John Cox

Blogs · @wyome

Tagged software · everything

www.zdnet.com

5 MacOS command line tools I swear by over their GUI counterparts

Rounds up five free command-line tools worth installing on MacOS via Homebrew, aimed at users who assume the terminal is unnecessary on a GUI-driven OS: pandoc for file format conversion, taskwarrior for a lightweight to-do list, Ollama for running local AI models privately, ag (the silver searcher) for fast multi-file text search, and yt-dlp for downloading YouTube video or audio. Each entry includes the actual install and usage commands, making it a quick reference for practical CLI utilities rather than a general appeal for terminal adoption.

Permalink productivitysoftwaremacos

www.slashgear.com

I'll Never Use Chrome Again: These 5 Browsers Are Worth The Switch

This roundup profiles five Chrome alternatives for readers frustrated by resource hogging and privacy concerns, matching each to a different user type: Vivaldi for power users who want granular customization, Opera for mainstream users wanting an easy, feature-packed AI-friendly option, Firefox for its efficiency and continued uBlock Origin support post-Manifest V3, Orion for Mac users wanting Safari's efficiency without its feature gaps, and SigmaOS for those craving a reimagined, visually distinctive browsing experience. The piece leans on benchmarks (RAM/energy use) and specific feature comparisons rather than generic praise, making it a practical reference for actually switching rather than just complaining about Chrome.

Permalink technologyperformanceprivacysoftware

www.howtogeek.com

This app instantly turned my Plex server into a cable TV replacement

Coax turns a personal Plex library into a simulated cable-TV experience, auto-sorting movies and shows into themed channels (by genre, decade, actor, studio) and slotting them into a live EPG-style schedule you can channel-surf rather than endlessly browse. The piece argues this solves "decision fatigue" from on-demand grids and makes forgotten titles in a large library more likely to get watched, though it flags Coax's Apple-only availability and steep $70 price, and briefly compares it to cheaper alternatives (NostalgiaTV, QuasiTV).

Permalink appstelevisionstreamingsoftware

sixcolors.com

Rethinking RSS, newsletters, and how I read every morning

Reflecting on Terry Godier's newsreader app Current, the author explores why an app built to relieve "reading debt" and unread-count anxiety didn't work for them, despite agreeing with its premise. The piece traces this back to the author's own once-a-day, morning-newspaper-style reading ritual (via Feedbin and ReadKit), which led to a broader realization: newsletters that bundle stories into a single digest actually suit this habit better than raw RSS firehoses, prompting the idea of converting noisy feeds into newsletter-like summaries. It ends less as a review of Current and more as an open question about what the ideal reading app—something between mail client, RSS reader, and read-later service—would actually look like.

Permalink productivitytechnologysoftwareipad

otter.ai

Otter Meeting Agent - AI Notetaker, Transcription, Insights

Otter.ai is an AI meeting transcription and summarization tool that records conversations, generates real-time transcripts in multiple languages, and automatically captures action items and key decisions for teams to reference later. The platform integrates with CRMs, calendar apps, and AI chat tools like ChatGPT, allowing users to search across meetings and automate follow-ups, with testimonials claiming time savings of 30-40% per week. It offers flexible deployment options including bot-free desktop recording, browser extensions, and mobile capture, with tiered pricing from free basic plans to enterprise solutions.

Permalink productivityaicollaborationsoftware

www.freelancer.com

www.howtogeek.com

7 Handy Microsoft Excel Features You May Have Missed

Excel has seven lesser-known features that can streamline spreadsheet work: Sparklines create compact graphs within single cells, Data Validation restricts entries to specified types and can generate drop-down lists, the Status Bar displays quick calculations like sums and averages without adding formulas, Flash Fill automatically completes patterns (like splitting names into separate columns), Remove Duplicates eliminates repeated rows with one click, Watch Window monitors formula results across large workbooks without hunting through sheets, and Analyze Data provides automatic insights and visualizations. The guide explains how to access and use each feature to save time and reduce errors.

Permalink productivitysoftwaretipsexcel

Automattic

Automatic - Your Smart Driving Assistant

I can't summarize this document because it's not an article. It's a marketing/product overview page from Automattic that lists their various products (WordPress.com, Tumblr, Jetpack, Pocket Casts, etc.) and open-source projects with brief taglines. There's no argument, report, or substantive content to summarize — just product descriptions and company branding.

Permalink softwarebusinessopen sourcewordpress

panic.com

Lifehacker

madeatgloria.com

www.trirand.com

jQuery Grid Plugin

Guriddo jqGrid JavaScript version 5.9.0 introduces critical security and performance improvements by removing all eval-based code execution to enable Content Security Policy compliance, completely rewriting the virtual scroll module to support variable row heights, and rewriting state management to eliminate unsafe function parsing while maintaining backward compatibility. The release also includes numerous bug fixes and accessibility enhancements across frozen columns, pivot grids, tree grids, and form editing, plus the addition of ARIA labels and improved screen reader support throughout the interface.

Permalink performancesoftwaredevelopmentjquery

Joel on Software

Camels and Rubber Duckies - Joel on Software

# Summary Joel Spolsky traces the theoretical foundation for software pricing through demand curves and profit optimization, demonstrating that a simple economic model suggests an ideal price point where marginal revenue meets marginal cost—but then systematically dismantles this theory's practical applicability. He explains how companies attempt to capture "consumer surplus" through price segmentation (discounts, coupons, tiered versions), showing both why it works in theory and why it backfires in practice when customers discover they're paying different prices or feel exploited. Ultimately, Spolsky argues that the only reliable way to determine demand is through actual sales experimentation, that price itself sends quality signals to consumers, and that cheaper prices can function as long-term advertising investments—but he concludes the endeavor is fundamentally unknowable, leaving readers unable to definitively answer the original question.

Permalink softwarebusinesseconomicspricing

www.pemms.co.uk

Bigfoot CMMS

I can't summarize this content as requested. What you've provided is a 404 error page from the Perspective CMMS website, not a saved article or piece of journalism. It contains no argument, report, or substantive information to summarize—only a message explaining that a page wasn't found and instructions for contacting the site. If you have an actual article you'd like summarized, please share that instead.

Permalink maintenancesoftwaretools