Apps
- Quote
- Author
- Tag
- Notes
- Date Added
- Automatic import of images of well-known authors
- Links to the bios of authors on Wikipedia
- Select the style of quotation marks to use (including none)
- Backup and restore
- Schedule quotes to appear on certain days in a widget
- Use the share sheet to export quotes
- If you have a comprehensive list of blocked words and phrases built on a single platform, you can use that list to moderate all the services used in the app.
- For apps that let you make custom moderation lists like Bluesky and Mastodon, you can choose to toggle those lists on or off.
- Not only are your feeds are consolidated, your notifications are too, divided into comments and mentions, follows, reposts and quotes and reactions.
- Your OpenVibe profile consolidates the number of your followers and followed accounts across all networks.
- You can choose the font you want to use with OpenVibe, plus choose light, dark or system for your theme.
- You can search across all four networks at once or any one of them for profile names of the contents of posts.
- Viewing a list of your followers in Bluesky and Mastodon offers you a chance to follow anyone back with a single click.
- Battery - trigger when on battery power or charging, or at a specific level.
- WiFi - trigger when connected/not connected to a WiFi network. Or when connected to a specific network
- Location - trigger when at a specific location.
- Time/Date - schedule when to trigger
- Icon Appearance - useful for icons like VPNs that change appearance when connected
- Microsoft OneDrive
- Microsoft OneDrive for Business
- Microsoft SharePoint 2013 or later
- Box.com
- Google Drive (including TeamDrive)
- Dropbox (including Dropbox for Business)
- Backblaze B2
- Amazon S3
- pCloud
- Digital Ocean
- FileBase S3
- iDrive Cloud S3
- Wasabi S3
- WEBDAV servers
- FTP/FTPS servers
- SFTP server
- External compatible USB devices
- Better Word Count - This plugin counts not only the total words in your current document, but also the word count in any section you make. Features include: Words, Characters, Sentences, Footnotes, and Pandoc Citations in current file, in your vault or typed today.
- Editing Toolbar - While I don’t find it difficult to write in markdown most of the time, having the toolbar available for more complex edits or edits with a lot of text is handy. is a plugin that provides a toolbar similar to Microsoft Word, and adds a minimal and user-friendly text editor modal for a smoother writing/editing experience .
- Language Tool Integration- Language tool is a commercial product with a free and a paid version. This plugin supports both versions and is a consistently excellent spelling and grammar checker.
- Readability Score - This small plugin analyzes all or part of a document using the Flesch Reading Ease (FRE) formula. Your score appears in the status bar. It considers the length of the words and sentences you write.
- Text Generator - I am not a fan of anyone on the Internet using AI to create content. I don’t see an issue with using generative AI to come up with ideas, craft titles, create summaries of notes or to generate outlines. You can also use this plugin for proofreading, although there isn’t much benefit in employing it over Apple’s writing tools for macOS 18.2 users.
- Drives - Drag a Volume (Hard Disk, Solid State Disk, Compact Disk, Digital Video Disk, Network Server, etc.) onto OrangeCard to get detailed information:
- URL - Drop a HTTP or HTTPS URL and OrangeCard will send a HEAD request:
- Files and Photos - For photographs and other file formats with extensive metadata support, OrangeCard provides detailed information about the camera, dates and times, geographic location and more:
- Applications - App bundle info, all the file system attributes and spotlight metadata are displayed on the card when you drag in an application
- Hyperlink
- Markdown
- JSON
- HTML
- URL
- Clipboard Fusion - The Windows to iPhone Solution
- Text Shot
- Ivory for Mastodon by Tapbots
- Streaks: The Classic Habit Tracker
- MusicBox : Read-It-Later for Music
- Scrap Paper
- Sequel Entertainment Database
- Keka: Free File Compression/DeCompression
- Due, A Hybrid Reminders Alarm Clock App
- AppRaven - Apps Gone Free (and more)
- Listy - A Private List Manager
- Lockdown Privacy Desktop
- Just Press Record
- iA Writer
- Zavala - Free, Open-Source Outliner for Mac, iPhone, iPad
- MusicHarbor - The New Release Finder
- Day One Is Popular for a Reason
- AnyList for Recipes, Shopping and More
- Play: Save Videos, Watch Later
- Cryptomator Free and Open Source Cloud Encryption
- GoodLinks
- NextDNS for Mac
- Things 3, Maybe the Pinnacle in App Design
- Try PDF Gear, It's Good, It's Free
- Apple Password App Is OK I Guess
- Mind Node for Mind Maps
- Yonks - A Well Designed Day Counter
- Elephas Did What Others Wouldn't
- Connect Your Mac Apps with IFTTT
- Fedica - Post to Multiple Social Networks at Once, On a Schedule - For Free
- Kiano - A Unique Image Sorter and Viewer for Apple Photos
- Scratchpad - Floating Notes But Better
- Ente Auth - The Free Authy Replacement for Your Mac and iPhone
- Cronica - A Free, Privacy Focused Media Tracker for Mac and iOS
- Access: Secure Passwords Companion
- Wrote a Python script today that edited 500+ markdown files (my imported Raindrop.io bookmarks) from my Obsidian vault. It moved text in the form of an inline properties field for URLs from the body of the note into the YAML front matter. I knew next to nothing about Python.
