Dave Winer: I want Bluesky to go away

Dave Winer, on Scripting News:

I definitely want Bluesky to just go away. I don’t like it because if it gains traction it has potential of replacing Twitter as the festering turd in the middle of what should have been a vibrant growing market that keeps anything else from rising in competition with it.

I agree with Dave Winer on this one. I’ll check BlueSky out when I get an invite, but I enjoy Mastodon.

I do get the Mastodon can get annoying with the anti-twitter vibe. This is out of left field, but it reminds me about moving to Miami from Venezuelan in 2014, and the constant self-justification all Venezuelans that migrated had for leaving. Many could not entertain the possibility that that it wasn’t a binary answer: it was ok to both stay or leave.

Still, as before, Tweetbot/Ivory is my software baggage. Their app is my window to social scrolling services, and whatever they support, I’m game.

Nordic Spawns of Chromium Updates

Jon von Tetzchner, on Vivaldi Browser:

Today, we are thrilled to share new features — Custom Icons and Workspaces — that will change the way you experience Vivaldi on your desktop. With the release of 6.0, our powerful and personal browser goes even further.

If Arc suddenly went away, I’d probably use Vivaldi that day. It’s a great browser with lots of power features. It used to feel slow, but playing with 6.0 on my Mac, there’s snappiness™ there.

Julia Szyndzielorz, on Opera Newsroom:

Opera One is the early access version of a completly redesigned browser that is planned to replace the flagship Opera browser for Windows, MacOS, and Linux later this year. Based on Modular Design, Opera One transforms the way you interact with your browser, delivering a liquid navigation experience which is more intuitive to the user. With today’s release, Opera One also becomes the first major Chromium-based browser with a multithreaded compositor that brings the UI to life like never before. Opera One also introduces Tab Islands, a new, more intuitive way of interacting with and managing multiple tabs.

As always, Opera packs a bunch of interesting features. The new automatic grouping of Tabs being one of them, I just never bother anymore.

Keyboard tricks from a macOS app dev

Alin Panaitiu, on notes.alinpanaitiu.com:

This is a collection of keyboard and trackpad workflows that I accumulated over the last 7 years of using a MacBook.

Nothing totally new, but great summary of all available tools for macOS keyboard shortcuts. It was a bit surprising that Alin is the developer of rcmd app, and he uses so many other similar apps.

Upcoming Obsidian Bookmarks Feature

TfTHacker, on Medium:

The Bookmarks feature is similar to the bookmarking feature in a browser, allowing you to save shortcuts to frequently visited files and folders. Obsidian Bookmarks even go further than the browser concept. You can bookmark:

• Searches: using the search panel, you can define a search and bookmark it to repeat that search.
• Headings: Create bookmarks for a specific heading in a file. So we are not just creating bookmarks into files, but can also bookmark a specific line in a file.

Still not out in stable release, so I haven’t played with it. But it looks very powerful. Article gives great overview and some ideas on how it can be used.

Seems inevitable that I’ll adopt this new feature in my workflow.

Flipboard Editorial Desks on Mastodon

Carl Sullivan, on Flipboard:

Flipboard editors bring their curation skills to Mastodon with four editorial accounts. Not bots, each of these Desks is staffed by professional curators with expertise in discovering and elevating the best content. We’re focusing on explainers and analysis — more the “why” and “how” than the “who,” “what” and “where.”

Great move by Flipboard. If I didn’t need fewer rabbit holes, I’d download again¹.

We’re not trying to replicate all the breaking news services out there, including many bot accounts already on Mastodon. We also don’t want to flood your feed with a kajillion posts. Instead our goal is to give people on Mastodon context for what’s happening in the world.

I subscribed last week to News Desk and Tech Desk, and I haven’t been overwhelmed and no click-baiting. If you’re on Mastodon, recommended follows.

Google Flight Price Guarantee Pilot

Richard Holden, on Google:

Now, we’re going a step further with a new pilot program for price guarantees in the U.S. If you see a flight with the price guarantee badge, it means we’re confident that the price you see today won’t get any lower before takeoff.

I use Google Flights religiously for all trips. At least for my summer trip planning, this hasn’t shown up yet. But I do see myself nudged to use this feature.

