Apps

Dec 17, 2024 ∞

Drafts Pro 50% Off for New Users



For new users, Drafts Pro is 50% off the first year.



Drafts was the first app I installed when I became interested in iOS and Mac automation. The power users of the world explained it to me as the universal quick capture app for my phone. I was advised to always enter text into Drafts no matter where I eventually wanted it to end up. I dutifully put it into my dock, and it's been there ever since. In this post, I'm going to go over eight different ways I use Drafts. It's important to note that it pays off to give it a prominent place in your iOS sharing setting for ease of use. On macOS it should show up in the share settings by default.


1. Copy to Obsidian Inbox

I am all in on Obsidian the massively popular note's app with a robust 1600+ plugin architecture. It does a lot of things amazing well but mobile quick capture is not one of them. To solve that, I use this Drafts action which saves the text to the default save location in my vault and uses the first line of the text as the note title/file name. I use a couple of other Drafts to Obsidian actions including Add to Obsidian Daily Note and Add to Daily Note Plus which add text to my daily note in different ways using a time stamp and a geolocation.


2. The Things 3, Fantastical, Day One Combo

The Quick Journaling Action Group lets me keep one running note that I can process at day's end to send the individual lines as entries into Fantastical, Things 3 and Day One.

• Lines starting with "-" are collected and sent to Day One as a journal entry
• Lines starting with "⁎" are sent to Things inbox
• Lines starting with "@" are sent to Fantastical


3. Things Parser

Using Task Paper syntax I can create a note in Drafts complete with due dates, areas, projects and tags that get correctly imported into the Things 3 task manager using the Things Parser. I use this with a Drafts template to create daily and weekly checklists for reoccurring tasks. I also use the action group, Things for Things which includes actions for:

• Inbox
• Today
• This Evening
• Tomorrow
• Pick date
• Work
• House
• Personal
• Pick a Project
• Make a Project
• Selection to things
• Bunch of todos
• Process notes from
• Prompt for new task


4. Mail to Evernote

Yep, I still use Evernote for some tasks. Old habits die hard. Evernote eliminated AppleScript a while back and their API has become more and more problematic , but one feature they still support and that works equally well on iOS and macOS is the mail to Evernote feature and this Drafts action accomplishes that without you ever having to use your mail client.


5. Micro.blogging

This blog is hosted by Micro.blog and I can create entries in Drafts and have them posted online by running an action. I use the action Post to Micro.blog with Title by the great blogger Matt Birchler.




6. OMG.LOL Status

I am a big fan of the almost indescribable web community at OMG.LOL. One of the fun features there is a status board you can share with other members, post on your website and cross-post to Mastodon (where all the cool kids hang out). The OMG.LOL Status action does it all.


7. Run Shortcut to Save to Thoughts Inspiration Manager

One of my favorite things to do online is to collect quotes from various sources, I save my quotes in an app called Thoughts Inspiration Manager. I don't have a Drafts action to write directly to Thoughts but it doesn't matter because I have a Shortcut that does. I just need to run the Drafts shortcut action explained in the user guide.




8. Personal Assistant

Drafts can serve as an interface with OpenAI by using the Personal Assistant action. (using your own API key) It's a helpful action to run when you know you are going to use the AI generated text in another app. This action allows the user to get an AI-assisted response to a prompt:

1. The user is prompted to enter input, which can be pasted from the clipboard or manually entered.
2. The input is then sent to the OpenAI API, and the response is inserted into the current draft 3 lines after the cursor.
3. If there is no selected text in the draft, the user is asked if they would like to use text from the clipboard. If the prompt is canceled or the input is empty, the action cancels.
4. If there is no response from the API, the output is set to "No reply received."

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Dec 16, 2024 ∞

Access: Secure Passwords Companion




One big feature missing from Apple's new Passwords App is secure notes to store data besides passwords. While you can make notes within the app, it isn't designed to store that kind of info. You could opt for the Apple Notes app since it's secured by the same security and allows you to password protect individual items with a password. It even supports templates, but you would have to build them yourself. If you want a secure, ready-made solution you can use on iOS and macOS, Access may be right for you.