- Wrote a Python script tp convert a 300-line CSV file of quotes I exported from a program into 300 markdown files with the quote, the author and the associated tags.
- Took a list of Mastodon user names and converted them to Markdown link back to the user's home instance and profile.
- processor speed
- memory
- graphic cards
- supported OS versions
- price
- storage
- expansion options
- iPhone
- iPad
- Apple Watch and
- Apple Vision Pro
- Newton
- Apple TV
- Apple accessories
- audio displays
- modems
- printers scanners
- storage
- Wi-Fi products
- operating systems
- Catch up reading my favorite newsletters, like Morning Brew,The Installer,10 Blue Links
- Play with the latest Raycast extensions to see if there is anything I can use.
- Check out the latest Obsidian extensions to see what looks useful
- Evaluate what's been added to Setapp to see what I can test and review.
- Clean out my Raindrop.io bookmarks
- Clean up and evaluate my RSS feeds at Inoreader
- Watch a bunch of YouTube videos that I've saved in Play.
- Read through my journal entries for 2024 in Day One
- Go through the photos I took in 2024, probably with Musebox
- Gather up all the "Best of 2024" articles on TV, podcasts, books, movies and TV shows and add them to Goodreads, Overcast, and Sequel.
Enjoyed it? Please upvote ๐ - PDF (continuous or paginated)
- RTF
- RTFD
- DOC
- DOCX
- ODT
- OPML
- HTML
- HTML Presentations
- EPUB2
- EPUB3
- XeLaTex
- Reikey is free software from Objective-See that alerts you to any installed keyloggers on your computer. It's from the same suits of apps as Lulu, Knock-Knock, Task Explorer and Block-Block.
- ReiKey and Task Explorer from Objective-See
- BlockBlock and KnockKnock from Objective-See
- Objective-See: OverSight - lets you know when your microphone or webcam is in use by any app.
Quotemarks - Quote Notebook
I have collected quotes for years. When I'm reading a book, watching a movie or listening to music, if I come across a line I want to remember I write it down. Years ago, the developers at Lickability made an app called Quotebook for iOS that was specifically designed for quote collectors, but it was removed from the App Store in 2016 - although for anyone who still has a copy it is fully functional in iOS 18!
I've looked all over for a suitable replacement, and the closest I've found is Quotemarks from indy developer Christopher Hale. It is a free app with an IAP just to leave a tip. Quotemarks is great because it lets you import your collection from a CSV file. Anyone who already has a collection is saved from having to manually enter their quotes. The fields you can import include:
I wish there was a field for the source, but you can use the notes field for that. Of course, you can add new quotes you find one at the time within the app.
Some nice touches with the program include:
Quotemarks is an iOS app that runs in Macs with M-series chips. If you have an Intel Mac you will have to use it on an iPhone or iPad.
If you are looking for quotes to use with the app or for your own personal collection, I have shared my collection on GitHub as either a ZIP file or in individual Markdown notes readable by any text editor or for use in Obsidian.
I am not the developer. I don't know the developer. if you gave questions or suggestions, you can contact him using the information on his website.
Another good quotes manager is Thoughts - Inspiration Manager.
