We’re well into October but I’m in shorts and it’s pretty much summer outside (during the day at least). I did manage to wear a flannel shirt Friday, though. I’ll be grilling ribeyes shortly; they’re in the sous vide tank right now.

Not Your Desk

I see your desk: bespoke. the ultra-clean, organized set up. The RGB lights tastefully illuminating the cubbies. The small plastic potted plant with manicured pebbles. It makes a nice insta post for sure.

I don’t want your desk. I want my desk. My desk has a bunch of shit strewn atop it. I clean it up from time to time but I don’t obsess over it.

What’s this USB cable for? I don’t know. Do I need these headphones out all the time? Probably not. but they don’t get in anyone’s way. Black peripheral, white USB cable? Um, yeah. It’s what I had when the thunderbolt dock was delivered.

Unused laptop in a stand, not even charged? It is, in fact, pretty much unused. But hey! I know where to find it if I need it. I could put the sunglasses away in the drawer, but they’re right there, conveniently reminding me to wear them.

And that USB-powered tire pump? Why have that on your desk? Because I can charge it up using an mis-color-matched USB cord, that’s why. It’s not like I have a garage.

Your desk? Looks great. But I still like mine.

Touch: the AppleScript

I have a thousand reasons why I like to drop a test file into a location. Unix is a beautiful construction, where there’s a solitary app for most things. macOS does the same thing, it follows the same path, and the best macOS apps the Mac assed Mac apps all shine when developed in this way.

Sometimes I just want create a text file. Touch is a handy Unix app that I often turn to in such circumstances.

But let’s be honest: I’m not hanging out in Terminal all day. Or ever, really. Are there people out there who are? Seriously? If you say so.

Years ago I wrote a simple AppleScript to create a markdown file for me. It’s easy to fire it off with Launchbar, too. I gussied it up a bit using Copilot yesterday.

try     
    tell application "Finder" to set currentFolder to (folder of the front window as alias) 
    on error    
        set currentFolder to path to desktop folder as alias 
end 
try  
    set baseName to "new" set extension to ".md" 
    set counter to 0 set fileExists to true  repeat while fileExists    
    if counter is 0 then        
        set fileName to baseName & extension    
        else        
        set fileName to baseName & " " & counter & extension  
    end if  
    set currentFile to POSIX path of currentFolder & fileName   
    set fileExists to (do shell script "test -e " & quoted form of currentFile & "; echo $?") is "0"  
    set counter to counter + 1 end repeat  
    do shell script "touch " & quoted form of currentFile  
tell application "Finder"     
    select file fileName of folder currentFolder 
end tell

Logitech MX Master 4

Have you met a keyboard person? They will drop 200 bucks on a keyboard sight unseen if the kickstarter description hits all the right notes. How do I know? I’ve been one. We have rights.

The MX Master is something of a legend in the peripheral world. It merits its own reviews, and iterations are hotly anticipated It’s a big, heavy mouse that appeals to the same types of users. I’m one of them.

The MX Master 4 has more software affordances than ever before. It’s got more thunk and chunk than the 3S that preceded it. It is absolutely worth a spin if you enjoy using a Mac with a mouse, especially with a desktop Mac or a laptop in clamshell mode. And for me, that’s the best way to use a Mac.

The newest physical feature of the MX 4 is the Sense Panel with haptic feedback. From MacWorld’s review:

But, of course, it’s the haptic feedback features that are the star of the show, and the thumb rest now has a haptic ‘Sense Panel’ that sits right under the tip of your thumb. This is a button that you can program to perform a variety of functions, but it also provides tactile haptic feedback in the form of a brief ‘click’ sensation – similar to the haptic feedback on Apple’s Magic Trackpad – in response to a variety of actions or commands.

The update to the LogiOptions software includes their take on a radial launcher:

For home users or ordinary office workers, the Logi Options+ app provides another new feature, called the Action Ring, which is activated by pressing the Sense Panel button. The Actions Ring appears on screen when you press the Sense Panel, and displays a circular menu with additional commands that you can select. By default, the Action Ring displays a set of standard commands, such as launching the Notes app on a Mac or instantly locking your Mac.

LogTech is trying to Sherlock Pieomter.

Brown Loafers

They are almost always the best choice.