The Idea of Marques Brownlee's App Panels is OK
But I Have Several Problems With It
With the review of the latest iPhones, Marques Brownlee/MKBHD also revealed his latest project: The app Panels.
And I don’t mind the idea:
He’s hinted at expanding it in the future, but currently the app is an app to get wallpapers. You can get some of them for free (and by watching ads), but you can also buy packs of them, or subscribe to the app to get access to everything. The money is split between the app and the artists.
Wallaroo, by Iconfactory, is already a paid app for wallpapers, and Walli is an example of an app with a model where artists can upload their work.
In general, I feel like people’s expectations of stuff being free online is too high, so I don’t mind a new paid option in the market.
But these are my problems:
- The name
- The price
- The split
- The privacy
1) The name
My Biggest Small Gripe With Apple Notes
And (Obviously) Objectively Correct Principles for Paragraph Spacing
I think Apple Notes might be one of the best pieces of software Apple ships. They’ve nailed creating a simple app, with great ease-of-use, that still has more powerful features hidden, for those who want it. There are a couple of reasons why I don’t use it much, though:
- In general, I like to rely on third-party services.
- I also like the portability of Markdown, and being able to use several apps on the same files.
- I like that, in NotePlan, I can use the same app for notes and tasks.
However, Notes has numerous nice features, like:
- Good apps on both Mac, iPad and iPhone, while also being accessible on the web
- Pretty good collaboration features, with shared notes and folders
- More than enough options for formatting
- Collapsible headings
- Embedding of files, photos, and illustrations (especially good with PDFs)
- Audio recordings
- Links between notes (no backlinks, though)
- Tagging and smart folders
- Quick notes (which Apple, selfishly, reserves for itself)
- Math notes.
So I’ll gladly recommend it to most people!
However, as most Apple software, Notes is pretty inflexible. If you don’t like their choices, you’re out of luck. And I really don’t like their choices when it comes to paragraph spacing.
My paragraph spacing commandments
The Apps I Use From Setapp
And Why I Think It’s Great Value
Setapp — which apps do you use? Many, us pay for SetApp yet don’t get all the value because we don’t know the full extent of all the shiny toys. This was last asked 4 yrs ago, so it feels relevant againWhat the hidden gems have I missed?
A while ago, someone, on the MPU Forums, asked the question above. And here’s my answer to this question.
I also got around to writing this, as many of My App Defaults are from Setapp, and because I recently read about the Setapp iOS store in the EU (which Norway, sadly, isn’t a part of).
I hope this post can be useful if you’re considering the service, and wonder if it’s worth it, or if you’re new to the service and would like some tips to get started. If you want to give it a try, I’d appreciate you doing so through my affiliate link to Setapp 🖇️. 🫶🏻
I’ve sorted them into the following categories:
I also have a couple of honorable mentions, that are (or seem like) good apps, but that I, personally, don’t use that much.
I’ve added the price outside Setapp as well.1 Setapp is €10-15/month, or €100-150/year. However, some things to keep in mind:
- Many of the apps are one-time purchases (but often not with unlimited updates), so it’s difficult to compare with a single subscription.
- Many of the apps I use, I wouldn’t pay for if it weren’t included in Setapp. I’d either use a free/cheaper alternative, or just not use something like that at all.
I still find it to be great value – and I like that I can use nice, paid apps like explained in the second point.
Always-running utilities
These are apps I have running in the background all the time.
Bartender (€21)
The grandad of menu bar organisation. Ice is an interesting free alternative, but I’m still pleased with Bartender – especially as I can have it automatically change layout when I connect my Studio Display.
BetterTouchTool (€22)
I mostly use this to set up trackpad shortcuts – which it does amazingly. But it can do much more as well.
Cleanshot X (€26)
Terrific tool for screenshots, annotations, and screen recordings. An alternative for the latter, called IShowU (€80 or €22/year) also just dropped on Setapp.
Default Folder X (€47)
This app powers up the open and save dialogues on your Mac – with things like recent folders and the ability to click on folders you have open in the background to save there.
Hookmark (€63)
This is an app for creating deep links between different documents and parts of apps (like specific emails).
iStat Menus (€13)
Recently updated, with a beautiful coat of paint, this highly customisable app lets you place what you want in the menu bar. I have RAM and CPU usage, and a weather widget.
Mission Control Plus (€10)
I only use this to allow me to close windows from Exposé. Worth it!
Paste (€27/year)
My favourite clipboard manager. Both pretty and powerful.
PixelSnap (€35)
Used for measuring things or your screen. I think xScope might be a more powerful version of this.
PopClip (€23)
App that mimics the menu you get when you select text on iOS – but you fill it with what you want. I’ve turned off mine coming up automatically, but I get this with a hotkey:
From the left:
- The left one is a specific one for working with subtitles. It splits the selected line into two, down the middle.
- This wraps text in
<figcaption>, and is used for blog posts. - This wraps the text in a “callout div”, that I use to create callouts like the one about the affiliate link up top.
- If I want to format text in image captions or callouts, I have to use HTML. This creates an HTML hyperlink,
- this is italics,
<em> - and this is bold.
<strong> - The pen is some custom stuff for my band’s website.
- The Last One Will Title Case the Selected Text.
New defaults
These are tools that do the same thing as built-in tools, but a bit nicer/and more in a more powerful way.
Archiver (€20)
Just a nice zip/unzip tool. The Unarchiver (free) is more or less just as nice!
Elmedia Player (€25)
And this is just a nice video player. But here Iina (free) is also just as nice.
BusyCal (€45)
It lacks some of the most powerful Fantastical features – but I also prefer some things about BusyCal. And seeing as it’s so much cheaper, this is a great alternative if you want something more powerful than Calendar.app, but don’t want to pay €60/year. It also has a nice menu bar widget (as seen in the screenshot above).
