There are apps that you simply can’t live without. A top contender of mine is f.lux. I truly and honestly don’t want to miss it on any operating system I use.

While I was on the iOS 9 beta, the thought to jailbreak again crossed my mind. The logic behind this idea was that being in a beta, I’m already used to reboots¹ — something I always associate with a Jailbreak is seeing the Apple logo pop-up sporadically signifying the OS is currently being loaded.

F.lux was the reason for my last Jailbreak. The app is so good that the tagline on the website (“software to make your life better”) and the domain “justgetflux.com” is a more than appropriate choice.

Alternating the screen temperature is something that Apple don’tin the App Store. It is only possible using system level integrations, so Cydia was the only alternative for a long time to gain access to apps and tweaks that modify iOS (including f.lux). Then came sideloading.

Sideloading vs. Jailbreak

In June 2015 sideloading was introduced with the newly released Xcode 7 beta. I knew it wasn’t going to be a replacement for a Jailbreak since sideloaded apps still basically live in sandbox. To no surpise, even today Cydia apps have the upper hand when it comes to customizability, making nifty tweaks possible via MobileSubstrate Cydia Substrate. It’s Saurik’s way “to provide run-time patches (‘Cydia Substrate extensions’) to system functions” which allows developers deep inter-app communication, adding shortcuts to the home button and all the other good stuff that warms the cold heart of jailbreakers around the world.

Still, sideloading to me is a game changer. I always wished for Apple to be more liberal and give iOS users more freedom and power. It’s not a system level free pass to loosen all the nuts and bolts that hold your OS together, but, for someone like me who just doesn’t need all that jailbreaking brings to the table, this is as good as gets. Having access to a variety of apps that will never be in the app store is great.

Though, there is one thing to consider: use your thinky-think thing before downloading unknown code to your most personal device².

DISCLAIMER: Don’t use software from developers you don’t trust. As a last resort if you desperately want to use an app, have a friend look at the source code or ask Twitter/Reddit/your mom.

None of the above applies to the guys from f.lux. I vouch for them and would even donate my third eyeball to their cause since they took so excellent care of my other two.

The possible downside I see is that not many developers will adapt sideloading. My best guess is that Apple mainly released it for the corporate world. Plus, as a developer, you basically have open source your code. This is a serious obstacle if you intend to make some profit on your app or just want to keep your code private.

Road to F.lux

Well, after thinking about a Jailbreak and finding out that there is none available for the iOS version I ran at that time, I dismissed the idea with a shrug of my shoulders.

As cool as sideloading is, I forgot about it until recently. Ten days ago I head out to hunt down some apps to install. I got giddy with excitement as I found out about Thomas Finch’s (@tomf64) GammaThingy. Finch set out to write a f.lux clone and approached it in the best manner possible.

Since I downloaded and enjoyed GammaThingy, I enjoyed every day night with my iPhone. For the purpose of this article about GammaThingy I also contacted the guys from f.lux. I was curious to find what kept them from releasing f.lux as a sideloading app.

Well, they haven’t answered my email, but my prayers. You can go ahead and download their app now.

Note: you don’t need an $99 Apple Developer account. Just link your Apple ID (or create a new one) in the Apple Developer Member Center.

All-in-all, I find sideloading less cumbersome than dealing with a Jailbreak.⁴ I always disliked having to stick with old iOS version with possible security flaws and got annoyed by the regular reboots. Sideloading is a great alternative and gives advanced users and corporations some control and power back.

The bottom line (for this post) is, if less eye strain and a better sleep is what you’re looking for, install f.lux. Don’t take my word for it, just check the research page on the f.lux website.

I’m migrating some of my Keyboard Maestro macros to LaunchBar since they just fit the app better. So… here’s the LaunchBar version of my Toggle Function Keys with Keyboard Maestro.

DOWNLOAD

PS: RocketINK is a bit on hiatus until I wrap-up my BA thesis. See you soon.

