newsonaut
Turning inner space into outer space
Friday, October 2, 2026
Ignore the naysayers. The new Firefox interface is awesome.
Firefox 157 has a slick new interface. And the internet is losing its shit.
The updated interface has been dismissed as “round” and already you can find instructions on how to roll back to the old look. And that’s a mild insult compared with “needless and ugly.”
Such drama!
At first the only difference I noticed was the tabs. They are more of a pill shape now and have an outline around them. The background has a subtle gradient that you can customize.
After clicking around a bit, I discovered that some of the menus have more-pronounced round corners. I was disappointed that the bookmark manager hadn’t been similarly updated. Oh, and the search box at the bottom has a pill shape similar to the tabs.
I’m no power user, so maybe there are other design changes that I missed. And honestly, if I hadn’t been told there were changes, I might not even have spotted them — at least not right away.
If you watch the accompanying video, it’s obvious that Firefox is reaching out to new users. A shiny new interface might seem useless to crusty old-timers, but marketing has shown time and again that many people respond to this. A thing can’t just be new, it has to look new.
It remains to be seen whether these efforts will do anything for the Firefox market share, but I’m glad to see them at least making an effort.
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Wednesday, September 2, 2026
Mozilla would do well to listen to the passionate comments on Hacker News
My post about Firefox generated a lively discussion on Hacker News, with many good points raised.
The top comment (as of this writing) summed things up well: “It's exactly because Firefox is so important that you'll see people here complaining when Firefox does things to push away users . . .”
Overall, the passion for Firefox was on full display. I hope Mozilla staffers take this thread as feedback and use it to improve Firefox in ways that boost market share.
I kind of regret my reference to “over thinkers on Hacker News” because it could be taken as an insult. A casual glance around this site, though, will show that I do plenty of overthinking myself.
I recall one time when someone accused me of overthinking something, I shot back that he was underthinking it. Ah, those were the days.
A comment about the moving background being “nauseating” caught my attention. It didn’t exactly move, but the stars fading in and out for a twinkling effect could give that impression.
I myself found the twinkling stars distracting, not just because of the twinkles but also because it is improbable that stars would appear this way in outer space, which is what this is supposed to depict.
So I’ve commented out a couple of lines of CSS and stopped the twinkling. I also stopped the barely perceptible wisps of cloud from blowing by.
The stars are based, by the way, on a video by Carla Notarobot. This was from six years ago, so chances are Carla really was not a robot.
Finally, it’s comments like these that make me love Hacker News:
“wait, is this a thing? firefox is the only mainstream browser with an rcfile, that alone gives you incredible powers. I hope one day it also grows something like chrome's CDP. What is everyone so upset about?”
I checked the Wikipedia article, and still only have a vague idea of what an rcfile is.
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Monday, August 31, 2026
Hang on to your Firefox!
“Don’t throw the baby out with the bathwater.”
According to Wikipedia, it’s an adage that goes back to 1512 in Germany. People have known for hundreds of years that you should be careful not to throw out a good and vital thing in your zeal to get rid of a minor annoyance.
I think about this when I see people dumping on Firefox.
The latest was a post from a prolific blogger who has switched to Vivaldi because Firefox is now on X. He is somehow able to reconcile this with the fact that Vivaldi is also on X — not to mention Meta’s Threads, Facebook and Instagram, along with Google’s YouTube.
Meanwhile, the over thinkers on Hacker News come up with convoluted reasons to hate on Firefox every time the subject arises. It makes me wonder if it’s a bot campaign by Google — except, why would they bother?
Firefox is our last best hope for browser engine diversity and competition. Without it we would be stuck with Google Chrome and its spinoffs everywhere (including Vivaldi). The only holdout would be Apple Safari, hanging in there only because it’s the enforced default on iPhones.
I’m sure the reason Firefox is on X is because they’re hoping to reach out to new users. Considering their small and diminishing market share worldwide, they desperately need to reach out wherever they can.
