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Uniformity across diversity (#youtubers #YouTube #design)
Recently I spent more time than usual on YouTube for different reasons: to look at AirPods Max first impressions, to learn more about Synology DSM 7.0 beta, etc. After a while, it’s easy to see a trend that bugs me: design uniformity across the board. See the previous image gathers a few popular YouTubers channel content pages. They all look about the same or at least designed by the same designer. On top of that, there seems to be a trend where the weider you look, the better. When did that trend start?
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What came before the diagram (#blogging #tips)
I use Appleās Notes app to jot some ideas, all the time. When the concept is clear in my head, I go ahead and select my tool for the next phase. In this case, it was Appleās Keynote which proves to provide a quite capable environment for diagramming. The subject: how I process information that eventually will enable me to write blog posts. More details here.
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A Substack reader, really? (#substack #mailbrew #hey #newsletters)
From Chris Best, Substack CEO: āSomething that we think about a lot is readers tell us, āHey, Iām subscribed to six different Substacks now, and I want to read them all, and it sucks that theyāre in my email inbox along with all my other stuff,ā" š³š¤¦š»āāļø
A reader app from Substack would certainly be a good idea. Iām already on the private beta. I wonder if Mr. Best knows about Mailbrew? Or Hey? While waiting for such a reader app, Mailbrew is certainly capable of doing just that: consolidating newsletters in one place. Read my review of Mailbrew on my blog. https://linktr.ee/numericcitizen
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How Synology NAS can improve my blogger workflow (#synology #nas #storage #blogger #tools)
As an IT guy, looking at what Synology has in store for 2021 makes me pretty excited. I wrote about that yesterday but I took a deeper look at what is coming in DSM 7.0, their NAS operating system. I didnāt pay too much attention to their photo management software that comes with a Synology NAS, but that might change. In my blogger workflow, there is something I can optimize is the use of a photo management to store all my screen shots, stock photos, visual assets, etc. Synology Photos could be the tool I was looking for for a long time. I donāt want to use Appleās Photos application as I donāt really like to see screenshots intermixed with family pictures. If Synology Photos is as solid as it looks, if their mobile application is much improved to their current version, Iāll certainly give it a serious try. On top of that, this photo feature also enable remote access to the photo library. Very interesting.
Iāve been shopping around for a home NAS for a long time and only made the plunge this year. After much thinking and reading, I settled on Synology because I saw a mature company offering mature products with a solid reputation. Again, DSM 7.0 brings a lot of new features and improvements which makes me feel happy about my choice of going with them. Canāt wait to try whatās new.
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Massive update coming to Synology NAS users š (#synology #dsm #update #nas)
Iāve been using a Synology DS720+ NAS for a few months now and boy do I like it! On my blogger to do list is a review of this device. The breath of features never stop to impress me. Iām a big fan. I use it for archiving, space reclamation on my Mac and much more. Itās fast and reliable as I had a chance to test the repair feature after losing a hard drive (yes, already!). It worked flawlessly.
This week, Synology will make DSM 7.0 available for beta testers, the braves. Looking at the announcement web page, it looks like a massive update. Refreshed screens, more cloud integration, admin rights delegation and added feature like Active Insight will certainly be exciting additions. One question: I think Synology is about to add a subscription for this, which Iām not sure Iāll pay for, depending of its usefulness in its final form. Weāll see.
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The Unifi Dream Machine gets a major update! (@ubnt #udm #update)
My home router got an update this week, version 1.8.3. I’ve been running the Unifi Dream Machine since spring without any issues. This update was long in the works and highly expected. Among the changes, a redesigned and simplified controller dashboard with real-time statistics which are really helpful. The device management UI also received a redesign. Some of the previously available information has been removed or moved around. CPU, Memory consumption and internal temperature are higher than before (around +10%-30%), though. Overall, its’a solid update. Oh, and it is running an 4 cores ARM processor.
Remember, this router replaced an aging Apple AirPort Extreme. If you are still looking for a great home router, please, do yourself a favor and buy this one. This post is not sponsored.