Access has templates for the following kinds of data:

• Payment card
• Bank account
• ID
• Document
• Driver's License
• Insurance
• Passport
• Medical Record
• Rewards program
• Membership
• Software license
• Gift card
• API keys
• Secure personal entries (address book format)
• Notes (useful for all those 2FA code backups)

Every entry has room for user-defined custom fields and attachments, so not only can you have easy to copy info from your important documents, you can also have a photographic copy of them as well.

The layout and appearance of Access is identical to that of the Passwords app. Since privacy is paramount considering the types of data stored in Access, the developer goes into great detail to explain it "Your information is backed up and kept up-to-date across your devices via iCloud. Access is using Apple’s industry-leading iCloud Encryption to protect your information. No data is ever sent to any server other than iCloud. The app doesn't create, access, or store keys for any encrypted data. With Advanced Data Protection for iCloud, all Secure Data stored in Access is end-to-end encrypted and is inaccessible to the Developer, Apple, or any third party at all times. For an added layer of security, Access supports authentication with Touch ID. All data stored in Access on your device is automatically encrypted and decrypted by the system."

Access has a free version with limited functionality, but to get access to every feature, you'll need to purchase lifetime access for $29.99 or subscribe for $9.99 yr/$3.99 mo.

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Dec 15, 2024 ∞

Cronica - A Free, Privacy Focused Media Tracker for Mac and iOS




There are many paid options to discover and track movies and TV shows, most of them being subscription-based. Cronica, donation-ware from Egger, Inc., full-featured right out of the box, with no limit on usage. The app can be employed for various purposes:

• Tracking episodes of TV shows or movies you've already seen
• Discovering new movies and shows through trailers and descriptions from The Movie Database (with an option to watch the trailers via YouTube)
• Notifications when movies are released or new episodes of shoes air
• iCloud syncing between your Mac and iOS devices - no account required with the app's developers
• Get suggestions based on your watch history
• Share links with others from within the app, using The Movie Database
• Suitable for international audiences. Allows users to choose a region.

Cronica is available for download from the Mac App Store.

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Dec 14, 2024 ∞

2024 Brought Big Changes to My Workflow



This year, my time online skyrocketed. I started blogging and I became active on social media, primarily Mastodon and Bluesky. At my day job, I moved from a creaky old Dell to a maxed out iMac. As a result, I had to reevaluate some of the tools I'd used for many years.

I dumped Evernote, which I'd used since 2009 in favor of Obsidian.

My 10 Favorite Things About #Obsidian

I switched from Pathfinder, an app I used for 18 years, to Qspace for file management.

Qspace

After 17 years with Launchbar, I started using Raycast Pro and never looked back.

My 10 Favorite #Raycast Use Cases (and all the apps it replaced)

I deleted my Twitter account and started using Ivory for Mastodon on my iPhone and Mac.

Ivory for Mastodon by Tapbots

After being all in on Microsoft Edge for my browsing needs, I switched to Vivaldi for the customization options.

Switching to Vivaldi

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Dec 14, 2024 ∞

Sloth - Activity Monitor on Steroids




Sloth is a free and open-sourced app that's been around for twenty years. It provides an app by app breakdown of all open files and sockets in use by all running processes on your system. This makes it easy to inspect which apps are using which files and sockets. In activity monitor, you get information on processes, but not on what app they belong to or where they are located on disk. Every so often, when you are troubleshooting an obscure problem, you need that information. I recently had to track down what app was causing my Mac to slow to a crawl every time I encountered an open/save dialog box. Sloth was helpful during that process.

You may end up surprised at some processes running on your box. Despite everything I have tried, the inescapable Adobe virus insists on running some process whenever my computer is on, despite having all their apps set to not run at login.

Features

• View all open files, directories, IP sockets, devices, Unix domain sockets and pipes
• Filter by name, access mode, volume, type, location, or using regular expressions
• Sort by name, process ID, user ID, process type, bundle identifier, etc.
• View IP socket status, protocol and version
• View sockets and pipes established between processes
• Inspection window with detailed macOS and Unix file/socket/process info
• Powerful contextual menu for file operations
• In-app authentication to run with root privileges

Sloth is available on GitHub and can be downloaded via Homebrew. 

$ brew install --cask sloth

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Dec 13, 2024 ∞

Ente Auth - The Free Authy Replacement for Your Mac and iPhone




If you miss the Authy 2FA desktop app, and you would rather not use Apple Passwords, since if you were to lose access to your Apple account, you would lose access to all your codes, Ente Auth is a free and open-source option. You have the option to create an account if you want to sync your codes between devices, or you can skip that if you just want to use it on a single device.

