My Obsidian Plugin List

Obsidian is the GOAT!
Obsidian is the GOAT!

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#Obsidian #ObsidianMD #PKM
I’m not one of those people who tell others that the only or best way to use Obsidian is by eschewing plugins and going with a vanilla version of the app. If that works best for some people, that’s fine, but in my experience, the real power and enjoyment of the Obsidian experience comes from finding plugins to extend the functionality of the app.

My primary uses for Obsidian are:

  • Where I do all my writing
  • As a life record/journal
  • Personal database

The plugins I use are the ones that help me with those tasks. I don't leave all of these turned on all the time. For example, I leave the importer plugin turned off unless I am going to use it immediately. Since I use Obsidian on multiple devices and sync with Obsidian Sync, I am able to use different plugins on each device, a feature you don't get with DIY syncing. I can also have different settings for plugins on different devices. I only use my primary computer with the plugins that sync with external services like RSS and Raindrop.io

You can generate your own list of plugins to share with Share my plugin list by Benature

My Plugins



Everyday Apps

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I never realized this blog would become as popular as it has. I picked up blogging as a hobby to accompany the other joy in my life, which is the never-ending process of refining my workflows to use the absolute best software for every task. Somehow, I ended up with three blogs, this one, Living Out Loud, Linkage and another that is a combined fire hose of everything put together. I’d be lying if I told you that I’m always able to remember what I’ve written on each platform. In 2024, I wrote 500K words. I’m too old to keep all that straight.

I don’t think I’ve ever shared the actual list of apps that I used to get work done here on AppAddict. These aren’t the coolest or the most powerful or the best bargains, not necessarily. They are the workhorses that allow me to do what I need to do. I’m not saying they are the best for everyone. If you do a lot over email, you need something more specialized. I don’t do much with spreadsheets or presentations, so I’m not even listing those.

Most (not all) of the links here describe my use cases or what I like about the app and why I use it. All links contain download info.

Privacy Badger Extension from the Electronic Freedom Foundation

Privacy Badger
Privacy Badger

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Protecting your online privacy is an ongoing game of whack-a-mole with big tech. Google is making a big deal out of eliminating tracking cookies at the same time is implementing tracking based on digital fingerprinting for which few protections exist. One organization working on privacy protection solutions for this invasive technology is the Electronic Freedom Foundation (EFF). It’s free privacy tool is a browser extension, Privacy Badger, available for Chromium and Firefox browsers. A Safari version is under development. Since tracker blocking is an ongoing struggle, it’s good to know that the developers at the EFF are actively working on meeting the challenges of emerging invasive practices by big tech.

Privacy Badger is not a traditional ad blocker, and it will not replace whatever you are currently using. The extension is focused on preventing companies big and small from tracking where you go on the Internet and what you do there. It doesn’t work off a list of URLs. Instead, it uses an algorithm to determine if you are being tracked and takes action to block offending sites. For tracking sites that you want to have a relationship with, such as Meta or X, it provides clickable links to connect to them from external sites when you choose to. I like that it creates an opt-in situation for you.

Privacy badger is compatible with native tracking prevention found in more secure browsers like Librewolf, Firefox and Vivaldi. As the political situation evolves in the US, protecting your browsing habits will become more important than ever. Take the steps needed to keep yourself safe from big tech and the government.

Sandkorn - Comprehensive Information on Your Apps

Sandkorn Report
Sandkorn Report

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Sandkorn, from developer Peter Borgas, is a free app that provides you comprehensive information on the apps installed on a computer, particularly sandboxed apps and what those apps are entitled to access.

Every app you obtain from the Mac App Store today is sandboxed, isolated from other apps and information sources, however, the apps have certain entitlements to different resources on your computers, some of which, but not all, you can see in System Settings > Security and Privacy. On a Mac, what you see in your applications folder are actually bundles you can right-click on an app and select View Package Contents and see what is contained in the bundle. Some apps have plugins and XPC services bundled with them that have their own entitlements. BBedit has 18. Xcode has a whopping 90!

Entitlements are things like:

  • Calendar
  • Contacts
  • Location
  • Bluetooth
  • Camera
  • Microphone
  • Printing
  • Incoming Network Traffic
  • Outgoing Network Traffic
  • Folders in your home directory

Although I only have six apps showing in my Security and Privacy Settings that have permission to access my camera, there are 56 apps that are capable of using it. Theoretically, they should ask before I access a feature that requires its use, but I'm just a guy on my couch with a laptop. If you are analyzing software in a highly sensitive area, knowing these entitlements is vital information.

