2025
- Familien Andersen (fire medlemmer) skulle gjerne hatt et stort hus, hvis de hadde hatt råd, men bor i en leilighet, og bruker 900 kWh en måned. Dette koster egentlig 810 kr, men de vil få 450 kr i strømstøtte og betale 360 kr.
- Familien Hansen (også fire medlemmer) bor i en stor villa, og bruker 2.400 kWh en måned. Dette koster egentlig 2.160 kr, men de vil få 1.200 kr i strømstøtte og betale 960 kr.
- Familien Pettersen (også fire medlemmer) bor i en like stor villa – men har jobba for å spare litt på strømmen, så de brukte 2.100 kWh i stedet. Dette koster egentlig 1.890 kr, men de vil få 1.050 kr i strømstøtte og betale 840 kr.
- It’s simply the best Markdown editing experience I know of. (And I’ve tried a lot.) Only Bear comes close.
- And it’s excellent both on Mac, iPad, and iPhone.
- It’s very minimalistic (just opens as a blank, white “sheet of paper”).
- At the same time, it has a bunch of hidden advanced features and customisation options.
- It’s a file-based editor, as opposed to being library-based.
- One good thing about this, is that it can be used in conjunction with other Markdown apps,
- like using it as a nicer editor for notes stored in NotePlan, Obsidian, etc.
- The first one was about basic concepts,
- the second about why you might want to use and become familiar with the terminal,
- and this is how you can make your terminal more noob-friendly (regardless of what you’ll end up using it for).
- run through all folders in a parent,
- add a hidden folder in each, named .Originals,
- and place a copy of each file in that hidden folder.
- Part Two: The Why and What
- Part Three: A More Noob-Friendly Terminal
- Be effortless to use (and relatively easy to adjust)
- Both provide a good experience with simple switches, and with dimmers.
- Working with different brands of switches and bulbs.
- Keep everything in HomeKit.2
- Glow (warmest)
- Cream
- Glass (coldest)
- From the night before 🌙: Glow
- 1 hour after sunrise ⛅: Cream
- 3 hours after sunrise ☀️: Glass
- 3 hours before sunset 🌥️: Cream
- 1 hour after sunset 🌙: Glow
Norske mediehus, med NRK i spissen, bør omfavne de åpne sosiale mediene
✉️ My Issues With the Tapestry Design
The 1.0 of Iconfactory’s latest app, Tapestry, just landed. Like the new Reeder, it’s a “unified timeline app”, that collects feeds from many different sources, like RSS, Reddit, YouTube, Mastodon, and more.
Some really like this idea (for instance for collecting Bluesky, Mastodon and Micro.blog in one place), while others don’t. I’m not yet sure where I stand.
I backed the Tapestry kickstarter way-back-when, so I’ve been able to beta test it. I like a lot of the ideas – and the way it handles feeds/connectors and default apps seems fascinating and robust. But due to some issues with the visual design, I’ve never been able to get into it… This post is my feedback letter to the devs, which might also be interesting to others.
Edit:
I got some feedback from Iconfactory on this post. That, and my response back, can be read in this blog post.
Great designers
I spent €40 on the Kickstarter – but even if I’ll never get into the app, I won’t call it a complete waste. Because Iconfactory is a cool company, that I don’t mind supporting.
And they are excellent designers! So when I disagree with things about their work, I’m, of course, a bit nervous, heh.
Mini Gang, unite ✊🏻
I’m still rocking my trusty ol' iPhone 13 Mini. And I think part of my issues stem from me using a phone that’s probably smaller than what they’ve optimised for. I also get that it’s a 1.0, and that much of the work has gone into some really cool tech on the backend. So I hope it’s possible to see that this feedback comes from a place of love, and hope for the future!
And I get that many might like the things I don’t. So I think the answer is more customisation – like this settings screen from Mona:
Messy and cramped
I like colourful designs. And Tapestry has this neat idea, where it gives timeline entries different colours depending on the type.
It might not come across perfectly in screenshots, but with my Mini phone in hand, I find a combination of things here unpleasant.
