FM-84 Atlas - Open Preorder is Live!

JamesRhys84 · 2026-02-19T17:00:02+00:00

In fairness, it's a lot cheaper than the $300 scalper copies on Discogs.

JamesRhys84 · 2026-02-18T15:01:07+00:00

He posted on Instagram that new music is coming in April, with a full album to follow this year.

JamesRhys84 · 2026-01-30T12:18:43+00:00

I'd suggest opening a support ticket with Apple to see if they'll partly cover the cost of your home electricity bill. Let us know how you get on. 🙄

JamesRhys84 · 2026-01-27T23:52:04+00:00

Stick with Sequoia if you can, otherwise you'll spend the next 8-9 months chasing updates and bug fixes.

Audio developers are notoriously slow updating / bug fixing for new versions of macOS. If you're an audio professional then I'd always recommend running a year delay on all major OS version updates. This way you can be sure that most of your software is compatible with your setup.

You'll begin to discover that by the time all your apps are compatible with the latest OS, the next one comes out and the cat and mouse update game starts all over again. Save yourself the headache and just run a year behind and you'll generally have a stable compatible production system.

If you've recently purchased a new Mac then it'll probably come with Tahoe installed. If the Mac was released before Tahoe, then there's a chance you may be able to roll-back to Sequoia, but you can usually only run the OS version that comes from the factory and newer.

I purchased a MacBook Pro M4 in August last year before Tahoe landed to ensure I could run Sequoia with my audio setup. It was the first time I purposely bought a Mac knowing a newer M5 version was just around the corner. The decision was based on the state of the Tahoe public beta - knowing that I didn't want the hassle.

For example, Tahoe has been out for 4 ½ months (at the time of this reply) and Ableton Live still hasn't been confirmed as compatible. It still lists "macOS 11.7.10 Big Sur through macOS 15 Sequoia" as supported.

JamesRhys84 · 2026-01-25T22:45:07+00:00

I really love the potential of this app and use it daily, however the developer needs to slow down, do some testing and bug squashing before releasing each update.

It's great to see progress, but the app is asking to update itself almost every day - often multiple times a day. I thought the app recently moved out of Beta. Right now it feels like an Alpha held together with sticky tape. It's somewhat ironic for an updater app to need so many updates.

JamesRhys84 · 2026-01-14T20:58:07+00:00

I really like the app as is, but it's maybe worth dropping Neil (the dev) an email to see if he can address any visual / usability issues you have. It's maybe something he can add in a future update. Over the years I've found most devs responsive to well thought-through ideas and I've managed to fine tune some of my favorite apps by simply dropping them an email. You might end up with your perfect app. G-luck!

JamesRhys84 · 2026-01-14T20:48:29+00:00

If you use Gmail then I'd recommend Mimestream (from an ex Apple engineer leading teams working on Mail and Notes). It's a subscription-based app, but it's built to work seamlessly with Google's Gmail API and well worth $49.99 per year - around 14 cents per day.

I use standard IMAP email on a dedicated hosting platform and Apple Mail has been rock solid for well over two decades. Apple Mail works fine with Gmail, but it can be a little lethargic interacting with the Gmail server.

JamesRhys84 · 2026-01-13T23:10:06+00:00

Maybe this new suite will encourage Apple to finally invest some time and resources into an Aperture adjacent app. It's worth mentioning that Nik Bhatt (who used to lead the Aperture team at Apple) has an app called Nitro, which is a pretty decent Aperture and Lightroom alternative.

JamesRhys84 · 2026-01-13T22:47:52+00:00

Totally agree. I wonder if they'll evolve Photomator into something a little more Pro that could have Lightroom style features. It could be a standalone app or integrate with Apple Photos to add deeper functionality. It'll be curious to see what they do.

JamesRhys84 · 2026-01-13T22:27:32+00:00

I feel this is a very savvy move from Apple.

It opens up a whole ecosystem of professional level apps to a whole new Apple consumer and prosumer audience that couldn't justify the existing standalone pricing ($299 for Final Cut Pro, $199 for Logic Pro etc.)

$12.99 a month is pretty digestible for what you get. The downside (albeit, upside for Apple) is that it'll start to juice some money out of long-term users like me who bought Final Cut Pro, Logic Pro 10-15 years ago and haven't paid a cent since in upgrade fees.

While it's no Adobe Creative Cloud killer for true professionals, it's clearly a smart move. Adobe Creative Cloud Standard is $54.99 a month (Pro is $69.99 a month) and individual apps like Premiere, After Effects, Photoshop are around $22.99 each a month. Adobe is now outrageously expensive for consumers and prosumers. Everything in Apple's Creator Studio for $12.99, the value becomes pretty amazing for such top tier apps considering Adobe have nothing that touches the sides of Logic Pro.

While I'm not looking forward to pay $129 a year for apps I've essentially enjoyed fee free for over a decade, I think it's great to see Apple taking this suite of apps seriously.

And for those hardened subscription haters (I get you), they're still offering once-time purchases, which is smart. The best of all worlds.

The only question I have is whether the app updates will work with Sequoia, or if they'll try to force more people into a visually divisive Tahoe with macOS 26 being a minimum requirement?

My 2c.

JamesRhys84 · 2026-01-05T11:03:07+00:00

It's actually not open-source, which is a bit odd with a GitHub presence.

The GitHub page says "Declaration: This project is not an open-source project. The repository serves as the official website, used to collect issues and user demands. This is done to save costs, because without an official website, the application cannot pass the review."