Aside from the information I have already described, Sandkorn is the best app I’ve found for generating lists based on certain criteria, like architecture. If you’re one of the people that recoil in horror over the prospect of using Rosetta on your precious M-series Mac, Sandkorn can tell you if you have any Intel apps installed. It can generate lists of pure Apple Silicon and Universal apps. If you keep apps in a non-standard location, such as an external or secondary hard drive, you can have Sandkorn scan those locations too.

Get additional information on Sandkorn at the developer’s website. Check out his other apps like Lingon X and Smultron while you’re there.

You can download Sandkorn from the Mac App Store.

Free Downloads from AppAddict

Automation Quote
Automation Quote

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I have a couple of downloads for you in this edition of AppAddict.

Automation

Although I am in no way a developer, I have created a couple of repositories on GitHub and placed some files there you may find useful. I am a big fan of Mac automation apps. There are plenty of tools that are inexpensive and relatively powerful for making the work you do easier and more streamlined. With the help of timed triggers, you can get your Mac to do things for you while you are asleep or away from the keyboard.

Take a minute to look over the tasks I accomplish with just three apps, and then head over to GitHub and download the configuration files for each of the apps. You can download the macros, rules, and triggers I have already written for these three powerhouse apps. Use them. Take them apart and examine them. Improve on them. It won’t be hard! AppAddict Automation Settings

Keyboard Maestro
My Top 10 Keyboard Maestro Macros

Hazel
My Favorite Actions for Hazel, the Preeminent File Management Software for the Mac

Better Touch Tool
Better Touch Tool Favorites


Quotes

I have collected quotes for years. I am still nursing an iOS app that was deprecated nine years ago to manage the portable version of my quotes library. I also have over 500 quotes saved as Markdown notes on Obsidian. You can find various Mac and iOS apps to manage quotes that extra features like tagging, biographies of the authors and room for links to the source material. You can download my collection here

For your Mac, try this - Quotemarks - Quote Notebook

For iOS, this one is great - Thoughts

Battery Monitor: Health, Info

Battery Monitor
Battery Monitor

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In the modern era, a time when most people us laptop computers as opposed to desktops, keeping up with your battery’s remaining charge is something we’ve trained ourselves to do. There are apps that let you make extremely detailed plans to carefully manage how your battery charges. These apps provide a wealth of information about your battery’s lifespan and electrical data. In normal operation, they keep your battery from charging past 80% to help prolong its lifespan. They will also run a calibration cycle to allow your battery to come close to fully discharging and the fully charging. These practices are reputed to be necessary to get the longest lifespan for your battery. The two most widely used apps for this type of management are: BatFi and Al Dente.

Not everyone believes these practices are needed or, indeed, are beneficial. They are satisfied with just monitoring their battery’s health. A good free app for providing the information you need is Battery Monitor: Health, Info from Rocky Sand Studio, Ltd. It has a simple but useful feature set.

Features

  • Charge percent and time in menu bar
  • Detailed battery information
  • Configurable low and full battery alert
  • Configurable Themes

You can get Battery Health Monitor from the App Store.

FlexiBackup Solves Real World Problems

FlexiBackup
FlexiBackup

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I faced a concerning issue last year when it was time to replace my iPhone. For some reason, neither Apple nor I could solve. For over two years, my phone had failed to back up to iCloud. Over the 16 years I’ve been using Apple’s flagship product, I’ve had to perform restores on multiple occasions. I’m not comfortable going without a backup of any technology device I rely on. The old school solution when iCloud doesn’t work is to connect your phone to a Mac and back everything up to the computer’s hard drive. The location where the backup is hard-coded, however. You don’t get to choose a location for the save files. It’s going on your hard drive whether you like it or not. My problem was that I only had a 256 GB hard drive and the backup from my phone consumed over 90 GB. After doing a lot of research and doing some hacking, a janked together a system using symbolic links to get the backup on to an external hard drive. It was a pain.

If I’d had FlexiBackup from indy developer, Kah Seng, things would have been much easier. Seng’s new app takes care of setting an external drive as the repository for iOS and iPadOS backups when you do them locally. If you have multiple family members using the same small iCloud storage account, this is an ideal app to add to your Mac, as long as each person has physical access to a computer where it is installed. You can do a backup and a restore by connecting a device to your Mac, launching FlexiBackup and running the native Mac utility.

