End of an era
After 13 amazing years, creating awesome software and collecting a ton of great memories, my Squarespace chapter has come to a close.
I feel super lucky and thankful to have been part of this company, from its early days as a little-known website builder to helping it grow into what it is today.
I also got to work with some incredibly cool people along the way. It's honestly hard to put into words just how much this all means to me.
It's been an epic run, but now it's time for me to take a break and chill for a bit before I dive into whatever's next.
Solar Wallpaper Shortcut for iOS
Introducing: Solar Wallpaper a Shortcut for iOS that dynamically changes your wallpaper based on the solar cycle.
Solar Wallpaper
Click the image to download the shortcut!
One of my favorite features of macOS is the dynamic desktops that change with the time of day. I found myself missing this feature on my iPhone and decided to replicate it, in a fashion, using Shortcuts and automation.
It’s Automation April over at MacStories and I was inspired to clean up the Shortcut that I had been using and improve the user experience so that it’d be easier to share and would make for a decent entry into the contest.
This version of the shortcut relies on the app Lumy to produce a wallpaper overlay based on the current solar lighting conditions as well as the Moon phase at night. I think this shortcut works best with a patterned wallpaper, like this wallpaper from Basic Apple Guy’s blog.
Here you can see how my wallpaper looks throughout the day and night.
This shortcut is intended to be automated and I found it easiest to trigger the transition times based off of sunrise and sunset.
Here’s how I’ve set up my automations. Each entry just needs to run the Solar Wallpaper shortcut and the while running the shortcut will automatically figure out what time of day it is and generate the appropriate wallpaper.
Lumy’s settings allow you to customize the colors used when the wallpaper is generated.
The History of OS/2
I’ve been reading Steven Sinofsky’s Hardcore Software Substack which follows his career at Microsoft. In the early sections there are lots of mentions of Microsoft’s partnership with IBM on the OS/2 operating system. I was familiar with this effort in name, but never knew the details and turns out they are fascinating. The story of OS/2 is the story of IBM’s fall from dominance in the personal computer industry.
By Source, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=18849795
If you are into computer history, give this a read.
Ars Technica’s history of OS/2.
And if you want this in podcast format, Flashback #14 covers OS/2.
