2026-04-09 09:32:06
I recently organized my /Applications folder; it contains more than 660 apps. The tool that finally made it manageable is AppTela, a layered, categorized launcher available for $4.99 on the Mac App Store.
I tend to keep an app for every contingency. The problem isn’t disk space; it’s remembering the name of the utility you installed last year to solve a problem that only shows up every few months.
If you’ve ever had the experience of knowing you have an app for something but not remembering what it’s called, AppTela is designed to solve exactly that problem. I still launch the majority of my apps from Raycast. My use case for AppTela is using it's organizational structure, but if you're primarily a mouse or trackpad (nothing wrong with that), then this app will server you well on that front.
Not many days go by without me downloading at least one app. I’ve been doing that for years. Some people golf; some people play video games. My hobby is testing software.
Over time, of course, some maintenance and culling becomes necessary. But I’ve never worried about having too many apps; if that’s even a thing. As long as I stay away from the big bundles from companies like Adobe and Microsoft and keep Electron apps to a minimum, disk space isn’t an issue. Even on a Mac mini with a 256 GB SSD, my very full Applications folder uses less than 20% of the drive.
AppTela is not a Launchpad clone. It’s completely non-destructive. No matter how you organize things inside AppTela, your underlying file system never changes.
The structure takes a little time to understand, but it clicks pretty quickly. And importantly, none of the organizational layers are mandatory. You can ignore the ones that don’t fit your workflow.
The highest organizational level is the Page.
When you first open AppTela, it places all your apps on a single page. You can create as many pages as you like.
An app can appear on multiple pages. For example, you might create:
Safari could appear on all of them.
Within each page, apps are arranged into Categories.
On the default page, categories appear as headers with apps displayed in a grid beneath them. You can rename, delete, or create categories from the context menu.
The default categories include:
You can keep these, modify them, or replace them entirely.
If you have a lot of apps in a category, Groups become useful.
For example, instead of having a giant Utilities grid containing 100 apps, you can break that category into smaller groups.
Here are the Utility groups I created:
Groups can also be nested up to five levels deep, which gives you a surprising amount of flexibility if you want a very structured layout.
The lowest organizational level is the Stack.
There are two kinds.
A regular stack is simply a way to group up to 10 apps inside the space normally occupied by a single icon.
This is useful when you have clusters of related tools you only use occasionally.
Launch Stacks look similar, but behave differently.
Clicking one launches every app inside the stack simultaneously.
This is perfect for starting a workflow where several tools always open together; for example:
Stacks can be placed directly inside a category or inside a group.
AppTela is extremely customizable.
Almost every visual element can be adjusted; borders, colors, fonts, and backgrounds.
It includes:
You can run it:
If you spend time dialing in a layout you really like, you can lock, save, and back up the configuration.
There are a few things I’d still like to see added.
The biggest one is the ability to launch things other than applications, such as:
I would also like something similar to the notes feature in Start (by Innovative Bytes). Being able to attach a short reference note to an app would be genuinely useful.
Not every app name is descriptive. And if you happen to have six clipboard managers installed (hypothetically speaking), it would be helpful to leave yourself a reminder about which one supports cumulative copying.
AppTela for Mac – Customizable App Launcher & Launchpad Alternative
AppTela collects no personal data.
The app runs entirely on your device and requires no network connectivity.
$4.99 on the Mac App Store
2026-04-08 17:12:06
"Deportees (Plane Wreck At Los Gatos)" by Pete Seeger
A song that you like in multiple versions
Deportees (Plane Wreck At Los Gatos) was one of the last songs Woody Guthrie ever recorded before he entered the hospital for his long and slow decline from Huntington's disease. It's the story that stresses the dehumanization of immigrant workers. Woody was pretty damn prescient. The song is about current events just as much as it is about a 70-year-old plane crash. I have versions of the tune by Woody, Pete Seeger, Arlo, Springsteen, Billy Bragg, Nanci Griffith and Cisco Houston.
2026-04-07 17:47:27
"Battle Hymn of the Republic" by US Army Band and Chorus
Which lyric always gives you goosebumps
Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord; / He is trampling out the vintage where the grapes of wrath are stored; / He hath loosed the fateful lightning of His terrible swift sword: / His truth is marching on. - This has actually been a top 40 hit twice in its history, for the Mormon Tabernacle Choir and Andy Williams. It was sung after the deaths of JFJ and RFK, as well as at the funerals of presidents Johnson and Carter.