FlexiBackup requires macOS 14.6 or later and is compatible with all iPhones and iPads, regardless of the iOS version installed. The app is available for $5.99 on Gumroad. There is no free trial, but it comes with a 30-day money-back guarantee.

Improve your Google Searches

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I am in the process of moving all my Internet research to Kagi, but I wrote this for someone who needed these instructions today.

Google, the advertising company that also has a search engine, is more interested in having you click on things it gets paid for than it is showing you the information you are looking for. Of course, it is also tracking every breath you take in case it figures out how to extract money from the very air you breathe. There are a couple of steps you can take to generate more useful information from the company’s search results.

Use a Different URL for your searches

Google is the default search engine in most browsers. It pays billions of dollars for that privilege on iOS alone - one of the reasons your choice of search engines is limited on Apple products. Everyone knows the standard address for a Google search is just https://google.com. When you search there, you get a bunch of useless AI crap and ""suggested links". If you want the good old 10 Blue Links of yesteryear,  add “udm=14” to your default search URL, so it reads as “https://www.google.com/search?q=%s&udm=14” instead of Google dot com.

To set this up in Chrome, go into Settings, then Search engine > Manage search engines> Site search.

You can also do this in other browsers and in launchers like Raycast for Mac. Other search utilities like DevonAgentLite also support it.

Filter SEO Churn With Ublacklist

Ublacklist is an extension that totally blocks certain domains from appearing in your Google search results. You can also get it for other browsers. Once you have the extension installed, head over to this Codeberg page to subscribe to lists of sites to exclude from your search results. These lists were inspired by the article How Google is killing independent sites like ours on HouseFresh and Detailed.com's How 16 Companies are Dominating the World’s Google Search Results.

There are more specialized but still helpful lists at Subscriptions | uBlacklist

File List Export for Mac

File List Export
File List Export

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One of the apps I recently picked up from the new Bundlehunt sale is File List Export by developer  Georgios Trigonakis. This simple but surprisingly powerful utility is available for just a dollar right now. The normal price in the App Store is $7.99. You can get a trial version at the developer’s website.

I tested the app by having it create a spreadsheet of my Obsidian vault containing 9722 files and 1843 folders. You can choose an output file in either csv or xlsx format. By default the app does not calculate folder sizes to speed up the analysis, but you can toggle it on if you want the information. On my M2 MacBook Air, the process was still relatively fast.

The most useful feature of the app is its ability to export metadata from files, particularly helpful for photos, video and music. Because the data ends up in a spreadsheet, you can manipulate and sort it in all kinds of ways. If you have album artwork associated with your music files, it even gets exported into  your spreadsheet. You also get the path of every file in your analysis, which can be helpful if you need to operate in the terminal.

For Every File, You Can Get This Info:

  1. File name
  2. Date modified
  3. Date created
  4. Kind
  5. Size
  6. Path (the location of the file)
  7. Comments
  8. Tags
  9. Version
  10. Pages
  11. Authors/Artist
  12. Title
  13. Album
  14. Track NO
  15. Genre
  16. Year
  17. Duration
  18. Audio BitRate
  19. Audio Encoding Application
  20. Audio Sample Rate
  21. Audio Channels
  22. Dimensions
  23. Pixel Width
  24. Pixel Height
  25. Total Pixels
  26. Height DPI
  27. Width DPI
  28. Color Space
  29. Color Profile
  30. Alpha Channel:
  31. Creator
  32. Video Bit Rate
  33. Total Bit Rate
  34. Codecs
  35. md5
  36. sha256

Exif Metadata for Your Photos

  • Camera Make
  • Description
  • Camera Model Name
  • Owner Name
  • Serial Number
  • Copyright
  • Software
  • Date Taken
  • Lens Make
  • Lens Model
  • Lens Serial Number
  • ISO
  • FNumber
  • Focal Length
  • Flash
  • Orientation
  • Latitude
  • Longitude
  • Maps URL
  • Camera Make
  • Description
  • Camera Model Name
  • Owner Name
  • Serial Number
  • Copyright
  • Software
  • Date Taken
  • Lens Make
  • Lens Model
  • Lens Serial Number
  • ISO
  • Fstop
  • Focal Length
  • Flash
  • Orientation
  • Latitude
  • Longitude
  • Maps URL

My Raycast Extensions

Raycast
Raycast

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A Mastodon friend asked me to list the Raycast extensions I have installed. Raycast is a replacement for Spotlight that has considerable superpowers in its vast extension library. I use Raycast as my clipboard manager, emoji picker, window manager and I do quite a lot of image modification with it. As you can see, there are many more features available.

