There’s no shortage of minimalist text editors and writing utilities on the Mac. For whatever reason, the exact interface to inputting text in a window can be done a hundred different ways, and each permutation …
Trying out the Opera Neon
Remember when having multiple browsers was a requirement for desktop computing? Most users should be past that point. The default browsers for each operating system — Safari on macOS, Microsoft Edge/Internet Explorer 10/11 for Windows, …
Data Sync Not Invented Here
You’d think that data syncing is a solved problem for applications. Dropbox has been around for close to 10 years, and they came up with a product model — a local folder whose files (usually) …
Evernote → OneNote
Late last year, I was investigating whether to migrate over from Evernote to OneNote. I had been an Evernote user for years, but recent questions on the health of the company have prompted me to …
Succumbing to Social Media for News Feeds
I’m throwing in the white towel. After trying to hold out for what seems like years to my RSS reader and feeds, I’m moving most of my news sourcing to Twitter. I still subscribe to …
The Future of Paid Software is Being Destroyed by App Stores
I’ve been down on apps—specifically, mobile apps—for a while now. Of course, I use and buy and enjoy them on my phone, but I’ve watched as the mobile app marketplace and economics have deteriorated. The …
Simple, Accessible Notes
Taking notes on a computer should be the most basic of functionalities: throw up a window that can accept text input, and save the text to a file. Optionally, sync these notes to the cloud, …
Whether Mobile Products Monopolize
I got in a brief discussion with the famous Startup L. Jackson on Twitter the other day. The thread started with a comment from me: We went a bit back and forth on the characteristics …
Apps don’t Magically Increase Reach
Apps are supposed to be magical. Well, not so much magical as they are a supposedly a requirement for most businesses, the main way to get in front of users whose time is increasingly dominated …
The Dying Web
The web is dying? Of course it’s dying. The author of this opinion piece isn’t the first to point out that it seems like mobile apps are taking up a ton of time and attention …
The Great App Cheapening
During a fairly lonely drive to a friend’s gathering up in Tahoe a few weeks back, I was listening to ATP, and the hosts of the podcast were chatting about the newly announced iPhone 6 …
The End of Standardized Readability
It started with Instapaper. The idea was to boost efficiency by employing the batching technique to article consumption, particularly mid- to long-form journalism found online. Saving an article for later separates the act of browsing …