Apps & Services
I love apps and enjoy testing new services to improve my workflows. These posts discuss my experiences with them.
-
Mark Gurman (@markgurman@mastodon.social)
Google is ramping up development of a dedicated Gemini AI app for Apple Inc.’s Mac computer lineup, looking to step up competition with OpenAI and Anthropic
Suddenly, building a Mac app is sexy again. Who knew. There is an ad concept, right there, Apple!
-
Since my bookmark manager is almost complete, I plan to record a demo to share here. I like its integration with my other web apps, such as the Micro.blog front-end for posting linkposts and the feature that exports selected links and quotes to a markdown file, which will be included in an upcoming ephemeral scrapbook edition.
-
ChatGPT Plus subscription cancelled. Now, I could upgrade my Micro.blog subscription to Studio to support @manton in its mission!
-
Grammarly’s ‘Expert Review’ Feature Presents Fake Advice in the Names of Real Journalists and Authors — Pixel Envy
Grammarly’s “expert review” feature uses AI-generated text attributed to real people and deceased figures without their consent or knowledge, merely slapping their names on insights they never created.
Can we say “Corporate slop”? I think we can.
-
I didn’t expect Inkwell to come with an API… I’m very curious about that because it could mean that I could replace the data persistence layer of my personal RSS web app with Inkwell’s. Something to think about. 🤔👨🏻💻
-
My use case for Inkwell, for now, is to consume content from my blogroll feeds. I asked for a sync option with Inoreader, my beloved RSS sync service, but I don’t want to break the calmness of using Inkwell. 🙏🏻
-
Introducing Inkwell: manton.org
I was (and still am) so excited about Inkwell that I created a video tour. Very personal. I originally thought the name would be Micro.ink, but the real name is Inkwell, while the URL is micro.ink. I wasn’t sure when I recorded the video yesterday. Now I know. Thanks to @manton for this!
-
Dim that background for me, will ya?
★ HazeOver — Mac Utility for Highlighting the Frontmost Window: What HazeOver does is highlight the active window by dimming all background windows. That’s it. But it does this simple task with aplomb, and it makes a significant difference in the day-to-day usability of MacOS. Not just MacOS 26 Tahoe — all recent versions of MacOS suffer from a design that makes it difficult to distinguish, instantly, the frontmost (a.k.a. key) window from background windows. Continue reading →
-
Of course, I had to create my own… miniroll… nice mini webapp… still wondering if I’m going to support Chris. Probably.
-
You might have noticed more linkposts than usual here today. The reason is that I’m testing this new RSS thing in Micro.blog… or part of Micro.blog future offering. It’s pretty solid.
-
Fastmail is preparing to launch an updated photo gallery functionality in approximately two weeks. I wasn’t certain they would keep updating this feature, so I’m glad it’s still available and that it keeps improving. I have a few test images there, but with my own web app for sharing photos now, I’m unsure whether I would switch to Fastmail’s version, since my version and Fastmail’s are quite similar.
-
Micro.blog + RSS = ?
Micro.blog is set to launch soon what could be its most exciting new feature yet: an integrated RSS reader. If I’m not mistaken, this could significantly change how I use the service. I currently follow many Mastodon accounts from news sites, so their updates are pushed to my timeline. With a possible RSS integration, I could use the RSS feeds directly, eliminating the need to follow the Mastodon account. I don’t know how the new feature will integrate with the rest of Micro. Continue reading →
-
Microsoft finally makes OneDrive look like a Mac app as it gets an all-new UI — 9to5Mac
The all-new OneDrive Activity Center embraces the Swift UI design language, including support for Liquid Glass on macOS 26 and native accessibility options like VoiceOver and Full Keyboard Access.
Can we say: finally?
-
9to5Mac’s article “Google launches Snapseed camera for iPhone with pro manual controls, retro film”:
Snapseed, a photo editing app by Google, has launched a new camera feature for iOS with manual adjustments, professional mode, and various film emulation styles. The updated app allows users to customize their photos with real-time filters and provides a full editing stack that enables post-capture modifications. The app is free and available in the App Store, with plans to update the Android version in the future.
I never quite understood why Google is making such an app. It’s great but… why?
-
How many new RSS readers can we get in a week? I’m counting two so far. Might be a third one coming soon? Cc @manton
-
Using Claude Code, I added an OPML export feature to my RSS Flow webpage so that I could move my feeds into Current so that I could compare the reading experience of a RSS river… let’s see.
-
I bought Current. I’m not sure it’s for me. It doesn’t support Inoreader. It might be in a future version. Information density is too low. I like some of its design decisions. It seems that some useful features will come the more I use the app. I’ll see.
-
I’m still tweaking my RSS Flow web app using Claude Code. It’s addictive and fun. It’s becoming the exact RSS reader I always wanted.
-
The more I tweak my personal RSS reader, called “RSS Flow”, the more I like it. It wouldn’t scale to the level of Inoreader, though. But for a dozen of RSS feeds, it’s really nice.
-
Trying out Aeronaut for Bluesky. Very nice. I don’t actually visit Bluesky directly that often because I post to it and follow within Micro.blog. Good to have a dedicated app for things like feeds, though.
Tried it for five minutes on my Mac. Nice, indeed. Certainly better than Bluesky’s offering which is iPhone only. The only thing is that I never quite remember what to use as my Bluesky username.