Workflow is one of the coolest apps you can put on your home screen. So it’s about time I write about it and start sharing some workflows I built. The first one with which I’d like to kick off this series is something useful: an emergency web page. I prepared a short video to give you an overview of what I’m talking about:¹

Despite this being a useful workflow, I want state right at the beginning that if the unfortunate event occurs you find yourself involved in an accident, you should do the following things first:

1. Secure the scene of the accident.
2. Administer first aid.
3. Make an emergency call.

I admit I’d find it cool if there was a way to email or sms with additional information to the police, the fire department or the ambulance, but as of today they only support good old reliable technology.

In that respect it seems kind of pointless to use or install such a workflow, but I think it’s not. You can’t predict when something happens, but if it does, at least you’re digitally prepared and are theoretically ready to supply paramedics, the police or as it happens - your own gang of goons with all the essential details when they are on the way to the scene or just arriving.

Download

All instructions and the actual Emergency Website.wflow file are hosted on my GitHub… but here’s the classic Workflow link.

Tips

1. Setup a domain or subdomain like “sos.donnyk.com” and forward it to the shared Dropbox URL (once shared it’s doesn’t change). I put this at the top of this list because I think it’s a good idea when you place an emergency call, that you can say “Have a look at www.sos.net in a minute or two and you get additional information”.²
2. Although it takes just a few seconds to click through the workflow, you could adjust it to minimize the time spent in the workflow.
   • For instance, with when using the “me mode” you could remove the prompt for selecting a third ICE contact.
   • Additionally, you can remove any other prompts like for the description what has happened or to add more images to the website.
   • You could modify this to serve as a true one-click template which auto-posts to all your social channels, for example, when you get mugged. Since Workflow can send emails in the background you could set up an IFTTT rule that triggers sharing this link to all your social channels and alarms your family and friends so that they send for help.
3. Populate your contacts database. In particular the notes section can be useful to add important information like your height, weight, blood type, allergies, medication, etc.
4. Clean-up. Add a reminder on the end of the workflow to clean-up the site in 14 days. Of course you could make a workflow for this purpose which deletes all files in your Dropbox folder. Even better: save the x-callback-url to this workflow and create a reminder in Due.app, then with one click the site is taken down on the scheduled day.

What is planned

Depending on the feedback and my spare time I have some more ideas:

• More responsive website: I didn’t had the time to setup columns. So, on a big display this one-column layout doesn’t look too pleasant at the moment.
• Self-hosted version: I will do an SSH version of this for those of you who want to self-host the site.
• A party version: I think the possibilities are endless here. Setting up a invitation site for parties, weddings and every other thing that you do on a daily basis with the folks in your address book. This could also serve as a Day One replacement for the hard-liners.
• A Markdown version: I’ve tried it… but currently it’s not possible to compile a Markdown file in the way I’d like it to look with workflow. Since the HTML is minimal, it’s not a big deal… but still plain text rules, so I’d like to give this a try again with a later version of Workflow. There are problems when adding images between text and some other things. I will give Ari and the Workflow team some feedback in the next couple of days.³

I hope you don’t ever truly need to use this. Stay tuned for more Workflow workflows.

In part one of this mini-series I already hinted at me questioning podcasts for being a useful source of information. My conclusion was that I learned to take them for what they are: slightly more on the entertaining side of things than on the informative.

Before I reached said conclusion I wondered if there was room in my playlist for podcasts at all. I listen to a lot of music and if I’m not, there’s usually an audiobook playing. Committing to podcasts took some time and I wondered how others came to listen to podcasts and if they had things that they don’t like about the shows they subscribed to. So, I talked with friends and browsed the internet. As it turns out, I wasn’t alone in criticizing them and so I decided to collect some of the perceived problems of the medium which I came across in the last years over and over again.

Rather than listing all possible flaws that the shows out on the bit’n’bytes airwaves have, I’ve picked two things where I felt this is something that pushes peoples buttons: shows where the hosts only talk, talk, talk without saying something, and, the lack of quality content in the podcasting landscape. Since this article isn’t a critique, I try to explain from my point of view why these two problems aren’t as bad as they seem.

Disclaimer: This is by no means an academic study, it’s just straight talk on how I perceive things. I apologize to every podcaster who feels insulted by me using the verb “to babble” – just blend out the minor negative connotations it comes with.¹ I like it when you chatter/talk freely/feel right at home on the mic, that’s why I felt “babble” was appropriate here.

