Chris

Daily Defaults

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A recent trend going around the fediverse and blogosphere is showing off what your default software tools are so now it is my turn. In the past, I would try the latest shiny software to see if I could incorporate it into my daily digital workflow. But that got exhausting because there was always a shiny new toy later. Over time, however, I’ve settled on what works and to limit my subscription dollars going out. Therefore, I find that for the most part, Apple’s default software applications are good enough.

What works for you doesn’t always work for me, so don’t come at me with “what about ?” I won’t hear it.

📨 Mail Client: Apple’s Mail on both Mac and iOS.

📮 Mail Server: iCloud.

📝 Notes: I use an home-grown database for everything which I call “FoxOS.” Formerly known as “Grey Matter” and “Pensieve.” Apple’s Notes for collaborating with the missus.

✅ To-Do: Apple’s Reminderd

📷 iPhone Photo Shooting: Apple’s Camera app, usually with ProRAW enabled.

🟦 Photo Management: Apple’s Photos app, and editing in Lightroom

📆 Calendar: Apple Calendar

📁 Cloud File Storage: iCloud Drive

📖 RSS: Feedbin

🙍🏻‍♂️ Contacts: Apple Contacts

🌐 Browser: Safari on iOS and Mac.

💬 Chat: iMessage

💁🏻‍♂️Social: N/A

🔖 Bookmarks: Safari

📑 Read It Later: Feedbin and Matter.

📜 Word Processing: The aforementioned FoxOS

📈 Spreadsheets: Numbers. 

📊 Presentations: N/A

🛒 Shopping Lists: Apple Reminders

📰 News: RSS and Apple News

🎵 Music: Apple Music

🎤 Podcasts: Apple Podcasts

🔐 Password Management: Apple KeyChain

The Point Of All This

Apple’s apps are pretty darn good for everything I want to accomplish. I’m also a bit of a purist, so I tend to default to defaults, even if they aren’t quite as robust as other options. There was a time in my life when I was a bit more adventurous, but I largely cannot be arsed.

Daily Defaults

by

A recent trend going around the fediverse and blogosphere is showing off what your default software tools are so now it is my turn. In the past, I would try the latest shiny software to see if I could incorporate it into my daily digital workflow. But that got exhausting because there was always a shiny new toy later. Over time, however, I’ve settled on what works and to limit my subscription dollars going out. Therefore, I find that for the most part, Apple’s default software applications are good enough.

What works for you doesn’t always work for me, so don’t come at me with “what about ?” I won’t hear it.

📨 Mail Client: Apple’s Mail on both Mac and iOS.

📮 Mail Server: iCloud.

📝 Notes: I use an home-grown database for everything which I call “FoxOS.” Formerly known as “Grey Matter” and “Pensieve.” Apple’s Notes for collaborating with the missus.

✅ To-Do: Apple’s Reminderd

📷 iPhone Photo Shooting: Apple’s Camera app, usually with ProRAW enabled.

🟦 Photo Management: Apple’s Photos app, and editing in Lightroom

📆 Calendar: Apple Calendar

📁 Cloud File Storage: iCloud Drive

📖 RSS: Feedbin

🙍🏻‍♂️ Contacts: Apple Contacts

🌐 Browser: Safari on iOS and Mac.

💬 Chat: iMessage

💁🏻‍♂️Social: N/A

🔖 Bookmarks: Safari

📑 Read It Later: Feedbin and Matter.

📜 Word Processing: The aforementioned FoxOS

📈 Spreadsheets: Numbers.

📊 Presentations: N/A

🛒 Shopping Lists: Apple Reminders

📰 News: RSS and Apple News

🎵 Music: Apple Music

🎤 Podcasts: Apple Podcasts

🔐 Password Management: Apple KeyChain

The Point Of All This

Apple’s apps are pretty darn good for everything I want to accomplish. I’m also a bit of a purist, so I tend to default to defaults, even if they aren’t quite as robust as other options. There was a time in my life when I was a bit more adventurous, but I largely cannot be arsed.

Archives

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Well shit. I have imported most of the old blog posts onto this database but there seems to be a gap from February 2022 to October 2023. Over a year’s worth of notes. Thankfully I have them backed up but do I want to cut/paste into new posts and backdate them?

No, but I will, and not soon. Too much going on at the moment.

For now, the Archives can be found at the top or by clicking here.

FoxCast

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Since the migration to the new accounts are almost complete, I did have to start fresh with a new Apple ID and recreate the FoxCast channel on Apple Podcasts. I am also podcasting on Spotify if you are so inclined. 