90% of the feature set is free. The $10 a month pro subscriptions buys the ability to sync your settings between computers, interact with AI advanced features and some more options with Raycast notes. You also get regular backups of your settings.

You can see a categorized list of extensions here.

89 installed extensions

Basic Bookmarks https://raycast.com/rauno/bmrks

2FA Code Finder https://raycast.com/yuercl/imessage-2fa

Alt-Text Generator https://raycast.com/jack_casica/alt-text-generator

Amphetamine https://raycast.com/gstvds/amphetamine

Apple Reminders https://raycast.com/raycast/apple-reminders

Auto Quit App https://raycast.com/koinzhang/auto-quit-app

Battery Health https://raycast.com/o1y/battery-health

BetterTouchTool https://raycast.com/dnnsmnstrr/bettertouchtool

Bing Search https://raycast.com/maver1ck/bing-search

Bing Wallpaper https://raycast.com/koinzhang/bing-wallpaper

Bitly URL Shortener https://raycast.com/blessanm86/bitly-url-shortener

Bluesky https://raycast.com/dharamkapila/bluesky

Brew https://raycast.com/nhojb/brew

Browser Bookmarks https://raycast.com/raycast/browser-bookmarks

Browser History https://raycast.com/crisboarna/browser-history

Browser Tabs https://raycast.com/koinzhang/browser-tabs

Change Case https://raycast.com/erics118/change-case

ChatGPT https://raycast.com/abielzulio/chatgpt

CleanShot X https://raycast.com/Aayush9029/cleanshotx

Clipboard Editor https://raycast.com/pomdtr/clipboard-editor

Clipboard Formatter https://raycast.com/joshtemple/clipboard-formatter

Close All Open Apps https://raycast.com/guide/close-apps

Coffee https://raycast.com/mooxl/coffee

Color Picker https://raycast.com/thomas/color-picker

CopyQ Clipboard Manager https://raycast.com/andrewcincotta/copyq-clipboard-manager

Day One https://raycast.com/AntonNiklasson/day-one

Downloads Manager https://raycast.com/thomas/downloads-manager

Drafts https://raycast.com/FlohGro/drafts

Dropover https://raycast.com/jag-k/dropover

DuckDuckGo Search https://raycast.com/tegola/duck-duck-go-search

Easy OCR https://raycast.com/Rafo94/easy-ocr

Emoji Search https://raycast.com/FezVrasta/emoji

Fantastical https://raycast.com/devahschaefers/fantastical

Flush DNS https://raycast.com/rasmusbe/flush-dns

Folder Search https://raycast.com/GastroGeek/folder-search

Font Awesome https://raycast.com/dutzi/font-awesome

GIF Search https://raycast.com/josephschmitt/gif-search

Google Drive https://raycast.com/vishaltelangre/google-drive

Google Gemini https://raycast.com/EvanZhouDev/raycast-gemini

Google Maps Search https://raycast.com/ratoru/google-maps-search

Google Search https://raycast.com/mblode/google-search

Google Workspace https://raycast.com/raycast/google-workspace

Hide All Apps https://raycast.com/peduarte/hide-all-apps

Iconify — Search Icons https://raycast.com/destiner/iconify

Image Modification https://raycast.com/HelloImSteven/sips

IMDb Search https://raycast.com/ryan/imdb

Installed Extensions https://raycast.com/pernielsentikaer/installed-extensions

Keyboard Maestro - List Macros https://raycast.com/eluce2/list-keyboard-maestro-macros

Kill Process https://raycast.com/rolandleth/kill-process

Link Cleaner https://raycast.com/MisakiCoca/link-cleaner

Lorem Ipsum https://raycast.com/AntonNiklasson/lorem-ipsum

MacUpdater https://raycast.com/kall/macupdater

Markdown Reference https://raycast.com/codedbyjordan/markdown-reference

Mastodon https://raycast.com/SevicheCC/mastodon

Mastodon Search https://raycast.com/daveverwer/mastodon-search

Meme Generator https://raycast.com/timoransky/meme-generator

Messages https://raycast.com/thomaslombart/messages

Microsoft Edge https://raycast.com/KartikKumarSahoo/microsoft-edge

Music https://raycast.com/fedevitaledev/music

My Daily Log https://raycast.com/frugoman/my-daily-log

MyIP https://raycast.com/Kang/myip

Obsidian https://raycast.com/KevinBatdorf/obsidian

Obsidian Smart Capture https://raycast.com/millin_gabani/obsidian-smart-capture

omg.lol https://raycast.com/danpalmer/omg-lol

Open Folders https://raycast.com/timothy_boye/open-folders

Open Link in Specific Browser https://raycast.com/koinzhang/open-link-in-specific-browser

