I worry a bit about iOS apps on macOS making "Mac" apps the norm, rather than crafted experiences we're accustomed. Who am I kidding, besides 1Password, it's all Electron. Maybe this could result in better Mac apps!? I’m cautiously optimistic about the new ARM Macs.

The rumored switch of Apple from Intel x86 CPUs to their own custom ARM chips is exciting. But as a web developer, I wonder how this will impact me and how long it will be until an ARM Mac is usable for…work. Most of the tools I use aren’t native to macOS (PyCharm/Firefox), or ported and super-slow (Docker).

Will an ARM work be fast enough and compatible enough that I can continue using a Mac for work?

Growing up, I'd stay up until 3 or 4am on IRC, chatting with people from Europe, South America, Australia/NZ. We built websites, setup servers, shared knowledge, hosted radio shows together. No rails with technology. Fun times. That time is entirely why I'm able to support myself now. Sadly lost touch with most of them.  I wonder how they're all doing now. This post brought to you by some MP3s of "The Streets" that I got from a Swede in those days.

I bought a new (shorter) domain for my new email address. One advantage of migrating away from gmail that I hadn’t anticipated is how much calmer I feel.

You see, Gmail technically supports IMAP, but it’s more of a shim. You’re not really supposed to use IMAP with Gmail. And as such I never felt comfortable using a regular email client, instead opting to check mail via the web-app.

Checking mail via a browser is fine but being in a browser switches your mind to a different context. Browsers are meant for consuming. The entire internet is just a simple cmd-T away. So “checking email” became a mental excuse to open my web browser. And then Twitter. And then Hacker News. And then Reddit. Oh, I wonder if I got any new email? And repeat.

Now with a provider where IMAP is a first class citizen, I can use Mail.app again. Mail is set to be pulled in once an hour. No more temptation from a web browser. And an unexpected sense of calm.

I’m back in control.