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• 🐛 Fixed an issue where custom domains may have not provisioned. Sorry about that. All domains should be working, however get in touch if you continue to have issues — I checked and everything is looking good now.

Status Report Jul 2026

Can't believe I am gone for half a year. Well, I did say I am a lazy person. What's happened in my absence? For starters, I decided to replace my now 4~5 years old PC with a beefier setup. I also got 2 of my 4 (or 3?) wisdom teeth removed. And I am going to travel for the first time in my life soon! The PCI built my first ever PC tower back in 2022 because I wanted more power than a desktop 2070S. But the crypto heat was still strong, I settled for a combination of R5 5600X+3060Ti at the time. Also, I paid a small fee to have the shop build for me out of the fear I'd break something. This machine is fine. Stressing on that, it is just fine. It doesn't run game crazily well, but it does its job well. I could play most...

Cheers to 100 Years, Moody Radio

Celebrating 100 years of Moody Radio, connecting generations through timeless broadcasts and iconic moments captured in history. This is a year of anniversaries. Moody Bible Institute turns 140 and Moody Radio turns 100. I listen to Moody Radio almost daily. I think Moody Church and Moody Bible Institute are the premier Evangelical Christian sword in today's world. You can find a great timeline with historical pictures here. Happy 140 years, Moody Bible Institute, keep turning out those Christian men and women. Happy 100 years to Moody Radio. Here's to another 100 years, unless the Lord tarries. Links may be shortened via mtribe.link for cleaner formatting. All links redirect to their original destinations.

Why Scribbles is great

I host this blog on Scribbles, a charming platform built by Vincent. With all the recent UX updates, the platform's versatility for blogging is truly remarkable. 😀

📺 Pritam and Pedro

Wiki link Plot:The series follows, Pritam, a young, tech-savvy coding expert, and Pedro, an old-school police officer in Goa.

CurrentKey, Removing Mac Friction Points with Space Naming and ScreenTime Info You Can Actually Use

Here are two Mac friction points: • It's been 16 years since Mission Control was released, and "Desktop 3" is still "Desktop 3." Apple's API doesn't expose Space naming to any third-party app — there's no system-level hook to hang a label on. • Screen Time gets activated when an app launches and stays that way as long as the app is open; the clock keeps ticking even if the app is minimized or buried six windows deep on your desktop. To me, that makes it practically useless. There's an app that deals with both of those irritants: CurrentKey (formerly CurrentKey Stats) wraps every Space in a named, icon-coded "Room" you can jump to by hotkey or dropdown, then quietly logs how much time you actually spend in each one, broken down by app. The name lives in CurrentKey's own popover and menu bar, not inside Mission Control itself. I wrote about...

☑︎ I remind myself of this every 7 days

YOUR FUTURE SELF WILL THANK YOU 1. For sleeping early. 2. For eating clean. 3. For walking daily. 4. For saying no. 5. For lifting weights. 6. For lowering sugar. 7. For breathing deeply. 8. For being consistent. This is not my creation, but I found it somewhere (sorry, do not recall where) and it has been in my task manager (Todoist) for some time now:

Driving all day Coffee and sandwiches from the lap Eye strain Congestion Big skies Arrival decompression

being FANTAstic

Did I already said I love stupid things developed and reiterated with passion and consistency over time? Here's one perfect example of this via @nuclear_bard on Instagram

Apptorium, the developers best known for SideNotes, is running a sale from July 20–31 on some of the most recommended apps in their category. Get Details . Apps on Sale from Other Developers• CleanShot at 20% off • DaisyDisk at 30% off • ForkLift at 30% off • MindNode at 20% off • Nova by Panic for 40% off • SetApp for 20% off Apptorium's Own LineupApptorium is putting their entire lineup on sale: • 40% off SideNotes for Mac, iPhone, and iPad • 50% off Workspaces and Desktop Composer • 30% off License Store • 38% off FiveNotes and Cursor Teleporter, 25% off FiveNotes Mobile & Nano • LiquidFetch and WindowKeys as free bonus utilities Other Well-Established Apps on Sale• Pixelsnap • Dropzone 4 • Bike • Taskpaper • Proxyman • Tinyshield My Reviews of Select Apps• Mind Node for Mind Maps | AppAddict • CleanShot X | AppAddict...

