2025-01-07 23:27:22
Little over a year ago, many people (including me) compiled their lists of default apps. It’s time to review and see what’s changed since then.
No big changes here, but it doesn’t mean I haven’t found any great apps this year. For example, a new terminal emulator Ghostty or many apps I recommended in my monthly reading lists last year.
Take a look at my /uses page for a full list of apps I use often.
This is post 29 of #100DaysToOffload
2025-01-07 02:55:19
I recently changed my terminal app to Ghostty and have been surprised by its performance, simpleness, and cleanliness.
I’ve been using iTerm2 for many years, but it became bloated over years, while I haven’t needed just a handful of those features. I also tried many different terminal emulator apps before, from Kitty to Warp, from Wezterm to Hyper, and, of course, the built-in macOS terminal. I liked none of them: they don’t feel native, full of bells and whistles I rarely use, or just plain ugly and boring.
Somehow Ghostty is the opposite of all that: it looks simple and blends into macOS seamlessly, it is fast and supports everything I need, and at the same time doesn’t have any annoying features.
Here is my config if you’re interested:
# Merges titlebar with contents
macos-titlebar-style = native
macos-titlebar-style = transparent
# Old school terminal size
window-width = 80
window-height = 25
# Add some nice looking padding
window-padding-x = 8
window-padding-y = 0,2
# Don't hang around
quit-after-last-window-closed = true
# Fixes issues with Ctrl-R
term = xterm-256color
# The theme I liked the most from the `ghostty +list-themes`
theme = MaterialDarker
Nothing special here, and I could have easily lived with default options.
However, there is one more thing I’d like to mention.
Ever since I switched from Ubuntu to macOS many years ago I missed Ctrl+Alt+T shortcut to open a Terminal from anywhere.
Finally, I’ve found a solution!
It is the Shortcuts app with this absurdly simple Shortcut. You can import it from iCloud.
Shortcut to start Ghostty with a globally available keyboard combination
Note the Run with: input of the Info → Details panel. There you can set any keyboard combination to launch this automation. The only limitation is that you need to choose some unique keystroke, because hotkeys of the currently running app have precedence. I chose to use all three modifiers, just to be sure.
P.S. When I was writing this post, I learned about critical vulnerabilities in both iTerm2 and Ghostty. Whatever terminal emulator you use, stay updated!
This is post 28 of #100DaysToOffload
2025-01-01 06:59:59
My 2024 started with tonsillitis and ended with bronchitis. It was a year of great uncertainty for me and for many of my friends and colleagues. It ended with less uncertainty but still without much clarity.
However, in between it was a great year! I learned a lot, made new friends, visited new places, tried many new things for the first time.
Toolbox App reached its version 2 in 2023 and started a new exciting journey, but now without me. It took me a while to let it go, but I did it for good.
At the same time, I switched to the Compose Multiplatform team, and this has been one of my best decisions recently. The team is great, everyone is so involved and excited about our project. I’m absolutely confident that we will achieve our goals next year, and I’ll do my best to help folks to do it.
I spent some time at the beginning of the year to change a few things at home. I set up a new working table for myself, which I’m now very happy with. I put an amazing carved wooden world map on a wall in the living room. And my LEGO corner has continued growing in the other corner.
World map in living room and my workplace
There are still places I’m not fully satisfied with yet. But I’m proud to call this place home and always want to get back here as soon as possible.
I ran my seventh (?) marathon in October, and though it was far from easy, I’m glad I can do it after a 7-year hiatus.
Overall, I was far more active this year than any of the many previous years. I enjoyed cycling, running, and doing Apple Fitness+ workouts before work to kickstart my day. Or just routinely doing 100 pushups a day It certainly helped me to stay fit and focused.
I didn’t expect to travel much in 2024, but ended up with almost a dozen of business trips. Wherever and whenever I went, I took a pair of running shoes and went for a run. Limassol and Copenhagen, Amsterdam and London, it helped a lot to stay fit and focused for hours of discussions with colleagues and partners.
This year I platinumed just two PlayStation games: The Last of Us Part II (which actually was an auto-pop of PS4 save), and Kena: Bridge of Sprits – a cozy slasher in a cartoon world.
