Links
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Hey Dingus for his shortcuts and regular links posts
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Matt Langford for his work on Tiny Theme
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Manuel Moreale for his People and Blogs newsletter
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Flohgro- For his work on Drafts and Raycast
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Vlad Campos - For his videos on Obsidian and Evernote
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Numeric Citizen - For his videos about Micro.blog
- Omnivore - It’s the best read it later service around these days, featuring a mobile app with read aloud capability, newsletter subscription service, RSS feeds and a browser extension.
- MarkDownload - saves Markdown versions of web pages directly into my Obsidian vault with customized properties
- Perplexity - Although one of the unique features of Edge is the built-in access to Chat-GPT4, I like to use Perplexity as well. It’s a popular extension with over 200K downloads.
- Raindrop.io - I have a subscription and heartily endorse Raindrop.io for it’s cross platform support as well as its IFTTT integration which really helps me when I’m researching anything
- Aboard - This is the extension for the app my wife and I use to share links with each other. When I find an app, a TV show, a news story or whatever, I put it into Aboard and she gets a notification and can check it out when she has time. It’s free and useful.
- Chrome Remote Desktop - This allows me to access my home computer from other locations. It’s free, easy to set up and use and reliable. I don’t know what people pay for Screens or TeamViewer subscriptions.
- UBlock Origin- The best ad blocker on the planet. 31,000,000 downloads can’t be wrong.
- Toby - My new tab extension. It makes it easy to save and open windows full of tabs on the go. I use the free version and even though I maintain my start.me page, I stick with Toby for new tabs.
- Velja - Works in conjunction with the Mac app of the same name to open URLs in other bowsers and apps (e.g., Slack, Teams, Zoom, Freetube etc)
- Lastpass - I’ve had a paid account shared with my wife for more than a decade. Lastpass has gotten some bad PR due to a couple of incidents, but I haven’t had any issues. Still, peer pressure is getting to me and I’m looking to switch to Bitwarden when my subscription is up.
- Archive page - An indispensable extension for getting around paywalled content. I use it multiple times a dat for Medium posts and Atlantic articles.
- Postlight Reader - The Postlight Reader extension for Microsoft Edge removes ads and distractions, leaving only text and images for a clean and consistent reading view on every site.
- Reddit Enhancement Suite - I use this for one primary reason - to block pictures of other people’s graphs on the Obsidian subreddit. LOL
- Simplify Gmail- The only extension I pay for. It has hundreds of improvements (small and large) to streamline, simplify, and enhance Gmail’s design and functionality. Hide the features you don’t use, customize the ones you do including setting the list and message width and fonts.
- Raycast - Built-in page summary for Raycast Prousers.
- ChatGPT for Google- Adds a simultaneous ChatGPT search when you look for something at Google.com.
- Web Time Tracker - Provides stats on how much time you spend on web sites
- Street Pass for Mastodon- StreetPass is a browser extension that helps you find your people on Mastodon. Here’s how it works:
- Mastodon users verify themselves by adding a custom link to their personal site.
- StreetPass lets you know when you’ve found one of these links, and adds them to your StreetPass list.
- Browse the web as usual. StreetPass will build a list of Mastodon users made up of the websites you go to.
