Boy's Shorts

This is an excerpt from a post a published at posts.boy.sh.

Time is a huge distractor for me. Time indicators more specifically. The moment I look at a clock while working, it changes my mood.

10.00 – Only 10 am?? It feels like I’ve been doing nothing for ages.
11.30 – Better not start something new because it’ll be lunch time soon.
14.00 - Sheesh this day is never going to end…
16.00 – It’s already 4 pm?? Well, too late to start working now.

Hide the clock

To remedy this, I stopped wearing my Apple Watch and hid the clock on my Mac and my PC.

The effects are noticeable; I can just sit, work and not care about how the day is progressing. It’s much easier to lose myself in what I’m doing.

There are downsides: it also stops me from getting up and do basic things like drink water or getting some fresh air. I work from home and if I’m not careful I skip lunch and scramble to make something for diner, because I forgot to buy groceries.

Notifications

I set notifications and reminders for important events that I should not forget. To avoid becoming a slave to my calendar, I came up with a different way to give me a sense of time passing (and make sure I eat properly). It’s an app called Timeless.

Timeless

At its core Timeless gives me a general idea of what part of the day I’m in: morning, lunch time, noon etc. It lets me continue working when I’m still in the time range I’m expecting to get stuff done. Then, in a glance, it lets me know that I’ve entered a new part of the day. If it’s between 12pm and 2pm I should probably get lunch.

Beta sign-up

I’m getting ready to let others give this a go as well. If you’d like to be invited to try the beta, subscribe to the mailing list. Thanks!

I changed my workspace at home a few weeks ago. Instead of a dedicated room, I now have a closet to work in.

That’s right: I fit my entire office inside of a cabinet. This includes a monitor, desktop computer, laptop, three game consoles with peripherals and a bunch of binders.

It made me think about where else I work on my apps. Currently there are three major workplaces that I alternate between: my closet, a desk at Blendle and random Croissant affiliated coworking places¹.

Working from home

This is my default. I usually wake up and get started straight away at my office-in-a-closet. It’s where I’m most comfortable and get a lot done.

The downsides are a lack of social interaction and fresh air. I really need to force myself to get out of the house at least once a day. Camping inside feels incredibly unhealthy. Grocery shopping is a great excuse to spend time outdoors.

I’m still getting used to the current situation. Ergonomically it’s a significant step down from the separate room with a standing desk I had before.

My desk at a previous employer’s office

It’s a bit unusual, but I ended up with a desk at a place I used to work.

I enjoy the atmosphere, talking to my old colleagues, discussing the product they work on, helping out if I can. It gives me a sense of cohesion and collaboration, even though we work on different projects.

The sense of belonging does get less with time passing and it’s becoming harder to invest myself in the problems they encounter to provide helpful insights. This might not be something that lasts forever.

Coworking

I’m a fan of the various coworking locations that are available in the major cities in the Netherlands.

Croissant makes it easy to access a whole bunch of them without having to pay for each visit. My buddy Niels and I usually pick a spot in either Amsterdam or Utrecht to work from together. It’s wonderful.

The right location and audience is vital for productivity though. I’ve had times where somebody would be making phone calls continuously, or a venue that looked good on paper ending up being a total disappointment.

There are a few places that are mostly excellent.

Conclusion

It took me a while to figure out which environment works best for me. Taking into account cost, space required, productivity and social interaction, my present setup is very efficient.

In the early days of my company I rented an office. In hindsight this was a luxury; comfortable sure, but overkill and mostly yet another place to store stuff.

I’ve also shared a space with co-founders and a couple of other people. It’s alright and resembles being at a ‘regular workplace’. The main takeaway is that there will be annoyances and paperwork. Avoid being the main tenant.

Like I said: I enjoy working from home the best. Some people struggle with distractions, I embrace it. Building my own apps grants me a lot of freedom around deadlines and office hours. Being able to watch a TV show, play a video game, take a stroll or go bouldering when ‘I am not feeling it’ or just to clear my head is crucial to my mental health.