Fantastical Adds Better Shortcuts Support

Jason Snell & Dan Moren, on Six Colors:

To get our automation to work, we had to set up Apple’s default Calendar app and log it in to our Google calendars. For such a full-featured app, Fantastical’s lack of Shortcuts actions was really surprising.

While I use Fantastical as my calendar, I had to use Apple Calendar for some Obsidian Shortcuts, because I couldn’t get the data from Fantastical.

Things have gotten better! Flexibits just released Fantastical 3.7.9, which adds a bunch of new Shortcuts actions, including the ability to filter events from a given Calendar Set in a given date range, and the ability to generate a simple schedule for a given day.

Updating the Shortcuts now, and things do look better.

AeroPress Showcases 4 New Products

AeroPress PR:

The only coffee maker that combines three brewing technologies in one simple to use press will debut prototypes of the new AeroPress Clear, AeroPress Premium, and AeroPress Flow Control Filter Cap, along with concept art for the extra large AeroPress XL.

Wow. While new products were totally expected after they received an investment in 2021, four at once is a surprise. For the past 15 years, they basically had introduced 3 products: the original AeroPress in 2005, the AeroPress Go in 2019, and the Reusable Metal Filter last year. So this is a like suddenly getting a couple of new Calvin and Hobbes books.

Taking a look at the products announced:

• AeroPress Clear - The AeroPress Clear uses the same breakthrough brewing technology as the AeroPress Original in a new crystal-clear form made of premium Tritan™ copolyester. Make up to 4 grit-free coffee types in under a minute - americano, latte, espresso, and cold brew.

Sold. My original AeroPress numbers are long-gone, and the idea of having a mythical transparent AeroPress is fun.

• AeroPress XL - The AeroPress XL allows coffee lovers to brew twice as much smooth, rich, full-bodied coffee as the AeroPress Original, with all the same benefits of versatility, quick brew time, and portability.

Interesting, but I’m already going to have two Aeropress, which should result on the same output. Having a non-standard size, means a different set of accompanying toys.

• AeroPress Premium - Thanks to feedback from our highly loyal global community of Baristas and at-home coffee lovers, we’re launching our first premium coffee press! Crafted beautifully from glass, aluminum and stainless steel and the same technology as the AeroPress Original, the AeroPress Premium is designed with your counter space in mind. Feel free to show off this stunning innovation, combining form and function into one fun, easy to use coffee device.

Will hold judgement and see. Glass does not hold heat well. Let’s see how they solve for that.

• AeroPress Flow Control Filter Cap - Eliminates drip through, allowing for an extended brew time, complete control of the brewing experience, and the ability to get creative with Barista-syle homemade coffee recipes.

Likely getting this because I love my Fellow Prismo. However, the reviews on reddit aren’t great. Will purchase alongside the clear Aeropress over the summer.

Tidbits for 2023 Week 14

• Wins App: Yet another macOS window management app, but with a few nice touches. My new default app.

• AI-Powered Regex Solver: looks good. Haven’t been able to show a work problem at it, but keeping the tab open.

• Wavelength Group Chat: Another attempt at group chat. Shows promise, I like the threads model. Not sure how much it’ll catch on my tribes. iOS/macOS only for now.

• tsr: Simple csv-based timetracker for Raycast and Alfred. Very intriguing. Don’t want to mess with my setup, but worth a look.

• OneCast: Xbox remote play for Mac, iOS and Apple TV. Didn’t know this existed, but keeping around for when we get a Flight Simulator Xbox

• BoltGPT:Use ChatGPT and Stable Diffusion inside any macOS app.

The US Is Sending Money to Countries Affected by Cyberattacks

Lily Hay Newman, on WIRED:

Almost a year after the crisis began, a senior White House official told reporters today that the United States plans to provide $25 million in cybersecurity assistance to help Costa Rica strengthen its digital infrastructure.

Changed the original Wired title wording from Devastated to Affected. We were here in Costa Rica during all this, and while it was a very big deal, the country did not close down.

Not minimizing it, but if it had affected the power grid, I could see how everything would come to a standstill, but the country managed to continue to operate.

The attacks on Costa Rica were led by the prolific, now disbanded, cybercriminal gang Conti and its affiliates. The group demanded a $20 million ransom and uploaded hundreds of gigabytes of data stolen in the attacks to its dark-web site.