- AlDente Pro - battery management (SetApp)
- App Tamer - CPU monitor and governor (SetApp)
- Backup Status - monitors TimeMachine backups
- Bartender 5 - menu bar management (SetApp)
- Better Display - extra controls for built in and external displays
- Better Touch Tool- automation and customization for trackpads and keyboards (SetApp)
- Clean Shot X - screen capture tool (SetApp)
- CloudMounter - mounts One Drive and Box for me (SetApp)
- Default Folder X - enhanced open and save dialog boxes (SetApp)
- File Widgets - macOS widgets to access specific folders
- Google Drive - C cloud storage and backup
- History Hound - multi-browser and bookmark database
- Keyboard Maestro - automation tool
- KeyClu - reveals keyboard shortcuts
- Mission Control Plus - Adds functionality to Mission Control
- PopClip - manipulates and enhances text selections (SetApp)
- Raycast - program launcher, emoji picker, clipboard manger, text replacement, window manager and more
- RightZoom - changes the behavior of the zoom button from full-screen to maximize
- Things Helper - helper app for Things 3 task manager
- Velja - picks browsers and default apps for different types of URLS
- XMenu - Menu bar app launcher
- Hazel - automated file management
- Nord VPN - virtual private network
- Dropzone 4 - manages files, runs scripts
- Scrap Paper - floating notes app (better than Raycast)
- Little Snitch - powerful and customizable firewall
- 24-Hour Wallpaper - time synced dynamic wallpapers (SetApp)
- Karabiner-Elements - keyboard remapper for making a hyperkey among other things
- Maestral - lightweight Dropbox client that keeps its files in the root of your home directory
- Path Finder - Finder replacement (file manager)
- iStat Menus - computer hardware monitors
- Lingon X- advanced automation tool for cron jobs and more
- Paletro - command pallet in any application (SetApp)
- Tembo - file search app
- A personal Gmail account
- A work account in Outlook
- A Yahoo email account just for newsletters
- Omnivore clips 15 - Omnivore is my preferred method of importing web content The majority of the notes this week come from two writers I follow, Matt Birchler and Jarrod Blundy, and their posts are imported automatically.
- Blog posts 21 - I wrote twenty-one different posts this week. I write in Obsidian more often than not. I save my drafts in my vault, using file properties to track the topic and published URL.
- Daily notes 7 - I start and end every day with my daily note.. I use the Periodic Notescommunity plugin.
- Receipt 1 - Since Obsidian serves as my Evernote replacement, I figured out how to email content into my vault to save stuff like receipts.
- Work People 8 - Whenever I have an interaction with someone at work (I’m in IT at a small university), I make a reference note using a template. I find this invaluable for tracking different tech issues.
- Personal Notes 2 - these are notes not related to work or technical areas. I made one note on how to get free Paramount Plus and another on how to stop my car from spying on me.
- Tech Notes 6 - Most of these notes are clips from emails and web pages covering various tech topics like blogging, web design and miscellaneous Apple related content.
- Bookmarks 8 - I have an automated workflowto import my Raindrop.io bookmarks.
- Restaurants 2 - I like to track the places I eat out using a template that includes a link to their website, map, information on the cuisine and my rating. It’s especially helpful when traveling because it cuts down on the hassle of finding a place if I already know somewhere good in the area.
If you use more than one browser or non-standard apps for things like YouTube, getting links to open in the app of your choice can be a pain. Using Opener by tijo inc., you can force links to open where you want them, not where your phone thinks they should open.
The One a Month Club's I've Joined So Far
Ever since @jarrod started the One a Month , I’ve looked for people to acknowledge with that token contribution. It’s not much, obviously, but it’s really the thought and the tangible appreciation that really count. I encourage everyone to pick out a few of your favorites to do the same thing.
So far I’m supporting:
This Weeks Bookmarks - Internet Fame, Bizarre Golf Courses, Stadium Names, Nature Photography Winners, SNL's Best Clip Ever, 10 Words You Mispronounce, Penguins!
Winners 2024 — WORLD NATURE PHOTOGRAPHY AWARDS
The 10 most bizarre golf courses in the world | CNN
A history of the American economy through stadium names - Sherwood News
‘Wirecutter’ Best Wok Pick Shows Perils of Internet Fame - Bloomberg (archive.ph)
Beavis and Butt-Head - SNL (youtube.com)
10 Common Words You’re Probably Mispronouncing (mentalfloss.com)
Better Display is a Mac app that lets you reach and control the full potential of your built in and connected displays. Your screen never looked so good after tweaking it with Better Display. Many free features, full package is $18. 15K Stars on GitHub!
Browser Extensions Personalize The Web Like Nothing Else Can - What Are Your Favorites?