📶 So long Buddy, Hello Leap NBN

Back in 2024, AussieBroadband (well regarded internet provider) launched Buddytelco which basically provided the same internet without phone support (online support only). Anyway, for $99 a month (at the time AussieBroadband was $129 a month), BuddyTelco provided gigabit internet. I was with Optus at the time but quicked switched over and couldnt be happier. Btw, how cute was the Buddy Telco mascot. Many moons later.....in March 2026, this happened: The transition was smooth for me (others were not so lucky). Anyway, last month, Tangerine contacted me announcing that the price is increasing to $114.90. This began my search for a new NBN Provider and I narrowed it down to three: I went with Leaptel as it was the cheapest, at least for the next 12 months. At midnight, my internet went down for a few minutes, and Leaptel took over: So far, so good.

AudioBo: The Audiobook Builder That Doesn't Make You Choose Parts 1, 2, and 3

TL;DR - Turn just about any collection of audiobook files (FLAC,WAV,MP3) into a single iPhone compatible M4B complete with metadata and chapters. Mac, $9.99, Solo dev I've been listening to audiobooks since they were called books on tape. I progressed from there to CDs and then to miscellaneous downloads. These days, the gold standard format, at least for Apple fans, is audiobooks packaged as single M4B files regardless of the book's length, complete with chapters and metadata. That way you can stop and start listening without searching for your place, add bookmarks and get a description and info on the author and narrator. My go-to tool for audiobook conversion is AudioBo, from solo developer Vlad at OrsoLabs, available in the Mac App Store for $9.99. It will turn a folder full of old MP3 files and assorted cruft into something you can listen to on your iPhone, iPad, Apple TV, and yes,...

Blame and wisdom after the fact are easy. Understanding and empathy are hard. Opinions are just entertainment.

Open Science 2.0 – When Access Is No Longer Enough

A few days ago, I came across an article in The Scholarly Kitchen that made me pause. Written by Ashutosh Ghildiyal, Maria Machado, and Gareth Dyke, Open Science 2.0: Building Understanding in an AI-Mediated World presents an argument I believe deserves more attention in our community, especially here in the Netherlands, where open science goals are truly developing. The main point is straightforward: we have succeeded in making research accessible. Today, research is more openly available than ever before. But simply having access was never the end goal. Now that most people see research findings through AI-generated answers instead of reading the original papers, the real question is not whether you can find the information, but whether you truly understand it. From Open Science 1.0 to 2.0Open Science 1.0 focused on removing paywalls, and for good reason. The Dutch goal of achieving 100% open access, the Barcelona Declaration on Open...

⚽️ FIFA: Argentina vs England

Just like yesterday, I went to my cousin’s place to watch the 2nd semi final. Yesterday’s semi final was a better match then the one today. England lost this match rather than Argentina 🇦🇷 winning. They went defensive too quickly. Something Spain didn’t do. The 1st half was a tense battle with both sides not able to capitalise. 2nd half was eventful but the action was all in the last 7 minutes. If I am being honest, neither team are my favorite. Actually, I do not have a favorite team because I only watch soccer during the FIFA World Cup. Despite this, I wanted England to win. Why? Because it has been 60 years since they won and Argentina had won the last World Cup. This isn‘t a valid reason. However, there are literally millions of England fans that have never seen their team win the World Cup. I suppose,...

“When you argue with reality, you lose, but only 100% of the time.” — Byron Katie

Finbar is an Indy Gem for Keyboard First Users

In past lives, my bosses pressed me into using a few complex and complicated apps - mostly Adobe and Microsoft stuff, some AutoCAD. One thing they all have in common is crammed menu bars where what you are actually looking for seldom makes sense and when it does, it's buried three levels deep. Those are the ones that Microsoft likes to use as answers to questions on certification exams. There's no shortage of specialty apps, like Paletro and automation tools like Raycast, Alfred and BetterTouchTool that try to address menu bar searches. Most of them are good at doing 70% of what it takes but they just never seem to get that final burst of polish it takes to solve the problem. That's where Finbar steps in. For $9.99, you get an app that sees every menu bar option, no matter how deep. • Can't remember the name of what...

💯 100 Posts on Scribbles Blog

I cannot believe I am already up to 100 blogpost on Scribbles. I am a little surprised, Vincent (developer of Scribbles) did not build some kind of celebration within the blog admin (like confetti) but probably there is something for 500 posts. Honestly, there is no valid reason for me to have this blog. I have a main blog (merecivilian.com). The only real reason, I have a Scribbles blog is because of how it makes me feel when I am writing on this blog. There is something unique, something special that I am struggling to put into words. It simply is a nice place to blog Vincent has done a fantastic job to give Scribbles a unique blend where it has its own character with thoughtful design touches etc. I also appreciate that he has added features I wouldn't think of, and few of those, I do not use. The...