Open With App https://raycast.com/fturcheti/open-with-app

Paste as Plain Text https://raycast.com/koinzhang/paste-as-plain-text

Quit Applications https://raycast.com/mackopes/quit-applications

Raindrop.io https://raycast.com/lardissone/raindrop-io

Random Password Generator https://raycast.com/textnav/random-password-generator

Reddit Search https://raycast.com/ewlcheng/reddit-search

Remove Paywall https://raycast.com/tegola/remove-paywall

Screenshot https://raycast.com/Aayush9029/screenshot

Script Commands Store – Find and manage your Raycast Script Commands https://raycast.com/tholanda/script-commands

Search HoudahSpot https://raycast.com/felixthehat/houdahspot-search

Speedtest https://raycast.com/tonka3000/speedtest

System Monitor https://raycast.com/hossammourad/raycast-system-monitor

Things https://raycast.com/loris/things

ToolBox https://raycast.com/Kang/toolbox

Type Snob https://raycast.com/sawyerh/type-snob

Unsplash https://raycast.com/eggsy/unsplash

Vivaldi https://raycast.com/crisboarna/vivaldi

Weather https://raycast.com/tonka3000/weather

Wi-Fi https://raycast.com/koinzhang/wi-fi

Wikipedia https://raycast.com/vimtor/wikipedia

Xecutor https://raycast.com/GastroGeek/xecutor

YouTube https://raycast.com/tonka3000/youtube

YouTube Companion https://raycast.com/sasivarnan/youtube-companion

YouTube Downloader https://raycast.com/vimtor/youtube-downloader


Use Calibre to Back Up Your Kindle Books Before February 26

Calibre
Calibre

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Amazon just announced that you have until February 26, 2025, to download your Kindle content. After that date, you will no longer be able to access the books you’ve paid for if you have a legacy device or a Kindle that has experienced wireless issues. The only way to load what you’ve paid for onto a device will be through wireless sync.

Thankfully, using the free ebook manager, Calibre, you can convert your Kindle content into formats readable on other ebook readers or into PDFs. You will be protected if Amazon ever removes books you’ve paid for. You do not need to download the Kindle app on your Mac to accomplish this.

Log in to your Amazon account. In the account section, select Content Library>Books. You’ll have to download each title you want to back up as a separate files in azw3 format.

Download Calibre directly from the developer. To gain the ability to convert the books into other formats using Calibre, you will need to download a plugin from GitHub.. Make sure to install and set up the plugin before importing your books into Calibre. You will need the serial number from your Kindle to do this. You can get this information from the Amazon website or from the device itself.

For detailed instructions, see this article.

Metadata Lab - Exif Editor

Metadata Lab
Metadata Lab

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Modern DSLR cameras and cell phones add extensive data to every photo they take. The information recorded includes camera settings like ISO speed, shutter speed, focal length, and other details. Including GPS location. After a photo is taken, and you’ve downloaded it to your computer, it’s possible to add other information to its metadata, including a description, keywords and licensing/copyright information. Some of this information is more important to professional photographers than it is to regular people, but there are reasons why anyone might want to edit the details of a photo.

Some higher end photo management applications have metadata editing capabilities, but if you are piecing together your own workflow, the free app, Metadata Lab is a quick and easy way to add, remove or change information on any photo you have. The app is compatible with RAW, JPEG, PNG, TIFF, and many other formats (including video/audio files). You can import photos from the Mac Photo’s App into the Metadata Lab. Not only can you edit the EXIF data, you can also edit IPTC, PDF, PNG and QuickTime metadata.

Use Cases

  • Correcting date and time data if it was incorrect on the camera
  • Adding GPS data for later personal reference
  • Removing GPS data for images shared with third parties or on the Internet
  • Adding keywords for cataloging purposes

More information is available on the developer's website. You can download Metadata Lab on the App Store.