Mac Automation Roundup
I'm a big fan of automation apps for macOS but I'll admit, even
the best ones can have a steep learning curve. If you've loaded up at
the App Store, you might not even know which app performs a task the
best since some of them have overlapping features. You might also have a
desire to get into Mac automation but the price of some of the apps
makes them an investment rather than a casual purchase. Here is a
roundup of information to help veterans and newcomers alike with
becoming more productive.
Keyboard Maestro
My Top 10
Keyboard Maestro Macros
Hazel
My
Favorite Actions for Hazel, the Preeminent File Management Software for
the Mac
Drafts
8 Use cases for
Drafts
Better Touch Tool
Better
Touch Tool Favorites
More Automation Tools
OpenVibe - Free Social Thread Aggregator
OpenVibe is a social media
aggregator for some of the decentralized networks that use Activity Pub,
Blockchain and the AT protocol. In this case, that means Bluesky,
Mastodon, Threads and Nostr. OpenVibe users can see a consolidated
timeline from all four services and when they post, the post is sent to
each service. You cal alternatively see the timeline from a single
service if you choose.
There are some unique benefits to using OpenVibe.
OpenVibe is an iPadOS app that runs on Mac desktops with Apple Silicon. If you have an Intel Mac, you will have to use it on an iPhone or iPad. You can download it for free from the App Store. There are no ads. The app requires no special macOS permissions and it does not sell user data.
I am not the developer. I don't know the developer, nor was I asked to write this post. If you have questions or suggestions, use the contact information on the App Store.
Bartender - Still Best in Class
For years, Bartender was one of the most highly recommended utility apps in the Mac space. There were many highly complementary recommended reviews in the tech press and from satisfied users. All of that came crashing to a halt in 2024 when the original developer cashed out and sold the app to new owners without anyone immediately disclosing the sale. Because menu mar managers like Bartender require screen recording permissions, security minded users were justifiably alarmed but the tin foil hat brigade lost their minds. All kinds of nefarious plots and schemes were pitched (the commies, spyware, price increases, subscriptions and more). Some people even accused the new owners of counterfeiting messages from the original dev. Telemetry was briefly introduced and then removed, sparking more tin-foil hattery.ย
Outside of the Reddit and perpetually online bubble, Bartender remained popular. On Setapp, the subscription app service with 1 million users, it is the number one most downloaded app. The reason for this is simple. Bartender is great, and it has been through several versions. I've used it non-stop for over a decade. I have over 40 menu bar apps running most of the time and it manages them without a hitch. The program is under active development and even more features are on the way.
What Makes Bartender So Good
Like other menu bar managers, Bartender allows you to select what is visible on your screen during normal operations. With a click on the Bartender menu, you can see a secondary display of icons, called the Bartender bar, which can also be summoned through a variety of user defined actions. You can also specify that certain icons never appear in either the menu bar or the Bartender bar.
Bartender allows you to make a number of aesthetic changes to the appearance of the menu bar, including borders, colors and corners.
You can create multiple presets containing different configuration of icons if you want to show and hide icons depending on your workflow. Any of those presets can contain groups of icons, basically a submenu. I group all of my cloud services into one of these.
Bartender can automatically load a preset using triggers. The current triggers are:
You can choose icon spacing using three categories: normal spacing, small spacing, no spacing.
There is a search feature that lets you bring any of your menu bar icons into view. You can open it from the Bartender menu or from a hotkey.
If you would like to test Bartender, you can get a four week free trial at the app's website.
If you are still not convinced, but you need a menu bar manager, here are some more options"
FileBrowser Pro - For File Intensive Network Connected Workflows
If you do a lot of file based work on iOS or you need to consistently connect to network and cloud servers from an iPhone or iPad, FileBrowser Professional might be the solution for you. With it, you can connect to the following cloud storage services
Additionally you can connect to
FileBrowser Professional provides backup and sync between your device and any file storage option. You can access your Photo Library from within the app. It has a built-in file viewer for Office files, PDFs, images and video allowing you to access the files in place in their network location. You can open and edit files on the network without copying them to your device.
Other features include bookmarks for frequently accessed locations, a history of recently accessed files and batch renaming. You can select groups of files within a folder for different operations.
FileBrowser Professional is $14.99 on the App Store. It works on iPhone and iPad. It is MDM compatible and has custom features for mass deployment.