The desktop version of Ente Auth has some nice features I haven't seen elsewhere. Not only does it show you the current 2FA code for your app, it also shows you the next code in the sequence. This eliminates the aggravating wait for the codes to change when there are only a few seconds left in the lifetime of the current code. You can also configure the desktop app to open directly to the search field, so you can immediately begin searching for the code you need.

It can be a hassle to set up a new authenticator, since you have to manually add sites. Most do not allow you to use more than one app to do 2FA. Still, it is a one-time chore and worth it for the convenience of having a secure desktop app with end-to-end encryption.

Thanks to Justin Pot for his article on Lifehacker about Ente Auth.

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Dec 12, 2024 ∞

SingleFile - For Safari and Other Mac Browsers




Attempting to save a web page to your local computer often results in multiple files and folders downloaded. A recently updated plugin for Safari, Chromium browsers and Firefox provides an elegant way to get everything you need in a single HTML file, downloaded with the click of a button in your browser's toolbar. You can choose to download only the selected text or a single frame from within the page. Any page that you download can be annotated with tools included within the plugin. The annotation tools also allow you to remove content you don't need or want.

Not only can you download a single page and its elements, you can select multiple tabs at once and download them all with a single click. Another option saves a local HTML files of any page that you bookmark. You can control the destination of the saved files, saving them to a cloud drive like Google Drive or iCloud.

You can get SingleFile from wherever you obtain extensions for your particular browser type. The overall project is on GitHub where you can get support.

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Dec 11, 2024 ∞

Mac Translation Apps - Offline, Google and DeepL




Most modern browsers have multi-language translate built in. Vivaldi even has a separate panel for it. Sometimes, though, we encounter text in other languages in books and documents or when we aren't connected to the Internet. Then it's not possible to use a browser. Also, even though Google Translate is the de facto standard, there are other translation engines that some feel are better. Here are a few options.

Translator - Offline Translate

If you want a tool for Mac that works when you don't have a connection, this is what you need. It's only 3.99 in the Mac App Store. It is a one-time purchase, not a subscription and installs as a menu bar app. One drawback is a limited number of supported languages when compared to online versions. It supports:

• Arabic
• Chinese (Mandarin - China Mainland)
• Chinese (Mandarin - Taiwan)
• Dutch
• English (US)
• English (UK)
• French (France)
• German (Germany)
• Indonesian
• Italian (Italy)
• Japanese
• Korean
• Polish
• Portuguese (Brazil)
• Russian
• Spanish (Spain)
• Thai
• Turkish
• Ukrainian
• Vietnamese

Google Translate Web View

This free app is a web view wrapper for Google Translate that operates from your menu bar and can be summoned with a hotkey. It is available on Github. It has a limit of 5,000 characters at a time. It does have built in OCR for images, so you can upload those to have them interpreted. Google Translate offers automatic language detection if you are unsure what you are dealing with. This is an unsigned app, so you will have to give permission to bypass Gatekeeper. Google supports translation into 108 languages.

DeepL

Some feel the private company, DeepL, offers a product with superior translation abilities when compared to Google. It's paid services offer the ability to upload and translate large documents, including PDFs. The free service provides you with three documents a month of up to 5MB and, like the other apps in this review, provides real-time translation from the menu bar. DeepL supports the following languages:

• Arabic
• Bulgarian
• Chinese (simplified and traditional)
• Czech
• Danish
• Dutch
• English (American and British)
• Estonian
• Finnish
• French
• German
• Greek
• Hungarian
• Indonesian
• Italian
• Japanese
• Korean
• Latvian
• Lithuanian
• Norwegian
• Polish
• Portuguese (Brazilian and European)
• Romanian
• Russian
• Slovak
• Slovenian
• Spanish
• Swedish
• Turkish
• Ukrainian

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Dec 10, 2024 ∞

Bits and Pieces



I'm feeling a little scattered today. Yesterday was traumatic and today had some rebound from that. Luckily, I had a project to work on this afternoon that kept me from stewing in my own juices. It was nothing complicated, just upgrading some old laptops to provide for a student led research project in our athletics department. I had to swap out some parts and install Windows for the millionth time in my life (x4). I'm glad someone can make use of these devices. It makes me sad when we recycle usable equipment. I'm always contemplating building my own home lab, but it would be a time suck that wouldn't go over well with Wonder Woman.
Here are a few updates

