in the background as helper apps. I write app reviews on my other blog, AppAddict every day, always something I have downloaded, installed and used on my personal Mac. I love my Setapp subscription because it gives me an ever-growing library of high-quality apps to try out for the same monthly price. But if all this goodness evaporated suddenly and i was forced to run vanilla macOS plus twenty apps to get my work done, which out of all the ones that own would I choose? Answering this requires some tough choices. Many of these apps I have been using for more than a decade, although a few have been adopted in the past year.
Since I am retired, I no longer need any networking, development or analysis apps. I use my Mac primarily for research and for writing. The graphics work I do is simple and straightforward. Even though I have Pixelmator and Acorn, I end up using simpler tools most of the time.
My Raycast Extensions
A Mastodon friend asked me to list the Raycast extensions I have
installed. Raycast is a replacement for Spotlight that has considerable
superpowers in its vast extension library. I use Raycast as my clipboard
manager, emoji picker, window manager and I do quite a lot of image
modification with it. As you can see, there are many more features
available.
90% of the feature set is free. The $10 a month pro subscriptions buys the ability to sync your settings between computers, interact with AI advanced features and some more options with Raycast notes. You also get regular backups of your settings.
You can see a categorized list of extensions here.
89 installed extensions
Basic Bookmarks https://raycast.com/rauno/bmrks
2FA Code Finder https://raycast.com/yuercl/imessage-2fa
Alt-Text Generator https://raycast.com/jack\_casica/alt-text-generator
Amphetamine https://raycast.com/gstvds/amphetamine
Apple Reminders https://raycast.com/raycast/apple-reminders
Auto Quit App https://raycast.com/koinzhang/auto-quit-app
Battery Health https://raycast.com/o1y/battery-health
BetterTouchTool https://raycast.com/dnnsmnstrr/bettertouchtool
Bing Search https://raycast.com/maver1ck/bing-search
Bing Wallpaper https://raycast.com/koinzhang/bing-wallpaper
Bitly URL Shortener https://raycast.com/blessanm86/bitly-url-shortener
Bluesky https://raycast.com/dharamkapila/bluesky
Brew https://raycast.com/nhojb/brew
Browser Bookmarks https://raycast.com/raycast/browser-bookmarks
Browser History https://raycast.com/crisboarna/browser-history
Browser Tabs https://raycast.com/koinzhang/browser-tabs
Change Case https://raycast.com/erics118/change-case
ChatGPT https://raycast.com/abielzulio/chatgpt
CleanShot X https://raycast.com/Aayush9029/cleanshotx
Clipboard Editor https://raycast.com/pomdtr/clipboard-editor
Clipboard Formatter https://raycast.com/joshtemple/clipboard-formatter
Close All Open Apps https://raycast.com/guide/close-apps
Coffee https://raycast.com/mooxl/coffee
Color Picker https://raycast.com/thomas/color-picker
CopyQ Clipboard Manager https://raycast.com/andrewcincotta/copyq-clipboard-manager
Day One https://raycast.com/AntonNiklasson/day-one
Downloads Manager https://raycast.com/thomas/downloads-manager
Drafts https://raycast.com/FlohGro/drafts
Dropover https://raycast.com/jag-k/dropover
DuckDuckGo Search https://raycast.com/tegola/duck-duck-go-search
Easy OCR https://raycast.com/Rafo94/easy-ocr
Emoji Search https://raycast.com/FezVrasta/emoji
Fantastical https://raycast.com/devahschaefers/fantastical
Flush DNS https://raycast.com/rasmusbe/flush-dns
Folder Search https://raycast.com/GastroGeek/folder-search
Font Awesome https://raycast.com/dutzi/font-awesome
GIF Search https://raycast.com/josephschmitt/gif-search
Google Drive https://raycast.com/vishaltelangre/google-drive
Google Gemini https://raycast.com/EvanZhouDev/raycast-gemini
Google Maps Search https://raycast.com/ratoru/google-maps-search
Google Search https://raycast.com/mblode/google-search
Google Workspace https://raycast.com/raycast/google-workspace
Hide All Apps https://raycast.com/peduarte/hide-all-apps
Iconify — Search Icons https://raycast.com/destiner/iconify
Image Modification https://raycast.com/HelloImSteven/sips
IMDb Search https://raycast.com/ryan/imdb
Installed Extensions https://raycast.com/pernielsentikaer/installed-extensions
Keyboard Maestro - List Macros https://raycast.com/eluce2/list-keyboard-maestro-macros
Kill Process https://raycast.com/rolandleth/kill-process
Link Cleaner https://raycast.com/MisakiCoca/link-cleaner
Lorem Ipsum https://raycast.com/AntonNiklasson/lorem-ipsum
MacUpdater https://raycast.com/kall/macupdater
