I’m now a happy owner of a Series 3 Apple Watch! It arrived today, and I’m very happy with how shiny and new it is! This isn’t a review though, or any big piece about that specific new watch, but rather a new idea that I’ve had now that I now own two watches.

My other watch is a Series 0, and was coming to it’s death anyway (it’s even got part of the glass missing). But I’ve still got an idea of how it can fit into my life.

And that is by using my Series 0 to track my sleep, and then my Series 3 for normal watch stuff! I now have two chargers, so one could be permanently placed on my desk, and I can transport the other when necessary. Although I don’t imagine it being so.

The Watch Set-ups

So the first thing you do when you get a new product, is to set it up, and add all the apps, download all the things, etc. But on the new watch, I’m keeping it pretty default for the beginning. Purely so I can find out what I really use, but only installing when necessary. But that’s a story for the future.

This just leaves my original watch, and because I’ve had it for such a long time, there’s a ton of apps on it. And to be honest, I don’t know the last time I opened an app on my watch, or at least on purpose.

So, I did a kind of un-set-up (maybe a set-down?), which meant getting rid of most things on the watch.

I started by removing all the apps, turning off the features like handoff, bedside mode, notification indicators, and activity monitoring.

Then it was the watch face, so they were all deleted, apart from a modular face. Which I have customised to have the time in the top right as usual, and the middle complication is the alarms. Everything else is blank. Because what else would I ever need to see if I’m in bed? Hopefully I’d be sleeping.

There’s also a few more little settings that will make the sleep-watch experience better. For example, the brightness is the lowest it can go, the text size is a bit larger, and it will be on Do Not Disturb, Silent, and Theatre modes, all the time.

So it now does nothing I guess?

Oh except, I installed AutoSleep on it. Because that’s the app I use to monitor my sleep on my iPhone, and I’m not sure if this needs to be installed to track it, or if it uses data taken from the sensors automatically. Either way, it’s quicker than researching it.

More Thoughts

This is a bit of a random idea I’ve come up with, and although I’ve heard people using multiple watches like this before, or even using one watch but charging throughout the day, it is more effort. And the ability to track sleep is a nice thing, and won’t really benefit me in anyway. But it’s data, and it’s fun! (Or at least I guess it will be for the early stages).

I’ll probably write an updated post, when I have an idea of how it’s working. But for now, I need to start working on my MultiWatch lifestyle.

Many people will have hear in the news that Transport for London (TfL) has informed Uber, that their current private hire license will not be extended, and therefore expire on the 30th September.

This was posted by the London mayor Sadiq Khan on Twitter, and also any nearly every other local news outlet.

You can read full statement from TfL, but here is the main bit:

Transport for London (TfL) has today (Friday 22 September) informed Uber London Limited that it will not be issued with a private hire operator licence after expiry of its current licence on 30 September. TfL’s regulation of London’s taxi and private hire trades is designed to ensure passenger safety. Private hire operators must meet rigorous regulations, and demonstrate to TfL that they do so, in order to operate. TfL must also be satisfied that an operator is fit and proper to hold a licence.

TfL has concluded that Uber London Limited is not fit and proper to hold a private hire operator licence.

TfL considers that Uber’s approach and conduct demonstrate a lack of corporate responsibility in relation to a number of issues which have potential public safety and security implications.

Uber can of course appeal this decision, and while the appeal process is ongoing, they will still be able to operate under their current license. So there’s a great possibility that the 30th September will not be the last day of Ubers in London in any scenario.

I wasn’t going to post too much about this story though, as it’s been quite widespread, and I think everyone knows the gist of it.

But I’ve received two emails from Uber about this, and I don’t particularly like the way they’re going about it. We all know that Uber as a company, isn’t the best example for good public relations, but I think their emails sound a bit stupid.