It was bad, and it could have been a lot worse. The best part of this is that it earmarks the amount for cybersecurity. Even if the amount is not enough to cover all the needed changes, it gives strong incentives to start the project — which usually is the hardest part for many backend changes needed that don’t provide any features.

Google Fi makes 5G on iPhone official

Abner Li, on 9to5Google:

Following the launch of iOS 16.4 on Monday, Google Fi today officially announced that 5G service is now available on the iPhone.

Excited to try this next week when I visit the US. Although not sure how much my iPhone 12 mini battery will tolerate 5G.

Arc for iPhone Released

Arc Release Notes on arc.net:

We’re thrilled to introduce Arc for iPhone, now available in an App Store near you. Access your Spaces and tabs on the go, save tabs for later from other apps, and much more.

Arc for iPhone actual nam on the App Store is Arc | Mobile Companion, which is appropriate. Still, as an Arc Desktop user, that limited functionality is exactly what I’m looking for: access to my tabs on mobile and, sending tabs or links from mobile to the desktop.

The promotion video is a bit campy, but cute.

WWDC23 Announced

developer.apple.com

Mark your calendars for an exhilarating week of technology and community. Be among the first to learn the latest about Apple platforms, technologies, and tools. You’ll also have the opportunity to engage with Apple experts and other developers. All online and at no cost.

June 5th keynote in my calendar, with some buffer meetings before and after. I think this is going to be a good one. If no VR headset is going to be mentioned, I suspect some sort of Apple non-comment will me leak to damper expectations.

Although VR headset might be the big excitement, bigger news for me would be Apple’s vision for this new ChatGPT world.

The Overstory
by Richard Powers

This book is like exercising a muscle you don’t usually use — awkward at the beginning. Then you get used to it, but it hurts a bit. It’s uncomfortable. Still I kept being drawn to it every night.

It has characters I wouldn’t interact much in the real world, with opinions and beliefs that made roll my eyes. Still, the ones that I would agree with, I liked even less.

However, the main characters in the book, no spoiler, are trees. But not the boring things outside your window, but fantastical Tolkien-like walking magical forests. But here’s the surprise: the tree in your garden, street, park, etc, is magical and fantastical. You don’t need to use your imagination, it’s science.

Highly recommended. The multiple storylines collapsing into one is strange, but it works really well. And the writing is excellent.

Remembering Alex Hay

Over the weekend, Adam Tow shared that Alex Hay had passed away from cancer.

I didn’t know him, but his Toolbox Pro Shortcuts companion app is an important part of my workflow. More specifically, during the lockdown, when we were “stuck” outside Costa Rica and staying with my parents in Florida¹, I used his app to quickly scan my morning notes.

It was a simple but important ritual for me. His app made it easy. His work made my life better.

Which made this tweet from him on Sept of last year, felt like a slap in the face:

What’s coming down the line?

I’m looking forward to the Wool series on TV+ (books by Hugh Howey) and The Three Body Problem on Netflix (books by Liu Cixin), which is being made by Benioff & Weiss

I’m looking forward to both things. But it hadn’t even crossed my mind that I might not be able to watch them. I may have chosen to not watch for some opinionated reason, but always as my choice.

So I’ll watch both and enjoy them. I’ll make time for it and be sure to remember a fellow geek that couldn’t, but should have.

Keychron S1 Apple fn Key Workaround

There seems to be some limitation with replicating the Function fn key on non-Apple keyboard. I’m not sure if this has always been an issue, or was prompted by a recent update.

The issue manifested clearly: as much as I tried to configure my Keychron S1 fn key as a function key, it wouldn’t detect the keypresses. I did a factory reset, and firmware upgrade on the S1 and nothing. After reading the word patch on some reddit posts, I decided to do a medieval workaround:

1. Mapped the fn physical key, to the F21 to the Via QMK app:

VIA QMK

2. Then mapped the F21 key to the fn on Karabiner.

Karabiner setup

This screams of A = B = A , but Velja prompt works correctly now.

Tidbits for 2023 Week 12

• Departing Earth: free iOS app to track space launches.