Librewolf for Security and Privacy

Librewolf
Librewolf

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If you become more concerned with privacy and surveillance regarding your online activities, moving to a more secure browser is a definite step in the right direction, along with using a reputable VPN, a privacy focused DNS setup and good ad and tracker blocking extensions. The ultimate in privacy for most users is probably using the TOR browser and network. That comes with a significant performance hit. If you are looking for more privacy without the usability issues of TOR, Librewolf is most likely your best option for a daily driver.

LibreWolf is a privacy-focused fork of Firefox. Its primary benefits include:

Tracking Protection

  • Strict default settings protecting against trackers, ads and scripts
  • uBlock Origin included by default
  • Fingerprinting resistance, including protection against canvas, font, and WebGL fingerprinting.
  • Encrypted SNI:preventing your Internet Service Provider (ISP) from seeing which websites you visit.

Privacy

  • No telemetry or data collection
  • Privacy-focused search engine, DuckDuckGo enabled by default, although you can change it to Kagi or the engine of your choice:
  • Cookie AutoDelete to automatically purge tracking cookies after each browsing session
  • HTTPS-Only Mode on by default

Security

  • Blocks known malware sites through disconnect.me's list of over 5000 tracking and malicious domains
  • WebRTC disabled by default to prevent IP address leakage
  • Strict default settings for website permissions for your location, camera, and microphone

Open Source

  • Open Source
  • Ethical community members
  • Removes sponsored content, distracting elements on the home page, and search suggestions
  • Wide range of customization options

The most important element in your security setup is you. No amount of consumer technology can protect you as much as limiting what you share online. Making use of encryption technology to share highly sensitive data can be a necessary step if you are engaged in conduct that hostile actors could intercept.

The recommended way to install Librewolf is using Homebrew. You can download a DMG, but you will lose access to automatic updates.

brew install --cask librewolf

Download site.

Applite Updated with New Features

Applite
Applite

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Installing software using the package manager, Homebrew, makes it much easier to update than downloading installation files manually. It isn’t necessarily difficult to find the commands to download apps, but it does require a certain amount of searching around. The free and open-source utility, Applite, provides an App Store like interface for Homebrew, allowing you to browse what is available through a GUI. Anything you download through Applite can also be updated through the same interface.

When you install Applite, it will offer to install Homebrew . If you don’t have it installed already, you’ll want to do that. Otherwise, just choose the option to use your currently installed version, which will be detected.

Every application in the Homebrew Catalog is available through Applite. When you launch an app downloaded with Applite, the built-in Mac security apps, Gatekeeper and Xprotect will examine it to make sure it is safe to run. Most of the apps in the Homebrew catalog are notarized, but not all of them are sandboxed, meaning that some may run with elevated privileges. Be careful when downloading applications that few others have downloaded. Not all apps available through Homebrew are FOSS. Some are trialware of commercial products.

The following categories of apps are available along with info on some of the apps I have tested:

New Features in version 1.3.0


- Casks from third-party taps are now available
- Detailed cask info window (token, version, tap, etc.)
- Dedicated App Migration tab (app import/export)
- Deprecated/disabled apps are now highlighted in the UI

Use KIWIX to Access Wikipedia and Other Resources Offline

KIWIX
KIWIX

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You should use this free and open-source tool to secure a personal copy of Wikipedia and other resource information valuable to you. KIWIX believes that access to knowledge is a fundamental right. That’s why they’re dedicated to providing free and open access to it for everyone, everywhere.

KIWIX enables you to have the whole of Wikipedia (and many other websites like TED talks, Stack Exchange, Gutenberg Project library, WikiHow, Khan Academy, freeCodeCamp, YouTube channels) Data downloaded on a Mac can be transferred to mobile devices.

The source code for the Mac and iOS versions is on GitHub.

You may have seen the recent stories about attacks on Wikipedia. Certain parties have:

Some of these same parties have been responsible for the removal of publicly funded databases from government websites. If you are concerned about censorship or data altered to fit a certain narrative, download KIWIX to avoid issues. It is still currently available on Mac App Store..

The most reliable way to get the Wikipedia data is to use a Mac to download the small peer-to-peer seed file for the large non-indexed ZIM file you want (not the pre-indexed package for Windows) from http://www.kiwix.org/wiki/Content_in_all_languages, then use a peer-to-peer client (such as Folx) to download the actual ZIM data file to your computer. You can then transfer the ZIM file to your iOS device using iTunes/Apple Music File Sharing.