The first which was sent on the 22nd September, titled “Save your Uber in London”:

Dear Chris,

As you may have heard, the Mayor and Transport for London have announced they will not be renewing Uber’s licence to operate in our city when it expires on 30 September.

We are sure Londoners will be as astounded as we are by this decision. By trying to ban the app from the capital, the Mayor and Transport for London have caved in to a small number of people who want to restrict consumer choice.

Not only will this decision deprive you of the choice of a convenient way of getting about town, it will also put more than 40,000 licensed drivers who rely on our app out of work.

We will be immediately challenging this decision in court.

If you want to continue using the Uber app in London – and to defend the livelihoods of 40,000 licensed drivers – please sign this petition urging the Mayor to think again.

Okay, so they’re trying to tell everyone that TfL and the London Mayor have decided to “ban” Uber. I don’t personally see it as an attack on their company, or in fact the drivers or customers of Uber. Sure, the Black cabs have a bit too much power in London, and I’ve noticed non-Uber taxi drivers dislike towards Uber. But these are small problems, and to be honest, I don’t quite care for them.

Uber as a service, is a great idea, and in my eyes I can only see the benefits. But they seem as a whole, quite stroppy.

I noticed this even more in their email they sent today (24th September) titled “Help keep your Uber in London”:

Dear Chris,

Since we emailed you on Friday about the decision not to renew Uber’s licence to operate in the capital when it expires on 30 September, we’ve been overwhelmed by the public support shown – thank you.

More than 600,000 people have signed a petition to keep our app in London and we’ve heard thousands of stories from people who want Uber to remain in our city.

If you don’t support this decision and haven’t yet added your name to the Save Your Uber in London petition, you can do so by clicking the link below.
 
So apparently a petition will change TfL and Sadiq Khan’s mind on Uber renewing their license.

We do a lot of petitions here in the UK, mostly about minor, insignificant things, but even after there was an online petition to stop Trump from entering the UK became popular, it still didn’t change anything.

Plus anyway, I don’t think a simple count of public opinion is relevant. We all know how stupid the general public can be.

I’ve seen things about how Uber is safer for women, and people of colour, and now they’ll have to get a night bus, and be “alone in the dark”. I don’t care. These are issues of their own, and emotions should not be involved in a decision like this.

I won’t be signing the petition to “Save Uber”, but that also doesn’t mean I want to see Uber being banned from operating in London.

I think that Uber should understand that Sadiq Khan is the Mayor of London, and TfL are the local government body responsible for transport system in London. And therefore, have to abide by all the rules given to them.

Then, and only then, can they complain about any unfair behaviour. Because there’s most likely a bit of bias on either sides. But it doesn’t mean people being “outraged” at a certain decision should mean it should be reversed.

A lot of people would like Safari to show favicons in the tab bar, just like Chrome does. And it’s been the subject on various blog posts, and podcasts. But it was a post by John Gruber, that got Timing developer Daniel Alm interested.

He then went on and made an app called Faviconographer, that doesn’t exactly add that feature to Safari, but instead analyses Safari and the current tabs, and overlays the relevant favicon where it should be.

It’s not perfect, but it does make Safari much better. I just can’t believe it’s still not an official feature.

You can download Faviconographer, and also read more about how it works, the current limitations, and also some other information on the app on the Faviconographer website.

I’ve been wanting (not exactly looking for) a better way to quickly deal with screenshots on macOS for a while, and while looking over Product Hunt today, there was an app called ShotBox climbing the ranks.

It was free, and it looked interesting, so I gave it a shot. I was very pleased with what I found, and it’s such a simple utility, but it’s exactly what I need.

It’s similar to the new screenshot feature in iOS, in that when it detects a new screenshot, it opens up a small window in the bottom-left corner, so you can quickly edit and share.

There are actually only two things you can do in that window, and they are preview and edit. And of course when you close the window, you get the option to quickly delete the screenshot, or to save it.