Markdown Reference https://raycast.com/codedbyjordan/markdown-reference
Mastodon https://raycast.com/SevicheCC/mastodon
Mastodon Search https://raycast.com/daveverwer/mastodon-search
Meme Generator https://raycast.com/timoransky/meme-generator
Messages https://raycast.com/thomaslombart/messages
Microsoft Edge https://raycast.com/KartikKumarSahoo/microsoft-edge
Music https://raycast.com/fedevitaledev/music
My Daily Log https://raycast.com/frugoman/my-daily-log
MyIP https://raycast.com/Kang/myip
Obsidian https://raycast.com/KevinBatdorf/obsidian
Obsidian Smart Capture https://raycast.com/millin\_gabani/obsidian-smart-capture
omg.lol https://raycast.com/danpalmer/omg-lol
Open Folders https://raycast.com/timothy\_boye/open-folders
Open Link in Specific Browser https://raycast.com/koinzhang/open-link-in-specific-browser
Open With App https://raycast.com/fturcheti/open-with-app
Paste as Plain Text https://raycast.com/koinzhang/paste-as-plain-text
Quit Applications https://raycast.com/mackopes/quit-applications
Raindrop.io https://raycast.com/lardissone/raindrop-io
Random Password Generator https://raycast.com/textnav/random-password-generator
Reddit Search https://raycast.com/ewlcheng/reddit-search
Remove Paywall https://raycast.com/tegola/remove-paywall
Screenshot https://raycast.com/Aayush9029/screenshot
Script Commands Store – Find and manage your Raycast Script Commands https://raycast.com/tholanda/script-commands
Search HoudahSpot https://raycast.com/felixthehat/houdahspot-search
Speedtest https://raycast.com/tonka3000/speedtest
System Monitor https://raycast.com/hossammourad/raycast-system-monitor
Things https://raycast.com/loris/things
ToolBox https://raycast.com/Kang/toolbox
Type Snob https://raycast.com/sawyerh/type-snob
Unsplash https://raycast.com/eggsy/unsplash
Vivaldi https://raycast.com/crisboarna/vivaldi
Weather https://raycast.com/tonka3000/weather
Wi-Fi https://raycast.com/koinzhang/wi-fi
Wikipedia https://raycast.com/vimtor/wikipedia
Xecutor https://raycast.com/GastroGeek/xecutor
YouTube https://raycast.com/tonka3000/youtube
YouTube Companion https://raycast.com/sasivarnan/youtube-companion
YouTube Downloader https://raycast.com/vimtor/youtube-downloader
Use Calibre to Back Up Your Kindle Books Before February 26
Amazon just announced that you have until February 26, 2025, to download your Kindle content. After that date, you will no longer be able to access the books you've paid for if you have a legacy device or a Kindle that has experienced wireless issues. The only way to load what you've paid for onto a device will be through wireless sync.
Thankfully, using the free ebook manager, Calibre, you can convert your Kindle content into formats readable on other ebook readers or into PDFs. You will be protected if Amazon ever removes books you've paid for. You do not need to download the Kindle app on your Mac to accomplish this.
Log in to your Amazon account. In the account section, select Content Library>Books. You'll have to download each title you want to back up as a separate files in azw3 format.
Download Calibre directly from the developer. To gain the ability to convert the books into other formats using Calibre, you will need to download a plugin from GitHub.. Make sure to install and set up the plugin before importing your books into Calibre. You will need the serial number from your Kindle to do this. You can get this information from the Amazon website or from the device itself.
For detailed instructions, see this article.
Metadata Lab - Exif Editor
Modern DSLR cameras and cell phones add extensive data to every photo they take. The information recorded includes camera settings like ISO speed, shutter speed, focal length, and other details. Including GPS location. After a photo is taken, and you've downloaded it to your computer, it's possible to add other information to its metadata, including a description, keywords and licensing/copyright information. Some of this information is more important to professional photographers than it is to regular people, but there are reasons why anyone might want to edit the details of a photo.
Some higher end photo management applications have metadata editing capabilities, but if you are piecing together your own workflow, the free app, Metadata Lab is a quick and easy way to add, remove or change information on any photo you have. The app is compatible with RAW, JPEG, PNG, TIFF, and many other formats (including video/audio files). You can import photos from the Mac Photo's App into the Metadata Lab. Not only can you edit the EXIF data, you can also edit IPTC, PDF, PNG and QuickTime metadata.