⚽ FIFA: France vs Spain

This morning, at 4:40am, I woke up, got dressed, and drove to my cousin's place to watch the 1st of two semi finals. Now, usually, I wouldn't bother, but I figured, this would be a cranker of a match. I am slightly disappointed because I was hoping for a French victory. However, Spain clearly outclassed France and deserved the win. I could easily have watched the match at my place but I choose to watch with company rather than by myself. I took some shortcut bacon (yes bacon) and some chocolate (the Mr Beast one that I blogged about earlier) for my nephew. My cousin made some tea and during half time we made scrambled eggs and bacon. It was a wonderful start to the day.

Not everything is a battle to be won, a problem to be solved or a mistake to be corrected. If we imagine everything as a nail we end up with a world of hammers.

Our emails will come from the @tinylytics.app domain again. Please take note to update this in case emails get caught in email rules. We temporarily ran @echo.tinylytics.app.

⛅ Gradient: Android Weather App

For some reason, I cannot settle on any one weather app. Why should I anyway because there are so many wonderfully designed apps... Lately my go to on Android has been Gradient. Play store link I am using the free version which seems to be good for me. Premium gets you alerts (which I do not need) and other minor customerisation options. My previous app on Android was the Google Pixel Weather app which is also awesome but lacks radar feature. I still like it. For comparison, here is the Google one:

Scrooge McDuck

In the last couple of months I got involved in the purchase of some Disney's comic books for my son. Along them I found some real nice stories using the Disney's popular characters to tell stories, leveraging on each characters' talent to unfold new stories. Among them two graphic novels from Italian artist Fabio Celoni in premium format that tells stories with Scrooge as the main character. A pleaseant discovery in the comics editorial production in Italy. I wonder how many of these good stories are translated to the international market. Some are remarkable.

My Vision's Big Comeback

Me with my glasses for the last time full time pre-surgery. I just shared good news about my heart journey, and now I can finally share another medical milestone for 2026: my cataract surgeries are done and my vision is back. For the last couple of years, my sight kept slipping, no matter how many times I got new prescriptions from the ophthalmologist or optometrist. A new prescription might clear things up for a few months, then the blurriness would come back. I found myself contorting my face and doing all kinds of facial tricks just to see. It was soul-sapping. Anyone who knows me knows I don't get depressed easily. At 57, I've had low moments before, but nothing like this. The vision loss pushed me into a prolonged low spell. I stopped wanting to read and lost enthusiasm for work, except as a way to pay bills. Even...

Letting him lie…

Birthday gifts.

The passing of Senator Lindsay Graham

Mark Twain wrote: "I did not attend his funeral, but I sent a nice letter saying I approved of it." I'm familiar with the sentiment. Sadly I read in the morning papers that U.S. Senator Lindsay Graham is no longer with us. I'm truly sorry brother Lindsay won't be around to further assist Donald Trump in degrading our democracy and the English language. My deepest condolences to Graham's family. May he rest in peace...because the rest of us won't be getting any for the next 2 plus years.

Good afternoon.

📡✨ I Was There

Paris, France, Summer 2026 → The beauty of Paris. ❤️ It’s one of my best shots of Eiffel Tower. Follow the trail.

Mac Tools Consolidates Your Utility Bloat — With One Catch

Apple, in its infinite wisdom, buries a great many popular system controls three layers deep in Settings, or worse, leaves them accessible only via the command line. Luckily, we have a community of indie developers who are pretty good at surfacing that stuff, building an app around it, and selling it for $5. An app for brightness. An app for the notch. An app to keep the Mac awake. An app to mute the mic. Then one day your menu bar has 40 icons in it and your login items are out of control. There's a relatively new, free and open-source app that takes the opposite approach. Currently sporting over 500 GitHub stars, Mac Tools folds more than 40 of those functions into a single menu bar icon. It's built natively in SwiftUI and AppKit; the functions run on native Mac architecture, not scripts. Brightness goes through CoreDisplay, audio through...

A Few Good Things - Vol. 24

Right vs. Wrong[YouTube Video] Labbe Family VacationsI love the way my buddy Michael blogs. It's honestly most akin to blogging of the past than most blogs these days. There's no showmanship, just a man chronicling his favorite hot dog spots or his family vacations. I look forward to each post as I know for a few minutes I'll be swept away on a journey to some place I've never been before. Scribbles Custom ThemesVincent really outdid himself with the addition of custom themes to Scribbles. I'm really excited to see what folks manage to put together, and hopefully when I have a bit more time, I can tinker a little too. Call of Duty Black Ops 2In what is yet another gaming controversy this week, the release of Black Ops 2 on Playstation has been widely criticized and dismissed. I get it, I see the argument from the lack of...

