Videos

We all love our text editor or IDE of choice, but sometimes it's too easy to get stuck in a rut using the same one because it's comfortable, and it might be worth challenging yourself with something new. In this video, I look at seven alternatives, old and new, macOS-native and cross-platform, feature-packed and more focused, to see if there's anything I might consider to wake myself from my VSCode-shaped hole. Includes Jetbrains' Fleet, Nova, BBEdit, Cursor, CotEditor, CodeEdit, and Chime. And yes, I ignored Vim, emacs, nano, etc. There you go 🤷‍♂️ 00:00 Intro 03:22 CodeEdit 08:00 Chime 12:12 Fleet 19:26 Nova 30:00 CotEditor 33:04 Cursor 37:35 BBEdit 46:25 Summary

JetBrains is well known for its IntelliJ family of IDEs and has always bundled smart assistive tools. Now, like other vendors and tools, the company has added a privacy-first AI assistant to its full suite. How does it compare to competing tools like Copilot? Does quality suffer for privacy and data sovereignty? I'll take a look! Thanks to JetBrains for providing me with a free premium month. https://www.jetbrains.com/ai/ 00:00 Intro 01:00 General Overview 01:37 Preferences 02:03 Code explanation 03:15 Generate documentation 04:29 Explain code 04:42 Suggest refactoring 05:44 Find problems 05:46 Generate unit tests 06:01 Generate code 06:57 Same features with Flutter 07:11 Explain project 08:24 Code refactoring 08:32 Rename variables 10:50 AI Assistant in Writerside 12:30 Ask documentation questions 13:18 Generate content 14:04 Explain markup 14:49 Summarise 15:15 Create TLDR 15:52 The Grazie plugin 21:00 Summary

Kicking off my series on learning how to play the drums based on teaching I've been doing for the past 18 months or so. If you've never played the drums before and want to learn, this series will help you get playing beats quickly. In this first video, I look at what a drum kit is and a brief history. Thanks to James Harding for helping with filming and Frank for lurking in the background. 00:00 Intro 00:33 Drum kit history 02:19 The standard kit 02:41 The Kick drum 03:01 The snare drum 03:34 The tom drums 04:04 The Hihat 04:36 The crash cymbal 04:56 The ride cymbal 05:27 Summary #drums #drumming #learndrumming #learntodrum #music

My highlight of IFA 2024 in Berlin was the PocketDrum Plus 2 that has audio and MIDI out for silent air drumming… https://www.aeroband.net/products/pocketdrum2-plus

It has a strange name, but a few of you asked me to take a look at this simple but clean online tool for creating HTML-delivered interactive fiction. I'm not sure of its maintenance status, but it's well-suited for creating simpler stories requiring a little programming logic. https://textadventures.co.uk/squiffy 00:00 Intro 01:09 The basics of Squiffy 02:31 Passages and sequences 08:09 Turn counting 11:31 Clearing the screen 12:35 Attributes 13:48 Continue links 14:57 Publishing 17:40 Desktop application 19:27 Outro

@Ableton #live quicktip on creating groups of tracks, so you can apply devices, volume, and other aspects to multiple tracks at once.. #shorts #abletonlive #abletontips

@Ableton #live quicktip on creating groups of tracks, so you can apply devices, volume, and other aspects to multiple tracks at once.. #shorts #abletonlive #abletontips

I've been using @parallels Desktop for a while, but with @vmware making Fusion pro free for personal use, I thought it was time to look at alternatives for running #windows #linux and other operating systems on #macos In this video, I look at Parallels Desktop, VMWare Fusion, UTM, QEMU, Crossover from @codeweavers9929 , Wine, and Whisky. This video took a lot of experimentation and time with some of the options, so I hope you enjoy! Any comments, feedback, or options I missed… Please leave them in the comments. 00:00 Intro 01:13 Terminology 03:00 Parallels Desktop 09:10 VMWare Fusion 16:00 UTM and QEMU 20:15 Crossover 31:02 Wine 36:46 Whisky 43:58 Outro

#abletonlive quicktip on creating device presets so you don't have to recreate the same settings every time you use a plugin or other device. #shorts

#abletonlive quicktip on creating device presets so you don't have to recreate the same settings every time you use a plugin or other device. #shorts

My first book of the year! "Technical writing for software developers" on Packt publishing. https://bit.ly/3Xn3px8 #books #writing #techwriting #development #booktube