I initially didn’t think it would work properly on my Mac, as I have Hazel move my screenshots into a separate folder, which I then have rules on archiving. So therefore they don’t just sit on my desktop. However, ShotBox lets you select a folder to watch, so this wasn’t an issue!

You can find out more information on ShotBox, and also download it for free using these links:

• ShotBox Website
• ShotBox on the Mac App Store
• ShotBox on Product Hunt

Brad Moon, writing for Forbes:

With Apple’s September iPhone event –and the official release of its latest operating systems– just days away, Apple continues pushing out public betas of iOS 11. A lot of people are downloading this software and loading it on their iPhones. But why?

When you install the iOS 11 public beta, you are essentially testing the software for Apple. Using your own hardware, apps and data. For free.

You don’t even get a tee shirt. Apple spikes this point out on the website for its Beta Software Program: “This program is voluntary, and there is no compensation for your participation.”

Because getting early access to upcoming software can only be a bad thing?

Heck, even by the time the company puts out the official annual iOS release in September, there are usually significant bugs still remaining. That’s why I wait for the first revision to be released before installing it on my devices.

It simply sounds like he’s had a bad experience, and that should apparently affect you too.

He goes on to point out a few sections of the beta agreement, which he has to expand on further that they “even use all caps”. The agreement states that the devices may not be able to be restored after using beta software, Apple will not be liable to any problems with using the software, and general stuff that you’d expect.

It’s not a final piece of software, and like all their public betas (which come after the more buggy developer betas), they are to be used at your own risk. And completely optional!

I just don’t see the issue. But I think his trust issues go further than the stability of the actual software:

If you have a spare iPhone or iPad lying around and you’re curious about the direction Apple is going, that’s also fair game, although not risk-free (and you’re still working for free for a company that made a profit in excess of $45 billion in 2016).

Contributing to beta testing, to help make the software and overall experience better can only be a bad thing. Especially when you don’t even get a t-shirt.

iA Writer 5 is scheduled to be released at the end of September, and there’s one feature that they’ve already announced, and I love it.

It’s a configurable keyboard!

Above the iOS keyboard on an iPhone, you usually get the little keyboard row where apps can add shortcuts to functionality, and also for basic things like undo and redo. But iA have gone a step further, and not only added some cool features like the ability to search through actions, files, and text in a document, but a customisable keyboard that opens up when you tap the ⌘ key.

You get the standard markdown syntax for things like headers, links, footnotes, lists, etc. But also the ability to swap and rearrange them.

You can see for yourself some of the available keys in their video, but I imagine there will be a load more when it’s released.

If you’re a programmer, you’re probably aware about version control and Git, and maybe even what a .gitignore file is.

If you don’t:

A gitignore file specifies intentionally untracked files that Git should ignore. Files already tracked by Git are not affected; see the NOTES below for details.

Anyway, creating these files can be annoying to write manually, and there a bunch of templates all over the internet to make this much easier.

I however, found a much better solution for creating these files, and it’s gitignore.io. It’s a website that you can use to generate a .gitignore file, but also a command line tool that you can use, so you never have to leave your terminal.

It has support for operating systems, IDEs, and programming languages. So my standard file will be generated from macOS, Xcode, and Swift, since that’s how I roll.

You can type (with autofill of course) whatever templates you want to make use of straight into the website, and then hit ‘Create’.

For the command line, you’ll have to first install it, and then the gi command will be available. All you need to do is type gi followed by a comma-separated list of the same items you would use on the website.

So mine would be:

gi macos,xcode,swift.

The command would of course, output this out via the standard output, so you can direct it straight into your .gitignore file by writing something like:

gi macos,xcode,swift >> .gitignore

It’s super easy, and it saves a lot of time.

As a little bonus, there’s also a quick video on how to install and use the command line tool.