And you desperately need to help them.
Read more: Competition, Innovation, and the Future of the Web – Why Independent Browser Engines Matter
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Thursday, August 20, 2026
Free Mac apps are easier to find but harder to choose
Back in 2006, when I first started Thriftmac, it was hard to find free Mac apps. In fact, it was hard to find any Mac apps at all.
That meant snapping up links to pretty much any freeware I could find. On the plus side, it also meant that those few apps were likely maintained by developers willing to stick it out with the platform despite its tiny market share.
Twenty years later, there is a tsunami of new Mac apps driven by vibe coders. The good news is that we have a much larger selection. The bad news is that much of it is best avoided.
As an example, I use Ghost Crop to crop the transparent pixels that often surround the icons I post on Thriftmac. It’s been out for four years and works fine. I gave it five stars.
A few days ago, I came across an app that costs about the same and does a bunch of other image-related things as well. I downloaded the trial version and gave it a try. The results were pretty bad.
This developer is quite prolific, with dozens of apps on his site up for grabs. The prices are quite reasonable.
But it has to make you wonder. How can someone crank out so many apps and offer them so cheaply? They have to be vibe coded. And not only that, but vibe coded without attention to detail. If users report issues, I’m sure he’ll get Claude to fix them. It doesn’t inspire confidence.
Meanwhile, Ighor July has a blog that I’ve come to appreciate over the past few months called Reverse Everything.
He has his own apps for sale, but also recommends others. Without exception, these are apps that have stood the test of time, coming from an era when vibe coding did not exist.
His interviews with the developers of these apps are inspirational. Their dedication and perseverance give you faith that this is software you can rely on.
Anyway, the bottom line is that I’m having a tougher time selecting apps for Thriftmac. It’s reached the point where it would be impossible to list them all, so I’m leaning more heavily on the curation side of things.
Am I qualified to do that? Well, I’ve had over 20 years of experience, so that should count for something. In the end, though, that’s for you to decide, dear reader.
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Tuesday, August 18, 2026
RSS and the galaxy have something in common
Galactic Compass is an iPhone app that does one thing and one thing only — shows a big green 3-D arrow pointing to the centre of the galaxy 26,000 light years away.
The direction changes with where Earth is in its orbit, along with where you are and what time it is.
The app has somehow survived periodic purges over the years of apps I no longer use. Probably because it’s nice to get yourself oriented on a galactic scale now and then.
I was a bit surprised yesterday when I discovered that the app had been updated with a new augmented reality mode. You now have the option of looking at the big-ass arrow floating wherever you happen to be.
Two other new features include an Apple Watch app and liquid glass appearance.
I checked the settings to see if there was anything else of interest, and saw that the app is made by Matt Webb, a noted developer in London.
I know of him because I recently placed a link on Newsonaut to a website he created for people who aren’t familiar with RSS feeds. About Feeds is his way of promoting RSS and the link is my way of supporting this effort.
So at least one small part of the galaxy is unfolding as it should.
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Saturday, January 25, 2025
Hyperduck is quack-tastic
I’m a little late to the party with Hyperduck, but maybe you are, too, so I’m spreading the word.
Hyperduck is an app that you install both on your Mac plus one or more other Apple devices — iPhone, iPad or Vision. Once that’s done you’ll find a new option when sharing a web page from one of said devices: “Send to Mac”.
Choose that option, and the next time you’re at your Mac, you’ll see the page sitting there open on your default browser. This is super handy if you want to deal with something later and want it in your face so you don’t forget.
Hyperduck also sends other types of URLs — one that will run a shortcut, for example. There are few things I like better than a good automation, so I’m looking forward to exploring that one. Read this MacStories article to get started.
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Thursday, December 26, 2024
Default apps 2024
I joined a trend and listed my default apps last year at about this time, so why not give an update?
A few things have changed.
I now do most of my photo editing with Preview instead of Photoshop. It’s fast to load and covers my simple needs. Take the time to learn its quirks, and it might be enough for you, too.
