Numeric Citizen Blog Posts Monthly Digest

🚨 After a three-week pause, here comes the latest weekly creative summary, a day earlier. I hope you enjoy this edition. Coming later by email to my dear subscribers. ✌🏻

In Search of a New and Optimized Photo Processing Workflow

Now that I'm no longer in Adobe's ecosystem for my photo processing needs, I depend on Photomator and Synology Photos. I need to create an optimized workflow: upload photos to Synology¹, browse and tag the pictures I want to process using Synology Photos tags, then edit them in Photomator. This is the last is a challenge: RAW images need to be converted to a DNG format², and then edited in Photomator before exporting the end results in JPEG. I need to download RAW images manually out of Synology Photos then import them in Photomator for processing. Processed images should then be imported into Apple Photos for easy access.

Done automatically over wifi from the camera to the Synology NAS. ↩
As of 2024-04, Nikon Zf RAW image format is not supported natively by macOS or iPadOS on which Photomator depends. This conversion process is cumbersome. ↩

For the first time since its release¹, I'm using iCloud Shared Photo Library with my wife for the home improvement project. It's really well done and fits perfectly my needs.

Released with iOS 16 in 2022. ↩

On Micro.blog, Scribbles, And Multi-homing

Funny that, reading a random post this morning, stumbled on that one. A year later and I found a use case for Bear.

2024-04-14 ∞

It’s easier for me to do this using Scribbles editor. I don’t know why. Might be a combination of how the compose screen is styled and laid out, plus the use of a WYSIWYG editor. But whatever it is, it all combines into an experience where the words flow a little easier for me. That’s probably the only way I can describe it. There’s nothing really empirical about it all, but maybe that’s the point. It’s involves the emotional side of writing: the “look and feel”.

I prefer Scribbles editor to Micro.blog's, too. There is something about Scribbles that makes the experience more enjoyable. But I'm still using Micro.blog for longer posts and Scribbles for short ones, except maybe the /Now posts. Well, it's complicated. Anyhow, I think Micro.blog's post editor needs some more love.

2024-04-16 ∞

The Magic Is Gone - Initial Charge

The magic of Apple’s retail stores is gone.

Except when the new iPad Pro launches, which should be the case pretty soon.

2024-04-16 ∞

Went outside today for lunch and took my camera¹ with me. What a good idea it was. I like this a lot because it is an opportunity to take a mental break from work. When I'm coming back to work, I'm more enthusiastic.

Nikon Zf with a 44mm F2 lens. Great combo. ↩

2024-04-17 ∞

The House of Representatives are going to vote on separate bills for Ukraine and Israel aid this weekend. My fear is that aid for Israel gets a go but not Ukraine which would be devastating. This could be a turning point.

2024-04-17 ∞

I'm currently working on building a creator dashboard in Craft and it's fun but Craft is rather limited compared to Notion. I'm working on an upcoming video about that! Stay tuned.

2024-04-20 ∞

I'm cautiously happy to see the American settle and go ahead with the military aid for Ukraine (and Taiwan). Time is seriously running out, and I'm afraid that the West falls in the "too little too late" trap. Now finish this and ship the good stuff out ASAP FTW!

2024-04-20 ∞

I want to discover a new blog, any suggestions for me?

2024-04-20 ∞

Now ☀️9 °C - 🌡️2 °C - 🌧️29%

Today, I wanted to try something different and write this post on Micro.blog instead of Scribbles. Since the Micro.blog editor is so far behind Scribbles’, I’m using Ulysses for this experiment. Sadly, people won’t be able to reply using a contact form because my blog on Micro.blog doesn’t offer one. In any case, say hello@numericcitizen.me!
Today is a special day—video recording day! I’m excited to share more about my creator dashboard, a project I’ve been passionately building in Craft.
I’ve been editing photos with Photomator recently and discovered that for some photos, Photomator would create a sidecar file which is more than 100 MB in size, while for other photos, the sidecar file is only around a hundred kilobytes, under similar editing workflows.
I find Grammarly to be overly iterative when suggesting corrections. After applying a suggestion, it will iterate and suggest something else that it could have figured out in the first place. They are transitioning to AI, and I think it will help. Oh, and Grammarly considers markdown formatting marks to be corrected.
Yesterday, after watching this video, I wondered if I should switch to FinalCut Pro for my video production. There are things that I find super cool and useful in FCP that I don’t have in Screenflow like Gling.ai.
It took me 22 minutes to write this post.
Maybe I could alternate between Scribbles and Micro.blog for this /Now post. What do you think? Don’t miss previous /Now posts on Scribbles.
This is a photo that I processed yesterday night. A better version will soon be available on my Glass page, though.

🚨Okay, ladies and gentlemen, it's time for the newest edition of my weekly creative summary! Thanks for taking the time to have a peek at it. 😊 If you prefer the email version, it's coming up later today, but be sure to subscribe here!

Design Is Hard

I've been discussing a lot about design in general with my wife recently regarding our home improvement project. Design is hard. The process of redesigning a 3D space (a room, a bathroom) is not trivial but I think we should always try to start from a minimalistic concept from which we can build on step by step later. Also, not everyone has the same ability to visualize something in 3D without first seeing it for real, even with 3D computer assisted design. It will be a long journey.

Taking photos of decorative materials with the iPhone is really tricky. The automatic white balance makes everything look wrong and we cannot trust the photo to reproduce what we actually saw and perceived. How are designers doing with their phones?