Jonas Gessner, developer of ProTube:

I am very sad to announce that ProTube was removed from the App Store by Apple on September 1, 2017. This comes after multiple requests and threats by YouTube which ultimately led Apple to suddenly pulling the app from the App Store. ProTube and many other 3rd party YouTube apps on the App Store have been targeted by YouTube with takedown requests.

YouTube first requested Apple to remove my app well over a year ago, initially just stating that my app violates their Terms of Service. This was a generic takedown request they sent to many YouTube apps at once. They later started going into more detail, even stating that I could not sell the app as that alone violates their ToS. They basically wanted me to remove every feature that made ProTube what it is – that includes the player itself that allows you to play 60fps videos, background playback, audio only mode and more. Without those features ProTube would not be any better than YouTube’s own app, and that is exactly what they want to achieve. YouTube wants to sell its $10/month subscription service which offers many features that ProTube also offered for a lower one time price, so they started hunting down 3rd party YouTube apps on the App Store.

This is very sad news. ProTube is far better than the official YouTube app in nearly everyway, and now YouTube have finally got their way and forced it from the App Store.

My favourite parts of ProTube was the option to get an audio only version of a video, support for iOS Picture-in-Picture, and background playback, just to name a few.

I’m going to keep the app installed on my iPhone and iPad, but I’m not sure what (if anything) will happen to them because of the removal. Whatever happens to them though, there won’t be anymore updates, and when YouTube make changes to the API, the app will sadly stop working.

I doubt there’s any point in finding an alternative, as no doubt if anything is as close to the quality of ProTube, it will be shut down in the same manner.

Read the full statement

It’s now almost midway through my holiday in Tenerife, and I’ve been noticing a few ways I’ve been using Twitter differently, seeing as I’m not constantly being updated.

As most people would expect, I haven’t been constantly stuck to my phone (with the exception of music and podcasts), so I haven’t been able to be 100% caught up with my timeline. Whereas I’m usually a maximum of 1 hour behind, given that I’m awake. I’m not sure if that’s a good thing or not, or whether it’s good for productivity, but that’s what happens.

But instead of my usual Twitter activity, I’m hardly posting anything, but I still want to keep an eye on anything significant that’s going on.

I actually have three Twitter clients installed on my phone at the minute, and they’ve each gained a temporary place in my daily usage. My client of choice was previously Tweetbot, but I was getting bored recently, and was checking out the current state of Twitterrific, so that’s the reasons for the first two. The last one is the official Twitter app, and that’s purely for keeping up with what updates are being added, and also so I can see a poll if I need to.

So seeing as I just want to see the most essential/interesting content from the day, my Twitter usage normally consists of:

• Checking the official Twitter app for the “What you’ve missed” section (I’ve 99% got the actual name wrong, but you get the idea). I may read some related tweets, but I feel this gets me updated.
• I use Tweetbot every now and then for push notifications, and also to check out the Activity section. Which shows follows, likes, and mentions, all in the same list, so that’s how I make sure I’m up to date on anyone interacting with me.
• Any “normal” use of Twitter where I want to search for someone, specifically see a users timeline, or just checkout the most recent tweets (not particularly often, but when I’m bored), I do all of this in Twitterrific.

Looking back on my usage, it seems pretty standard. Apart from the use of three different apps of course. I’m going to try and force myself to use Twitterrific a bit more, and then make a decision on that, so then it’s only the two.

The biggest plus for me for the last few days has been the official Twitter app, because it’s pretty quick to read the curated list of tweets that apparently I’ve missed out on. I’ve found to be a pretty well curated list, and unless there’s some big thing that I just haven’t seen, I feel as up to date as usual.

Maybe this will prompt a change in how I use Twitter when I get home, but I’m not putting any importance into that idea.

I will be off on holiday tomorrow (Thursday) for two weeks in Tenerife!

Therefore, there will be no content (I’m 99.999% sure of this) posted here, unless I’m super bored and need something to do 🤓.

As always, I’ll be posting far too many photos on my Instagram, and probably more boring content on Twitter.