I got money back in tokens when I sent my old iPhone in for recycling recently. So I got the iOS version of Scrivener. Not convinced iPhones are the best place for book writing but I like that I have it.
Scrivener is a GREAT app. I keep cycling back to it. I've realized that actually I tend to use the phone more for notes than actually writing, which is the only reason that app isn't out there on the home screen.
I love the fact you’re linked with Julian Simpson. As an ardent consumer of your work since only forward (it’s possible I missed a short story or two), I’d love a collaboration on The Lovecraft Investigations. Or frankly, anything you might plan together!
Julian's one of the smartest and most talented people I've ever met. We've been trying to find something to work on together for a while... and will keep trying!
Aha. I came to ask whether you and JS might consider being partners in things other than software obsession as well, and this is the answer I was hoping for…
What does it say about me that I find looking at other people’s apps fun? Or, it’s an excuse for me to procrastinate at work. Yeah. I am procrastinating at work.
It seems I can't set the record straight by attaching a picture of my beautifully organized (for me) home screen. It’s so well laid out that I can mostly navigate to the app I want without even glancing at the screen. I have lots of very nice folders: admittedly some of these may look misnamed - eg In my aether = weather, Pareghoto stuff = photography (or presumably photographic stuff, as my photos and camera app aren’t in it). Now that I look at it, I suspect Entertaining is meant to be entertainment. These folders all got accidentally renamed at some point, probably when our son was small and enjoyed playing with my phone. But they've become delightfully familiar and would never change them. There are currently 7,991 unopened emails in my inbox, so it's under 8k. I know for a fact that they're all spam and I'll definitely, absolutely be culling them as soon as I have spare time I can't think of any better use for.
My best and most-used app is BBC Sounds, shortly to be turned off for non-UK residents, because this is absolutely the best and most appropriate time to cut global access to unbiased reporting and comment.
I’m at 8,372 unread in my email. That’s nothing compared to my work email in my last job which I left at >500k unread emails (@30sec each that means I saved 173 days of my life by leaving them unread)
I made a folder called reviewsubscriptions, and gave it a rule - any email that has the word unsubscribe goes in here. Turns out that was 90% of my inbox, so my inbox is usable now, and I dont miss emails from my mum; and it makes it really easy to work out what junk mail I signed up for but don't want any more.
Oh, trust me — the number of times each task gets bumped to tomorrow (instead of DOING IT NOW) is a problem here too ;-) I think what I've found over time is that cutting tasks down into these per-zone apps seems to work better for me that having them all in some vast list that I can just ignore by (as you say) not looking at the app.
Having fought against getting a smartphone until it was literally impossible to function without one, I still use apps very, very minimally. The only ones that get daily use are Messenger, Messages, Notes, Fitbit and Family Link (which I use to supervise the child's use of their devices). My daily to-do list is a permanent pinned note at the top of my homescreen, which I am able to ignore by never looking at my phone while I'm at home unless someone dings/rings me (I do glance at it first thing in the morning to make sure I deal with any essential task that absolutely needs doing that day). I still live mainly on my laptop, and use the web versions of things wherever possible. Yes I am forever a contrarian. No, I don't know what's wrong with me.
Ha :-) Yes, I'm still mainly a laptop person for anything other than quick notes. Having a way of ignoring reminders is critical. They cannot be the boss of us.
Lol your description of your inbox and wife's phone/inbox is exactly like mine and my wife's.
The unread count on her gmail makes me anxious. She asked me to organise her six screens of apps after she got her latest phone. I put them all on one screen with labelled folders and now she can't find anything :D I also uninstalled about 30 apps she said she'd never heard of.
I may be absolutely terrible with unread emails, but my apps are very well organised, grouped, and labelled. I can never find ANYTHING on my wife's phone. She handed it to me to take a photo and I couldn't even find the camera. She also has folders of apps that aren't named *shudder*.
A couple of tips: First for Paula, it looks at the moment at though BBC Sounds is only going away on computers, not on smartphones; this may be because Brits abroad still want to listen to the shipping forecast to get them to sleep. Anyway, fingers crossed for that one. If it does go away, look at Smart DNS proxy rather than a VPN.
For Michael, I feel your pain with Google and now use the Kagi search engine, https://kagi.com - it's a tad complicated to set it up on a Mac, but once you've installed their Safari extension you're good to go. Works on all devices. The downside is that it costs between $5-$10 per month; the upside is NO MORE EFFIN' ADS! You get the search results and only the search results, no AI nonsense, nothing. Frankly for a tenner a month, it's a bargain and you're out of the Googlesphere a bit more. Free trial to see if you like it - I did, and was hooked. Founder Vlad Prelovac (no, really) was on John Gruber's Talk Show talking about it for a couple of hours and about online searching in general, well worth a listen: https://daringfireball.net/thetalkshow/2024/12/24/ep-416
Fascinating entry. Love it. Have now downloaded Flighty, which I didn't know about. I miss all the photo editing tools. I still have the olds that are working less and less well by the year but I find no new ones that are worth spending money on. And turn to apps "edit" tool more and more though that's crude and simple it does some things quite well. On the texting part I tend to use Telegram (trying to avoid all things META as well as X so have no such things installed on my phone anymore) but the kid sighed the other day and said something in the line of "Can't you just use the messaging app like other people". She does use Snapchat for her friends but apparently we "oldies" are supposed to use that so ... 🤷♀️
Ha - it's true about the generational divides on things, and apps we should use and apps we look uncool if we try to use. I also miss the days when there seemed to be a lot of really cool photo-editing apps... that really seems to have gone out of fashion.