Dashboards are among the most popular use cases for Notion. As a Craft user, it is tempting to try creating a dashboard that suits my needs, but that gets its inspiration from what others are doing in Notion. I tried it and the following video tells it all. Enjoy.

On Comfort Zones

Today, I'll bring my camera to the office¹, as I'm declaring myself as the official photographer for the two-day yearly sales kickoff event. I'll take photos of humans, which is not my cup of tea, but I need to try it more and get out of my comfort zone. Usually my problem while photographing humans is anticipation and timing. Some people are very good at it, but I'm not. So, I need to practice. Comfort zones are killing creativity and learning.

My iPhone will stay in my pocket, I'll use my Nikon Zf with the 40mm F2 lens. ↩

2024-04-22 ∞

If Ukraine has been outgunned 5 to 1 or 10 to 1 is some parts of the front for weeks, why is Russia not making more advances?

2024-04-22 ∞

“🇬🇷🇪🇸 The EU and NATO are putting "strong pressure" on Greece and Spain to provide Ukraine with more air defense systems, the Financial Times reports, citing its sources. This pressure is justified by the "safe geographical location of the countries" and the presence of more than a dozen Patriot and S-300 systems."

This is insane that those countries keep their systems while Ukraine is in such needs. 🤬

2024-04-22 ∞

It's a bit sad that I won't be able to watch the new iPad announcement in two weeks as I'll be abroad on a cruise ship. I won't pre-order the new iPad Pro either because I won't be able to read all the news beforehand. This could mean that I'll face delays in getting the new device. 😩

2024-04-24 ∞

Ghost and ActivityPub Support - We All Win

I'm a bit late to the game but I just read the announcement by Ghost about their ActivityPub support that is coming to their platform. I find this development super exciting; one of my site is on Ghost. Having people subscribe to my content via their favorite Mastodon client is super cool. But what is cooler is that people will be able to reply to my articles right from here on Micro.blog and get their reply published right under my articles, just like on Micro.blog. I think this is a good way to offer a reduced friction experience compared to having to log in to post a reply, which is the standard way to interact with a Ghost blog post. Can't wait to see this coming this year.

2024-04-24 ∞

Hey guys, I'm looking for an app that can browser folders containing photos. This app would display photo's metadata too and allow for adjusting the thumbnails size. Any recommendations for me? I'm looking for an alternative to Adobe Bridge. Thanks.

2024-04-25 ∞

Overrated x 1000

Microsoft 365 or Office 365, if you prefer, is so overrated. Microsoft is the master of selling licenses but when it comes down to doing real serious collaborative work with Teams and the rest of the software suite it falls apart really quickly. For example: trying to collaborated on a Word document, creating comments and assigning a task toi someone... nobody knows really where the task is actually saved! And no one seems to get a notification... or nobody cares to look at the activity tab in Teams because it is so overwhelming! Oh and don't get me started with Microsoft Loop, a pale copycat of Notion. And should we talk about Visio? I prefer not.

I'm so fed up of working in an IT field where everyone is short sighted with Microsoft. I mean, there are so much more powerful collaborative apps out there.

/rantoff

2024-04-26 ∞

It’s been such a long time since Apple redesigned their Magic Mouse. Is this the only solution to an old problem? And this charging port underneath, could they try to fix this nonsense too? Hard to believe Apple can be so slow at fixing the obvious.

2024-04-26 ∞

Security Is Hard for Everyone

This morning, my wife picked up her iPhone and tried to unlock it¹. She couldn't after a few try². She tried a few times with a slight variation, but the iPhone refused to unlock itself, now showing a 15-minute delay on the lock screen. Her passcode is a complex one as per corporate security rules. She knows it by heart, she told me. She doesn't know what to do, and she is in deep doubt now. Eventually, she asked me for help, but I told her I cannot do much about it³.

At first, I thought it was the infamous Apple ID being locked out, but it's not the case. As a reminder: the passcode used to unlock your iPhone has little to do with your Apple ID. But, when using 2FA, the iPhone is required to get access to the Apple ID and must be unlocked for this to work. Maybe this is why people think they are both linked together. It's not the case.

As I finish writing this up, my wife tried again to unlock her iPhone and it worked. All is good now. But it's a reminder that, for most people, security is hard. It's hard to experience. It's hard to explain. It's hard to get over it.

Face ID requires using the passcode to unlock the device after a period of time. ↩
She couldn't tell me how many times she tried. ↩
Eventually, without the passcode, an iPhone needs to be fully erased to be able to use it again. It's a security measure. It's by design, in case you didn't know. ↩

Today I might have hit the max my M1 Mac mini could give me: while exporting my video in ScreenFlow, I was editing a photo in Photomator. The latter couldn't keep up with me trying different settings on my image.

You want to know more about all the new features and tweaks introduced on Micro.blog in the last two months? Here's a video that I made today for you guys. Enjoy. cc @jean @manton

🔥 It's still Sunday where I live, and it's time to share the newest edition of the weekly creative summary! Coming up soon to a mailbox near you¹. 😅

You aren't subscribing?? What are you waiting for! ↩

Calling for suggestions: I'd like to back up my iCloud Photos Library content locally on my Synology NAS, but I don't want to use the built-in "Download Originals to this Mac" of Apple Photos. Any utility that does that? Thanks!