Obsidian Plugins for Writers
I do almost all of my personal and professional writing in Obsidian. In 2024, I’ve composed almost 500,000 words after clicking on the purple icon in my dock. Ranging from app reviews for Reddit and my blog to instructional documents for JIRA Confluence, I find Obsidian a great tool for composition and formatting. All of this is made easier by employing a few of the free and source plugins from the Obsidian ecosystem.
Zero Duplicates Free Duplicate File Finder
Zero Duplicatesย is a free utility that finds and removes duplicate files based on some smart intelligence features. It finds identical files if the content, file extension and file size are the same regardless of the file name. It has built in safeguards which prevent you from using the program to delete all copies of a file. To use it, you specify the directories you want to scan before initiating a scan. It has a function to auto-select all duplicates in a folder; however, this failed to work for me during testing. Deleted files are removed from disk, not sent to the trash. The program does not scan Apple Photo libraries. You need to use other tools for that task.
Within the app, you can preview files and get size, path and file name information. It works with documents, images, videos, audio/music and more.
You can download Zero Duplicates for free on the Mac App Store. For more information, see the developer's web site.
Presentify - An App for the Future
When I started working in EdTech, instructors were still using transparency based overhead projectors. When interactive white boards arrived, incorporating connected computers for use instead of grease pencils and plastic, it felt like the future, but the high cost of the easily damaged devices coupled with the need for projectors using replaceable bulbs eventually left schools looking for a better alternative, which in most cases is a cheap, large screen television connected via HDMI. Additionally, since 2020, remote meeting software like Zoom, Google Meet and Teams is now used daily in the business world. Presenters who use either of these methodologies need an affordable and dependable tool to assist them with annotation and highlighting. Presentify by Ram Patra fits the bill.
Featured by Apple on three separate occasions, this app with its menu bar interface offers various shapes, colors and gradients, as well as text entry for anything on your display. Even with an app running in full-screen mode, you can toggle Presentify whenever you wish to add an element. If you wish, you can set any element to auto-erase. If you have an iPad connected via Sidecar, Astropad or Duet Display, you can use that as well as Wacom and other drawing tablets. Presentify has a whiteboard mode that you can use independently of other apps. Control of Presentify is achieved through and onscreen palette or keyboard controls.
The other primary feature of Presentify is mouse cursor highlighting, allowing you to change the color, size and opacity of the cursor, which can be used when it is moving or still.
Presentify is a one-time $6.99 purchase in the Mac App Store, with an IAP option to tip the developer. It is also available through Setapp. It's a well reviewed app that was received positively on Hacker News and Product Hunt.
Glympse Location Sharing - Free and Secure
Glympse
Glympse is a helpful iOS app that allows you to temporarily, safely and securely share your location with anyone who can receive text messages, regardless of platform. The message contains a URL to a map with an icon representing the locale of the sender. Although there is a paid option for organizations and commercial enterprises, the basic application is free and sufficient for the typical user.ย
To use Glympse, you use your contacts or enter a phone number, or multiple numbers. There is a space for a short message, e.g., "On the way".ย You choose the length of time to share your location and optionally, your destination.ย
You can save numbers and contacts in the Glympse app if you frequently communicate with the same people. For instance, I have my mom and daughter saved in the app since they both live a few hours away. If contacts both have Glympse installed, they can use the app to request that another user share their location.ย
Glympse also allows the creation of private groups. "Glympse Private Groups is a feature of the Glympse app that creates a private, invite-only Glympse Group. Members of a Group can share their location to and request the location (within the group) of other members. Any member of the group can see the location of everyone that is actively sharing within the group. They are perfect for sharing with family, carpool, teams, or a group of friends. The Group is private and not accessible by others, unless they are signed in to Glympse, and have received an invite from an existing member."
Then there are public groups. "Glympse Public Tags is a feature of the Glympse app that allows you to quickly view and share your location with multiple people on a single, shared Glympse map. Anyone who knows your Glympse Public Tag name can view the tag map and add themselves to the map. When you view a tag map, what you are seeing is a map of people who have chosen to join the Glympse Public Tag map."
I've used Glympse for years. I find it simple and easy to use for even technically challenged folks.ย
Orange Card - Get Info Easily for Free
Orange card is a tiny (less than 1MB) free utility, available on
the Mac
App Store. It has a simple drag and drop (or paste) interface. It's
used to get extended metadata information from the objects you provide
it.