Preamble: My Listing Stats

The little graph you see up there is suppose to illustrate my average podcast listening experience; it also represents a cross section of all the shows I listen to. It serves as a starting point to give you an idea of my listening habits.

As you can see, for the most part there isn’t any new knowledge to gain for me while listening – no groundbreaking, nor earth-shattering ideas. On the other side, there’s a lot of babbling – even when in-depth information is conveyed. For me hat’s okay. I listen to podcasts, not the 8 o’clock news on the TV. I take no offense in small talk while I’m tuned it. Truth be told, my personal sweet-spot is 25% informative talk and 75% fun packed discussions. Programs that have the goal to “just inform you” and throw raw data at you aren’t my cup of tea. I want to be entertained and want to feel the chemistry between the people talking into a mic. Otherwise the shows feels dull to me; some more adjectives that jump into my mind are cold, monotonous, boring and artificial.

Being Okay With Chatter OR Why A Podcast Isn’t A Written Article

Stepping away from how I personally feel about the matter of chatting when on air, it seems that for a significant amount of listeners this is one major point of criticism. When it comes to podcasts people tend to dislike the fact that their beloved show hosts tend to babble on endlessly. The ratio of words to information seems slightly off when compared with a blog post.

When you look closer, a written article needs “the babbling” only to add some emotions and feelings to a story.² Whereas when it comes to podcasts this ratio is build by design, so to speak. It’s the heart and soul of a podcast that you can integrate all those unnecessary information and more details for which there would be no room in a generic blog post. For me it’s the ideal medium to show your personality in a more intimate setting and to ask and answer more random question questions.

Personally, I go even further and grant every show host out there the permission to get side-tracked. I don’t take issue if you jump from topic A to topic B at any point in time. After all this happens in a real, organic conversion, too. Lastly, I also like to think that this ratio is an advantage for the listener since one doesn’t need to be in high-focus mode all times.

So, yes: in the case of babbling 99% of the podcasts out there are guilty in my opinion – the big “but”: for me this is totally fine and dandy.

How To Build A Doomsday Device

I’m part of a small German podcast (Der Übercast), and some of our listeners were wondering why we don’t talk more about the automation stuff that they find on our blogs. This section is about why talking voices shouldn’t read out a manual and why letters on a screen are the better choice when planning to teach people how to use heavy machinery.

With podcasts you have a medium that is born to take another approach than you would normally do as in a written article.

On the one hand, no one will crucify you if you talk about a Apple rumor. Quick tips fit right in, whilst they often feel too insignificant for a blog post³. On the other hand explaining complex scripts, macros or advanced power user stuff doesn’t fit the medium most times.

Imagine reading out an instruction on how to build a Farnsworthian doomsday device:

• Step 1: Lock the double-woven alpha string cable in place - use the middle inter-pulsation post.
• Step 2: Check for signs of oxidation after sending 2 Gigawatts through the assembled granulator.
• Step 3: If any errors occurred in step one or two you should feel a breeze of fresh air on what’s left of your skin – the side walls of the building you’re in are removed which causes air-streams of entering your lab. If not, proceed to attaching the ray gun hoisting bracket.
• Step 4: …
• … …
• Step 132: …

It would be way easier the read the 132 steps in the manual. By following the instructions which are accompanied with some illustrations (like in this written article) you can be sure not to blow the roof off while building your shell script Spheroboom 3000™. You will end up having a death bringing, earth shaking doomsday device that will make mankind quiver in no time.

As you can tell by now, despite being pro-babbling following these kind of explanations on a podcast, for instance when someone talks about a (complex) Hazel rule just makes me feel dizzy. My head will start spinning and steam comes out of my ears. In the best case I won’t turn off the volume and just sit it out until the monologue is over thinking “yeah, whatever”.

More Excuses For Babbling

Surely you know about the major advantage of podcasts. In comparison to their inked twin, the blog post they excel at being consumable anywhere. With written content you most likely need to sit down, focus and just read. Unlike podcasts, where you can listen to a show while on commute, working out or do your actual work – it doesn’t matter. You can even do the dishes while listening to Doing the Dishes with Rafferty Thompson.

