Blog
Tech thoughts, workflow notes and digital-life observations.
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The Blended Brain | My TEDx Talk
Last Fall, I achieved a bucket list milestone: Give a TED Talk. I was the opening speaker at the TEDx Talk event hosted by St. Petersburg College. The topic of my talk is “The Blended Brain: Left-Brain vs. Right-Brain Thinking”, which encapsulates the idea that one can be creative AND structured. In my talk, I…
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FrugalMac: Window Management with Rectangle
Unsurprisingly, macOS’s built-in window management tools are… half-baked. The custom keyboard shortcuts I set previously do not work consistently across all windows. Certain apps, like Safari and the Finder, respond to the aforementioned keyboard shortcuts. Other applications, like the Terminal or Apple Messages, do not. This inconsistency quickly became a source of friction when working…
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FrugalMac: AirDrop and File-Sharing
The last two major settings I’m interested as part of setup is AirDrop and File Sharing. In AirDrop, I’ve turned AirPlay Receiver OFF as I have no intent or interest in having my other devices send over video and audio. Under Sharing, I’ve turned File Sharing OFF. I prefer to have it turned on ONLY…
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FrugalMac: Taming the macOS Terminal
This post will focus on how I configured the macOS Terminal from its default settings. Here’s how it looks, on first launch from a fresh macOS install. The type is unbelievably tiny (for me). Let’s get started. In Terminal’s Settings panel, I have checked “Working Directory” and “Path”. These parameters will show up on the…
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Combining Vectors with Rasters: Shape Builder and More
My newest instructional video focuses on using Illustrator’s Shape Builder tool (Shift M), coupled with Effect > 3D and Materials > Extrude and Bevel and Effect > Distort and Transform > Transform tools to create interesting head gear (among other things). I used this technique to create the following illustrations below. -Krishna
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FrugalMac: Clouds, Locations, Trackpads and Notifications
Cloud-based syncing via iCloud is generally pretty good, but right now, during setup: it’s a distraction. The FrugalMac setup is all about intention, so I’m turning it off until I’m ready. To do so, go to your Apple account, click iCloud and turn off iCloud Drive. This will remove iCloud Drive files from my M5…
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FrugalMac: Keeping Up Appearances
As a long-time Mac user, macOS’s customization options have slowly improved. (More customizing options are still needed.) Let’s start with some basic appearance tweaks, found within Settings > Appearance. From the top, I’ve chosen Auto to have my Mac change from light to dark mode, based on time of day. However you feel about Liquid…
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FrugalMac: Fixing the Finder Windows
Perhaps the title is a bit hyperbolic. I’m not fixing the Finder’s windows, I’m configuring them to work best for me. But first, let’s go to Finder Settings > Advanced and turn on Filename Extensions and Keep folders on top. I routinely share files between different platforms, so having visible file name extensions are a…
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Is Making Art Not Enough? Why?
Hat tip to Jason Kottke for bringing attention to this sobering and insightful essay by contemporary artist fnnch on How to Make a Living as an Artist. The number one mistake I see artists make is not accepting that they run a business. If you cannot accept and even embrace this simple fact, you are…
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FrugalMac: Configuring the Dock and Desktop
The default macOS Dock is littered with application icons, many of which I don’t use. And most of which I don’t care to see. Below is the macOS Tahoe Dock in its default state: Hideous, right? Let’s remove the clutter. Ahh! Much better. Next, let’s tackle the Finder Desktop settings, under View > Show View…