Quick Recommendation #5: The Mad Max Video Game
It’s not often I finish video games… One of the reasons, is that I often play games you can’t finish – like Europa Universalis and The Bazaar 🖇️. But I actually just finished, an r/patientgamers favourite: the Mad Max game, from 2015.
And it’s actually at 80% off on GOG at the moment!
It’s not a fantastic game – but if you like Mad Max (like me), I can recommend it. I saw someone on Reddit call it “the perfect mid-budget game”, and I agree.
It’s an open-world game, with a world of great flavour. The car-combat is especially good and unique.
But one piece of advice, if you decide to check it out: Exploring the open world gets quite repetitive – so it’s not worth it to approach the game with a completionist’s mindset. Just treat it as a bite-sized little treat, and do the stuff you find fun and run through the story. If you buy it for like €4, just try to get that amount of money’s worth.
I played in through Steam, and on my Mac Mini. It says it’s not available for Mac, but installing it still works, for some reason. (Not 100% sure about the GOG version, though.)
*⃣Someone writes a polite comment, with decent grammar and punctuation.
People: “wtf is this an AI response??1?”
Hmm, Micro.blog is having some CSS problems… Will try to work around it, but for now my blog looks kind of weird.
Quick Recommendation #4: Ultima Retrospective (YouTube)
I have no prior nostalgia for the CRPG series Ultima. I’ve always known about the series, but never played any of the games. Still, I’ve loved a series by the YouTube channel Majuular: Ultima Retrospective
The videos are long – but well-made, with a combination of story behind the development and reception, plus a complete run-down of the gameplay and story. It’s also not done, so I assume there’ll be more content down the line! (You know, if you’re done with the 14 hours made up until now.)
The last couple of days on MB has kind of sucked… But I think something good can come out of it! I at least know that I’ve become more conscious about the fact that I should contribute more.
I tried to write something constructive, and more general, about this yesterday. (Feedback appreciated!)
Let's Try to Always Provide a Dignified Way Forward
And a Message to My Fellow Straight, White, Cis Men
It’s been a rough couple of days over at my part of the internett…1 And this has made me think about something I learned on a teacher seminar once: While dealing with tough student situations, always provide a way for them to come out of the situation with their dignity intact, while still achieving the goal behind the intervention.
It’s not an easy exercise, I can assure you! But I think it’s an important principle, that can be applied to many other situations as well.
We can disagree and still love each other – unless your disagreement is rooted in my oppression and denial of my humanity and right to exist.
— James Baldwin (via Patrick Rhone)
It’s a time for vigilance.
Especially for straight, white, cis men like myself. Because, people not like me are under attack (so they’re vigilant whether they want to be or not) – not because of what they do, but who they are. And we can’t let them fight this battle alone.
So here’s a little message to my brethren (and I’ll try my best to do my part):
I Don't Have to Convince Myself That "The Model Y Is Bad, Actually" to Not Buy One
As we’re expecting a child in May, we need a bigger car. And here in Norway ~90% of new cars are EVs, so we’ll obviously buy one of those.
If I look at price, range, charging, tech, and practicality, the best choice is the Tesla Model Y.1 I have to pay significantly more to get something similar, or get something significantly worse. However, I do not want to add that much money to Elon Musk’s bottom line – so I won’t buy one.
And to land on that conclusion, I don’t have to first convince myself that “the Model Y is a bad car, actually”. It’s OK to admit that it’s a great car (for the price), and perhaps point out things you wish others could learn from it2 – while still not choosing it for other reasons.
But my car purchase isn’t the main point of this post. I use it as an example to point out a fallacy I see too much. Because, the following pattern is both dishonest and (sometimes) counter-productive:
| Elon Musk is a terrible person → | Model Y is a terrible car → | I won't buy a Model Y |
Because, suddenly, your purchasing decision hinges on “Model Y being a terrible car” (which it simply isn’t). Now, this might not matter to you! But if someone hears this, and then finds out that the car is good, they’ll lose the reason to not buy it. So, I think this is a better thing to communicate:
| Elon Musk is a terrible person → | I won't buy a Model Y (whether it's good or not) |
You are, of course, allowed to actually think the Model Y is a bad car! My point is that one thing doesn’t necessarily lead to the other.