Use Cases
More information is available on the developer's website. You can download Metadata Lab on the App Store.
5 Great RSS Feeds for Good Reading Every Day
This is a special edition containing links to five of the best sources on the Internet to keep abreast of the latest trending topics and discover new writers. And then there is a bonus feed.
1 follow my favorite IndieWeb bloggers via RSS to stay abreast of what they are up to, for inspiration and education. I also have an RSS feed that's mostly for curated reposts of the best of the web each day. If you'd like to build a list like that, here are some great feeds to get started with. Keep these in a separate app or however you want to segregate them, but don't mix them up with all your other subscriptions or they will just get lost.
Librewolf for Security and Privacy
If you become more concerned with privacy and surveillance
regarding your online activities, moving to a more secure browser is a
definite step in the right direction, along with using a reputable VPN,
a privacy focused DNS setup and good ad and tracker blocking extensions.
The ultimate in privacy for most users is probably using the TOR browser
and network. That comes with a significant performance hit. If you are
looking for more privacy without the usability issues of TOR, Librewolf
is most likely your best option for a daily driver.
LibreWolf is a privacy-focused fork of Firefox. Its primary benefits include:
Tracking Protection
Privacy
Security
Open Source
The most important element in your security setup is you. No amount of consumer technology can protect you as much as limiting what you share online. Making use of encryption technology to share highly sensitive data can be a necessary step if you are engaged in conduct that hostile actors could intercept.
The recommended way to install Librewolf is using Homebrew. You can download a DMG, but you will lose access to automatic updates.
brew install --cask librewolf
Applite Updated with New Features
Installing software using the package manager, Homebrew, makes it
much easier to update than downloading installation files manually. It
isn't necessarily difficult to find the commands to download apps, but
it does require a certain amount of searching around. The free and
open-source utility, Applite, provides an App Store like interface for
Homebrew, allowing you to browse what is available through a GUI.
Anything you download through Applite can also be updated through the
same interface.
When you install Applite, it will offer to install Homebrew . If you don't have it installed already, you'll want to do that. Otherwise, just choose the option to use your currently installed version, which will be detected.
Every application in the Homebrew Catalog is available through Applite. When you launch an app downloaded with Applite, the built-in Mac security apps, Gatekeeper and Xprotect will examine it to make sure it is safe to run. Most of the apps in the Homebrew catalog are notarized, but not all of them are sandboxed, meaning that some may run with elevated privileges. Be careful when downloading applications that few others have downloaded. Not all apps available through Homebrew are FOSS. Some are trialware of commercial products.
The following categories of apps are available along with info on some of the apps I have tested:
Use KIWIX to Access Wikipedia and Other Resources Offline
You should use this free and open-source tool to secure a personal
copy of Wikipedia and other resource information valuable to you. KIWIX believes that access to knowledge
is a fundamental right. That’s why they’re dedicated to providing free
and open access to it for everyone, everywhere.
KIWIX enables you to have the whole of Wikipedia (and many other websites like TED talks, Stack Exchange, Gutenberg Project library, WikiHow, Khan Academy, freeCodeCamp, YouTube channels) Data downloaded on a Mac can be transferred to mobile devices.
The source code for the Mac and iOS versions is on GitHub.
You may have seen the recent stories about attacks on Wikipedia. Certain parties have:
Some of these same parties have been responsible for the removal of publicly funded databases from government websites. If you are concerned about censorship or data altered to fit a certain narrative, download KIWIX to avoid issues. It is still currently available on Mac App Store..
The most reliable way to get the Wikipedia data is to use a Mac to download the small peer-to-peer seed file for the large non-indexed ZIM file you want (not the pre-indexed package for Windows) from http://www.kiwix.org/wiki/Content\_in\_all\_languages, then use a peer-to-peer client (such as Folx) to download the actual ZIM data file to your computer. You can then transfer the ZIM file to your iOS device using iTunes/Apple Music File Sharing.
Geofency - Location Based Time Tracking
I have used various location tracking apps over the years. Most of the ones I've tried have had issues. Either the company behind them folded or the apps had poor privacy policies or were strictly for iOS and drained my battery faster than I liked. These apps are often subscription-based. Google will gladly track your location for free using your device if you let them, but what sane person wants Google of all companies knowing their every move?