I’m still all-in with Reeder. It took awhile to get used to the new version, but now I love it.
My main browser is now Safari on both desktop and mobile. I occasionally use Firefox for web development.
I deleted all Microsoft office apps after I moved on from the employer who made them available to me. For word processing or spreadsheets, I use Pages and Numbers. In a pinch, I might use Google’s equivalents.
For budgeting and finance, I use a pretty little app called Fleur. It’s a one-time payment, covers the basics, and works on all my Apple devices.
I still use Bitwarden for password management on my iMac because it's too old to upgrade to Sequoia. But on my iPad, I happily use Apple Passwords.
I've tried out many code editors, but keep coming back to the comfort of VS Code.
For music, I’m actually more likely to use Soma FM.
I don’t need a VPN any more.
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Friday, June 28, 2024
The best free Mac app you may not have heard of
Window management — or the lack of it — comes up a lot in forums where people talk about Mac stuff. The next version of macOS will improve the situation, but it will be minimal compared with some of the features you can get with an app.
I first learned about how much better window management could be when I was forced to use Windows for a few years at work. I disliked everything about it except the ability to move windows to the sides and have them each take up half the screen.
What impressed me even more was grabbing the space between the two windows and resizing the widths of both at the same time. I especially like this setup with a code editor on one side and a web browser on the other.
My search for free similar functionality on a Mac led to me 1Piece, which is humbly described as an app that “includes many features to improve the usability of your Mac.”
It then goes on to describe an amazing 21 features — plus “others”.
Among these features is window management, which includes my wish — the ability to resize the widths of side-by-side windows at the same time. But there’s lots more.
If you find it tedious to grab each window and drag it to the side, you can use the “left + right” command. It takes the top two windows and places them side by side with one click.
Split Assist creates a display of open windows you can choose from to take up the other half of the screen. Or you can decide to put two of them into quarters.
You’re not limited to the usual halves and thirds. You can, for example, choose the top two thirds. Or you can set up a four by six grid and choose whatever portion of the screen you want.
Of course, you can set up hot keys for any of these.
You can also create presets — get a window just way you want it, then use the preset any time you want it that ideal size.
A tweak function puts handles on the edges of the top window so you can change its size a pixel at a time by using your keyboard.
You might think this is a lot in a free app — and it is! But “window management” is just one of the over 21 features it has.
Another much requested function I see is the equivalent of alt-tab in Windows. 1Piece has this covered with a feature called Window List. You hit option-tab, and get a list of all your open windows along with previews. You can tweak the list by making it show only the windows in a particular app. You can also make it show only minimized windows — plus much more.
Related to this is Desktop Windows. When invoked, it displays an interface showing all the open windows, allowing you to choose the one you want.
Describing all the functions of this app would be a monumental task. I found myself going down many a rabbit hole when I opened the preferences. So I’ll mention just a few more that caught my eye.
Hitting control-option-command-M moves your mouse pointer to the centre of the screen. Hitting control-option-command-H hides it.
You can set up a favourite window, and create a hot key to bring it into focus.
You can open a contextual version of the active app’s menu bar by hitting shift-command-1.
You might be wondering where this app has been all your life. It first came out in 2014, so that’s 10 years of development. As of this writing, the latest version came out on May 27, 2024.
Who is the developer? Other than his name — Takahiro Fujita — there is precious little information. The website has a Japanese translation, so it’s a safe bet that he is based in Japan.
I’m also going to guess he is a fan of anime. It’s too much of a co-incidence that 1Piece bears a name so similar to One Piece, the story of a search for a mythical treasure.
1Piece itself is like a treasure chest overflowing with gems.
More posts in the Apps category
Sunday, May 12, 2024
You can judge a Mac app by how it helps you
What makes an app a good Mac citizen? For many of us, it could be summed up in this statement on the CotEditor website:
“CotEditor is exactly made for macOS. It looks and behaves just as macOS applications should.”
