I’m Gez or Gerry or Gerard, if my Mum is the addresser. I’m from Glasgow in the UK, so I’m extremely used to rain and I’m often found having a deep-fried mars bar of a weekend.
As a type 1 diabetic it isn’t the easiest place to live, it often requires corrective insulin. I was as a carer looking after elderly people with dementia, but I moved to this career after many years in IT. I’ve been a Test Analyst, Data Analyst and dabbled a little in coding.
I am a bona fide Apple addict. I would also call myself a real “techie” and I may even stretch to upgrading that to “geek”.
I spend a lot of my time trying out apps, creating automations and reading books on scripting languages and other tech related material.
That’s when I’m not looking after my Pomeranian Pippa 🐶
What is your current laptop / desktop?
MacBook Pro (Retina, 13-inch, Early 2015)
I love the macOS operating system and it also inter-operates with my iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch & HomePod. It is lightweight, offers great graphics and lightning fast. I love all the innovative apps available for macOS too. I am looking to upgrade to the latest MacBook Pro but it probably won’t be for another year. My current MacBook works perfectly for me so I’ve no real reason to upgrade just yet.
What menu bar apps do you use and why?
Bartender: I use so many menu bar apps it gets very messy. I like to hide them until I need them.
1Password is my Password Manager of choice and the menu bar app allows you to load 1Password Mini. Quick and easy access to your passwords.
TextExpander: I love TextExpander for quickly entering usernames, email address, running Applescript, entering terminal commands. I use it daily to automate lots of text-related tasks.
Keyboard Maestro: Keyboard Maestro allows me to run lots of advanced automations on my MacBook. For example, when I press a keyboard shortcut for Things 3 Quick Entry it to see if Things is running, if it is Keyboard Maestro does nothing. If Things isn’t running, it activates it in the background and opens the Quick Entry window, avoiding the “why is this shortcut not working 😡”
AdGuard: I cannot stand the EU Cookie consent pop-ups. This is my main use for AdGuard.
Alfred: Alfred is great for launching apps quickly but it is very extendable with workflows. I used Alfred to save links to Pocket, open a bookmark or do a quick currency conversion.
BetterTouchTool: My main use for BetterTouchTool is to execute keyboard shortcuts. Rather than remember “Control+Option+Shift+Command+6+t” I can set it up to trigger that with a 2 finger swipe on my touchpad.
Capti Voice: I add links of articles that are long or TLDR and have Capti read it to me in the background while I do other things.
CloudMounter: I have several online storage accounts, this mounts these drives and allows me to manage them easily in my Finder.
Dash: I’m always trying out new Applescript’s and not sure of the script to do a certain action or forget how a certain format in Markdown should be written. I can click Dash and quickly search for the answer.
Day One Helper: Allows me to create a quick Day One entry in my journal straight from the menu bar.
Dropshare 5: I save all my screenshots & screencasts using Dropshare. And the files all being stored online, it offers fantastic ways of sharing content to blogs or forums.
Haste: Haste is amazing! Double tap the command key, type a search term, then hit the shortcut keys to search different site like “G6M” searches Google for the last 6 months or “MAS” for the App Store.
Little Snitch: I like to have control over my network connections, Little Snitch offers a great visual way to see what is sending and receiving data on a map.
OneDrive: I use OneDrive for all my Office 365 Documents
Pastebot: I use Pastebot mainly for clipboard history of scripts or tips I’ve copied in the past.
PopClip: The main extensions I use in PopClip and highlighting text and sending it to the Terminal. The other is to run a Google search in DuckDuckGo or to open a link in Safari rather than my default browser Chrome.
Sophos Home: Virus threats are becoming more popular in macOS but this is mainly for peace of mind. It’s caught I think one threat since using it over a year ago but I feel safe with it installed.
Timing: This app is mainly for people that work for themselves and need to charge for time. I absolutely love reviewing what apps & sites I’ve been spending my time on and find it interesting.
Yoink: This is great for moving files or anything around the system. It’s like a temporary drawer. Although, my main use for Yoink is moving files around my iPad, iPhone and macOS
pCloud Drive: Yet another one of my online storage apps. My subscription is due to expire with pCloud soon and I won’t be renewing. I don’t need it with my other solutions in place.
Snappy: I use this app to take screenshots that are always-on-top and persistent. It’s great if you need to take notes of details like phone numbers or addresses. Snap it and the information is there until you double click the image.
Cardhop: I love the natural language impute with Cardhop and managing contacts. It’s a nicer app to use than the contacts app on macOS
Fantastical 2: I love being able to add an event just by typing “lunch at Pizza Hut Glasgow tomorrow at 12pm with Charlie” and it’s created with the location, time, reminder, and contacts from that statement.
Is there a menu bar app that doesn’t exist yet and should be invented?
What a fantastic question! It’s also a difficult one too with so many menu bar apps out there!
As you have probably guessed by now I enjoy automating and automation apps. I’m sometimes at a loss what I could automate next. I’d love an app to sit in the menu bar monitoring activities and offer suggestions of what we
use to do it.
If it exists, let me know!!