Tech

Like plenty of other people, I am waiting for the updates from Apple to iOS and macOS with promised new AI features. The image playground looks like something I will play with for about 30 minutes and then never use again, but I want my 30 minutes. I've made use of the writing tools Apple included in the last update. I'm still waiting for them to be added to my writing app of choice, Obsidian so that I don't have to copy and paste text in other places to use the service, though.

Travel

Our December plans include a Christmas trip to two spots on the North Carolina coast where our parts of our family live. We'll also make our way down Interstate 40 to the Piedmont area of NC, where one of our daughters lives. The big trip will be a three-day getaway to Savannah, GA. Wonder Woman was initially going to run a marathon down there but decided to do the one in Miami scheduled for February instead. On this trip, we are just going to do typical tourist stuff, including a tour of the cemetery that was on the cover of the book Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, one of my all-time favorites. 

Work

My boss promised to speak to the supervisor of the crazy woman who caused me so much grief yesterday. He tried to talk me into being one of those people who lets everything roll off their back. His background is in medical IT, and he had many stories about abusive doctors. I just told him that we aren't in the high stakes world of saving lives. We are a staid liberal arts school in the South where people are supposed to be nice. I spent my late teens and twenties in the Infantry and working in a prison. I got a lifetime of abuse between those two places, and I don't have room in my psyche for anymore.

Family

My dad let us all know that he's hired someone to help him and my stepmother. His health is declining with a recent stroke, auto accident and surgery, while he is also serving as the sole caregiver for his wife who has advanced Alzheimer's. Having someone in the house to do some of the chores and give him a break from the constant need to be on alert is going to make things better for both of them. I live closer to him than any of my siblings, but I still don't get over as much as I'd like.

Indie Web

Even though I missed a day of posting to one of my blogs a couple of weeks ago, I haven't been discouraged by having to start a new streak. I look forward to writing every day, to finding an app to review and deciding what links to share. I wrote a piece for the December Indie Web Carnival. Furthermore, I have been trying to be active on both Mastodon and Bluesky with some success. Mastodon still feels like home, but the larger Bluesky community has been good for getting more news on Apple tech and Obsidian resources.

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Dec 10, 2024 ∞

iCollections - A Desktop Centric Workflow Manager Similar to the Classic Dragthing




The late, great Mac app, Dragthing reached end of life in 2019. It was a point and click workflow manager for those who preferred that type of workflow over apps like Alfred and Launchbar. The developer of Dragthing was an Apple employee to worked on the original implementation of the dock in Mac OS X. He created Dragthing as an alternate version of what the dock could have been. It was an immensely popular app among power users and won many awards in its 24 years on the market (1995-2019).

iCollections by developer Grzegorz Staszczyk provides an experience much like Dragthing once did. It provides a a variety of desktop interfaces for various ways to view content and control your Mac. The interface is based on what the app calls collections. These are windows or drawers containing any one of the following elements:

• Disks (including external storage and mounted disk images)
• Access to dock items from the menu bar
• Folders (e.g., Downloads, Documents) - use tabs to see multiple folders in one window
• Drop shelf for temporary file storage
• Photo frame (with slide shows)
• Web view using iOS user agent for any website
• Open processes
• Open Windows
• Trash
• Calendar

Every element has multiple customization options including color, size, position and opacity. You can use custom icons, even for native Mac applications, something you cannot do in Finder. You can combine keyboard shortcuts with point and click functions to summon collections when you need them. To use a folder as a launcher, just add application aliases to it.

iCollections can be downloaded from the developer's website to take advantage of a free trial. It can also be downloaded from the Mac App Store. The cost is:

• Monthly Subscription$2.99
• Annual Subscription$12.99
• Lifetime License$39.99

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Dec 9, 2024 ∞

mtop - A Resource Monitor for Crowded Menu Bars




I regularly check MacMenuBar.com for new additions. Today i found a nice little app called mtop. It's a monitor for each CPU core, your GPU and your RAM. It also provides PIDs for running processes. Apps like iStat Menus and Stats are great at doing this, but they take up far too much room in the menu bar for my taste. I just want a single icon I can click on to get the information I want. I don't need a heads-up display.