Viraam Made Me Admit I Was Wrong About Break Reminders

I've resisted the whole category of apps that nag you about breaks, posture, hydration, and eyestrain. Being told what to do by my computer felt like an insult to my judgment. The reality: my judgment about when to take a break is bad. I lose track of time at the keyboard, I resist interruptions on principle, and by the end of most days I'm running well under 100%. None of that is a software problem until you decide it's worth fixing with software. I evaluated a handful of the popular Mac App Store options for this. I landed on Viraam. The features that actually matterContext detection. Viraam auto-pauses during meetings, calls, screen sharing, fullscreen video (Netflix, YouTube, VLC), and when you've stepped away from the Mac. This is the feature that makes the rest of the app tolerable — a break reminder that fires mid-screen-share is a break reminder you'll disable within...

→ Links 🔗 Touching

A very touching story by Scott Knaster about his brother's passing. First, Scott doesn't share these very personal stories often; second, the relationship he depicts with his brother reminds me of mine with my brother. It's probably why I find this story touching. https://open.substack.com/pub/scottknaster/p/kenneth-howard-knaster

“Suffering doesn’t disappear from life, it disappears into life.” — Barry Magid, Ordinary Mind Zendo

Good morning.

“The central benefit of Zen, in the context of the ordinary ups and downs of life, is not in preventing the minus and promoting the plus but in realising the fundamental reality that is not under the sway of ups and downs.” — Muso Kokushi

Echo Results Looking Good

A man reflects with quiet satisfaction as he reviews positive echo results, surrounded by reminders of gratitude, strength, and progress in a warm, sunlit room. I wanted to share a long-overdue health update about what has happened this year and why I can finally talk about it. I recently had my second Camzyos cardiology echo and doctor’s visit of the year. I normally go every six months, and this visit gave me my best numbers yet. On Camzyos, my obstruction is much better controlled. My echo looked fantastic, so I included a table below comparing my results before and after starting Camzyos. When I first started Camzyos, I was not getting my refills consistently because of REMS requirements and the timing of my echoes and doctor’s visits. This created gaps in treatment. Once my refills became consistent and those delays stopped, the treatment began working much better. Time pointCamzyos statusEjection...

Free and Discounted Copies of Sxitch for Reader

Umang Syrana, the developer of Sxitch, a keyboard tree based app switcher gave me 10 free licenses and 10 licenses at a 50% discount to distribute to AppAddict readers. Get it free: Use code AMERPIE 50% Discount: Use code AppAddict SxitchSxitch is a variation on the Right-Cmd launcher pioneered by the Low-Tech Guys. Right-Cmd opens a popup; type letters and the list narrows -- "tree-based navigation" -- until one app is left, which auto-focuses. No cycling. What I like: The tree-based, letter-narrowing mechanic is the clear differentiator versus Cmd+Tab's unpredictable cycling. The free tier includes tree-based switching and themes; Pro adds window switching, a Hide/Quit mode, overrides, blacklists, and priority support via Discord. The developer is responsive to user feedback and has already shipped a list-view feature based on Reddit requests. Cons: May not be enough of a difference from Raycast or Alfred to justify a separate tool for some users. Price: $10...

Changelog May 8th — July 9th

A round of speed and navigation polish on the feed and reader, plus a little cleanup on sign-in and the homepage. May 28, 2026• 💅 Various little things — homepage, login and auth pages got some love. July 8, 2026• 🚀 Snappier navigation — timeline, subscriptions, and reader should feel noticeably faster when you're moving between posts and feeds. • 🚀 Faster reader open — clicking into a post from your feed now prefetches the reader and opens quicker. July 9, 2026• 🚀 Instant feed paint — your main and pinned timelines show the shell right away and lazy-load posts, so the page feels ready immediately. More for me to do here for sure. I'm working slowly on this project and I am pretty much happy it works for myself, and my own needs — however if you want anything, just let me know. ✌️❤️ — Vincent

• 🚀 Faster-loading post images — inline images on your public blog now serve responsive sizes based on the reader's screen, so posts use less data on phones and tablets. Tap to open the lightbox and you still get the full-resolution original. Small changes, but important. ✌️❤️ — Vincent