For those who are interested in how I set up my new laptop (Mac).
FREE
Appcleaner: enables me to ensure anything I download in terms of trials will also be deleted way into the file system of the OS.
Blue Snooze: Sleeping Mac = Bluetooth off, a specific problem which I’ve been having with my Mac solved with this open source app.
Brave: a privacy based browser for when a client needs me to use Zoom or another flaky platform.
Clipy: amazing little time-saver, set up to save my last 40 ‘copy’ actions (you can set the number) ready for pasting with shortcut enabled so can bring it up via Option+Command+V.
Firefox: an alternative browser for other things.
F.lux: (in terms of colour management for eye stress) warms up your screen and cools it down depending on the time of day. UPDATE: friend told me this is already in the new OS under Displays>NightShift so now uninstalling this app.
FuzzyTime: a way to add a ‘human’ touch to telling the time, now if Apple would allow us to remove the time icon from the menu-bar…
Hidden Bar: such a clever little thing to hide away all your menu bar items (I just have time and battery showing with control center and analogue clock fixed due to OS constraints).
Hidden Me: tidies up your desktop so it looks neat and tidy when presenting.
OBS: open source software for video recording and live streaming to impress folks when I’m teaching them how to present engagingly online.
Stream Deck: the accompanying app to control the hardware for fancy presentations and other funky app related shortcuts.
PAID
Audio Hijack: for recording audio from multiple sources.
ExpressVPN: for securing website traffic and online activities from the marketeers and advertisers.
Obsidian: go to text and notes app with the added bonus of building out my digital Zettlekasten (I’m still learning).
Reeder: RSS still rocks and I love that I choose my media menu with this one app.
Sync: a more ethical and secure version of Dropbox, now using filen.io as Sync went downhill fast on customer service and doesn’t making everything downloadable for users (have to do it one folder at a time).
1Password: I use version 6 which I bought the license for a few years ago and don’t need the bells and whistles of the newer ones.
OTHER TWEAKS
A nice Terminal-level workaround for applications hiding under the MacBook Pro notch.
I remove everything from the ‘dock’ and have it disappear from use unless I hover over. I open apps from activating the Spotlight search with the shortcut Command+Space.
I set up three ‘spaces‘ (essentially to mimic three screens on one laptop). I also add in the Keyboard shortcut settings utilising Apple+Cursor(right / left) to jump between them (there already is a trackpad action to move between them as standard by using three fingers and swiping left / right but I like this added keyboard functionality also).
Everything else like email, social media, blog writing etc is accessed via a browser to enable a ‘lighter’ app footprint on my Mac.
Let me know if I’m missing anything obvious, think I should be exploring alternatives or know how to get rid of those unwanted menu bar items.
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