There isn't much to configure in mtop. You can choose one of eight different themes. Clicking a button reveals the running processes, which are hidden by default. The app is available in the Mac App Store for $.99.

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Dec 8, 2024 ∞

Simplenote - Free, Rock Solid and Dependable for Over a Decade




Simplenote by Automattic is a free cross-platform plain text / Markdown notes app for macOS, iOS, Android, Windows and Linux. It's been around for over a decade and I have never known it to go down. Automattic is the company behind Word Press and Day One, so it's no fly-by-night enterprise. 

One of the primary benefits of using Simplenote is the speed. It syncs behind the scenes and opens quickly, regardless of platform. Each note has a history, and you can view changes you've made to it over time. Notes are easy to share on a Mac using the system share sheet. If you don't have access to a device on which you have Simplenote installed, you can get to your notes in a browser. 

Notes in Simplenote are organized by tags. Use as many as you want. You can also do simple searches of your notes via text strings. Simplenote is compatible with Apple's new writing tools, which means you have access to dictation, proofreading, rewriting, spelling and grammar correction. Information about each note, including creation date, modification date, character count and word count is available at the click of a button. Like most modern apps, Simplenote has a light and dark mode. You can also control the default text size. Important notes can be pinned to the top of your notes list. 

The Simplenote API is open to developers. There are several other note-taking apps on various platforms that can access your notes database. On such app is nvPY for macOS.

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Dec 7, 2024 ∞

Default Apps for 2024



A year ago, I was just getting back into the tech scene after not paying close attention for a couple of years. As I was updating and cleaning up my RSS feeds, I saw many people talking about their default apps as a result of an episode of the podcast Hemispheric Views.. I learned about a lot of great software that I'd missed out on during my hiatus. I wanted to get in on the fun as well, so I started a blog for that express purpose, and the rest is history.

A full 12 months have passed, and some apps have been replaced or discarded over time. Here is my current list. Apps with a ⭐ are new choices since last year.

• 📨 Mail Client:⭐ Kiwi for Gmail/ Work Outlook via Office365
• 📮 Mail Server: Gmail
• 📝 Notes: Obsidian and ⭐Scratchpad
• ✅ To-do: Things3
• 📷 iPhone Photo Shooting: ProCamera
• 🟦 Photo Management: Photos.app
• 📆 Calendar: Fantastical legacy features, not paid
• 📁 Cloud File Storage: Google Drive, iCloud, Dropbox
• 📖 RSS: Inoreader
• 🙎🏻‍♂️ Contacts: Cardhop
• 🌐 Browser: Vivaldi on macOS and iOS
• 💬 Chat: Messages.app, ⭐ Discord, ⭐ Caprine for Facebook Messenger
• 🔖 Bookmarks: Raindrop.io
• 📑 Read It Later: ⭐ Pocket
• 📜 Word Processing: Obsidian and Drafts
• 📈 Spreadsheets: Microsoft Excel at work, Google Sheets at home
• 📊 Presentations: nope
• 🛒 Shopping Lists: Anylist, a great app!
• 💰 Budgeting and Personal Finance: Monarch on Mac and iOS
• 📰 News: Google News, ⭐ProPublica, ⭐DemocracyNow!
• 🎵 Music: Apple Music
• 🎤 Podcasts: Overcast
• 🔐 Password Management: ⭐Apple Passwords
• 🐘 Mastodon:Ivory, social.lol, 500.social
• 🦋 Bluesky: ⭐ Skeets, ⭐Deck.blue
• 🚀 Launcher: Raycast
• 🎞️ Media Tracking: Trakt via Watcht, Sequel
• 💻 Screenshot Tool: Cleanshot X
• ✍🏻 Blogging: Micro.blog, OMG.LOL, Scribbles, BearBlog
• 🔗 Websites: Amerpie, Living Out Loud, AppAddict, Linkage
• ⚙️ Automation: Keyboard Maestro, Hazel, Popclip, Better Touch Tool
  
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Dec 7, 2024 ∞

Commander One as a Finder Replacement




The Mac Finder is fine for casual users, but if your use cases involve a lot of file management to handle photography or videography related tasks, heavy downloading, web publishing or other more advanced tasks, you'd be well served to look for a replacement. Commander One by Electronic Teams, Inc. Is a serviceable option. It has a dual pane interface, with each pane featuring unlimited tabs. There are three view options per pane: details, list and icons.

