Weekly Posts Digest from Numeric Citizen Microblog
11 min read
The Most Divisive Mac Pro Is a Thing of Beauty
This week, a new Mac joined the family. The 2013 Mac Pro. I always dreamed of owning one. It’s probably one of the most singular Macs Apple has ever designed. Yes, it has limited expansion. Yes, it is not the Pro Mac that the pros wanted back in 2013. Yes, you need to unplug everything from the machine to open it up. It’s borderline baffling. But this hardware piece, just like the monolith in the 2001 Space Odyssey movie, seems to come from an alien planet, far from earth. Once plugged in and turned on, you can hear it barely humming, just like in any space station depicted in science fiction movies.
I’m starting to use this Mac Pro for a project that requires an Intel processor. You can read about it here if you are curious.
Sorry for your timeline flooding about this Mac Pro thing… probably a big in MarsEdit 5.0. Returning to normal programming now.
2022-12-10
Isn’t that weird that we need to jump to an external website to enjoy the 2022 Replay? Why not have it within Music.app itself? 🤔
2022-12-10 Another Day, Another Rabbit Hole
Well, I almost forgot about it. Today I received my invite to start testing Post.news; another potential exit door from Twitter.
From what I’m seeing, there is already quite a few people in there and I like the posting experience so far. It’s way easier to setup than anything Mastodon-related. Yeah, I know, it’s not the “federated” & “open web” et al., but hey, it’s not Elon Musk’s Twitter!
2022-12-11
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™.
2022-12-11
Matter to begin offering a subscription early next year. It was bound to happen. I’ll have to take a position and choose sooner than I originally thought. 🤦🏻♂️🫤
2022-12-12When 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.
2022-12-13
Following Mastodon Users From Micro.blog
<script src="https://micro.blog/quoteback.js"></script> Thanks to this video, I understand that I can follow Mastodon users right from Micro.blog. 2022-12-13[@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
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. Duh. Lots of generated newsletter content is pulled off Twitter. Duh.
I’ll need to be methodical in pursuing a better digital world. I’ll learn a lot about along the way and probably reconsider many aspects of my digital workflows.
From now on, I’ll use the “Qwitter” category for these posts.
2022-12-13
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? I mean, there are pencils or crayons that I prefer on Notes over the available choices in Freemform’s palette. Following is a comparison of both. At the top is the Apple Notes tools palette. At the bottom is Apple’s Freeform. The latter seems a bit childish, too simplistic. I really wish there were more pencil types.
Other than that, I didn’t test the collaborative work with someone else. I see Freemore as more for individualistic creative work. I’m not sure yet if I’ll ever make good use of it. Certainly not at work, as we’re more of a “Microsoft” business. Time will tell.
2022-12-14On 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. It’s not an easy task to keep things simple. I trust Apple to find a good compromise.
I don’t expect to use apps installed from other sources, except if there is a significant pricing difference or if it’s a unique app not available otherwise.
2022-12-14Twitter 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;
* Hackernews: for discovering content;
* Reddit: for consuming content, exploring and discovering new content;
A special mention about Mailbrew is required here: a portion of the content generated in my private newsletters comes from Twitter. I’ll need to revisit this sooner than later. Thankfully, Mailbrew supports RSS feeds as a content source. But then, maybe using my RSS reader will render Mailbrew mostly useless?
2022-12-14I just realized that to see the list of people I follow on Micro.blog, I need to visit my own profile page, right? Am I missing something @manton? If so, may I suggest having a link somewhere else, like in the Account section or the Discovery section?
2022-12-14I love the idea of Ooh.directory, blog directory and most supporting RSS feeds. I submitted mine. Will see if they accept it.
2022-12-14
Updated my bio today, adding a mention of being a Qwitter (someone planning to Quit Twitter). When I tell my wife that I’m going to close my Twitter accounts next year, she gives me a dubious look and says: why wait next year? 🫣😂
2022-12-14
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. I’m learning my lesson the hard way my friends. More to come soon.
2022-12-15
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. The differences aren’t significant enough for me to upgrade, performance and design-wise. But getting a bigger display in a light package without going to the Pro line is a different story. It won’t come cheap, for sure. Count me in the line up.
2022-12-15
Nobody Cares Apple Missed Their Apple Silicon Timeline birchtree.me<script src="https://micro.blog/quoteback.js"></script>
Matt is right, we don’t care. I don’t care. The big enigma, though, is the Mac Pro. What is it going to look like?
2022-12-16
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.
2022-12-16 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.
Hours after the suspensions took hold, Musk faced off with one of the journalists he suspended in a Twitter Space audio discussion before an audience of more than 30,000 listeners. The suspended journalist, along with several others, found a backdoor way onto the platform through the website's audio function.
“You doxx, you get suspended. End of story. That's it,” Musk said, explaining his latest policy to the group, before he left minutes after having joined the discussion.
Wow. What a shit show. After suspending targeted individual accounts, now it appears it is getting more systematic. Is there an employee at Twitter capable of saying no to Musk even if it means being fired? Or is Musk at the command and personally disabling those accounts?
Twitter is turning into USSR with a fake free-speech proponent leader.
2022-12-16
Raycast year in review. Wow. I love this thing so much! 2022-12-16 
Back in the nineties, I tried drawing a few things, like this Apple's Newton MessagePad. Not bad, hen!? 2022-12-16 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
Things 3 returned after more than a year of trying Apple Reminders and Craft Daily notes. It was a futile exercise. Things 3 is beautifully supporting my content creator workflow. Managing to-dos has never been so enjoyable.
Screenflow is essential to my YouTube video creation workflow. I don’t use FinalCut Pro, Luma Fusion or anything that sophisticated. I could use Screenshot screen recording too, but Screenflow is really the simplest and most focused video creation app out there that clicks with me.
I love using great software.
2022-12-17
Found in my Micro.blog bookmarks collection:
<script src="https://micro.blog/quoteback.js"></script> Another good reason to quit Twitter and concentrate my energy here on Micro.blog. 2022-12-17Culture is shaped by SEO experts and algorithms. Neither of which have our best interests in mind.
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). The developers behind Mailbrew are too busy working on their other product: Typefully, a web service for writing Twitter threads. I’m subscribing to both services. Typefully was cool when it launched but being entirely dependent on Twitter puts them in danger IMHO. I don’t use Typefully much, preferring Buffer for scheduling cross-posted content to Twitter, something Typefully doesn’t support.
It’s sad to see Mailbrew coming to a halt. Typefully will go down the drain with my Twitter account closure next year.
2022-12-17On “Load Bearing Mac Mini”
Is this true?
<script src="https://micro.blog/quoteback.js"></script> 2022-12-1712 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.”
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.
2022-12-17