• Klack: really fun keystroke sound app for Mac. Works great when away from your mechanical keyboard and need the soothing rhythm for writing.

• Little Snitch Mini: Excellent option if you want better control of your Mac network traffic.

• Fileside: very interesting file manager with tiling pages for Mac and Windows. Seriously considering buying it.

• Folders File Manager: Mac file manager for PC refugees. Not my thing, but nice design if you miss tree-style layout.

• Chatterbox: ChatGPT wrapper on Mac with easy screenshots. Purchased it.

Using Cheap Notebooks

Tiramisu, on ティラミス:

Rather than beckoning me to write, the perfection of fancy notebooks serves as a source of constant anxiety.

I know they are right, but how I love a BaronFig Confidant notebook. Still, over the past few years I’ve compromised and usually get a Maruman MNEMOSYNE, which is usually less than $10.

I always find myself drawn to the cheapest notebooks I can find, spiral and composition ones that you can get at Staples for a quarter during back to school sales.

I can relate. Around 2014-2015, a time I did some of my most intense work, I mostly used small yellow legal pads that were available in the office. I didn’t have time for anything fancy.

Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow
by Gabrielle Zevin

Beautiful book about friendship and creative collaboration. The context is gaming, but it could be replaced with anything. This is one of those books in which the characters stories are stored alongside real people in my brain. Can’t recommended it enough.

Pebble Small Android Phone

Mitchell Clark, on The Verge:

Now that Apple has stopped making new small phones, Migicovsky’s Small Android Phone petition has evolved into a “community-based project” — where that community includes a team working to design and produce the phone that Migicovsky and apparently quite a few Verge readers want.

Not sure if this will work — but the idea is sound. The whole things feels more like a hobby project, which is fine.

The team also hasn’t decided on a name for the phone, though its internal codename is “Marvin.”

Not sure if it’s related to the Paranoid Android in H2G2, but fitting codename.

Another option was perhaps too similar to the iPhone Mini’s 5.4-inch display, with a very familiar notch cut out at the top. “I would like something a little more Android-y,” Bryant tells me.

Understand the reasoning for not using the same screen as the iPhone mini, but it’s a missed opportunity. An android phone with the same screen as the iPhone mini is a very simple concept to explain to non-techies.

Microsoft Notion Loop Available

Tom Warren, on The Verge:

Microsoft is now letting anyone preview Microsoft Loop, a collaborative hub offering a new way of working across Office apps and managing tasks and projects.

Looks very cool. It’s not enabled on my work accounts, so waiting for IT to enable it. But I will give it a serious try for document/content collaboration.

Boox Leaf 2 eInk Reader Review

Jason Snell, on Six Colors:

[…] I’ve been using a $200 Boox Leaf 2 e-reader on and off for the past few months. It’s a 7-inch reader that’s sized and priced more like a standard Kindle or Kobo. I’m happy to report that in the intervening months, the Boox software experience has improved—but a device like this is still probably not a good idea unless you are comfortable tinkering with Android apps and utilities.

I’m seriously considering the Book Leaf. I bought a Kindle Paperwhite 6.8in, when it came out and it has been… meh. I thought the bigger screen would be an upgrade over the my Kindle Voyager, which I still keep in my bag. Every time I read for a while on the Voyager and return to the bigger Kindle, it feels too big and I miss the buttons. Both hardware issues the Leaf 2 addresses.

I’m a bit weary of moving away of the Amazon ecosystem, mostly for sync. I like picking up a book on my iPhone and iPad. Also having all highlights flowing to Readwise. However, there’s the Android application option on Boox:

The Kindle app on Android is actually pretty good, and works well with the Leaf 2 once you get it up and running. But if you use the page turn buttons too soon after you launch it, the Boox software won’t have kicked in yet and you’ll get a volume prompt instead of a page turn. And don’t swipe or tap to turn the page, or you’ll get a page-turn animation that can’t be turned off or properly rendered by the E-Ink screen.

Sounds okish, but not great. Specially when I think of the main reading app I’d like other than Kindle, Reader. Which according to reddit posts, is functional, but not great:

I’ve been using Reader on my Boox Leaf 2, it works surprisingly well considering its not optimised for e-readers yet. If you’re launching the app from cold it can take 20 - 30 secs to load but you would typically be loading from memory so that’s no big deal

I’ve been down this rabbit hole before, so not sure where if I’ll really make the jump. But it’s fun to window shop a reading devices¹.