The Commander One features list is long:

• Easily toggle hidden files
• Customizable fonts and colors
• Bookmark favorite file locations
• Customize any of the numerous hotkeys available for file actions
• Queue file operations
• ZIP support
• Built in file viewer
• Root access to files

Search

• Regex support
• Search file contents
• Built in advanced search plus Spotlight search

Pro Pack

All of the features listed above are part of the free version of Commander One. If you purchase the Pro Pack for $29.95 you get the following:

• FTP Manager
• Access connected MTP, iOS and Android devices
• Connect to Dropbox, Google Drive, Amazon S3, Box, OneDrive, BackBlaze, WebDAV
• Terminal Emulator
• Advanced compression and decompression tools

Other Finder replacement options are Qspace and Pathfinder.

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Dec 6, 2024 ∞

Nope

A list of situations and questions that deserve a negative reaction:



I decided it was time to expand my /nope page so that I could get all the Bah Humbug! Out of system before we get any deeper into the holiday season.

• No, Mr. Paywall, I do not have to pay to read. I haz skillz.
• Pay TV with commercials is an oxymoron
• I don't want to upsize, super-size or biggie size. Bruh, have you seen my waist?
• Person at my door, I don't want to buy magazines, home security or anything else
• I want gas, not a carwash for my rusted out 2005 Camry
• How about you change your password, huh?
• I don't want to talk to the pharmacist. I just want my pills.
• I never want a $12 desert
• Don't want to talk about Jesus or any other Republican candidate
• Why didn't you apply those updates to macOS last night like you said you were?
• I have enough Facebook friends
• Read a EULA, are you screwing with me?
• Try to put decaf in this cup. I dare you.
• Nobody wants to see your Obsidian graph
• Being told to "like and subscribe"
• Unless I ask, don't try to drown me with affiliate links
• Not debating you on anything unless I like you
• Dear Dr.'s office receptionist - I will write my information one time on one form
• New York Times, Washington Post, LA Times, CNN
• Centrist Democrats
• Salvation Army
• Any medication suggested by an insurance company instead of a doctor
• To spammers - every part of my bodies is the size I want it to be
• Nickleback
• Volunteering for anything at work. People get paid to manage, so manage.
• "Live and let live" with fascists
• Not following back any Only Fans ladies, no matter how nice they are
• Windows 11, Android, Bubonic Plague
• Using SEO on my non-monetized blog
  
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Dec 6, 2024 ∞

Cloud Storage Management Apps




The longer you use a computer, the more access to resources you accumulate. I'm old, so I have more accounts than I know what to do with. When it comes to cloud storage, I have access to Google Drive, One Drive, Box and Dropbox, although I only pay for Google Drive. I once signed up an entire middle school's faculty to Dropbox with my referral link, so I have a large sized free tier. I got 50GB from Box so long ago that I no longer remember how. OneDrive is provided by my job.

Each of these providers, along with other cloud storage solutions, provide their own software for mounting your storage at login. There's no way I want to have four separate apps running in the background when I can consolidate them into one app that does the same thing and in some cases provides more utility. Mac users can choose between three types of access. I prefer using a network drive mapper. The app I use is CloudMounter because it is included in Setapp, although it often goes on sale. A similar product, Mountain Duck, is currently on sale for $7 at Bundlehunt.

Here is a list of options for Mac users.

File Managers/Browsers

• Odrive - $99 a year
• Multcloud - $189
• Raidrive $34 a year (limited free tier)
• Expandrive $75 lifetime

FTP/SFTP/Cloud Clients

• Cyberduck - FOSS
• Transmit - $45
• Forklift - $20

Mounters (Network Drive Mappers)

• MountainDuck - $39
• CloudMounter - $75
• Netdrive - $50

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Dec 5, 2024 ∞

Royal TSX for Remote Management




In my day job, I provide IT support at a small private university. Because I have a good boss, the computer I use as a daily driver is am M3 iMac. Most of the users I support are using Windows 10 and 11, however. Microsoft doesn't make a version of server tools for ARM processor-based computers. This means that I am unable to use a VM to run Windows apps like Active Directory Users and Computers or SCCM. On my Mac, I can use browser-based tools like InTune and Entra but for other apps, I rely on a remote connection to a Windows machine for access to the tools I need.

