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On Twitter's Attention Seekers
On Twitter, you can get notified when someone starts following you. Sounds great until it isn’t. You know, many people will start following others to get attention about their existence, hoping to get a follow back. It’s easy to know they are seeking your attention because after a few days they will unfollow you. I always despised this behaviour. For this reason, I prefer Micro.blog’s lack of notifications when someone starts to follow me. Continue reading →
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Rewind: Thanks but No Thanks
After watching a recent video from Matt Birchler about Rewind, a constant screen recording utility for the Mac, I was excited to give my email address and get onboard the waiting list for early access to the app. I got my invite a few days ago. As much as I would like to test this app, here's this deal-breaker for me: 20 US$ per month to get on the early access program, no thank you. Continue reading →
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The Cost of Twitter
I could save more than a whopping 400$ annually by shutting down my Twitter accounts. Thanks to the potential removal of a few service subscriptions from my workflow and potentially unjustified without Twitter in my digital life: Buffer, Typefully, Mailbrew. It’s incredible how thinking about my Twitter reliance makes me realize so many things on so many levels in my content creation workflow. Continue reading →
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Less Than 1%
The longer you’ve been on Twitter (I joined in 2007), the more likely that most of your followers are inactive accounts. My guesstimate would be that less than 1% of my followers are actually active, and even fewer actually care about what I’m saying or posting. So why on earth, give a damn? Continue reading →
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Twitter Is Xenophobic Now
I’m in violation of Twitter’s guidelines because I do promote content coming from other social platforms. I do use Linktree and have my Linktr.ee URL set on @numericcitizen. This new "Promotion of alternative social platforms policy" on Twitter deserves memorializing for the pure idiocy of it. Jamie Thingelstad https://www.thingelstad.com/2022/12/18/this-new-promotion.html "Accounts that are used for the main purpose of promoting content on another social platform may be suspended.". Continue reading →
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Twitter Down, Micro.blog Up
I would love @manton to speak out about how the current Twitter turmoils, people flocking to Mastodon, and the ability to follow people over there right from my Micro.blog feed is increasing Micro.blog engagement, subscriptions and general usage. Personally, I’m much more active than before. Continue reading →
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On "Load Bearing Mac Mini"
Is this true? 12 years ago, Twitter’s office used a Mac Mini to tunnel into the servers. One day, an IT guy found it in the closet. “Anyone know who owns this?” “Unplug it. Someone will show up.” Everyone lost access to servers. Huge crisis. It became known as the “Load Bearing Mac Mini.” https://mastodon.social/@sandofsky/109434832011074072 Continue reading →
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Mailbrew, Typefully and Twitter
I finally found how to reconfigure my Mailbrew account to log in without using Twitter. Good thing. I don’t log in often in Mailbrew, but this morning I learned that I’d need to adjust many things when I close my Twitter account. As an example, this newsletter setup will need to be revisited to remove any references to Twitter as a data source. Mailbrew is an excellent tool for generating newsletters, but it hasn’t been updated for quite a while (October of 2021, according to the change log). Continue reading →
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The Stars of the Show for 2022 Are...