Det er på tide at NRK, og offentlige instanser, går foran og omfavner åpne sosiale medier
I dag kan jeg gå in på nrk.no uansett om jeg bruker Chrome, Safari eller Firefox.
Og jeg kan sende et nyhetstips til 03030@nrk.no uansett om e-postadressa mi er noe@gmail.com, noe@hotmail.com eller noe@mittnavn.no – og uansett om jeg bruker Outlook, Apple Mail, eller Fastmail.
Jeg kan også melde meg på nyhetsbrevet til regjeringa uavhengig av hvilke e-post-leverandør jeg bruker. Og når de sender ut e-poster, så vet de at alle følgerne vil motta dette. Dette er fordi det åpne nettet, og e-post, er bygget på åpne standarder og protokoller.
Internett-domener er også ganske sterke saker: Et kjent tips for å unngå phishing, er å se nøye på domenet – enten i nettleseren eller i e-post-adresser. For det skal ganske mye til at utenforstående får tilgang på noe som slutter på nrk.no eller regjeringa.no.
Men de fleste sosiale medier er ikke åpne på samme måte.
Likevel så synes jeg absolutt det er relevant for både tradisjonelle medier og offentlige instanser og personer å også være på disse.
La oss bruke NRK som eksempel – og først deres Facebook-side, som et eksempel på manglende åpenhet og kontroll:
Makspris på strøm er en årlig idé
Fra “strømstøtte” til “strømbonus”
Støre, og Arbeiderpartiet, kom nylig med forslag til strømstøtte. Noen jubler – men makspris (som en fastpris er en variant av), og flat momskutt på nettleie, er ikke optimalt.
Jeg snakker absolutt ikke om at vi bør “bruke” mindre på å gjøre strømregninga grei å håndtere for folk! Men vi bør bruke den samme summen annerledes.
Problemet med makspris og momsfritak
La oss si man går for fastprisen på 40 øre per kWh, at den egentlige prisen er 90 øre per kWh, og så se på noen konsekvenser av en slik ordning:
Denne løsninga har et stort problemer: Folk som bruker mindre strøm, enten fordi de ikke har råd til å bruke mer, eller jobber for å spare på den, får vesentlig mindre i støtte.
I eksempelet over så klarte Pettersen å spare 300 kWh av strøm til 90 øre per kWh. Men i stedet for å ende opp med 270 kr mer på konto, så sparte de bare 120 kr! Hvor ble det av de siste 150 kr? Jo, de havna i lomma til Hansen, som ikke gadd å spare.
Og idéen om momskutt på nettleia har det samme problemet. Hvis vi skulle sett på momsen der, ville jeg heller gått for en løsning a la elbiler: At man har momsfritak på de første 500 kronene av nettleia, eller noe sånt.
Strømbonus (eller strømutbytte)
Hurrah: My Favourite Markdown Editor Just Dropped on Setapp
The magnificent Markdown editor Paper just became available on Setapp 🖇️, making it more accessible for more people to try out! I’ve written a thorough review of it previously, but here are the things you need to know:
So, I wouldn’t primarily say it’s a “notes app”. It’s more of a “writing app” and “Markdown editor”. You could, of course, use it as a notes app – but then you have to rely on Finder/Files and x-callback-URLs for the organisation.
I highly recommend giving it a go, and play with the settings to make it behave like you want! Perhaps my favourite feature, is the combined Typewriter Mode and Focus Mode:
The Terminal – For Noobs (Like Me), Part Three
A More Noob-Friendly Terminal
This is the third, and final, part of my terminal guide.
I’m not saying these things are stuff everyone should do – but they are things that have helped me like the terminal much more. And feel free to just pick-and-choose the things you want to try out.
Also, as I’m a Mac user, this might be a bit Mac-centric. But I think all of the programs I’m mentioning also exist for Linux – and many of them for Windows as well. (And installation is probably similar.)