My solution is the lite version of the app, Royal TSX. This free version lets me use up to 10 connections to remote computers and 10 sets of credentials. I primarily use the RDP plugin, but Royal TSX also supports:

• TeamViewer sessions
• Apple Remote Desktop and VNC
• Terminal sessions
• File transfers
• VMWare connection
• HyperV connections
• Running Power Shell scripts on remote computers

When I have issues using the new Windows app for RDP for unknown Byzantine reasons, Royal TSX comes through and allows me to connect. It's a neat tool to have in my bag. The paid version is $53 and allows unlimited connection and unlimited credentials.

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Dec 4, 2024 ∞

Remote Helper for Mac




Remote Helper for Mac is the companion for the iOS app, Remote Mouse and Keyboard. When used together, your iOS device can control a Mac, a PC, an Apple TV or an iPad.

The features include:

• Control the cursor on a Mac and serve as a virtual mouse to select, double click or right click any element
• Enter text on a Mac from the iOS keyboard
• Media controls - mute, pause, volume up, volume down, next track, previous track. Works in multiple apps
• View your computer screen on your phone
• Issue system commands from your phone to your Mac - sleep, shut down, restart
• Launch any app on your Mac from your phone
• Use Siri on your phone to send commands to your Mac
• Run custom AppleScripts on your Mac from your phone. An example script is included that opens Netflix in the Chrome browser.

The Mac app is free to download, but it requires the iOS app to actually do anything. The iOS app has a lifetime purchase. The amount differs depending on where you are. Today in the US, it was $10. There is an option to subscribe on a month by month basis for $1.99 with a seven-day free trial.

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Dec 3, 2024 ∞

Four Single Purpose Apps - Cheap/Free







There's something to be said for apps that do one thing well. Here are a few that I've found lately.

FNable - If you use your function keys much, you may grow tired of having to toggle them with the FN key. Be default, macOS treats function keys as system controls. This little app allows you to toggle the behavior simply be pressing and holding the FN key for three seconds. You definitely want to find this app on sale though. It is regularly priced at a whopping $25 . It is currently available at Bundlehunt for $1.50.

Quill - Quill is a menu bar notes app similar to Scrap Paperand Scratchpad with one big difference, you can use images in Quill notes. The notes sync across Macs, but there isn't an iOS app. You can, however, export your Quill notes easily enough if you want to view them on your phone. It is $.99 in the App Store.

Trace - Trace is a minimalist time tracking app. When you manually start a session of, it records the apps you work on and the time you spend in them. You can pause and resume sessions. It reports the amount of time you spend in each app and other facts, like your most used app. It is a free app. For more detailed automatic reports, try Activity Watch, also free.

SpaceSaver - With SpaceSaver, you can save the state of your open applications and windows, and easily restore them later. You can have multiple sessions and switch between them with ease. It doesn't have the prettiest interface but what it lacks in aesthetics, it makes up for in function and price - free!

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Dec 2, 2024 ∞

Browser Deputy from the Folks at Anybox




These days, it is not uncommon for someone to have hundreds of open tabs in as browser. I usually run about 40-50 myself. I've tried several solutions to quickly find the tab I'm looking for without much success. Since installing Browser Deputy, I've been pleased with the way it incorporates into my workflow. I can summon the app with a hotkey and quickly find a tab, a bookmark or an item from my browser history, no matter what app I am in.

Browser Deputy works with the following browsers:

• Safari
• Chrome
• Edge
• Brave
• Firefox
• Vivaldi
• Opera
• Arc

Aside from providing a quick search for browsers, Browser Deputy also lets you perform web searches with various built-in engines or custom ones that you add yourself. I use a custom Google search that removes all the AI crud and provides the good old ten blue links that we once took for granted. It was easy to add to the list.

The other useful feature in Browser Deputy is the ability to search menu commands in whatever open app you happen to be in, not just browsers. It doesn't give you a heads-up display of the commands like KeyClu, but it will activate any command you search for.

Browser Deputy is available for download from the dev's website. A three machine license is $11.99.

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