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Using Twitter Fleet, why not! (#twitter #creativity)
As you know, Twitter came out with Ā«Ā FleetsĀ Ā», its clone of Snapshatās Stories. People donāt really like it. Or do they? My timeline is constantly filled with my followers posting fleets. I guess some do like them. I decided to give it a serious try. I think they add another dimension to Twitter that I happen to find interesting for highlighting purposes. Itās simple to use, just enough design flexibility. There are is one drawback: they only show up on the iPhone (not the iPad or the web), which I find strange and somewhat arbitrary.
Following are screenshots of my experiment. Letās see where it goes from here.
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Let's meet! Here is a free idea for calendaring app makers (talking to you guys! @macguitar @flexibits)
Let’s play a game. One of your customer calls you and ask for a meeting (virtual or in person). Before answering this request, you have to look at your calendar to see your free/busy time. It’s a time consuming and error prone process. What if your favorite calendaring app could generate a map of your weekly schedule with all sensible information masked out, like in the following example (made with Fantastical). This could be sent as a PDF file to the customer, would save a lot of time. It’s surprising that, to my knowledge, no calendaring app offer this option. I would pay to get this.
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For Icons lovers (#macos #ios #apple #design #ui #ux #visualarts)
Iām a user of Timing for Mac, and recently the app got updated in order to support macOS Big Sur. The update brings a fresh and entirely new app icon to better fit the visual style of Big Sur, and I love it š. The icon has been designed by Matthew Skiles. Looking on his Twitter profile, I discovered two interesting web sites: https://www.macosicongallery.com/ and https://www.iosicongallery.com/. These are catalogs of the best icons for macOS and iOS of well known apps. Check them out. These sites made me realize how much we lost in design quality over the years, great icons are hard to come by these days.
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I can breath. (#bidenharis2020) ššØš¦
Well, I can breath a little bit better now that this clown is on the way out. Good riddance. As a Canadian, I’m so happy to see this clown go. If there was a way to start fixing 2020, it would be it. Yeah, I know, he won’t concede victory, he probably won’t do a concession speech. Who cares.. we knew all that, already. Now, let’s hope Americans start to unite a little bit and fix their shit, because, it’s pretty ugly out there.
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Pray. (#vote2020 #electionnight)
I rarely if ever post political stuff here. As a Canadian, my sincere hope is that the American people make the furst step in order to put an end to this endless nightmare.
On a side note: Iām using ļ£æ News to follow election night. So far, I like what Apple is doing here. Results are quick to be reflected on the maps, which can be drilled down up to the state level.
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Widget Radar (#widgets #ios14 #weatherapps @rjonesy)
Another wonderful and really useful widget is finally available for iOS 14 and iPadOS 14: a precipitation radar. I’m a big fan of MyRadar but the app wasn’t yet updated to support widgets. Widget Radar, which is free by the way, is simple and minimalist yet effective. It is proudly sitting on my homes creen now, on the weather page.
Side note: Weatherline is another useful weather app, but it doesn’t allow the placement of the radar image as a widget, yet.
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Third edition is out! (#newsletter #blogger #writing #apple)
After much writing and compositing, the third edition of the Numeric Citizen Introspection newsletter is out! I’m quite happy with the end results. It’s getting better with each release. It’s still free. Can’t wait to build the next edition!
Please, read, share and like! šš» šš»
Comments are welcomed!
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A wild dream (#apple #macpro #vmware #virtualization #lab)
Iāve been thinking of something really wild recently, for me at least: replacing my 2017 21.5 inches iMac with a Mac Pro. Here is why.
I work in IT (information technologies) as a data center related technology architect. Server virtualization, storage area networks, networking technologies are at the center of my professional universe. In the coming months, Iāll have to invest in self-training and experimentations a lot around VMware-related products and services. How can I do that efficiently while working from home? Here comes the Mac Pro idea.
In order to be able to run many virtual machines, a powerful physical computer is required: lots of memory, powerful CPU (more than 6 cores) and fast storage. My current iMac doesnāt meet these basic requirements (it is maxed out at 32 GB of RAM and it has a relatively modest CPU). A Mac Pro with the following specs would easily meet the challenge: at least 128 GB of fast memory, 8 cores CPU, builtin SSD and expandability.