Nitro PDF Pro (€200 or €17/month)
I’ve no idea why this is so expensive! I guess it offers features some businesses just got to have. 🤷🏻♂️ But for me, it’s just a nice PDF reader/editor.
Useful tools
The Story of My 1962 Bass Guitar
My Most Treasured Possession
In 2010, I went on a school trip from Norway to Los Angeles. I wanted a new bass, so I took a chance, and sold both basses I had at the time, to have funds to spend in L.A.
I was looking for a P-bass
But after not finding anything interesting in Guitar Center and other “regular” music stores, I searched online. There I found a store called Norman’s Rare Guitars. I didn’t know it at the time, but it’s one of the world’s most highly rated vintage shops – and they had a real bargain. You see, Fender instruments from the early 60s are expensive – especially the “Pre-CBS” ones.1 To put things into perspective: Norman’s have one currently, in great condition, which they want $10,900 for!
The one I ended up buying was even older, from 1962, but “only” $3,000. Not only that, the currency rate was much more favourable, from Norwegian Kroner, at the time. I paid what today would be $1,700.
Why it was so much cheaper
The guys as Norman’s said that the bass spent most of its life in the possession of a man they know who was. However, he wasn’t a stranger to experimenting with chemistry and his own blood – and the bass bears witness to this.
Here’s what I know about originality
I know that the volume pot is new (as I’ve swapped it myself) – and I don’t think the knobs are original.2 The rear strap button has been moved (to accommodate the heavy tuners). The headstock strap button is missing, alongside the pickup and bridge covers. However, as far as I know, the rest is original: Neck (more on this later), thumb rest, bridge tuners, pickup, and electronics.
As mentioned, my bass used to look like the one in the image above here – same finish and all.3 But now, and when I bought it, it looks like this:
🌱 My App Defaults
Extremely late to the party, I finally got around to write about my app defaults. A bunch of these are paid apps I probably wouldn’t prioritise if I didn’t already subscribe to Setapp 🖇️ – so keep that in mind. I’ll also give alternatives places where I remember some.
Click here to see the hardware I use this software on!
Lastly, I know that these posts are “supposed” to be simple lists – but I thought I’d add a bit more info.
Systems and productivity
📓 Notes, tasks, and writing
I want to get this one out-of-the-way first, as it’s the most complicated one. (The other entries are much shorter!)
All my notes, tasks, and writing is in a bunch of Markdown files held within NotePlan. But these are also local files I can access with other apps, write to with automation, etc.1
I prefer to do as much as possible with Paper, which is a super slick Markdown editor. So I use this for writing of blog posts, note-taking, sticky notes, as the default app for random .md files, etc.
I use Ulysses to edit and publish blog posts to Micro.blog.
And occasionally, I’ll use TaskPaper to manage more complicated projects – but as mentioned, all of these apps points at the same NotePlan files!
This is from NotePlan, and I’ve added one extra feature to every task down the list – and as everything is plain-text, I can add it from wherever.
- Farta means “out-and-about” in Norwegian, and is a tag list I use for things I can do if I’m driving around.
- If I add a time, and the task is in a daily note, I’ll get a reminder notification at that time.
- I can add a date at the end, to move it to a daily note (to give me the notification if I’m not in a daily note, or to schedule it for another day).
- You can also create time blocks, by adding an end-time.
I also really, really like Bike Outliner – but I struggle getting it to fit into my workflow. I also dabble in Tot, when I need stickies that stay on-top.
📖 Journaling
I absolutely fall into this cliché: I wish I journal more than I do. But when I do, I do it in Everlog. I like that it’s Markdown and linkable.
📅 Calendar
I use BusyCal. It’s way cheaper than Fantastical (and included in Setapp), while being almost as good. (There are some things I prefer in BusyCal, as well, actually.) I think this is a nice sweet point if you want something a bit more powerful than Calendar.app, but don’t want to pay Fantastical money.
🌦️ Weather app
Here’s a great tip (that probably mostly Norwegians know about): Here in Norway, we have a publicly funded weather service, called Yr (which means drizzle). It’s good, completely free (and without ads), and has good apps for both Android and iOS. And guess what: It’s available in English as well!
Pronunciation guide: The y is a monophthong, that sounds like the ui sound in “build”.
🛒 Shopping list
My wife and I use Bring, which is a great little uni-tasker!
📮 Mail server
I host through Fastmail 🖇️. I go into why here.
📨 Mail client
My Take-Away From the iPhone Event: This isn't a "Pro year"
A friend of mine had to buy a new iPhone a couple of months ago – and I liked his phrasing while asking me for advice: Is this a “Pro year”? Now, to some, the things you always get with a Pro phone are so important that every year is a Pro year. But I’m discussing how much you get for your money with the upgrade – because this will vary from year to year.
To be clear: I don't think most people should buy new phones more often than every 3-5 years. But as that interval will hit many people every year, it's still always valuable to analyse this year's phones.
However, I'll be holding on to my precious 13 Mini for at least another year! 💪🏻
So, while we haven’t seen any reviews of this year’s models, to me, it seems like last year was a “Pro year”, while this year isn’t. Let’s find out why.
These are things that are the same – things you’d get for the upgrade last year, and still get this one:
Both from 15 to 15 Pro and from 16 to 16 Pro:
- ProMotion display (high/variable refresh-rate)
- Always-On display
- Added Telephoto camera
- Night mode portraits
- Support for Apple ProRAW
- Faster USB-C speeds
- Aluminium → Titanium (With increase weight as well, though.)
- LiDAR Scanner
Going from 16 to 16 Pro
In addition, the aforementioned stuff, this year you also get: