stuff tagged with "good software"
Afterglow — classic After Dark screen savers on modern macOS
🔗 a linked post to
morphing.cloud »
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originally shared here on
In the ’90s, Berkeley Systems’ After Dark screen savers were ubiquitous: Flying Toasters, Fish, and Starry Skylines animated across computer screens in school labs, homes, and offices everywhere. They served a practical purpose in preventing burn-in on CRT monitors, but also entertained, with animations that could be funny, surreal, beautiful -- sometimes gross.
They were works of art.
Running After Dark modules in the present day has involved fussy configuration of Mac OS emulators or vintage hardware. Even then, no single emulator or vintage computer can faithfully run every module: some animate too fast, some too slow.
Afterglow is an emulator built specifically for running After Dark modules -- the original 68k module code, not a remake or port -- with no dependencies on ROMs or classic Mac OS. Created in the spirit of software preservation, it makes After Dark easy to enjoy today and for years to come.
The app uses the Internet Archive to browse After Dark installations, and to my delight, there is a Simpsons one available to use.
Can't wait to watch Homer eat my desktop for the next month!
WhatCable: Know what your USB-C cable can really do
🔗 a linked post to
whatcable.uk »
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originally shared here on
WhatCable explains cable speed, charging limits, e-marker data, and connected devices in plain English. Name a cable and it tracks how the cable actually performs over time, so you can spot the one that has started misbehaving. No more guessing why a cable charges slow or refuses to drive your display.
Did you know that not every USB-C cable is the same?
If you answered "yes" to that question, then my friend, do I have the application for you!
Monocle for macOS
🔗 a linked post to
heyiam.dk »
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originally shared here on
My buddy Paul1 sent me a link to this macOS app a few weeks ago, but I didn’t have a use case for it until yesterday.
I was reading a few different documents relating to a machine learning contract I just started, and I was getting overwhelmed by the mountains of text on my screen.
Monocle is a very simple utility for macOS that blurs out every app window that is not in the foreground. If you want to see everything, you can shake your mouse back and forth2. If you want it blurred again, you do the same shake gesture.
It’s the best $9 I’ve spent on software in years.