On a side note, when compared to classic radio programs, podcasts are still more informative and interesting (to me). It’s no wonder since it’s a on-demand system. You pick the show instead of being at the mercy of your radio dial, you can also choose to listen to it whenever you like instead of waiting for it. Then again, I was never big fan of radio.⁴

Another thing where I’m quite open is how the hosts approach their agenda. I don’t really care if the show follows a strict plan of action or if the hosts have only a rough outline to work with. Admitted, as a listener, nine times out of ten you can tell if they read out what information they’ve gathered on the topic or if they are winging it. Im any case, if the result is still enjoyable, who cares? Of course some show formats demand a more focussed discussion. I won’t argue with that. But, if it’s not an in-depth workflow episode or one that examines a single topic across the full length of the show, there should be no harm in any sort of diversion.

There you have it. I like it when people are just being themselves on the air and talk with each other like friends do.

The Dichotomy

There’s one exception to my preferred 3:1 talk-vs-content ratio: infotainment podcasts. I struggle to find a better wording for them. You might know them as narrative podcasts or as Radiotopia puts it “story-driven shows”. However, simply put, I refer to those shows that flip my ratio and offer me 75% information and 25% fun. Since they are so special, let’s talk about them now.

Since many things are being published under the label podcast nowadays, people confusing online radio with podcasts. To be honest, there are no true borders and both formats peacefully co-exist using the same underline framework, namely RSS.⁵ So, this dichotomy I speak of is basically just in my mind. It’s just a matter of terminology, some people put it all under one roof, some (me) do not.

Nonetheless I find it important to differentiate between different podcast formats. On the one side we have “supported shows” with sponsors, companies, funds or celebrities behind them. The Daily Dot has an article about “Podspotting: Where to start with the podcast networks” which sheds some light on the people behind the most successful podcasting networks in 2012. In their list all networks have some more or less famous persons from the traditional media industry on-board. Hence they had experience, a fan-base, funds, experts, helpers and more right from the start. On the other side there are the “regular podcasts” which don’t have professional audio equipment, no budget behind them and being run mostly as a fun side project with no business plan at all.

You can take a look at the iTunes charts to see which shows are more successful or you can look at my iceberg below. They both give you the same picture. Content-wise it’s a mixed bag, some traditional shows, some narrated shows, plain news or discussions. Diversity is good.

Narrative Podcasts VS. Regular Podcasts

As with most things, often we don’t really know or care about what happens behind the scenes. For instance I still use Google from time to time because they deliver better results. Equally I don’t really care if a show is sponsored or not. What matters in the end is the quality of the content. But as not every search engine can be as good as Google Search, not every podcast can fit under the roof of a network… and for certain not every podcast can produce a high quality story-driven show. The latter is what I wan to focus on here.

I’ve heard from many avid podcast listeners that although they love the shows they are subscribed to, they often wished for a better narrative, little stories that are complete in themselves and if possible a soundscape for more atmosphere while listening. They heard some BBC shows and “99% Invisible - A tiny radio show about design with Roman Mars”, and now they wonder why not every podcaster out there amps up his game and delivers such a stellar product. Some of my friends even went so far an condemned all shows which don’t follow the story-driven model to be of low(er) quality (content-wise). A hardliner statement for sure. For me those two - traditional podcasts and narrative ones - are completely different beasts… hence the dichotomy headline, hence radio versus podcasting enthusiasts, supported versus the average Joe.

♪♫♪♫ Analogy

Regarding accusation of traditional podcasts automatically being of poorer quality when compared to a narrative show I can say “yes, those shows are darn nice and I’m also a big fan”. But, I can’t and will not compare them with regular podcasts. I’m the same with music. I can enjoy crappy recorded songs the same way I love listening to high-end studio productions.

This (↑) is “guy”, he has Tourette’s syndrome and Asperger’s. The song was performed live in a small pub and was recorded on an iPod. To top it guy didn’t have a working monitoring system and more or less improvised the whole thing. If you listened to it you will agree that the quality isn’t great.