Choice of app
One thing that has tripped me up quite a bit, is that terminals adhere to different text manipulation conventions than the rest of the OS. For instance, Shift+Command+Left will usually select text from the caret and all the way to the left – but it doesn’t in terminals. To be fair, the hotkeys in the terminal are probably better, if you know them. But to me, it’s just impractical that they’re different when I spend so much more time with “regular” bindings. (Here’s a video showing some of the default bindings in most terminals!)
The only terminal I’ve found that behaves like regular apps, when it comes to text, is Warp 🖇️. It also has several helpful AI tools integrated. However, this is a controversial recommendation. Among other things, it has gotten a lot of flack for the fact that you used to have to log in to use it, and that it’s quite bloated compared to other terminals. But I still think it’s a good choice for beginners!
If you want something leaner, either to start with or if you’ve graduated from Warp, I recommend Ghostty.1 I’m currently using Ghostty – and the screenshots in these posts are from it. I don’t miss the AI features, as I prefer to keep a chat going in Raycast 🖇️ anyway. And I’m getting by with the, in my opinion, poorer text manipulation.
Customising
The Terminal – For Noobs (Like Me), Part Two
The Why and What
In part one, I tried to establish the basic concepts, like terminal emulator, shell, prompt, and CLI. In this part, I want to go into why people use the terminal – and in the next part, how to make it more noob-friendly.
“But why do people use this archaic thing?”
As mentioned in part one, I’m absolutely not one of those who live in the terminal. But if I were to guess (and this applies to my basic usage as well), I’d say two things are the most important: It’s fast, and it’s powerful.
One way it can be fast, is that CLI programs are computational efficient, as there’s a lot of stuff (like graphics) they don’t need to render.
Another way is that you can do quite complicated tasks in a single* command. For instance, I’ll sometimes run this:
for dir in */; do
(cd "$dir" && mkdir -p .Originals && cp * .Originals/)
done
This will
I use this to create backups of files before editing them (in a specific workflow), and it happens instantly. 👌🏻
CLI tools are both powerful in terms of what they can do, and also in that they’re usually highly customisable. They’re also generally easy to combine with each other, because they often do one thing.
And the combination of being fast and powerful, if you know what you’re doing, makes it a valuable tool in which to invest.
“But what can you use it for?”
The Terminal – For Noobs (Like Me), Part One
The Basic Concepts
If you’re like me, from time-to-time you’ll come across tasks that should be done in the terminal. But as you’re not very familiar with it, you wince a bit, and then just paste whatever they say, and hope for the best. The guide might also assume you know a bunch of concepts, that you don’t really understand. Like, why do some commands start with $?
Hopefully, this guide can answer some of the questions you’re too afraid to ask, and make you less afraid of the terminal. I’ll never be a person who lives in the terminal (especially as I’m not a programmer) – but I’ve managed to get to where I like it, and will be happy if a task can be done there.
Sorry that this will be a bit Mac-focused. But hopefully, it can be useful for more than Mac users!
Basic concepts
To me, things get much less daunting if I understand some basic concepts. And here are some of the basic things you won’t necessarily see explained on guides that include some terminal stuff.
CLI vs. GUI
Doesn’t TikTok have over a billion users? How devastating is it to lose the 170 million American ones? (Absolutely bad for them, though!)
More on Using a Mac Mini as a Secondary Computer
Remote Access, RSS, and Storage and Backups
Last November, I started using an M4 Mac Mini as a secondary computer. I’m still pleased with it! And I wanted to provide a little update with some more things I’ve learned.
Remote access
Using the Mini, has been pretty simple. I’ll usually use Continuity, via my MacBook or iPad, if the TV the Mini is connected to is on. And I’ll use Screen Sharing if not.1 (I can recommend keeping something like an integrated keyboard and trackpad nearby, if you have the space – which I don’t.)
But I’ve also figured out something else! And I get that this is very basic for many of you, but probably not for all.
On the Mini, I’ve gone into System Settings → General → Sharing → Advanced → Remote Login, and turnet it on. Now I can paste in something like this, in my Macbook’s terminal: ssh erlend@192.168.12.34
The terminal instance, on the MacBook, will now be like if I was running it locally on the Mini. This allows me to reduce the number of times I have to control the Mini directly – as it’s nicer to just use the MacBook.