Most of these extensions were designed for Chromium browsers. I am an unashamed user of Microsoft Edge. It can use the same extensions available to Google Chrome and there’s a vast selection to choose from. I don’t find that running all these extensions slows Edge down appreciably, so I install what I need. Extensions are specific to the profile you are using, but workspaces within the same profile share the same extensions. You can create a different Mac and PC profile is you find yourself using extensions that are platform specific. Here’s what I use:
My 10 Favorite Books - Most of them life changing in some way, a couple just for entertainment and one for survival.
Open at Login - The Balancing Act: Every App You Run Has the Potential To Slow Your Computer Down But Some Stuff You Just Can't Live Without
We buy our computers in order to use them. Some of them get used at work so that we can earn a living. In a lot of ways they are like shovels or hammers, just tools, a means to an end. Some computers are used for a different purpose. They help us express our creativity through art, photography, poetry. They provide us a link to the news of the world, whatever world it is that we wish to live in, be it some ancient kingdom in a video game or up to the minute events in politics and war or maybe just the lives of our friends online and in real life. We get to decide. We get to choose the tools, in the form of software that we are going to use to have the experience on our computer that we want to have. In the end, it’s all subjective. Maybe you can write a best-selling novel with TextEdit and use nothing but the stock out of the box apps on your Mac. Some do. Others, however, look for the tools that fit their styles and meet their needs in a particular way. There is no right and wrong.
There are a few things that people in the Windows world get that we don’t. Windows has a built-in clipboard manager. It has Windows management tools. We can have those things, we just have to find an app to do them for us. Most often those apps are installed so that they run when you log in to your computer. I’m going to list the tools I want available to me when I’m on my laptop. Every single program in the list runs as a login item on my Mac. Undoubtably, some people are going to be SMDH. Well, IDGAF. This is what it takes for me to have the experience I want. I’ve been using a Mac for a minute (I’m a retired Mac sysadmin from the public school system) and if an app has any kind of notoriety, I’ve probably tried it. Some of these apps are available on SetApp, if that’s something you’re interested in. Unfortunately for me, I bought a bunch of them before Setapp ever existed, so I don’t get to realize a savings on all of them.
So, as Leeroy Jenkins immortally exclaimed, let’s do this.
From the lips of Brett Terpstra to my ears. He’s got a whole website devoted to little pearls like this. #dimspiration @ttscoff@nojack.easydns.ca on Mastodon
My Daily Digital Checklist - Staying Organized and Tracking the Important Stuff. Easy to Implement. Easy to Follow.
I use three of my favorite apps to create a daily digital checklist that I run through in the last hour of the day before bed. I have a template in Drafts containing the items I want to do regulalrly. I use a Keyboard Maestro Macro to automatically create a new list every day in Things 3, my task management app.
I have three email accounts:
I have a checkbox for each of these accounts and strive to reach Inbox Zero each night. I get behind on newsletters at a times, that being my lowest priority. I also have a checkbox to make sure I’ve downloaded any attached files to Google Drive.
Drafts
I use Drafts for iOS as my quick capture tool for all text. In the evening, I look at what I’ve captured that day and route it to the appropriate app. Notes go to Obsidain Quotes for my ever-growing collection go to Thoughts. I sometimes have new todo items for Things or calendar events for Fantastical.
Things 3
I go through Things and make sure I’ve checked off everything I accomplished that day. I take a minute to add anything I might want to get done tomorrow that I have not already added.
Obsidian
I clear out any notes I’ve saved in my Obsidian inbox, adding any tags or backlinks that I need. If it’s something I want to read later, I bookmark it - because I have a weekly task to read my bookmarked notes. I also have an Obsidian folder where emails arrive whenI send them via an IFTTT action. I clear that daily too. I make sure that any Omnivore highlights, notes or articles are properly tagged and that the metadata matches my preferred format. The last step is making sure I’ve completed my daily note. I add to it throughout the day as a journal, but at night I like to reflect a bit and add what I’m grateful for that day.
Updates
I have nearly 400 apps installed on my MacBook and an equivalent number on my iPhone. I run two Mac apps nightly to check for updates, Mac Updater and Latest. It only takes a couple of minutes, and it saves me from having marathon sessions of updates if I keep putting it off. The other thing I update is Trakt, a media tracking service that allows me to keep a record of my viewing habits.