*Mystified* My Home Screen is black; there are apps there but they came with the phone and I don’t use them. My calendar has pictures of cats and is hanging from a nail I hammered into the wall. I’m learning though. I’m using Substack. How long was I up in those hills?
You ain’t kidding. I walked past a lecture room today (I’m an English teacher in an FE college) that I thought was empty. On second glance it had about 20 students in it. Lights out. All on their phones. Total silence. Lovely! Place used to be a lot louder. Tbh I took a tech detox and it lasted a bit longer than originally intended. Four years.
I got money back in tokens when I sent my old iPhone in for recycling recently. So I got the iOS version of Scrivener. Not convinced iPhones are the best place for book writing but I like that I have it.
Scrivener is a GREAT app. I keep cycling back to it. I've realized that actually I tend to use the phone more for notes than actually writing, which is the only reason that app isn't out there on the home screen.
You famously recommended Scrivener and I think that’s what got me into the programme. A while ago now… it’s a fabulous piece of software
I love the fact you’re linked with Julian Simpson. As an ardent consumer of your work since only forward (it’s possible I missed a short story or two), I’d love a collaboration on The Lovecraft Investigations. Or frankly, anything you might plan together!
Julian's one of the smartest and most talented people I've ever met. We've been trying to find something to work on together for a while... and will keep trying!
Aha. I came to ask whether you and JS might consider being partners in things other than software obsession as well, and this is the answer I was hoping for…
What does it say about me that I find looking at other people’s apps fun? Or, it’s an excuse for me to procrastinate at work. Yeah. I am procrastinating at work.
Yeah, there's that. It's why i wrote about them, too ;-) Plus — whoever dies having tried the most apps, wins.
Absolute slander! I am not an ‘old’!
It seems I can't set the record straight by attaching a picture of my beautifully organized (for me) home screen. It’s so well laid out that I can mostly navigate to the app I want without even glancing at the screen. I have lots of very nice folders: admittedly some of these may look misnamed - eg In my aether = weather, Pareghoto stuff = photography (or presumably photographic stuff, as my photos and camera app aren’t in it). Now that I look at it, I suspect Entertaining is meant to be entertainment. These folders all got accidentally renamed at some point, probably when our son was small and enjoyed playing with my phone. But they've become delightfully familiar and would never change them. There are currently 7,991 unopened emails in my inbox, so it's under 8k. I know for a fact that they're all spam and I'll definitely, absolutely be culling them as soon as I have spare time I can't think of any better use for.
My best and most-used app is BBC Sounds, shortly to be turned off for non-UK residents, because this is absolutely the best and most appropriate time to cut global access to unbiased reporting and comment.
1. OH HOLY FUCK, IT'S UP TO NEARLY 8K NOW???
2. With all the love in the world, and that's a lot, your "explanation" of your folders absolutely makes my point.
3. The cancelation of BBC sounds is bullshit.
1. I can reduce it any time I want. I can, anytime...
2. 🤪
3. It is. I encourage anyone reading this to complain.
I’m at 8,372 unread in my email. That’s nothing compared to my work email in my last job which I left at >500k unread emails (@30sec each that means I saved 173 days of my life by leaving them unread)
I'm going to have to go outside for a minute and stare into the forest.
Fist bump, Patrick! I guess not everyone is as time efficient as you and I ;-)
You're both loonies.
I just checked what my number of unread emails is for the first time in about 3 years, and it's up to 35k...
Create a new folder called "The Past", and throw them all in there. They're not lost, but your inbox is suddenly clean and fresh.
Genius! I knew there was a reason I subscribed to you 😉
I made a folder called reviewsubscriptions, and gave it a rule - any email that has the word unsubscribe goes in here. Turns out that was 90% of my inbox, so my inbox is usable now, and I dont miss emails from my mum; and it makes it really easy to work out what junk mail I signed up for but don't want any more.
Huh, I hadn't thought of just searching for the word... nice one.
3837 unread in mine, but I did do a fairly recent cleanout. A bunch of those are probably Substack notifications...
LOL probably, yes... [Did you know you can turn those off on a publication-by-publication basis?]
I did not realize that. Thank you for improving my life! :-)
My toxic trait…
Writing the task in the app is not doing the task
Adding steps involved in the task is still not doing the task.
Ignoring reminders about when the task is due is still not doing the task.
Not updating the app or even opening it regularly enough, also … not doing the task.
Basically I need less tasks or simply to hire someone to confiscate my phone. And chase me with a big stick all day.