2026-04-07 00:26:30
My ten-year experiment with Apple Music is over.
Over the past month I rebuilt my workflow for managing a large local music collection; roughly 36,000 tracks. After a lot of experimentation, these are the tools that finally clicked.
This is the story of moving from Apple Music back to files I actually own, and the workflow that makes that practical in 2026.
Streaming trained us to tolerate a mess we never should have accepted.
Tracks, albums, and playlists quietly disappear. You’re never quite sure what counts as “your library.” Metadata changes underneath you. And if you cancel the subscription, it’s not always clear what remains.
For casual listening that trade-off may be fine. For anyone who has spent years curating a library, it’s frustrating.
Using a big old iPod Classic forces a certain discipline.
It’s a surprisingly healthy constraint.
My library comes from a mix of sources:
In the early years, iTunes purchases were DRM-protected AAC files. Later Apple switched to DRM-free downloads and eventually provided ways to convert older purchases.
That history leaves many long-time iTunes libraries in a messy transitional state.
For $25, iTunes Match will upload up to 100,000 songs in almost any format.
The useful trick is what happens next: once the songs are matched or uploaded, you can re-download them as 256 kbps AAC files.
That’s not lossless audiophile territory, but it’s a big improvement over the 128 kbps MP3s many of us ripped twenty years ago.
In my case it did two useful things:
It’s not magic, though.
A “matched” track can sometimes be:
Those substitutions can break album coherence. Keeping a backup of your original files is essential so you can restore anything that gets replaced incorrectly.
Old iTunes libraries accumulate a lot of structural problems.
AC/DC vs ACDC, smart quotes, stray spaces, or hidden characters create duplicate artist entries.You can fix these issues manually for a small collection. Mine required automation.
Yate turned out to be the right tool. Its strengths include:
Swinsian is the perfect ongoing management layer.
Yes, it’s a player. But more importantly, it’s a tool for keeping a large collection curated over time.
Examples from my library:
Files. Tags. Structure.
Local libraries come with responsibilities.
Discovery becomes a separate task. There’s no instant “add to playlist” from a streaming catalog.
You also have to care about the plumbing:
My library uses a simple Artist/Album/Track folder structure so both Swinsian and streaming remain predictable.
I’m also paranoid about losing data, so I keep backups on external drives and in the cloud. If you follow a 3–2–1 backup strategy, you’re golden. At minimum, use Time Machine.
The upside is control. The downside is maintenance.
This turned out to be the easiest part.
Navidrome is the layer that makes your local library available everywhere.
Point it at your curated music folder, let it scan the files, and your collection becomes streamable from:
The key advantage is that Navidrome reflects your existing organization.
Yate handles tag cleanup and upgrades.
Swinsian handles library management and playlists.
Navidrome simply serves whatever you’ve already organized.
Once it’s set up, it mostly disappears into the background.
Exactly the way infrastructure should.
This isn’t a retro flex. It’s an engineering decision.
A locally managed library quietly removes an entire category of annoyances: licensing uncertainty, cloud weirdness, metadata drift, and app strategy whiplash.
And with the right combination of tools — iTunes Match for upgrades, Yate for tagging, Swinsian for management — a 36,000-song library becomes not just manageable, but pleasant again.
2026-04-05 18:15:36
"The Ballad of the Green Berets" by SSgt. Barry Sadler
A song that represents where you live
My high school girlfriend lived in the same neighborhood where Barry Sadler did when he recorded The Ballad of the Green Berets - about a mile from the gate of Ft. Bragg. I've been a soldier or lived among them my entire life. The guys in Special Forces tend to be pretty smart and usually interesting. The training is rigorous, mentally and physically. It's kind of funny how many of them become teachers when they retire - at all grade levels. One of the most decorated men I ever knew (five Purple Hearts, four Bronze Stars, a Silver star) taught third grade.
2026-04-03 18:17:52
"Where Did You Sleep Last Night (Live Acoustic)" by Nirvana
A song that's largely acoustic
Showing a deeper appreciation for grunge's roots than most, Kurt Cobain's performance of this tune (AKA In the Pines), a Leadbelly song has been one of my favorites.