If I look back at my software usage in 2022, three stars stand out: Raycast Things 3 Screenflow Raycast was a revelation. It is so pervasive in my workflow that I feel lost when returning to my iPad for serious work. I underutilize Raycast for sure. It's free and constantly evolving. Things 3 returned after more than a year of trying Apple Reminders and Craft Daily notes. It was a futile exercise. Continue reading →
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Twitter — It’s Really Getting Worse
According to media and users on Twitter: Many Twitter users added a Mastodon profile link into their bios as the Twitter alternative picked up steam. Now, any links to blocked Mastodon servers are disabled and accompanied by the text “Warning: this link may be unsafe. And Twitter on Thursday evening suddenly suspended several high-profile journalists who cover the platform and Elon Musk, one of the richest people in the world, who acquired the company just a few months ago. Continue reading →
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Hands Down to Hand Mirror Plus
Just got my notice for the Hand Mirror update today. The latest release offers a paid version, for which I gladly paid. Why? Hand Mirror is a great example of useful software with attributes of the work of great craftsmanship. It was an instant buy because of this. The onboarding screen is simply gorgeous. Continue reading →
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Eyeing the Rumoured 15-Inch MacBook Air
Apple’s rumored 15-inch MacBook Air is expected to feature the same general design as the 13-inch MacBook Air that was released in 2022 with flat edges, a large Force Touch trackpad, a keyboard with function keys, and more. It will also likely include a MagSafe charging port, upgraded speaker system, and a 1080p camera. Source: 15.5-Inch MacBook Air Expected to Launch in Spring 2023 - MacRumors This year, as an M1 MacBook Air owner, I decided to skip the M2 MacBook Air. Continue reading →
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Exit Plans are Important — Learning the Hard Way With Twitter
Exit plans are important. My Twitter exit planning reminds me that we all should have some sort of exit plan for anything we use and depend on online. Every building has an emergency exit plan. Businesses who subscribe to cloud-based services need to plan their exit in case they no longer like their cloud provider. The same should be planned for using services like Twitter. Having a plan is one thing but maintaining it is quite another. Continue reading →
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Twitter Is the Uneeded Intermediary and How I'm Planning to Get Rid of It
Whenever I want to go to Twitter, I should remember that Twitter is mostly a big dump of content originating from other places. So, why not consume content at the source instead? In my journey to a Twitter-free world, I’ll need to rebuild my habits of visiting the following places: * Techmeme: for consuming news; * RSS Reader: for consuming news and articles; * Telegram: for consuming news; * Mailbrew: for consuming content; Continue reading →
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On Rumours of Apple Working on Its App Stores Overhaul
Bloomberg: Apple to Allow Outside App Stores in Overhaul Spurred by EU Laws. Boom. If true, it’s massive. I can imagine Apple's engineering efforts to make it happen for WWDC 2023. I wrote earlier this year that I changed my mind about sideloading apps on the iPhone. I still stand with my change of heart. I expect the iPhone experience to suffer with increased complexity for ordinary users. Not by much, but somehow, things will have to change to accommodate new workflows. Continue reading →
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On Apple's Freeform and Tools Palettes
Freeform, the visual and collaborative application from Apple, is finally out for the iPad, the Mac and… I spent some time with it on the iPad and found it enjoyable and deceptively minimalistic. On the Mac, once updated to Ventura 13.1, Freeform can be used to continue working on the content, albeit with a different set of tools, since there is no Apple Pencil support over there. One question is, why is the tools palette on the iPad different from the one with Apple Notes? Continue reading →
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Starting a Journey to My Twitter-Free Digital Life
After much thinking and due to recent events on Elon Musk’s Twitter, I’m starting to put together a plan for phasing Twitter out of my digital life entirely. The journey will be long, and I made it to be one of my goals for 2023. Twitter is well entrenched in my digital life. One example of this is the Mailbrew service that I’m subscribing to: sign in requires my Twitter account. Continue reading →
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Following Mastodon Users From Micro.blog
[@anildash@mastodon.cloud](https://micro.blog/anildash@mastodon.cloud) I've been improving our ActivityPub support in Micro.blog. Just posted a video earlier today that you might find interesting: www.youtube.com/watch Manton Reece https://micro.blog/manton/14888307 Thanks to this video, I understand that I can follow Mastodon users right from Micro.blog. Continue reading →
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When Ukraine Is Home of Great Software Makers
I recently wrote my satisfaction about Readdle’s Documents.app on-boarding experience on the iPad. Now I’m reading about Spark’s cleverness take on emails. Without being as opinionated as Hey.com, Spark is a serious professional email client. Readdle’s home is Ukraine 🇺🇦 too. I’m considering integrating both software in my toolset. All good reasons to show some support to them. Continue reading →
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Welcome to the TwitterDump
I’m not a Qwitter. I don’t think I’ll ever close my Twitter account. But, there will be a day where I no longer post original content on Twitter, only cross-posting stuff from other sources. That day, I’ll refer to Twitter as the TwitterDump™. Continue reading →