Besides those two, I also really liked Astro Bot (my GOTY) and LEGO Horizon Adventures.
Astrobot
I have lots of games in my backlog and wishlist, but absolutely not enough time to play them all.
The only time I was in a cinema this year, I watched première of Dune Part II. An epic sci-fi blockbuster, easily my favourite movie of the year. Although I haven’t watched many, like in previous year(s).
One of the best releases of this year was the highly acclaimed Shogun. We were mostly catching up with TV series that we had missed before, like Severance and Silo. I can recommend first seasons of both, and I’m looking forward to the second seasons streaming soon.
The best series we’ve watched this year, however, was The Office. I don’t know why we skipped it before, especially when we’ve already enjoyed a very similar Parks and Recreations few years before.
Overall, I feel like the number of new series has increased significantly in the past years, while I cannot say the same about their quality.
Surprisingly, I listed three audiobooks this year, which is three times more than in my whole previous life.
But if I need to pick one book highlight of the year, it is Shift Happens by Marcin Wichary.
Shift Happens by Marcin Wichary
I supported it on Kickstarter back in 2023 and have been patiently waiting for it for almost a year, but it has been absolutely worth it. The book is just awesome in so many ways: it tells an exciting story of how keyboards came to be, it has tons of beautiful illustrations, it is meticulously designed and typeset, it is carefully packaged, and it is just awesome and is a piece of art in itself.
I still owe a review of it. All I can say now, I enjoyed every second reading it.
I’m a Formula 1 fanboy since 1997, and this season has delivered! The first Constructors’ Championship for McLaren since 1998 is incredible and, to be honest, unexpected. My LEGO McLaren collection has grown to three models in different scales during the year.
The excitement this year has been so big, that I already have a ticket to a Grand Prix next year too.
My Year Compass
I wrapped this year and envisioned my 2025 with Year Compass. I’ll see in 365 days whether that vision came true, but it was an insightful exercise on its own as well.
Dare to dream big!
This is post 27 of #100DaysToOffload
2024-12-30 16:51:08
Inspired by Jason Kottke’s annual list, I kept track of some things I learned this year, one for each week. Here we go:
This is post 26 of #100DaysToOffload
2024-12-28 22:50:36
Here’s an (incomplete) list of things I tried for the first time this year.
⛳️ Played golf
🚨 Evacuated a building because of a fire alarm
🚵 Rode eMountain Bike (not my cup of tea)
🌊 Tried Stand-up paddling
🍝 Prepared homemade pasta
🍺 Drank alcohol-free beer at Oktoberfest (have I committed a crime by doing so?)
🏅 Got chafed nipples after a marathon
🏟️ After 14 years in Munich finally visited Allianz Arena
🚫 Got my flight cancelled. Twice on the same day.
Looking forward to next year’s discoveries!
This is post 25 of #100DaysToOffload
2024-12-16 01:07:16
I haven’t watched The Game Awards live, as it is broadcast in the middle of the night in Europe. But I was extremely happy to learn that Astrobot has been awarded Game Of The Year. As I wrote before already, I absolutely support this decision. The game is fun and continues receiving updates, with a new Winter Wonderland level released just a few days ago.
There were also a few intriguing announcements this time.
The first is Split Fiction, a co-op game from creators of It takes two. We spent some good hours with my wife playing that game, and we already can’t wait for their next release.
The next one is an absolutely mind-blowing Witcher IV trailer. Unlike many other trailers, it shows a complete scene from the game, which is a great story in itself. And it showcases the Unreal 5 in the best possible light. The quality of graphics, rendering, models, and motion capture has come to a level where it is hard to distinguish from the real life. The Witcher 3 is still in my backlog. And now I have a good reason to play it sooner rather than later.
The last but not least trailer that caught my attention is the announcement of a new Naughty Dog project. I’m a big fan of their games, I keep replaying Uncharted 4 many times, and The Last of Us is one of the best games of all time. I’m excited to see what they will bring us this time around.
2025 is going to be a great year for video games.
This is post 24 of #100DaysToOffload