Orange Card presents you with several small reports to copy out of the program. Choose the one you want
My Reaction To Your Reaction
As the calendar year winds down, so does the end of my first year of regular blogging since the 90s. I started off sporadically, mostly writing about tech. I eventually began reviewing apps, something I still do - every single day for the last 265 days. In March I branched out into more personal, autobiographical stuff. Because that still wasn't enough to keep me busy, and because I got a free domain name, I started a links blog in June to share the interesting things I find online, hoping to find other people who are interested in similar things. I didn't have any idea if what I had to say would click with anyone. Lot's of people I follow on Mastodon are comp sci majors involved in advanced development and I'm just a guy who hangs out in the server room. I also started blogging immediately after discovering the current iteration of the indyweb, without spending any time learning the culture or the unwritten rules. In the end, everything worked out. The developer folks with the giant brains appreciate hearing about cool apps. The indyweb at large seems to have one over arching rule, try to be a good person.
Based on Mastodon comments, emails and some rudimentary analytics, these are the posts that resonated the most with people this year..
Non-Toxic Masculinity - My most widely read post was about my journey as an adult to redefine was masculinity means.
When I was younger, I was attracted to traditional masculine roles and activities. I played high school football. I enlisted in the infantry. My first civilian job after that was working in a men's prison. It's not that I now feel like any of those are bad things, necessarily, but I don't need all that testosterone fueled chest thumping and the intimidation and violence that go with them in order to feel like I'm a real man, whatever that means.
The Perfect Blogger I like to wite about the experience of being a part of this community and y'all seem to like to read about it. This post got a lot of reaction.
It's not that I want to see myself in every blogger, quite the contrary. I want to read women bloggers, trans bloggers, POC, millennials, Gen Z, international writers. I want to make my world bigger.
My Partner - It really made me happy that people liked this appreciation piece I wrote about Wonder Woman, my wife, Carol. I frequently mention her and I wanted folks to know why. I think I succeeded.
She has good genes does my wife. She is a careful eater and a devout exerciser. In her late 50s with 13 grandchildren, she doesn't appear to have aged a day from when I met her at a hundred-mile bicycle ride in 2011
The most popular posts from my links blog were ones I compiled of topics that the blogging community appreciates.
For Linkblog Fans - a collection of places where folks share the best of the Interent with each other
OMG.LOL is the Best Thing on the Internet - the home of my Mastodon instance, /now page and about page is awesome and if you don't have an omg.lol account, you should.
Some Advice on Not Drinking - This was a no-judgment zone with some practical advice for anyone who wants to avoid alcohol for a night or for a lifetime, written from the heart.
For my fellow App Addicts, these were the most widely read reviews from 2024. People were really curious about these programs. This blog by far is the one people read the most with 280,000 hits since March. I'm happy to have the experience of writing for a wide audience and to share my hobby and experience with the world. I hope I have helped people.
FreeTube - Maybe the Most Underrated App | AppAddict
Applite - An App Store for Homebrew | AppAddict
ToyViewer - A Preview Replacment | AppAddict
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Bridges Link Sharing
For anyone who collects and shares links regularly, Bridges Link Sharing is a great
tool to increase productivity by making the process easier. If you are
collecting a list of apps to share on Reddit or links for a blog post,
news letter or bibliography, this is a great tool to have.
You can add links to Bridges through the share sheet or the program's interface. When you save a link, you can accept the default title or create one of your own. Links are saved into folders which are housed in collections for a more granular differentiation. In the Bridges interface, you see a rich preview of the page, its favicon and hero image. It is possible to preview the entire saved page within the app.
When you're ready to export links, you can do it one at the time or by folder. The export choices are:
There is also an iOS app for Bridges (priced separately) and all the data resides in a shared secure iCloud folder and syncs between devices. Bridges is $1.99 on the Mac App Store.
Universal and Cross Platform Apps
The apps on this list are either free or buy once and use on
multiple platforms with just a couple of exceptions. The links are to
reviews of the apps that contain pricing information and download links
either to the developer's website of the App Store. (or both)
Use AI When It Can Help You - On the Cheap
I'm not a heavy user of AI. I only occasionally have ways to make use of it in my job and hobbies. I have better things to fpo than to sit around thinking of things for LLMs to do more for me. There are some times, however, when I have had an occasion to use it. I use the advanced models of ChatGPT, but I don't pay 15, billed in three separate payments of $5 each.