Virtualization will required VMware Fusion Pro running on top of macOS. Then, the sky is the limit as I can then install ESXi hypervisor which will allow me to branch into more complex setup. This type of environment do require a lot of memory (a typical VM is about 4-16 GB each) and multi-cores CPU. Installing ESXi directly on the Mac Pro is not an option as I will need to have macOS running for all other tasks (Iām not even sure if it is att all possible).
How do I get there? Well, Iām still thinking about how Iāll buy that machine and get the additional RAM (I wonāt go with Appleās because $$$). Stay tuned.
Technical datasheet can be found on Appleās website, right here in PDF format. I donāt want to switch to a Windows machine BTW, Iām too much invested in Appleās ecosystem for that to happen.
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Look whoās in town (#rssreader #rss #reading @reederapp)
The venerable RSS reader app Ā«Ā ReederĀ Ā» turned to version 5 yesterday. I donāt know how I missed that one. Maybe because I moved from Reeder to News Explorer. I pay a lot of respect to the developer of Reeder. Iāve been using it for a long time. I wanted to have a look at version 5 so I bought it. Here is why.
Widgets. News Explorer hasnāt been updated to support them yet. Reeder now does. I love them. Read Later. Sending URLs to Reeder Read later is interesting and provides a better experience than in Safari Read Later. Tracking my own RSS feed for quality control. Oh and Shortcuts are also supported, something News Explorer donāt.
I think Iāll have to update my blogger workflow. š¤
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Software is art (@airbuddyapp, #macOS)
If you have a Mac, many battery-powered Apple devices, you need AirBuddy. Version has been in the works for a very long time and it is a major update. Iām so anxious to get my AirBuddy updated!
We don’t get to see this level of craft on computers these days. This reminds me how dire the macOS native application landscape has become over the years. With macOS Big, Catalyst, Apple Silicon Macs and universal binaries, one can hope for a brighter future.
Am I alone who think the AirBuddy logo is upside down?
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Deliveries 9.0 - Does it deliver?
Here are a few quick comments on Deliveries 9.0 that came out recently. Deliveries 9 helped me track my Apple Watch Series 6 (read me review here).
As you know, Junecloud, the maker of Deliveries, switched to a subscription model with this release. I donāt really like this model but what can I do? Their pricing is fair and they give to previously paid users a six months break.
Version 9 brings refined visuals and more details tracking history among other things. The importation workflow has been updated and simplified too. Once delivered, package tracking can be archived forever. iOS 13ās dark mode is now supported but iOS 14 widgets arenāt yet. I think Deliveries is the perfect candidate to support widgets and I canāt wait to see what Junecloud will come up with in that regard.
All in all, as a long time user of Deliveries, Iām ok with this update albeit the switch to the subcription model. If it getās more frequent feature additions, Iām ok with it, I guess.
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HEY, here is an important update!
Today is Christmas! Basecamp just released version 1.1 of their email client for HEY which supports WIDGETS among other things! I played with it and I LOVE the way they added the feature. Nicely designed and useful! Congrats to them!
Now, I have to get back to work on my article on widgets and remove HEY as an app without widgets support!
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I think this is a great move! Everyone (?) can now test this feature. The highlighting feature works across devices which is really useful. Manton Reece
weāve enabled the new bookmark archiving and highlights feature for everyone to try out
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Micro.blog 2.0 - Testing, 1-2-3, Testing...
I really like what I’m seeing here on macOS. Only request is the default view of a New Post window should show the Title and Categories by default. On the web, the improvements are massive. I’m surprised the Bookmarking feature is available in a new Premium tier only. I want this feature but not the others (podcasting, richer media support). I’ll give it a try while it is free and I’ll see. On iOS and iPadOS, the workflow of selecting a photo from the library is still broken, otherwise, I love the changes. There seems to be speed improvements too. In other words, it is snappier!
All in all, I like where Micro.blog is going with these updates.
Testing an embedded bookmark here.
For the Micro.blog 2.0 launch week, weāve enabled the new bookmark archiving and highlights feature for everyone to try out. You can upgrade to Micro.blog Premium at any time and also get podcast and video hosting.
Read: www.manton.org