Tim Cook AR Headset and His Legacy

Tim Bradshaw, Patrick McGee, on Financial Times:

After seven years in development — twice as long as the iPhone — the tech giant is widely expected to unveil a headset featuring both virtual and augmented reality as soon as June.

But Apple’s famed industrial design team had cautioned patience, wanting to delay until a more lightweight version of AR glasses became technically feasible. Most in the tech industry expect that to take several more years.

John Gruber already wrote about this, and I absolutely agree with his gist:

But more importantly, the FT’s reporting makes it sound as though this decision was solely between the industrial design team and Jeff Williams’s operations team. That’s not how Apple works.

The narrative that certain areas of Apple don’t have as much power as they did before misses the point. I believe Tim Cook has tried to keep a balance between functions. It used to be that with Steve Jobs would out-weight everyone, so you needed a powerful counterweight in Johnny Ive and others, even Tim Cook.

But now, weight is more distributed between groups, leading to more varied opinions and winners when deciding a course of action.

Chernobyl Fungus Could Shield Astronauts From Cosmic Radiation

Stephen Johnson, on Freethink Media:

A recent experiment aboard the International Space Station suggests a surprising solution: a radiation-eating fungus, which could be used as a self-replicating shield against gamma radiation in space.

The fungus is called Cladosporium sphaerospermum, an extremophile species that thrives in high-radiation areas like the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant.

The Last of Us withstanding, this is fascinating. Not only the angle of the solution, but also huge space travel problem it would solve.

Extrapolating these results, the researchers estimated that a roughly 8-inch layer of C. sphaerospermum “could largely negate the annual dose-equivalent of the radiation environment on the surface of Mars.”

Huge. I would also guess that it implies the fungus can be grown on Mars, reducing critical weight.

Camo 2 Launched

Aidan Fitzpatrick, on Reincubate:

Camo 2 takes all the magic of Camo, improves on it, and brings it to any webcam, built-in camera, connected pro camera or action camera to give them next-gen capabilities. These include beautiful bokeh “portrait” mode, spotlight, natural privacy blur, background replacement, auto-framing face tracking, and cinematic “LUT” filters.

I used the previous version during the pandemic. Seeing good comments on mastodon, will give it a try with my Studio Display camera and office crappy logitech.

Mermaid Flow Visual Editor

mermaidflow.app:

This app makes it easy to create Mermaid JS diagrams with its Visual and Interactive editor, so you get the stability of version controlled diagrams with the simplicity of drawing.

Very useful for Mermaid Diagrams. Specially for making quick drafts during calls, and having this as base for whatever next steps. Will be using it during the next few days.

Remarkable2 Type Folio Keyboard Case Introduced

From remarkable.com:

The new Type Folio brings physical keyboard support to reMarkable 2 for the first time. It provides a great typing experience when you need it, and smart, sturdy protection when you don’t.

It’s slim, with a barely-there footprint that could easily be mistaken for a protective folio. It’s comfortable, with a keyboard that features full-size letter keys and 1.3 mm of key travel — more than many popular laptops. And it’s simple. It connects automatically to reMarkable 2 with magnets, requiring no additional pairing, charging, or updating.

Well, this throws a wrench into my Freewrite Alpha window shopping. In a good way, mind you, if you already own one. The videos on the product page, and on reviews make it look very well-designed. Which is on-brand for Remarkable.

Reviewers seem to really like the hardware, even if the $200 price is high.

Raymond Wong, on inverse.com

It’s a little pricey at $199, but if you are as fond of the distraction-free E Ink tablet for notetaking as I am, the Type Folio might be a worthwhile investment, though it does have quirks. If

Alex Cranz, on theverge.com:

Devices like the Freewrite are very cool in practice but simply too finicky for me to use as anything more than a gimmick. So I am frankly shocked by how much I like Remarkable’s new keyboard case, the $199 Type Folio.

Even Jason Hiner, on zdnet.com, appreciates the hardware:

The hardware is as stunning and well-designed as you’d expect from ReMarkable, yet the software — which requires an upgrade to version 3.2 to support the new keyboard — is not quite as intuitive or polished yet.