If you want to discuss or comment on this, let me know on Twitter. I’d love to hear about your experiences.

I’ve merged tech.boy.sh, code.boy.sh and blog.boyvanamstel.nl all into posts.boy.sh.

The next step in my continuous online content migration plan, or whatever. I first thought splitting the content out would make it easier to write compelling posts for each site. The reality is that the pages just felt empty, making it harder to write at all.

It’s weird seeing the first entry is from over ten years ago. I wish I saved the posts I wrote before that.

Niels and I released Repair Alert to the public yesterday. 🚀

It’s a service that notifies you through email when Apple introduces a new repair or exchange program for one of their products. The only thing you need to do to join, is select the device categories you own and enter your email address.

I dug through my press contacts and emailed a bunch of blogs and news sites before we launched and then again on the actual launch day. MacWelt ended up writing an article about Repair Alert, which eventually driving most of the signups.

Here are the numbers 24 hours after launching:

• 383 subscribers (mostly through MacWelt)
• 68 upvotes on Product Hunt (could be better)
• no clue about visitor numbers (I removed analytics all my sites)

MacWelt told us they had about 1.900 views on their article. That means the conversion rate is pretty much off the charts. It actually worries me a little what could happen if more sites decide to do a story. If we cross 2.000 subscribers MailChimp starts to get quite expensive for a project that currently does not have a revenue model. I guess we’ll deal with that when it happens.

All in all I’m very happy with how the launch went. People are still steadily subscribing and it’s just a matter of time until Apple introduces a new repair or exchange program and we get to see if the system actually works. 😅

After removing Google Analytics from all my sites I feel better about not invading everybody’s privacy as much and I have one less app to check. 👍

My macOS compatibility update was just merged into UIImageColors. I’m pretty stoked about that.

I finished the first scenario of Resident Evil 2 Remake yesterday, playing as Leon. It was awesome.

It captured the atmosphere of the original perfectly, while improving every aspect you’d expect.

I like how they introduce the time challenge aspect after finishing the game for the first time. I never felt rushed, but it inspired me to go a lot faster for the second play through. Great game.

I’ve been working on some issues in open-source repos that I found through IssueHunt. It’s been going well and the process is quite fun.

Collaborating and solving problems together is a welcome change from working on my apps alone.

The bounty is a nice incentive to tackle some of the bigger issues and ultimate led me to contribute some other changes that I maybe wouldn’t have otherwise.

So far I’ve gotten these merged:

• Fix scaling in Interface Builder in CircularProgress
• Add cancel feature in Gifski-app

I’ve moved my short posts blog to a custom Jekyll site, hosted on Netlify, managed by Forestry.

There’s nothing I particularly dislike about micro.blog, it’s just that apparently I really enjoy trying new hosting stuff (Forestry this time).

I recently came across IssueHunt and noticed a feature request in Gifski that I could work on. The PR hasn’t been merged yet, so I can’t say much about the entire process, but I like the idea of attaching a bounty to issues in open source projects.

• ❌ Add cancel support for Gifski.

I’m considering making an app that allows designers to easily pick and use vibrant/primary/dominant colors from an image. The following projects look like great starting points. I’ve updated one and added support for macOS to the other.

• 🛠 Update and fix errors in DominantColors.
• 🖥 Add macOS support to UIImageColors.

If you think The Jurassic Games sounds like a movie worth seeing… then you’re absolutely correct!

It has:

• 🦖 Ten deathrow inmates fighting dinosaurs for freedom.
• 🎭 Fine acting.
• 🎞 Adequate special effects.
• ♻️ A plot twist.

It’s great. Check out the trailer if you’re still not convinced.

Streaming on Netflix.

The SEGA Dreamcast’s save-state battery is recharchagble. 🤯

Replacing it with a cheap CR2032 cell could cause it to fail, leak or even explode. Making it a very bad idea.

Getting a ML2032 battery solves the issue. Not having to replace it anymore is a bonus. That’s cool.

There’s a reason why I’m super explicit with Flags and Preprocessor Macros. If I need to distuinguish between an app target build for the Mac App Store and a non-MAS build, there’s a MAS flag and a NONMAS flag. Just so I can check for #if MAS and #if NONMAS.