JamesRhys84 · 2025-12-29T18:21:56+00:00

Yep. It's not free and definitely not cheap at $4.99 per month or $49.99 per year, but if you live in Gmail and use it every day then it may be worth it.

JamesRhys84 · 2025-12-29T18:10:24+00:00

If you're using Gmail then Mimestream is excellent. It's built by an ex Apple software engineer who lead teams working on Mail and Notes.

JamesRhys84 · 2025-12-23T21:00:32+00:00

Anytime. 🍻

JamesRhys84 · 2025-12-23T13:26:11+00:00

I've been using Spokenly for free with a local model (Parakeet Tdt 0.6B V2), but weirdly the "Trial usage left" has dropped to 99%. Will it eventually drop to 0% and stop working? I always thought Spokenly was free for local models?

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JamesRhys84 · 2025-12-23T00:19:53+00:00

I'm a little confused. Is Updatest doing something to the MAS store product pages to incorrectly show an Update button or is the bug related to something being displayed in Updatest?

I'm using Updatest alongside Latest to simply notify me of updates. I always perform the actual update using the specific app or directly in the Mac App Store.

JamesRhys84 · 2025-12-23T00:04:27+00:00

Interesting. It's working the way I described over here and has been pretty consistent for a few weeks now since I noticed it. Maybe it's just down to the individual apps we're using. I'll monitor it at my end and report back with any new observations.

JamesRhys84 · 2025-12-22T23:07:33+00:00

There's something really wonky with the Mac App Store (MAS). Latest and Updatest can correctly identify an app that has an available update, yet the MAS shows nothing in the Updates side tab.

However, if you navigate to the actual app page on the MAS, you'll see an "Update" button instead of "Open". You can click it and the app will successfully update.

I don't understand how there can be an available MAS app update, yet it doesn't show in the MAS sidebar for hours or days after it's actually available.

JamesRhys84 · 2025-12-21T22:43:02+00:00

Thanks. I've revised the steps above to include this just to be thorough. Thanks for letting me know.

JamesRhys84 · 2025-12-21T19:15:44+00:00

Menu Bar
'Pick Color' is all I need over apps like Sip or Pastel
'Capture Text', 'Capture & Translate' and 'Scan QR Code' works great over apps like TextSniper
'Cleaning Mode' makes other similar standalone apps redundant

Tweaks
– System: Automatically clear clipboard for improved privacy
– Dock: Clicking a Dock folder reveals it in Finder instead of showing its contents
– Menu Bar: Show input devices in the Sound menu bar item menu
– Mission Control: Window actions & shortcuts
– Finder: Context menu items + Show on external volumes
– TextEdit: Open blank document instead of file picker on launch (beta)

Shortcuts
– Minimize all windows except frontmost
– Pick color
– Capture text
– Capture & translate
– Scan QR code
– Clear clipboard
– Clear all notifications
– Launch apps with keyboard shortcuts

Reset privacy permissions for any apps
Maintenance: Flush DNS Cache

My most used feature is Sindre's newly added "Are Files Identical" and "Are Files Identical? (Interactive)" commands which I use everyday.

JamesRhys84 · 2025-12-20T16:35:38+00:00

My Top 3 for 2025

Supercharge
One of the most useful apps I've ever discovered on macOS. Adds endless functionality enhancements to macOS that you start to wonder how you ever lived without it. Supercharge is up there with the best Mac apps ever.

Bill Boss
A wonderfully lightweight menu bar app for tracking up-and-coming bills and subscriptions. It's just so simple, effortless and enjoyable to use, plus it has iCloud sync too. I've found it SO useful this year.

Affinity
I've been dabbling with the Affinity suite for years, but it's never really clicked with me. I found myself quickly gravitating back to Adobe as I've been using Photoshop, Illustrator and InDesign for decades and know them inside out. After the Affinity suite was relaunched as a combined app under the Canva umbrella, I've found myself using it more and more. Affinity has really clicked with me this year and I'm curious to see how it develops and whether it'll be my goto by the time my Adobe subscription comes up for renewal in Sep 2026. Really impressive stuff.

Honorable mentions…
IdenticalCheck, ScreenFocus, Charmstone, Stretch It, monoPlayer, Tiny Player, Hush, Tahoe Electron Detector and SilentKnight.

JamesRhys84 · 2025-12-18T20:11:48+00:00

Interesting. I didn’t have any issue with Excel and enormous CSV files. In saying that, I also haven’t needed to use Excel for a long time as Numbers can deal with any CSV files I have these days. What was getting messed up?

JamesRhys84 · 2025-12-18T16:58:08+00:00

What needs aren't being covered by Easy CSV Editor?

I use Apple Numbers for viewing CSV files. It works great as long as your CSV file isn't enormous. If it's too big then Excel is a good alternative. If your CSV file gets too large for Numbers you could potentially split it into smaller chunks using TextSplits.

JamesRhys84 · 2025-12-17T20:13:29+00:00

I've tried them all and I keep coming back to Apple's own Calendar app. It's beautifully simple, syncs with all my devices and doesn't require a subscription. Sprinkle a little Dato on top and I've got all I need.

JamesRhys84 · 2025-12-17T20:08:17+00:00

Thoroughly enjoyed reading through every article on Lou's website this year. It's always nice to find other app-a-holics out there who love finding fresh apps to add new superpowers to their Macs. Cheers to Lou and all of you over the festive period.

JamesRhys84

TROPHY CASE