Geofency - Location Based Time Tracking

Geofency for Mac
Geofency for Mac

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I have used various location tracking apps over the years. Most of the ones I’ve tried have had issues. Either the company behind them folded or the apps had poor privacy policies or were strictly for iOS and drained my battery faster than I liked. These apps are often subscription-based. Google will gladly track your location for free using your device if you let them, but what sane person wants Google of all companies knowing their every move?

The one app that consistently delivers added features, accuracy, and unsurpassed privacy is Geofency by developer Karl Heinz Herbel. It is a universal app for iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch and Mac. I use my iPhone as the default for tracking my location and use the Mac version to pull reports and see my data. Geofency is currently at version 9 and has been in the app store for 12 years. Geofency does not do route tracking, so look elsewhere if that’s what you need. Instead, it tracks the amount of time you spend at the locations you visit. I used it for years when I worked in a rural county, traveling between schools. When I needed to complete my expense report, I could pull all my data from Geofency as well as for my time card. If, for some reason, it fails to accurately record a visit (rarely) you can manually edit the data.

It is accurate enough that today I use it to determine which buildings on the campus of the university where I work I have visited during the current reporting period. I am able to add notes to any visit to a particular building for later reference. For visits to commercial locations, Geofency connects to Apple Maps to pull phone, address and website data. I can automatically export visits to any location to any calendar. The app will even generate a CSV time sheet for any time period I specify for any location. I can customize the locations by renaming them or resizing the spatial radius Geofency recognizes, helpful for separate locations near one another.

None of your Geofency data is collected by the developer. It all lives in your iCloud account only.

The iOS app features live activities and widgets. I would gladly pay a higher price for this app I have now used for over a decade, but it is still only $4.99 as a one-time purchase in. the App Store.

Acorn Image Editor Provides Great Value

Acorn
Acorn

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Through the years, I’ve used multiple versions of Adobe Photoshop, Pixelmator add even GIMP for layered image editing and graphic design. The most user-friendly yet powerful app I’ve ever used in that category is Acorn, by the developers at Flying Meat, Inc. For less than $20 you get a Photoshop compatible application, either from the developer’s website or the App Store.The feature set is long and varied, but the interface isn’t overly complicated, and you don’t need to buy an 800-page book to explain the ins and outs of using it. A two-time Apple award winner, it’s a one-time purchase of $19.99, and you get access to extensive online documentation, a user forum and tech support. The current version is a universal binary compatible with macOS 14 and 15, but earlier versions can still be downloaded.

New Features in Latest Version

  • AI subject selection
  • Live text tool
  • Data-driven graphics
  • On canvas ruler
  • JPEG-XL support
  • Look up tables (LUTs)
  • Super resolution (upscaling)
  • Extensive export support
  • Apple shortcut support

Basic Use Cases

  • Design logos and custom typography by adding text to paths or shapes.
  • Remove backgrounds using Magic Wand and Instant Alpha Eraser.
  • Combine images to create collages and layouts.
  • Retouch images with Clone, Dodge, and Burn.
  • Adjust contrast, highlights, and shadows with Levels and Curves.
  • Export professionally with customizable color profiles, file formats, and precise size control.

Extended Feature Set

  • Layer capabilities
  • Filters, effects and styles
  • Basic and custom brushes (including Adobe imports)
  • Magic Wand shapes
  • Vector support
  • Supports multiple file types

If you only need basic features, like image conversion, compression and resizing, there are programs with smaller feature sets to accomplish those tasks. If. However, you want something full-featured with batch processing capabilities (using Automator support), Acorn is a good tool to have.

Limited Purpose Tools

Vivaldi, My Favorite Browser Just Got Some Updates

Vivaldi Speed Dial
Vivaldi Speed Dial

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I switched to using Vivaldi late last year after being all in on Microsoft Edge because of work. I am trying to leave as many big tech companies behind as possible, and I grew tired of having AI shoved in my face all day. Vivaldi is a Chromium-based browser designed for the technically proficient, who form the core of its 3.1 million user base.

Through the years I’ve used Netscape, Internet Explorer, Camino, Safari, Chrome and Edge. None of them ever provided the customization options that Vivaldi does. The ability to group tabs and save them as browsing sessions is a real game changer. The iOS version is great too and getting to my bookmarks, tabs and history works well between platforms. Version 7.1 was released recently and these are some of the new features.

Bring Your Tabs Along

If the thought of abandoning the open tabs in your current browser gives you anxiety, Vivaldi now has you covered. It can import them all so you can get right back to doing what you were doing without having to set things up again.