The FoxCast is updated every weekend and covers photography, book reviews, geocaching and more. 

For back episodes, you can always click on the FoxCast page here. Thanks for listening!

Grey Matter

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I just successfully migrated all of my digitized notes into a new personal database which I used to call “Grey Matter” as a second brain, or pensieve. A second brain is a system where I can collect, refine and process ideas that hopefully will lead to future insights or research. 

It’s like adding additional RAM memory to your own brain to help me connect and visualize my thoughts. Every note is linked to another and if there is a general topic such as, photography, it creates a node for other notes to connect or backlink to. 

Now that my clean slate initiative is almost complete and have removed my personal name offline, I’ve renamed the database as The Fox Operating System or simply FoxOS.

A photography node on a graph view of my notes in Grey Matter

Currently

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In addition to adding a page dedicated to the FoxCast, I added a “Currently” page.

This page is dedicated to this month’s quick thoughts and frequently updated as soon as possible. It is an ethereal experiment that will disappear in place of the next month’s thoughts in short form. Think Twitter but anti-social. I just erased October’s thoughts and added November. Not a lot on there…currently, as the month just started.

If you want to know what’s on my mind1, check out the Currently page.

  1. I know I do! ↩︎

The FoxCast

by

Since the migration to the new accounts are almost complete, I did have to start fresh with a new Apple ID and recreate the FoxCast channel on Apple Podcasts. I am also podcasting on Spotify if you are so inclined.

The FoxCast is updated every weekend and covers photography, book reviews, geocaching and more.

For back episodes, you can always click on the FoxCast page here. Thanks for listening!

FoxOS

by

I just successfully migrated all of my digitized notes into a new personal database which I used to call “Grey Matter” as a second brain, or pensieve. A second brain is a system where I can collect, refine and process ideas that hopefully will lead to future insights or research.

It’s like adding additional RAM memory to your own brain to help me connect and visualize my thoughts. Every note is linked to another and if there is a general topic such as, photography, it creates a node for other notes to connect or backlink to.

Now that my clean slate initiative is almost complete and have removed my personal name offline, I’ve renamed the database as The Fox Operating System or simply FoxOS.

My second brain with backlinked notes
A Photography node

Success

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The clean slate protocol I initiated a few days ago is a success. After creating a new domain name and building a new website, with a new e-mail account and a new Apple ID, I am slowly migrating some of my crucial data from backups. 

I have yet to delete the old Apple ID for fear of missing a few crucial pieces of correspondence from companies I do business with but all that should be wrapped up by this coming week. For now, I can breathe a sigh of relief as I start building good organizational and privacy habits to ensure nothing gets out of control again.

Success

by

The clean slate protocol I initiated a few days ago is a success. After creating a new domain name and building a new website, with a new e-mail account and a new Apple ID, I am slowly migrating some of my crucial data from backups.

I have yet to delete the old Apple ID for fear of missing a few crucial pieces of correspondence from companies I do business with but all that should be wrapped up by this coming week. For now, I can breathe a sigh of relief as I start building good organizational and privacy habits to ensure nothing gets out of control again.

Reboot

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After recent price increases, subscription fatigue, privacy concerns and probably long overdue contentment, it’s time for a change. I’ll be withdrawing more from technology, technology blogs and restructuring everything to maximize privacy, reduce monthly subscription spending and pursuing avenues of personal interest.

I am heavily embedded into the Apple eco-system after decades of using Windows/Android. I have stuff scattered all over the internet, cloud storage and external hard drives with almost zero organization. That’s changing as of today.

First up, a new identity. I will no longer be using my personal name online. I don’t need to “brand myself” anymore since I am done playing the game. I created a new Apple ID that is generic and not personal. Then I created an iCloud account to go with it. Next, I purchased a new web domain here (silverfox.website) and email address to match it and then made THAT one the new/updated Apple ID. The hard part is switching everything from contact information to businesses and services I use over to the new account. Sure, I’ll lose a lot of subscriptions, but I am pairing them down and prioritizing anyway.

With iCloud+ services such as Private Relay and “Hide My Email” I can create generic, disposable email addresses. Apple then allows me to use random, generic passwords and will even store them for me using their KeyChain.

When all of this is sorted I need to discipline myself to keep it organized, unlike my previous attempts. Maybe then I can get back to enjoying what I love in peace such as photography, reading and geocaching.