Tag Archive for: macOS

rsync

A stylized illustration of a cheerful robot holding a stack of colorful folders in front of a large, open vault door. The robot has a blue and orange metallic body with glowing eyes. The scene is set in a futuristic archive with warm lighting and stacks of documents in the background, suggesting secure storage or organization.

When I first started learning photography, I used Aperture as my photo editor and management solution. But I was too dumb to use it right and accidentally deleted the only copy of many photos from the first years of my son’s life. Since then, I have been diligent, borderline fanatical, about having backup copies of family media and important files.

Determined to never repeat that mistake, I explored various tools for creating better backups. One of the most versatile tools I found is rsync, built right into macOS.

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A Hazel Rule for Getting TV Shows Into Plex

I remember binge-watching Smallville via DVDs that Netflix sent to me in the mail. I would watch four episodes in a row, then mail back the DVD and wait days for the next one to arrive so I could get the next four episodes. When streaming arrived, it was a miracle!

Sadly, a miracle that was too good for this world. Streaming has been on a steady decline for the past several years, while prices seem to increase more frequently than new seasons of hit shows are released. Streaming has turned into cable TV, and the magic is gone.

That is until I found Plex. Check out my original Plex post for more details about setting up a Plex server.

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Taming the Terminal

A few days ago, on a forum post, I saw mention of a podcast series called “Taming the Terminal.”

It turns out this is yet another example of why the open internet is awesome.

With the help of ChatGPT, I have been feeling more confident about writing code and working in the Terminal, so I figured I would check out this podcast to learn more about it.

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Tweaking Your Dates and Calendar

I was listening to the most recent episode of Cortex (one of my favorite podcasts), and the hosts were talking about their calendars. Unexpectedly they had a little standoff about what day of the week their calendars started on. If you grew up in America, this is an absurd statement that does not make sense. Upon some reflection and listening to the discussion of the hosts, I don’t have a good argument against their position that your calendar should start on Monday. Listen to the episode here:

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How Rosemary Orchard Uses Drafts on iPhone, macOS, and Apple Watch

Rosemary Orchard, writing for The Sweet Setup:

Drafts is much more than a quick way to take a quick note and has become the app I go to for all my writing because it’s easy, simple, but still powerful when I need more features.

Rosemary Orchard is rapidly becoming one of my technology/productivity idols. I first learned about her on her podcast The Automators, and I have since kept an eye on as much of her work as I can. I started using Drafts 5 (an iOS/macOS text editor) based on her rave reviews, and her post on The Sweet Setup is an excellent explanation of the app.

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