The one app that consistently delivers added features, accuracy, and unsurpassed privacy is Geofency by developer Karl Heinz Herbel. It is a universal app for iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch and Mac. I use my iPhone as the default for tracking my location and use the Mac version to pull reports and see my data. Geofency is currently at version 9 and has been in the app store for 12 years. Geofency does not do route tracking, so look elsewhere if that's what you need. Instead, it tracks the amount of time you spend at the locations you visit. I used it for years when I worked in a rural county, traveling between schools. When I needed to complete my expense report, I could pull all my data from Geofency as well as for my time card. If, for some reason, it fails to accurately record a visit (rarely) you can manually edit the data.
It is accurate enough that today I use it to determine which buildings on the campus of the university where I work I have visited during the current reporting period. I am able to add notes to any visit to a particular building for later reference. For visits to commercial locations, Geofency connects to Apple Maps to pull phone, address and website data. I can automatically export visits to any location to any calendar. The app will even generate a CSV time sheet for any time period I specify for any location. I can customize the locations by renaming them or resizing the spatial radius Geofency recognizes, helpful for separate locations near one another.
None of your Geofency data is collected by the developer. It all lives in your iCloud account only.
The iOS app features live activities and widgets. I would gladly pay a higher price for this app I have now used for over a decade, but it is still only $4.99 as a one-time purchase in. the App Store.
Acorn Image Editor Provides Great Value
Through the years, I've used multiple versions of Adobe Photoshop,
Pixelmator add even GIMP for layered image editing and graphic design.
The most user-friendly yet powerful app I've ever used in that category
is Acorn, by the developers at Flying Meat, Inc. For less than $20 you
get a Photoshop compatible application, either from the developer's website
or the App
Store.The feature set is long and varied, but the interface isn't
overly complicated, and you don't need to buy an 800-page book to
explain the ins and outs of using it. A two-time Apple award winner,
it's a one-time purchase of $19.99, and you get access to extensive
online documentation, a user forum and tech support. The current version
is a universal binary compatible with macOS 14 and 15, but earlier
versions can still be downloaded.
New Features in Latest Version
Basic Use Cases
Extended Feature Set
If you only need basic features, like image conversion, compression and resizing, there are programs with smaller feature sets to accomplish those tasks. If. However, you want something full-featured with batch processing capabilities (using Automator support), Acorn is a good tool to have.
Limited Purpose Tools
Vivaldi, My Favorite Browser Just Got Some Updates
I switched to using Vivaldi late last year after being all in on Microsoft Edge because of work. I am trying to leave as many big tech companies behind as possible, and I grew tired of having AI shoved in my face all day. Vivaldi is a Chromium-based browser designed for the technically proficient, who form the core of its 3.1 million user base.
Through the years I've used Netscape, Internet Explorer, Camino, Safari, Chrome and Edge. None of them ever provided the customization options that Vivaldi does. The ability to group tabs and save them as browsing sessions is a real game changer. The iOS version is great too and getting to my bookmarks, tabs and history works well between platforms. Version 7.1 was released recently and these are some of the new features.
Bring Your Tabs Along
If the thought of abandoning the open tabs in your current browser gives you anxiety, Vivaldi now has you covered. It can import them all so you can get right back to doing what you were doing without having to set things up again.
Speed Dials
Vivaldi has a mechanism for setting up link collections called Speed Dials. You can reach your Speed Dials right from the new tab page. I have several, including one with the websites I use for posting to my blog and another for research. The process for adding sites to them has been redesigned and is no easier than ever to manage.
Seamless Tab Sharing
If, like me, you use your browser on multiple devices, four in my case, the ability to send tabs to my phone, iPad or work computer is easier than ever. I can continue to read or research anything without using third-party software or cumbersome workarounds.
New Default Search Engines
Vivaldi doesn’t track you, profile you, or sell your data. It's monetized by defaulting to one of three search engines, although you are free to use anything you want. Vivaldi features Startpage, Ecosia, DuckDuckGo and Qwant. It's built in tracker blocking and the availability of ad blockers routinely give me a score of 99 to 100 on sites that grade privacy.
Weather Widget
There is a new custom weather widget for Vivaldi's new tab page, which it calls a dashboard. The dashboard already has widgets to display your email inbox, top stories from your choice of RSS feeds, your calendar and more.
Dashboard Customization
You can now customize the look of your dashboard with themes ranging from minimalist styles to bold and colorful. The page background is adjustable to fit your style, and you can color your widgets to match the overall them you've chosen for the browser as a whole.
Vivaldi, My Favorite Browser Just Got Some Updates
I switched to using Vivaldi late last year after being all in on Microsoft Edge because of work. I am trying to leave as many big tech companies behind as possible, and I grew tired of having AI shoved in my face all day. Vivaldi is a Chromium-based browser designed for the technically proficient, who form the core of its 3.1 million user base.
Through the years I've used Netscape, Internet Explorer, Camino, Safari, Chrome and Edge. None of them ever provided the customization options that Vivaldi does. The ability to group tabs and save them as browsing sessions is a real game changer. The iOS version is great too and getting to my bookmarks, tabs and history works well between platforms. Version 7.1 was released recently and these are some of the new features.
Bring Your Tabs Along
If the thought of abandoning the open tabs in your current browser gives you anxiety, Vivaldi now has you covered. It can import them all so you can get right back to doing what you were doing without having to set things up again.
Speed Dials
Vivaldi has a mechanism for setting up link collections called Speed Dials. You can reach your Speed Dials right from the new tab page. I have several, including one with the websites I use for posting to my blog and another for research. The process for adding sites to them has been redesigned and is no easier than ever to manage.
Seamless Tab Sharing
If, like me, you use your browser on multiple devices, four in my case, the ability to send tabs to my phone, iPad or work computer is easier than ever. I can continue to read or research anything without using third-party software or cumbersome workarounds.
New Default Search Engines
Vivaldi doesn’t track you, profile you, or sell your data. It's monetized by defaulting to one of three search engines, although you are free to use anything you want. Vivaldi features Startpage, Ecosia, DuckDuckGo and Qwant. It's built in tracker blocking and the availability of ad blockers routinely give me a score of 99 to 100 on sites that grade privacy.
Weather Widget
There is a new custom weather widget for Vivaldi's new tab page, which it calls a dashboard. The dashboard already has widgets to display your email inbox, top stories from your choice of RSS feeds, your calendar and more.
Dashboard Customization
You can now customize the look of your dashboard with themes ranging from minimalist styles to bold and colorful. The page background is adjustable to fit your style, and you can color your widgets to match the overall them you've chosen for the browser as a whole.
Tapestry by Iconfactory on Day 2
Announced a year ago on Kickstarter, Tapestry by Iconfactory was
released on February 4. Tapestry is an aggregator that creates a
combined timeline from a long list of possible sources including :
Items in your timeline are shown in chronological order. There is no algorithm. Searching within Tapestry searches across all feeds. Likewise, setting a mute filter for terms such as "Elon Musk" will block content from every source. Content from different sources is color coded to make readily apparent which resource your information is coming from. If you install Tapestry on a phone and an iPad, your reading position syncs across devices via iCloud. You can combine sources in any way you want to have your own custom feeds. I am still experimenting, but so far I created the following:
The settings allow you to choose an icon, a theme and a font for the timeline. You can use the in app browser or your default browser to view content. I recommend doing that so you can view content using reader mode. Reddit links open in the Reddit app. Mastodon links open in my browser, although I can use the share sheet to open them in my preferred app. Tapestry also has bookmarks.
The privacy policy states that all searches take place on your
device. The developers do not collect any data.
Iconfactory offers monthly subscriptions for $1.99, yearly for $19.99 and a one time purchase for $79.99. A Mac version is in the works, but is not here yet. There is a free version with limited features. Get it on the App Store
Tapestry by Iconfactory on Day 2
Announced a year ago on Kickstarter, Tapestry by Iconfactory was
released on February 4. Tapestry is an aggregator that creates a
combined timeline from a long list of possible sources including :
Items in your timeline are shown in chronological order. There is no algorithm. Searching within Tapestry searches across all feeds. Likewise, setting a mute filter for terms such as "Elon Musk" will block content from every source. Content from different sources is color coded to make readily apparent which resource your information is coming from. If you install Tapestry on a phone and an iPad, your reading position syncs across devices via iCloud. You can combine sources in any way you want to have your own custom feeds. I am still experimenting, but so far I created the following:
The settings allow you to choose an icon, a theme and a font for the timeline. You can use the in app browser or your default browser to view content. I recommend doing that so you can view content using reader mode. Reddit links open in the Reddit app. Mastodon links open in my browser, although I can use the share sheet to open them in my preferred app. Tapestry also has bookmarks.
The privacy policy states that all searches take place on your
device. The developers do not collect any data.
Iconfactory offers monthly subscriptions for $1.99, yearly for $19.99 and a one time purchase for $79.99. A Mac version is in the works, but is not here yet. There is a free version with limited features. Get it on the App Store