Guess what? As hollow as it sounds, I feel his song. For me it’s one of the greatest songs this year and I can listen to it on repeat. Same goes for Jai Paul and his unmastered leaked album ( – it features overload distortion, songs not being panned out, etc…. The leaked version got it all (but it’s better than waiting three years for an album that might not be released at all)).

If I were asked to compare those songs to Kanye West’s $3 million recording of “My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy” I most definitely could… but there would be no point in doing so. Music is created to be enjoyed; period.⁶

The Backend Of A Story-Driven Podcasts

There’s this argument floating around that podcasters do what they do because they are in it for the fun (and yeah… it’s great when people actually listen to what you do and like it).

German blogger Niels Kobschätzki (@Niels_K) wrote a nice critique about the German podcasting landscape. In short, Niels wishes for more story-driven shows in Germany. I hear his plea loud and clear, but I honestly think we’re so far behind the United States when it comes to podcasting, that our infrastructure just isn’t there yet.

Niels’ point is that exactly this doesn’t matter, since even people on a budget who are podcasting just for fun can follow his simple plan B: small teams could share the workload. One person is the researcher, another would prepare the material whilst the third could be the one in the limelight telling the story. Whilst money from sponsorships would make justifying the additional effort easier, he argues that it could be done without it.

I think Niels is right. Why don’t we all go the extra mile? It’s such a good question and I tried to answer it for myself. Here are my thoughts on the topic:

1. I don’t talk much about tech and geeky stuff with my handful of real life friends. It’s nice to have at least one outlet to go geeky. Thank you podcasting, don’t take that away from me.
2. I would have a hard time stepping back and working in the background. Somehow I also feel that it’s me who needs to address certain points and to bring forward my own arguments on the agenda. After all it’s my specific point of view and we are not Borg on Der Ubercast. I also wouldn’t be satisfied being just a ghostwriter.
3. At least for our little project, there would need to be a separate podcast. Rewriting and editing an existing podcast, e.g. making what I say on the show fit into a narrative isn’t going to work. I’m intrigued by such a project and I’ve already gathered ideas in a file, but when and if it sees the light of day is unclear.
4. Barney Stinson deems all girls which are more crazy than they’re hot undateable. Initially I spend way over 8 hours on writing the show notes, that’s also the reason why I made a similar graph for podcasting.⁷

Aside from my personal “issues” there needs to be manpower. Not only the one who does the research and writes the narrative, you also need a composer who produces the score, a dedicated audio engineer who is capable of making a good mix (or at least someone who knows what knobs on a mixer you have to dial in what direction) and in Germany some kind of lawyer who takes care of legal issues. We are unfortunate enough in that we can’t just play music or excerpts from TV shows… even tiny bits of samples without making ourselves liable to prosecution. Paying royalties is a huge process, getting a written consent if you want to play a brief excerpt out of a public radio or talk show is another adventure that can take hours, days, weeks or even months.

In short, it’s not that easy. You got to put more time aside, especially if you’re doing it as one person like Mike Hurley did with his excellent Behind the App series for his Inquisitive podcast. More specialists help, but doing such a thing, even with three people on a weekly basis is just not something you could “do well” as a hobby (see the B. Stinson graph). It would be hard to maintain the quality over each show.

In the end infotainment podcasts are a different beast, content and workload-wise. I imagine it’s infinitely easier if you work with one of the podcasting companies out there, but with enough dedication it can be done without them.

Speaking for myself I can say that I can enjoy both types, be it a story-driven podcast or a regular podcast where the hosts tend to babble a bit here and there. The quality is as diverse as the podcasting landscape itself, but if I like the hosts and the content is well-balanced, then I’m satisfied.

Last Words

I’m aware that there’s definitely more to say about the topic. I haven’t even scratched the surface of what’s possible with podcasts and what’s already out there. For instance music labels using it to release mixtapes (Stones Throw Podcast), TV Shows provided accompanying material, short stories, books and much more. But like stated initially, the scope was just to say my opinion about two problems. So, if you’re raging about the unfocused host you’re listening to, just take a deep relaxing breath and enjoy the human rollercoaster ride.