My suggestion to you is that you set up a pre-paid account with OpenAI. All it takes is $10 . You can set limits on your consumption if it makes you feel better, but it isn't needed. Once you set up an account, you can generate API keys to use with all kinds of software and services to use the advanced and any new models. Many apps are essentially free when you use your own key.
How can I set up prepaid billing? | OpenAI Help Center
Once you have your account set up, here is how can you get an API key to use elsewhere
How To Get Your API Key For OpenAI
Some problems OpenAI has solved for me:
Some apps you can use your key with include:
MacTracker - Can You Call Yourself a Fanboy If You Don't Have This Installed?
When I began my career in Mac support, my first task was replacing hard drives in hundreds of Mac LC 575s along with adding an Ethernet card because we were getting Internet access in every classroom. It was a heady time. The new computers we were purchasing were Bondi Blue first generation G3 iMacs. Having come from the PC world, I needed reference material for all the new hardware I was being presented. One of my co-workers told me about MacTracker and for the last quarter of a century I've had a copy of this great app installed on every Mac I have ever owned or been assigned.
MacTracker is a stand-alone hardware and software database of every Mac model that's even been made. It gives you info on:
MacTracker provides information on more than just laptops, desktops and servers. It also covers:
If you have even a passing interest in Mac history, you owe it to yourself to download and peruse this free app. If you are considering tinkering with vintage models, you definitely need this. The program lets you add computers to a section called "My Models" if you want to compare the different Macs you own or have used. It has limited serial number lookups if you are unsure of the model you are working on. You can link to MacTracker from other apps. Each model listed has information on whether it is considered still in support, vintage or obsolete.
Flyleaf - An Elegant Read It Later Solution
There are lots of read it later apps and services available for
Mac users. Some, like Instapaper and Pocket require you to create an
account and in return give you web access to your saved articles.
Others, like Goodlinks don't
have web access but offer you more privacy by syncing your saved
articles through iCloud. A relatively new and rather elegant addition to
this space is Flyleaf
by Max Melzer.
Flyleaf strips everything from web pages except the text of the article and images. It provides an interface similar to the Kindle experience by paginating articles and letting you move through them by swiping. If you prefer scrolling, you can turn the option off. For those into aesthetics, Flyleaf has themes, some of which are behind a paywall. It also lets you control the line spacing, font, margins and alignment (justified text or not).
If you currently use Goodlinks, Instapaper or Later, you can import your current collection into Flyleaf. Flyleaf also has an export feature to import into other apps. Your list of saved articles has various display options, including publication name, reading time, article image, and your reading progress. You can choose to see just a list of titles or a long or short summary of the article. For automation fans, Flyleaf has Shortcuts and x-callback URL support. Articles in Flyleaf are searchable. You can archive them when your done reading and also mark them as favorites to find again quickly.
Flyleaf is an iPad app that runs on Macs with Apple Silicon. If you gave an Intel machine, you'll have to use it on an iOS device.
Everything in Flyleaf is free to use with two exceptions, extra themes and tagging. If you want those features, a subscription is required. It's $2.00 mo/$17.00 yr, but in all honesty, those are such minor features for most people that the primary reason for subscribing is to support the developer.
Soothing Activities
I can understand why so many people enjoy needle work on things like counted cross stitch or knitting. It takes up time. It requires some concentration, but not enough to give you a headache. When you're done, you have something tangible to look at. I get my groove on not by stitching but by certain kinds of organizing. I'm sure Wonder Woman wishes my organizing preference were linen closets and so forth. It's not. This is not a post on making productivity your hobby.
When I was growing up, I collected comic books and baseball cards. When it came to comics, I enjoyed three categories: Archie, Richie Rich and anything made by DC: Superman, Batman, The Flash, Green Lantern etc. My younger brother and I decided to have a joint collection. We'd spread comics on the floor and sort them by title and then by the individual number the publisher assigned to them. Some stacks were tall. Action Comics was where Superman got his start. It had been continuously in print since the 30s. Detective Comics, Batman's home, was the same way. Other stacks were much shorter, as superheroes would come and go. By the time we were in junior high school, we'd accumulated over 700 comic books, both from newsstands and many, many trips to used book stores. There weren't any comic shops in the places we lived. For me, though, all of that work came to a crashing halt in 1979 when my desire to escape my mother's wrath for misbehavior gave my brother leverage over me. He demanded my half of the comic collection in exchange for not narcing me out for smoking cigarettes. I gave in. He still has those comic books, ย 45 years later.
