Numeric Citizen Blog

I wish there was a quick way to delete all the posts from the test blog on Micro.blog. @manton

I’ve been playing with iA Presenter 1.4 again this morning. I like what I’m seeing with the share presentation online feature (example here). Now, I have to wonder: what is my use case for this? I always come down to this question when trying new features, new apps or new services.

Why doesn’t the Arc Browser provide Kagi search as a default search engine option? 🤔

I think there is something really nice here that Micro.blog should copy to improve its blog post editor. cc @manton

This weekend, I’m going to record and publish the next edition of the “What’s Up with Micro.blog” series. The last edition was shared last August. Don’t miss it!

Microsoft Teams for iPad is probably the buggiest app of all when used with an external display. So many weird UI behaviors. It might Apple’s fault, too.

Just bought Soulver 3 for iPad as a big fan of this app for the Mac. I cannot live without it on my iPad today while at work. Not cheap but so well done. I wish I couldd export a sheet into Excel with all the values and formulas transposed for me.

At the office today, the last time for 2024. It’s an iPad Pro-type-of-day. Currently using an external display with Stage Manager on and Apple Magic Keyboard. It feels a little bit cramped but it’s ok. After two minutes, I can already see display bugs when using an app on the external display. I’m looking at you, Micro.blog.

At one point, for Apple, it might become more economical and less damaging to leave the EU market behind. Is it indeed getting personal?

This post is for testing purposes only. Please ignore as I’m testing Ghost ActivityPub feature. If everything goes as advertised, I should see this post from the Ghost Admin page, under the ActivityPub section.

Look what we’ve got here. Can you tell what is happening here? 👀

I’m getting tired of hearing people invoke their ADHD syndrome for everything… I mean, come on… either it’s diagnosed and you take the pills or it’s an excuse…

Update #1: Sorry to look offensive to some of my readers. I should have been more precautious when sharing such a thought. I was referring to some people, a minority, who invoke symptoms of ADHD without the condition so they can be more easily excused of certain things. Those people exist and their attitude is causing prejudice to people who actually have some degree of ADHD.

I’be been trying to build a small business around Craft using Gumroad in the last 18 months. So far, it’s a hit or miss. I’m currently having paying 20 subscribers for The Craft Bible¹. I sold quite a few Craft templates, too. I have many more ideas for 2025 to continue to grow this offering. Yet, it won’t replace my day job.

I like Gumroad as a selling platform but also for writing articles and sharing them with my customers. This is not something that I planned on doing when I started, but I must admit that it’s fun to build a small community around an app like Craft, away from the public scrutiny of Reddit and Slack. Today, I shared a long op-ed article on my feelings about Craft. It’s a long piece that I took quite some time to write. I’m quite happy with the results. I can’t wait for user reactions and feedback.

Tonight, I watched the iPhone 4 leak documentary. I don’t want to spoil anything but there was an unexpected and unknown twist to this story. It’s a great documentary. It made me think twice about this era which I kind of miss, actually.

I don’t know why I’m paying for Ivory, I’m not often on Mastodon, much more often here and on Bluesky.

I’m still exploring ways to monetize my experience with Craft. After creating The Craft Bible, now it’s Craft Support Call. I don’t expect much from this, but I’m curious to see how it goes if I ever get one request.

So I finally got the iPad Magic Keyboard for my M4 iPad Pro. At first, I didn’t want to spend that amount of money on a freakin keyboard… but I’m a weak man and I did. While I love the added function keys row, the overall improvement, I’m not sure this keyboard is that magical.

When writing, I start in Craft and then export to Ulysses for final review and online posting. It works great, but I’m not always satisfied with Ulysses, which sometimes feels overwhelming. Enter iA Writer, an app that I remember using in its early days and that I liked for its simplicity. This blog post from Greg Morris reminds me of the perpetual questioning of my decision to settle on Ulysses.

This morning, I decided to download a trial of iA Writer. The first thing I checked was which publishing platforms it supports. To my surprise, it supports all the ones I depend on: Ghost, Micro.blog, and, to a lesser extent, Medium.

This blog post was written on my 15-inch M2 MacBook Air using iA Writer trial edition. Sadly, iA Writer couldn’t post as draft, so I had to manually copy and paste the content into a blank post on Micro.blog.

My Ulysses subscription ends on March 25th, 2025, but this publishing bug is a deal-breaker for now. Back to Ulysses.

A quick behind-the-scenes post: the same overall content, with two different apps. This is the “script” for this video. On the left, Mindnote Next, on the right, Zavala. This is sort of a cue card for use during video recording, the Mindnote version was much easier to read. Zavala’s version is more for documenting purposes. Even the outline view in Mindnote feels better.

My brother-in-law got a M4 Mac mini recently. The last time he used a Mac was with the Macintosh LC III, more than thirty years ago. One thing he still struggles with, then and now: the menu bar that changes when switching apps. The other thing: he doesn’t get the Stage Manager. He turned that off.

I often share photos about Apple, apparently¹.

Riccardo Mori @morrick@appdot.net

Apple Intelligence died on October 5, 2011. https://mastodon.online/@9to5Mac/113647127504397409

7:51 PM • December 13, 2024 (UTC)

🤦🏻‍♂️

My experience with Apple Intelligence’s Writing Tools is mixed. One significant issue is the absence of a feature to compare the original text with the revised version. In contrast, Grammarly excels in this regard, as its suggestions are contextual. Additionally, the constant need to select text to “feed” the Writing Tools becomes tedious. Another challenge arises when using Writing Tools with markdown content or links. These get mangled in the revised version. Finally, speed is also an issue. Even for simple text to process, it can take quite some time to get a response.

For now, Grammarly remains my preferred writing assistant, and I have no intention of switching to Apple Intelligence’s Writing Tools anytime soon.

Will we ever see some generative AI or AI-based features added to HEY Mail? 🧐

Adobe Lightroom for Mac is the best Mac app of the year? In light of Apple buying Pixelmator, I find this a bit surprising.