Following this plan, making it an integral part of my evening routine helps me stay on top of the things that are important to me. The systems I have in place function smoothly because of this checklist. It’s an evolving habit and I add and remove items as I need to.
If you use multiple browsers or just want a super-charged database for searching your web history and bookmarks, HistoryHound from St. Clair Software is a must have tool. It searches not only the page title but also the content of every page you visit in a centralized database.
When the Writing Was Easy - The writing process and how it differs for me when engaged in real life vs. while on a grand adventure.
If you find the floating note useful in Raycast, you need to check out Scrap Paper by Wegner Labs, the ultimate scratch pad. It’s a menubar app with customizable colors and fonts that syncs to iCloud, can be shared via the share sheet. $2.99 in the app store. Details here
This Week's Bookmarks: Coconut Curry Red Lentil Soup, TV's Favorite Fake Beer, A Graph of Wikipedia, Real Places that Look Fake, Terrible Software Bugs, Missed Connection Ads, Voyager 1
Coconut Curry Red Lentil Soup l Panning The Globe - “I love everything about this Coconut Curry Red Lentil Soup, from the tender red lentils that melt into the creamy, curry-spiced tomato and coconut broth, to the perfect balance of heat, spice and tang that keeps it interesting right down to the bottom of the bowl.”
Meet Heisler, TV’s Favorite Beer That Doesn’t Even Exist | VinePair “You’d be hard-pressed to find any Heisler to chug while you play [a drinking game]. The beer doesn’t actually exist, but its on-screen presence is so extensive that it’s earned the nickname “the Bud Light of Fake Beers.”
I Made a Graph of Wikipedia… This Is What I Found (youtube.com) “A deep dive into the network of Wikipedia and some of the the most interesting, bizarre, and unique articles on the website.”
Photos of places on Earth that look fake, but are actually real
An anthology of terrible, terrible bugs For people who like their software stories extra-hideous
‘To the train lady with dark brown hair … ’: extraordinary stories of four couples who found love via small ads | Relationships | The Guardian “What are the chances of real romance via a ‘missed connection’? And has the internet turned these interactions from the stuff of romcoms to just a bit creepy?”
NASA engineers discover why Voyager 1 is sending a stream of gibberish from outside our solar system | Live Science “Voyager 1 has been sending a stream of garbled nonsense since November. Now NASA engineers have identified the fault and found a potential workaround.”
Supporting Something New, An IndieWeb Developer Releases a New Tool and I Get in on the Ground Floor louplummer.lol/post/supp…
How come no one ever told me about The FreePrints App which works with Google Photos and Apple’s Photos and gives you up to 85 4x6 prints a month for $1.99 shipping and handling? I read about it today in Jeremy Caplan’s Wondertools newsletter.
What Mastodon client do you use and why? I’m partial to Ivory by Tapbots. I use it on my Mac, iPad and Phone. The only feature I wish it had is the ability to follow multiple hashtags in a single thread.
“DEI is just diversity, equity, and inclusion, by the way. That’s all it is. It’s become the new word that racists say when they want to say a slur but they realize they’re in mixed company. It’s a handy watchword for people who have decided that every problem is the result of the proximal existence of Black people and other marginalized people groups, because what they actually intend is to end the existence of such people, as soon as they can, with as much violence as possible.”
–A.R. Moxon The Reframe
Clipboard Fusion - Clipboard sharing between Windows and iOS - a solution - There are plenty of Mac/iOS clipboard sharing solutions but not so much for Windows. I found an app I love and it runs on my PC, my phone and has an encrypted web version.
AppRaven is what the Apple App Store would be if it were interactive. Features include app-specific message bords, price drop notifications, advanced filters to find what you want, wish lists and more. It’s ad free and doesn’t accept sponsors of any type. It’s a must have for app aficionados.
My #Obsidian Week - Breaking Down the Notes I Created by Area and Workflow
This week I created 61 new notes in Obsidian. Some of them were original content - things I wrote. Some of them were automated. Others were the results of using templates. The breakdown looks like this: