Apps & Services
I love apps and enjoy testing new services to improve my workflows. These posts discuss my experiences with them.
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I no longer use the Mac App Store to update my apps on my Mac; I prefer using the brew “mas outdated” and “mas upgrade” commands instead.
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Comet, Dia: these AI-focused browsers aren’t clicking with me. I tried many times. I prefer to use a native client like ChatGPT, which will surf for me when needed.
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I created this diagram in MindNote Next today for a video about Craft and tags usage. There is a “Focus Mode” where the UI disappears, allowing us to focus on the content, as shown in this screenshot. There is one big problem with this: the “Focus Mode” status button at the top. It is highly distracting to me; I can’t focus. 😳
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Today, I decided to add Screen Studio to my digital toolbox. Some form of video editing is tedious and much less intuitive in ScreenFlow, and I think Screen Studio really shines here. Using this type of quick animation helps focus on what matters most.
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It’s been two weeks (if not three) since Apple released iOS/iPadOS/macOS 26 are out… and still no iWork update. 👀 It must be hard to implement Liquid Glass… even for Apple.
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I think that, from what I observed and experienced since Apple OS 26 releases, some apps inherently lend themselves better at Apple’s Liquid Glass adoption because of dev abilities but also because of the very nature of the app. Craft and Reeder are good examples. There are a few others.
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Journaling While Traveling - A Third Option?
Journaling and documenting my experiences while travelling has always been something that I wish I could do effectively, without too much friction. I did it in Italy in 2022 using Craft and again this past summer with Apple Journal. Two different kinds of vacations, totally different solutions. I’m still not satisfied with either of these options. Next time, maybe I should consider using the real deal: Day One? Continue reading →
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Apple’s iWork (Pages, Numbers, Keynote) is still not updated for Liquid Glass. Mmmmm. 👀
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There is no clipboard manager on my office PeeCee… at least, nothing that I could install anyway if such a thing exists on Windozzzz. 😒
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Flighty is increasing by 33% their yearly subscription fees. This is… massive. I recognize the constant improvements to this app but boy, that makes me pause and reconsider.
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While read later services are enticing and convenient, I often forget about the saved content and the service itself. 🤷🏻♂️
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I’ve been installing and applying app updates en masse for a few days. There is a clear trend. Big corporations like Medium, OpenAI, LinkedIn, Reddit, etc. release notes that are like “We’ve been hard at work updating our app so you get a better experience, blah blah blah”. At the same time, indie devs will write, “We’re happy to introduce support for Apple’s latest innovations like Liquid Glass, transparent widgets and on-device Apple Fondational Model for a richer experience.” See the difference?
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It’s really fascinating how third-party apps adopt Apple’s Liquid Glass. For some apps, like Things, changes are minimal… but for Craft, it’s a godsend. Flighty seems to sit in the middle. Does it depend entirely on Liquid Glass, or is it an interpretation by the developer of how far to take this new visual metaphor? It’s probably mostly the latter.
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Today, Apple releases a slew of operating system updates, including Liquid Glass, an already controversial, divisive, and well-documented user-hostile unified visual language across all of their operating system. I’m pleased to announce the addition of a “Before & After” section in my now-famous website: “Where Apple’s Liquid Glass Crashes the User Experience”. Have a look and see how developers adopted Liquid Glass.
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Here’s a really strange thing: for some apps, adopting Liquid Glass seems to be a step back (lower information density, too much spacing in some areas), while for others, it appears to do the opposite and enhances the app. That’s the case for Craft. I genuinely believe Craft with Liquid Glass is much better. Craft’s take on Liquid Glass is well-balanced and executed. Bravo.
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Apple Liquid Glass not only creates usability issues (harder to read, user content conflicts with prominent UI elements), but also somewhat reduces information density as well as content space, as illustrated in the following example with 1Blocker, before & after animated GIF.
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Going Apple TV-Only?
Based on our experience earlier this year with Apple TV as the only way to watch TV content, along with rising costs and an unstable service, we are seriously considering cutting our cable service and keeping only our Internet service. Even though the apps on Apple TV are far from perfect, they generally allow us to replace cable service. Rumors suggest that Apple is working on a new iteration of the Apple TV, which could make the timing even more favorable. Continue reading →
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Why All This?
Despite using various digital tools to save and organize content, the effort often feels futile as saved information quickly becomes outdated and irrelevant. Continue reading →
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While I’m testing and experimenting with MyMind, I realize that there is a lot happening these days in the apps and services space for reading and processing information. Besides the traditional read-later services that have existed for years, we now have AI-powered summarizers available through various platforms, including apps, websites, APIs, and browsers. The experience also differs between desktop and mobile devices. It’s hard to ever settle on a digital toolset and workflows.