No ducks were harmed in the making...

Good night Mac – an Alfred 3 Workflow

For a long time now, I’ve had an Alfred Workflow that I use every night when I leave my Mac (and often at other times, too). It prepares my Mac for staying on all night without disturbing anyone. I just added an extra feature today and it appears I’ve never shared the Workflow, so this post remedies that.

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By Allister, ago

TIFF scanning and compression

Over the last year or so, I have been slowly scanning my father’s large collection of photographs. He was a bit of a stickler for collecting his negatives in an orderly fashion so I am able to work my way through numbered folders of negatives, each of which generally contains the content of a single roll of film. This post covers my journey to find software and process that yield the best and most efficient results.

By Allister, ago

Techno-familiarity

When we observe the world around us we are frequently to be found comparing what we see with our previous experiences. “That’s a lot of rain” is not an absolute measure of the volume of rain without considering the observer – do they come from Thailand or southern California? So it should come as no surprise that the technology we are already familiar with has a significant bearing on our assessment of new gadgets. It recently occurred to me that my own judgement has been clouded in this way and I think it’s a common affliction.

By Allister, ago

Cleaning up macOS Launchpad

It is a much maligned feature of macOS but there are times when LaunchPad are useful. Such as when I want to scan my apps for recent additions that warrant a review. Sure, I can just open the Applications folder, but LaunchPad is a much easier presentation.

But, it does have its issues: for one, the inability to delete non-Mac App Store apps. This is a quick post on a method I found that allows you to do just that.

By Allister, ago

Combine and conquer

A little over a week ago I wrote about my quest for software to ‘run’ my podcast production for The Sitting Duck Podcast. Specifically, some form of sound board software that would work well for multi-track recording into Logic Pro X.

Since then I’ve discovered two new pieces of software and a new way to approach the multi-track solution.

By Allister, ago

Above and beyond

There was a time when I used to record and publish a podcast every Thursday. It only really lasted a few years before I lost the passion, but it does still exist and I release new episodes from time to time when the bug bites me.

I’ve been skirting around the edges of putting a new episode out for the last couple of weeks but one thing is holding me back – software. The podcast was born on a Windows PC in the wonderfully simple CastBlaster software. After switching to a Mac, I used GarageBand for a time before discovering what would almost be the perfect tool for me – Ubercaster.

Unfortunately, Ubercaster is no more, so this week I set out to see if I could come close to the Ubercaster experience with contemporary Mac software.

By Allister, ago