Speed Dials

Vivaldi has a mechanism for setting up link collections called Speed Dials. You can reach your Speed Dials right from the new tab page. I have several, including one with the websites I use for posting to my blog and another for research. The process for adding sites to them has been redesigned and is no easier than ever to manage.

Seamless Tab Sharing

If, like me, you use your browser on multiple devices, four in my case, the ability to send tabs to my phone, iPad or work computer is easier than ever. I can continue to read or research anything without using third-party software or cumbersome workarounds.

New Default Search Engines

Vivaldi doesn’t track you, profile you, or sell your data. It's monetized by defaulting to one of three search engines, although you are free to use anything you want. Vivaldi features Startpage, Ecosia, DuckDuckGo and Qwant. It's built in tracker blocking and the availability of ad blockers routinely give me a score of 99 to 100 on sites that grade privacy.

Weather Widget

There is a new custom weather widget for Vivaldi's new tab page, which it calls a dashboard. The dashboard already has widgets to display your email inbox, top stories from your choice of RSS feeds, your calendar and more.

Dashboard Customization

You can now customize the look of your dashboard with themes ranging from minimalist styles to bold and colorful. The page background is adjustable to fit your style, and you can color your widgets to match the overall them you've chosen for the browser as a whole.

Tapestry by Iconfactory on Day 2

Tapestry
Tapestry

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Announced a year ago on Kickstarter, Tapestry by Iconfactory was released on February 4. Tapestry is an aggregator that creates a combined timeline from a long list of possible sources including :

  • RSS feeds
  • YouTube channels
  • Podcasts
  • Mastodon
  • Bluesky
  • Micro.blog
  • Tumblr
  • Reddit

Items in your timeline are shown in chronological order. There is no algorithm. Searching within Tapestry searches across all feeds. Likewise, setting a mute filter for terms such as "Elon Musk" will block content from every source. Content from different sources is color coded to make readily apparent which resource your information is coming from. If you install Tapestry on a phone and an iPad, your reading position syncs across devices via iCloud. You can combine sources in any way you want to have your own custom feeds. I am still experimenting, but so far I created the following:

  • Personal bloggers
  • Hard news
  • Tech news
  • Combined Mastodon and Bluesky home feeds
  • Favorite individual social media feeds, since you can add a feed for a single account holder (e.g. Kottke, AOC, Joan Westenberg)

The settings allow you to choose an icon, a theme and a font for the timeline. You can use the in app browser or your default browser to view content. I recommend doing that so you can view content using reader mode. Reddit links open in the Reddit app. Mastodon links open in my browser, although I can use the share sheet to open them in my preferred app. Tapestry also has bookmarks.


The privacy policy states that all searches take place on your device. The developers do not collect any data.

Iconfactory offers monthly subscriptions for $1.99, yearly for $19.99 and a one time purchase for $79.99. A Mac version is in the works, but is not here yet. There is a free version with limited features. Get it on the App Store

Privileges - Operate Your Mac Safely

Privileges
Privileges

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As much as you may not want to hear it, using an administrator account on your Mac as your daily driver is absolutely not the best practice. It’s bad because it provides full access rights across the system to every application and process running in that account. If malware or a bad actor gains control of the administrator account, they could potentially install unwanted applications, alter system settings, or access or delete sensitive data. Limiting the use of an administrator account helps to mitigate these risks. Unfortunately, most people consider it a huge hassle to use the standard Mac method of temporarily elevating the privileges of a standard account. So they just accept the risk and use an admin account anyway. You don’t have to be like them.

Use the free app, Privileges, a macOS application that lets users perform daily tasks as a standard user while easily requesting administrator rights. Users can set a specific timeframe in the app’s settings to handle tasks like installing or uninstalling applications. To request admin rights, just click the Privileges icon in your Dock or menu bar. Using a standard user account instead of an administrator enhances your Mac’s security and is a best practice. All users, including developers, can benefit from using Privileges. The app is compatible with macOS 11.x - 15.x. It has recently been updated.

Features

  • Easy install
  • Perfect for day-to-day use
  • Turn on admin rights anytime
  • Enjoy standard user security
  • Command line use supported

New Privileges 2.1 features

  • Installer package
  • Revoke admin rights at login
  • Unified expiration interval for administrator privileges
  • Renew expiring administrator privileges
  • Run actions on privilege change
  • Status item
  • Command line tool now also supports Touch ID
  • AppleScript support

You can download the Privileges installer on GitHub.