I bought baseball cards until adulthood was well established. I had a giant tray that would hold hundreds of cards at the time, and I loved to put on an Atlanta Braves game and buy a box of cards to open and sort while watching. Rather than numerical order, I liked to sort my baseball cards into teams, alphabetized by players' last names. There was mass over production of cards in the late eighties and early nineties, with several companies competing with Topps, the OG card manufacturer. I bought cards by Upper Deck, Fleer, Donruss and more along with a monthly magazine that gave values to each card. Most of them were worthless, then, and now. I gave up on baseball when it turned out that the success of players I admired, like Mark McGwire, Sammy Sosa and Roger Clemens, was due as much to their ingestion of performance enhancing drugs as it was to their talent. I sold a collection of some 20K cards for $100 and never looked back.
When Napster came along and allowed computer nerds with broadband connections to download music as fast as we could type in bands to search for, I went nuts. I assembled the Rolling Stone Magazine collection of the top 500 rock albums of all time. Very few of the songs were tagged correctly, so I used various software titles and the website, Allmusic.com to verify track names and track numbers and the genre and all the miscellaneous information like release dates on all the music I downloaded. I spent many hours sitting at a desktop Mac editing MP3 tags while listening to music. I loved it, and today I am grateful to my past self for having done such an outstanding job.
These days, I am fanatical about keeping two types of data organized: my thousands of Obsidian notes and my photographs. Both of these lend themselves to being sorted in various ways digitally. I use both tags and folders because why not? During the upcoming holiday break, i will spend many hours happily looking at photos and reading notes and clipped articles and deciding where to file them. It sparks joy. It soothes me. Not only that, but it's what I like to do more than just about anything else.
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Some Fun Tech Chores to Catch Up on During the Holidays
This is what I'm planning to do. Hopefully, it gives you a few ideas.
Two Apps To Use if You Work in Markdown
I do almost all of my writing in Markdown, a lightweight and
human-friendly markup language used for formatting plain text. Created
in 2004, it uses simple punctuation and characters to denote headers,
links, emphasis, code blocks, lists and other styles. Markdown is often
used for writing README files, documentation, or content for websites.
The language was designed for easy reading and writing. One issue with
Markdown is that it must be rendered before it looks ready for mass
consumption, including printing. Another issue is converting text into
other formats, like .docx and .rtf.
There are plenty of tools for those who use Markdown. For creating documents, I often use Obsidian or MarkEdit, both of which are free. Obsidian is a hugely powerful app that has over 2000 plugins and can be overly complicated for some. It's also an electron app that some people avoid for that reason.
Marked 2
My recommendation to render and print Markdown files is Marked 2 by the great Mac developer, blogger and podcaster, Brett Terpstra. Marked 2 works with many different flavors of Markdown and is really great for developers writing GitHub documentation because it is capable of handling fenced code blocks, line break preservation and automatic hyperlinking. You can even get a spelling and grammar checker through IAP for Marked 2. It works with Obsidian, Scrivener, Ulysses, MarsEdit, Highland 2, iThoughtsX, MindNode, and other third-party apps. Aside from rendering and printing, Marked 2 also has impressive exporting features natively, including:
Marked 2 is not an editor. It only renders files.
Texts
If you want a WYSIWYG editor for Markdown with considerable exporting features, you can use Texts, a free app. Texts has great table support. What makes Texts special is its ability to import (and convert to Markdown) DOCX, OPML, HTML and LaTeX. It supports the same export formats as Marked and also adds
You can also print from Texts.
Free Security Apps for Mac
Clyde is an app that sounds an alarm when someone shuts your laptop, so that when you walk away from it to order coffee or look for a book and it gets tampered with, everyone will know. The paid version will also send an alert to your watch and phone
LinkLiar - a free app for
spoofing the MAC address of your Wi-Fi and Ethernet interfaces to add an
extra layer of protection on public networks.
@home - is a free app that will keep your laptop from locking on your home network but enable locking when you are away. It works from the name of the network to which you are connected.