The software thought, doesn’t get as much praise. Which is my experience with the Remarkable2. It’s basically in the sour spot between extremely simple, and missing features like creating links to specific pages. Personally, I’ve struggling with the new disable continuous pages feature.

Still, better have great hardware, and continued improving software — than the other way around

Keychron S1 Very First Impressions

First Impressions of the Keychron S1:

• Love the heavy weight.
• Brown switches feel and sounds are a different level from the K3.
• Keycaps shape are nice.
• Not crazy about the keys font.

Keychron S1 below, K3

Haven’t played with the remapping. But since I already use Karabiner, only thinking about remapping the screenshot button.

Overall very happy.

Tidbits for 2023 Week 8

• The Magic Highlighter: Safari Extension for iOS and Mac that highlights search terms on the web pages. Purchased.

• Zenitizer: minimal meditation timer for iOS and Apple Watch with Health, Widgets and Shortcuts support. In beta.

• MacWhisper: macOS interface to transcribe audio files into text with OpenAI’s Whisper. Paid version includes largers models ($12)

• Transkript: Another macOS interface to transcribe audio files into text with OpenAI’s Whisper. A lot more feature in paid version, but way more expensive.

An Eventual Apple Fan

25 years ago I was a very different Apple fan¹. I was a Newton fan.

Before the PowerBook G3, iBook, iMac, OSX, iPod, iPhone, iPad, etc. Apple was, well, boring. The one thing that was cool for me, was the Newton MessagePad and the eMate. I wrote about my love for Newton, about a decade ago. And when I update my list of top Apple products, my Newton MessagePad 2100 will still be among the top products.

Going back to February 1998, I was a high-school senior then. The Matrix movie was still a year away from release, but already tech geeks had become a peculiar class in the social structure, specially in an all-male school like mine. I was the only one in my cohort, which made me extra peculiar. All this preface is to try to understand how I survived using an Apple Newton as my notebook in 1998.

Just like fans of Game of Thrones Books would find themselves alone without a tribe after reading about the Red Wedding in 2002, I was hurt when I read the news about Newton’s demise. And nobody — other than my Dad — could even make sense of my grief.

How could an amazing device such my Newton MessagePad 2100 be condemned to such a fate? Who the hell did Steve Jobs thought he was?

I now believe that by removing Newton as a distraction, the Apple resurgence was made possible. Which led to many other products I love. But none like that original love.

Opera Adds ChatGPT Sidebar

Julia Szyndzielorz, on blogs.opera.com:

Opera is planning to add popular AI-generated content services to the browser sidebar. On top of that, the company is also working on augmenting the browsing experience with new features that will interact with these new generative-AI-powered capabilities. Among the first features to be tested is a new “Shorten” button in the address bar that will be able to use AI to generate short summaries of any webpage or article.

Of course they did. Opera has been trying to find smaller market segments for some time, with a crypto version and gaming version, among others. Which makes sense for them as they try get gain share from smaller pockets.

Mildly related, not a fan of Opera blog now being PR post. Of course I’m biased, but doesn’t make it less truth.

On Atomic Habits Not Working

Krishna Bharadwaj, on krishnabharadwaj.info:

I want to do well in these areas on a daily basis: Sleep, Meditation, Exercise, 16 hour IF, Journaling, Deep Work, Hobby, Reading. Over the past several years, I have figured out that these few things (80:20) work well for me, and I am not on the lookout for new habits or ideas to improve.

Worth a read, but what I enjoyed the most was the concise areas/habits he tries to keep in mind on a daily basis.

Prefix Dates of our Lives

For two years I used Julian date format (2023d53) for my notes — both physical and digital. Last week I switched to what I call bizformat (23.02.22).

On this blog, I still use ISO 8601 (2023-02-22) as a prefix for all markdown files. In part because it’s what blot uses, but mostly because for over 15 years of posts, it has proven the easiest way to maintain them. Even after a couple of migrations.

While the day of year format worked really well most of that time, over the past month I’ve gotten lost translating between the formats. My thinking is that current projects have bigger external dependencies, and dates have become more important.

I may add a day of week going forward (23.02.22 Wed), but for now the new format is working pretty well.