I just figured out a method wasn’t being called because I was checking #ifndef APPSTORE instead of ifdef APPSTORE (notice the missing n) in an older app where I wasn’t so particular about flags yet. That’s an hour wasted. 😑

With Doom turning 25, John Romero announcing a new MEGAWAD called Sigil, while reading Fabian’s DOOM Game Engine Black Book I’m pretty stoked about getting back into DOOM (again).

Sigil inspired me to have another look at making levels for it. I can’t even remember the last time I did that. The video below introduces Slade, which looks incredible, works on Windows, Macs and Linux. And it’s free.

I’ve been pretty lucky with my recent App Store releases. Usually when I submit my update before midday I could count on Apple’s sign of approval the next morning.

The initial Mac App Store release of Relax is a different story. It’s been in review since Friday and I haven’t heard a thing after that. The In-App Purchases could be to blame. Apple usually takes extra care reviewing those, except when they don’t.

Oh well, fingers crossed it gets approved soon.

I’m trying to enable In-App Purchases for Relax, so I can implement the Tip Jar featured in the non-Mac App Store version. 🛠

It’s not working though. The setting that allows IAPs to be used is greyed out. I’ve accepted every agreement there is and have had paid apps on the store for a while now. The only reference I can find about it online is this StackOverflow post. Apparently the issue resolved itself after uploading a build.

I’ve done just that, hoping in two days I can update this post. I’m curious about the underlying cause though. 🤔

Update: I turned “Automatically manage signing” off and on again, and voilà the In-App Purchase feature is enabled. Odd.

Quick rundown of Relax’ launch last Wednesday:

• 😸 113 upvotes on Product Hunt
• 🗞 2 articles posted
• 📈 561 unique visits
• 💾 313 downloads
• 💰 0 donations

I was really hoping for at least a single use of the Tip Jar. Maybe I need to push the option a bit more aggressively. 😅

Installing a PicoPSU into my Japanese SEGA Saturn and Dreamcast has been one of the best mods I’ve done. It took until today to find a proper power supply that doesn’t ruin the picture though.

I launched an app today! It’s been a while. Being on the Product Hunt homepage again is awesome. I love how it’s an integral part of launching products. 😸

Introducing Relax: mutes your speakers when you disconnect your headphones. 🎧

Always test your brand new app with all its defaults removed before you launch it. 💡

Here’s how to do that:

• Quit the app.
• Run this terminal command:

$ defaults delete [bundle id]

So for my new app Relax it’s:

$ defaults delete com.dangercove.Relax.Mac

Voultar’s latest video shows his recommendation for a starter soldier station. I happened to be in the market for one of those and the KSGER T12 he highlights is only $49,99.

After looking up the product on AliExpress I came across quite a few variants, even cheaper than fifty bucks. Looking at the screenshots, not all of them would get Voultar’s seal of approval, though. I went with the product linked below the video (Voular’s affiliate link) eventually.

Here’s what I mean. The first screenshot is from the KSGER T12 listed on Banggood. The second and third are from similar products on AliExpress. See the difference?

Recommended:

Alternatives:

Pulling the left trigger while playing Layer Section on Sega Saturn toggles the HUD. This is amazing. 🎮

Before:

After:

Twenty minutes into the The Devil’s Doorway, it makes a much better first impression than last night’s Hell House LLC part II.

The acting and atmosphere are great. I hope it gets a little scarier. 🍿

Phew, it’s done. I merged all my apps from their own domain into dangercove.com. The last one on the list was denied.app. I just got that domain name too, I think it’s rather cool.

I’m assuming having my products on one site will boost visitors and hopefully make it a little easier to keep the content up to date. We’ll see.

Organizing a directory full of games into a more convenient set of alphabetized directories (0-9, A-C, D-E etc.) can be quite helpful. I’ve written a script that does just that. 🗄

Running organize_games 25 will create neat collections with an estimated maximum amount of 25 games per directory.