I also think this is an important setting – even though it’s not as secure:
This means you can’t have FileVault turned on – but it makes it so the Mac will log in (and start all login items) on a restart. This is important to keep services running – but if there’s another (more secure) way of doing this, I’m interested in hearing about it.
RSS
Sharing an Open Letter to Mark Zuckerberg
From Pixelfed – an Open Alternative to Instagram
Link to the post.
Dear Mark,
I hope this finds you well. I noticed something interesting today - it seems Instagram is blocking links to my little open-source project. You know, the one that lets people share photos without harvesting their personal data or forcing algorithmic feeds on them.
I have to admit, I’m flattered. Who would’ve thought a small team of volunteers could build something that would catch your attention? We’re just trying to give people a choice in how they share their memories online. No VCs, no surveillance capitalism, just code and community.
Remember when Facebook started? It was about connecting people, not maximizing engagement metrics. Our project might be tiny compared to Instagram, but we’re staying true to that original spirit of social media - giving people control over their online presence without turning them into products.
You could’ve ignored us. Instead, by blocking our links, you’ve given us the best endorsement we could ask for. You’ve confirmed what we’ve been saying all along - that big tech is more interested in protecting their walled gardens than fostering genuine innovation.
Every time you block a link to our platform, you remind people why we built it in the first place. Your action tells them there are alternatives worth exploring, ones that respect their privacy and agency. So thank you, Mark. You’ve turned our little project into a symbol of resistance against digital monopolies.
Perhaps one day you’ll remember what it felt like to be the underdog, building something because you believed in its potential to make the internet better. Our doors are always open if you want to remember what that feels like.
Best regards,
Daniel Supernault
P.S. Keep blocking those links. Every error message is just free advertising for the social web.
My Adaptive Smart Light Setup
A Guide, and a Glimpse Into the Mind of a Madman (Me)
I’ve previously written about why I think Smart Bulbs > Smart Switches.1 And one of the reasons I think that, is that I (for some reason) really love having the colour temperature of my lights change throughout the day.
Sadly, I’ve found the automatic systems for this really lacking. But here I wanted to show how I’ve created a system I like.
The goals:
I want a smart home. But, in use, I want it to be as simple as a dumb one. I want guests to be able to operate things at, at least, the same level as they would in another unfamiliar home.3 And then I want to add smart benefits on top of this, like colour temperature, automations, some hidden button features, and being able to override stuff with things like a phone.
My most used switch is the Flic 2. And when the light is off, I want one click to turn on to a setting that’s almost always the right one. But as the “right setting” changes throughout the day, I have to do some adjustments in the background…
While you can adjust the brightness in Home.app, I also wanted to be able to do it with a dimmer switch at some places. So I’ve bought a couple of Flic Twists 🖇️ as well.4 HomeKit/Matter, sadly, hasn’t delivered support for dimmers, though – so I had to be a bit creative to get these to work as I wanted.
The principle
I’ve created three “moods” (which correlates to brightness and colour temperature):
And, currently, my home moves through these moods at these times:
If you turn on a light during “Cream time” it will turn on to that setting, and so on. And when the mood changes (during the day), it will go through the lights that are turned on, and adapt them to the current mood.
The how
My Wishes for NotePlan
I like and use NotePlan (via Setapp 🖇️), and feel good recommending it to people. But there are a couple of reasons why I don’t love it. So while I keep all my notes and tasks in Markdown files in the NotePlan folder, I prefer editing those in other apps – like Paper. Below are the changes and improvements I would need for me to love it.
The basics needs to be improved
The NotePlan developer is very active, seems like a great guy, and is pumping out updates. Some of these are really ambitious (like more collaboration and a web editor). But the app is, at its core, a Markdown editor – and I think this core requires some improvements, and that getting this right is foundational for the rest.
I get that I can’t expect it to be as good here as the dedicated Paper, and some of the more advanced features, like the Typewriter Mode:
But NotePlan should be better…