I have a synology nas. The cheapest 2 drive model. The nas plus a pair of 4tb drives set me back $380. The time period for roi is pretty significant.

The problem I have with News+ is this… if you thumbs down a source or even outright block it, News+ still shows it as a tapable tile. It just says “You’ve blocked this source” instead of showing the underlying material that would have been there. It’s an incredibly stupid UI design. If I’ve blocked a site it shouldn’t show up at all. Put a different story in its place.

The other thing Indont like is that even the paid tier of News+ still has ads. A premium price should have a premium experience.

To be fair, I charge my Magic Mouse once a month and it takes less than an hour. Throwing it on the charger overnight when I leave for the work day isn’t a huge deal.

Habitica is kind of fun if you’re looking to gamify your to-do list.

I’m also using it on my Synology nas. works awesome!

I got it when it was still a one time purchase and I’m able to restore it when I buy a new phone. Very pleased with it as a one-off but would never subscribe.

I felt exactly the same. After the switch, I went to BusyCal which is a one time purchase. Worse than fantasical but better than the stock Apple Calendar.

The 2012MBP is a fine machine. I actually just retired one. Being an intel model, you can run any Linux. You don’t need to stick to Ashashi (that’s for Apple silicon chips).

You could also put Windows on there.

Really though, if she likes the Apple ecosystem, go find a 2017/2018 MPB 4 thunderbolt port model. I recently picked one up on fb marketplace with an i7, 16 gigs of ram, and 256gb ssd for $350.

Hadn’t heard of Hugo. I’m going to grab it now. Sounds fun. For retro sites/vintage stuff I like firing up NetObjects Fusion on my old 90’s PowerMac and uploading to neocities.

Used to love 1Password through version 7. When it was a standalone, Apple-first, single purchase program.

Now it’s an electron cross platform app, features come to the macOS version last, and it’s a subscription.

I’m just using keychain now. Screw those guys.

I haven’t used Nova but I’m going to check that out. I’ve been using RapidWeaver for small static site design.

I have a quibble with Fantastical. Ever since they went to a subscription model from one time purchase I’ve left them behind. I’m not renting software.

Obsidian is far and away my favorite of those you mentioned for personal use. Although notes is better for shared notes with others. Obsidian isn’t something your mom is just going to dive into.

For sure, turn off wifi on the tv and also block it’s MAC address at the router. Plug in your trusted streaming box of choice via HDMI and only use that (Nvidia Shield, AppleTV, Roku, AndroidTV, Homebuilt Plex box, etc).

Same here. Native or bust. I want my apps to use common gestures, key combinations, utilize operating system features like face recognition, have common os theming, obey system preferences like dark mode, and be available offline. Any app I use on the regular must be native (not even that Electron or React Native crap).

Posting from it now. Looks great!

AppFlowy isn’t web based?

Interesting, I feel exactly the opposite. I’m far less inclined to use a web based tool. For a backend sync/storage or admin interface to a server? Sure. But for the user interface/business logic? Let me run it locally as a native program. To each their own I guess.

Didn’t know there was a discourse. Thanks!

Cron jobs are mainly for enabling and disabling internet access by mac address on a schedule. I also like that these commercial products force search to google or duckduckgo safe search, and youtube to youtube restricted on a per user basis (which really could be done by mac address). I mean I can prob do all this with firewall rules myself. But a slick web interface would be cool.

I just blocked the TV’s MAC address at the router, and plugged in an AppleTV (I trust Apple way more than any tv manufacturer). Turning it on just shows what on Input 1 (the ATV), completely bypassing any internal “smart” apps.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ford_Sync

I mean, your link shows that the guy above was right that Microsoft was involved. It would depend on the model year. And future versions are planned to run on Android.

From your wikipedia link: The first two generations (Ford Sync and MyFord Touch) run on the Windows Embedded Automotive operating system designed by Microsoft,[3] while the third and fourth generations (Sync 3 and Sync 4/4a) runs on the QNX operating system from BlackBerry Limited.[4] Future versions will run on the Android operating system from Google.[5]

I want to also shout out Bartender, Obsidian, and ITerm2. Great apps.

I used to love Fantastical - but since they went to a subscription model I’ve ditched them. I refuse to rent software. I’m using BusyCal in it’s place and it’s almost as good. I ditched 1Password for the same reason.

I also LOVE LOVE LOVE an app called Moom. Which allows much more control over the layout and placement of onscreen windows (which sounds like maybe similar to Rectangle Pro on your list).