But, I’m impressed with your many apps that seem to do versions of the same thing, yet you’re still on top and organised. Inconceivable to me !!
Oh, trust me — the number of times each task gets bumped to tomorrow (instead of DOING IT NOW) is a problem here too ;-) I think what I've found over time is that cutting tasks down into these per-zone apps seems to work better for me that having them all in some vast list that I can just ignore by (as you say) not looking at the app.
Having fought against getting a smartphone until it was literally impossible to function without one, I still use apps very, very minimally. The only ones that get daily use are Messenger, Messages, Notes, Fitbit and Family Link (which I use to supervise the child's use of their devices). My daily to-do list is a permanent pinned note at the top of my homescreen, which I am able to ignore by never looking at my phone while I'm at home unless someone dings/rings me (I do glance at it first thing in the morning to make sure I deal with any essential task that absolutely needs doing that day). I still live mainly on my laptop, and use the web versions of things wherever possible. Yes I am forever a contrarian. No, I don't know what's wrong with me.
Ha :-) Yes, I'm still mainly a laptop person for anything other than quick notes. Having a way of ignoring reminders is critical. They cannot be the boss of us.
Who makes the Whisper app? Link?
Dangit, missed that one. It's here — another upside to the app is it's all done on-device, so (a) it's quicker and (b) you don't need signal...
https://whispernotes.app
Cool. Thanks for the quick response!
Hot tip — you might want to turn off the auto-language feature. I had it try to make sense of something I'd said... and it turned it into Welsh ;-)
Good to know :)
Lol your description of your inbox and wife's phone/inbox is exactly like mine and my wife's.
The unread count on her gmail makes me anxious. She asked me to organise her six screens of apps after she got her latest phone. I put them all on one screen with labelled folders and now she can't find anything :D I also uninstalled about 30 apps she said she'd never heard of.
I found out today that my wife's unread is far, far worse than when last I dared look. It's over 7000 dude.
Omg.
I may be absolutely terrible with unread emails, but my apps are very well organised, grouped, and labelled. I can never find ANYTHING on my wife's phone. She handed it to me to take a photo and I couldn't even find the camera. She also has folders of apps that aren't named *shudder*.
I absolutely feel your pain. It's like a glimpse into the howling void.
This was helpful. No more long posts.….
Do you mean that one was too long?
A couple of tips: First for Paula, it looks at the moment at though BBC Sounds is only going away on computers, not on smartphones; this may be because Brits abroad still want to listen to the shipping forecast to get them to sleep. Anyway, fingers crossed for that one. If it does go away, look at Smart DNS proxy rather than a VPN.
For Michael, I feel your pain with Google and now use the Kagi search engine, https://kagi.com - it's a tad complicated to set it up on a Mac, but once you've installed their Safari extension you're good to go. Works on all devices. The downside is that it costs between $5-$10 per month; the upside is NO MORE EFFIN' ADS! You get the search results and only the search results, no AI nonsense, nothing. Frankly for a tenner a month, it's a bargain and you're out of the Googlesphere a bit more. Free trial to see if you like it - I did, and was hooked. Founder Vlad Prelovac (no, really) was on John Gruber's Talk Show talking about it for a couple of hours and about online searching in general, well worth a listen: https://daringfireball.net/thetalkshow/2024/12/24/ep-416
Huh, well if Gruber's on board it's definitely worth a look, thank you! And I'll pass that thing about BBC Sounds on to Paula — thanks for that too.
Fascinating entry. Love it. Have now downloaded Flighty, which I didn't know about. I miss all the photo editing tools. I still have the olds that are working less and less well by the year but I find no new ones that are worth spending money on. And turn to apps "edit" tool more and more though that's crude and simple it does some things quite well. On the texting part I tend to use Telegram (trying to avoid all things META as well as X so have no such things installed on my phone anymore) but the kid sighed the other day and said something in the line of "Can't you just use the messaging app like other people". She does use Snapchat for her friends but apparently we "oldies" are supposed to use that so ... 🤷♀️
Ha - it's true about the generational divides on things, and apps we should use and apps we look uncool if we try to use. I also miss the days when there seemed to be a lot of really cool photo-editing apps... that really seems to have gone out of fashion.
Everything is ok a monthly based payments catering to YouTubers or TikTokers it seems - no one likes a simple photo anymore it seems.
*Mystified* My Home Screen is black; there are apps there but they came with the phone and I don’t use them. My calendar has pictures of cats and is hanging from a nail I hammered into the wall. I’m learning though. I’m using Substack. How long was I up in those hills?
LOL about two thousand years. There's been some changes, my friend...
You ain’t kidding. I walked past a lecture room today (I’m an English teacher in an FE college) that I thought was empty. On second glance it had about 20 students in it. Lights out. All on their phones. Total silence. Lovely! Place used to be a lot louder. Tbh I took a tech detox and it lasted a bit longer than originally intended. Four years.
I've certainly scaled down my digital intake of the world in the last six months, though it keeps creeping back...