A big test is the Help menu. Apps made by Apple generally set the standard with “Name-of-app Help”, which opens an in-app browser with instructions on how to use the app.
I was surprised to discover that CotEditor does this, too. I was expecting to have to search for documentation on their website, because this is the norm with other code editors.
Most of them are cross-platform so it’s to be expected. If the help is on their website, they only have to do it once for all the platforms they support.
That doesn’t explain Nova, though. Despite calling itself “The native Mac code editor that's fast and amazing,” the help menu takes you to their website, where you can search through articles. I’m pretty sure this could have been implemented with an in-app browser.
Besides CotEditor, here are some other Mac apps that pass the test of in-app help: iA Writer, Tot, ImageOptim, Photoshop, Affinity Photo, BBEdit, Moom, and Scrivener.
Here are some otherwise great Mac apps that fall short by not offering in-app help: Bear, Little Snitch, NetNewsWire, Reeder, and SnippetsLab.
The worst are the ones that have a help menu with “Name-of-app Help”, but when you click on it you get a window saying, “Help isn’t available for Name-of-app Help.” Why have a help menu at all?
I have a habit tracker called Streaks that has no help menu, likely because it’s an iOS port. It’s not great, but seems a little more respectful of my time.
In-app help is so hit-and-miss that I often don’t think to look there. But I’m going to be doing it more often. And I will be silently judging the apps that don’t have it.
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Monday, April 8, 2024
Your Mac's Preview app is free, fast and more powerful than you might think
Here’s a little thing you can do that, as far as I can tell, is unique to Photoshop: size and crop at the same time.
You go to the the crop tool and specify the size you want the image to be. You then make a box for what part of the image you want. Hit enter and you’re done. It’s the right size and the right shape.
I tried doing this in several other photo-editing apps, but couldn’t figure out a way to do it. You can crop. You can size. But you can’t do both at once.
So if that’s the way it’s going to be, why not see if you can do it with a free app that comes with your Mac?
That’s where Preview comes in.
I have a web app where all the pictures are 100 pixels wide by 200 pixels high. The images I use are grabbed from the internet and vary greatly in shape and size.
The first thing I do is crop so that the space above and below the image looks about right. I find that it’s easier to get the height right and play with the width later.
After that, I change the size to 200 pixels high by whatever for the width.
Lastly, I adjust the width to 100 pixels, and hit Command-K.
Yes, it takes three steps in Preview compared with one in Photoshop, but there are advantages.
Preview starts up a lot faster. In the time it takes to wait for Photoshop to start up, I can have the job done in Preview.
Preview, of course, is free. I have Photoshop on my home computer as a perk of a job I recently moved on from. I have a feeling that will end soon, and I will have to pay if I want to keep it.
Preview is worth exploring. It started off as a way to look at PDFs but can now do a lot more. For basic photo editing, it’s certainly worth looking at.
Macworld has a two-part series here and here on the “superpowers” of Preview. It’s dated 2015, but mentions removing the background, which, I’m pretty sure, was just recently added — a feature, by the way, that I find quite handy.
Apple’s user guide is comprehensive.
Hacker News has a surprisingly long thread about the pros and cons of Preview.
I was curious to know about the history of Preview, but there is precious little to be found. Going by memory, it started off as a way to open and view PDFs, but I’m not sure that explains why it’s called Preview.
There is a thread on Quora that may be enlightening. The gist of it is that, back in the days of desktop publishing, the app was used to preview a document to see what it would look like on paper.
Wikipedia has a skimpy entry for Preview with a small section on history. Apparently, it dates back to 1989 and the NeXTSTEP operating system.
ChatGPT, on the other hand, says it was introduced in 2001 with Mac OS X. That would make sense if Preview was brought along when Apple made the switch to OS X, which was based on NeXTSTEP.
That Hacker News thread refers to Preview as “the Mac app people forget about.” Why download stuff when there’s a free app on your Mac that does a lot more than you might think?
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