My first book of the year! "Technical writing for software developers" on Packt publishing. https://bit.ly/3Xn3px8 #books #writing #techwriting #development #booktube

#Git may be the source of many developers' productivity and frustrations, but its branch concept is fundamental. @gitbutlerapp wants to change this, allowing developers to easily create and switch between changes on virtual branches. It's a slick new desktop app written in #Rust and #Tauri. How well does it work? Do we need it? I take a look. 00:00 Intro music 00:03 Intro 00:59 Installing 01:21 Intro to GitButler 02:12 Setup 02:44 Add a project 04:14 Using virtual branches 06:10 Push a virtual branch 06:58 Using other git commands 09:04 Outro 10:22 Outro music #development #versioncontrol #programming

#Git may be the source of many developers' productivity and frustrations, but its branch concept is fundamental. @gitbutlerapp wants to change this, allowing developers to easily create and switch between changes on virtual branches. It's a slick new desktop app written in #Rust and #Tauri. How well does it work? Do we need it? I take a look. 00:00 Intro music 00:03 Intro 00:59 Installing 01:21 Intro to GitButler 02:12 Setup 02:44 Add a project 04:14 Using virtual branches 06:10 Push a virtual branch 06:58 Using other git commands 09:04 Outro 10:22 Outro music #development #versioncontrol #programming

Almost every time you install an audio plugin for a DAW you end up with multiple copies of it as a vst2, vst3, and au file. If you’re like me and want to maintain a clean and tidy computer, all these duplicates that basically do the same thing probably irritate and annoy you, staring at you and teasing you every time you scroll a plugin list. It’s not new, but I discovered audio plugin uninstaller from @WideBlueSound and now I am very happy with a slightly less cluttered computer. 00:00 Intro music 00:02 Intro 01:11 Too many duplicate plugins 01:54 The size of the problem 02:11 Audio plugin installer intro 02:34 Interface overview 03:02 Using the uninstall option 04:02 Delete plugin option 04:45 The results 05:48 Testing impact 07:29 Settings 07:47 Outro 08:17 Outro music #music #musicproduction #ableton #logicprox #cubase #vst #vst2 #vst3 #audiounit #audio

In this quick video, I look at a handful of the features I use in @Descript   for editing and distributing my podcast, especially the new "Edit for Clarity" feature, which cuts through my tendency to waffle and gets to the point. Like what you see and want to try Descript? Then please follow my affiliate link: https://get.descript.com/hwdvp8thjpih 00:00 Intro music 00:04 Intro 00:35 Intro to descript 00:49 Setting up project 01:50 Quick interface tour 02:53 Timeline view 03:04 Remove filler words 03:47 Edit for clarity 05:49 Applying suggestions 08:31 Outro 09:11 Outro music #podcasts #editing #editingapps #podcastediting

In this quick video, I look at a handful of the features I use in @Descript   for editing and distributing my podcast, especially the new "Edit for Clarity" feature, which cuts through my tendency to waffle and gets to the point. Like what you see and want to try Descript? Then please follow my affiliate link: https://get.descript.com/hwdvp8thjpih 00:00 Intro music 00:04 Intro 00:35 Intro to descript 00:49 Setting up project 01:50 Quick interface tour 02:53 Timeline view 03:04 Remove filler words 03:47 Edit for clarity 05:49 Applying suggestions 08:31 Outro 09:11 Outro music #podcasts #editing #editingapps #podcastediting

I'm back at the preeminent event for synths and electronic instruments to try and dig out some of the stranger and more interesting instruments rather than room after room of dial-twiddling cable-patchers. Enjoy! 00:00 Intro music 00:03 Intro 00:18 Nebula instruments 00:33 Biotron 00:56 Voyage 01:06 Berglund instruments 01:25 Haken Continuumini 01:45 PlayFader 02:18 Drumbeam 02:43 Flowfal 03:05 Outro ambience 03:17 Outro music

I'm back at the preeminent event for synths and electronic instruments to try and dig out some of the stranger and more interesting instruments rather than room after room of dial-twiddling cable-patchers. Enjoy! 00:00 Intro music 00:03 Intro 00:18 Nebula instruments 00:33 Biotron 00:56 Voyage 01:06 Berglund instruments 01:25 Haken Continuumini 01:45 PlayFader 02:18 Drumbeam 02:43 Flowfal 03:05 Outro ambience 03:17 Outro music

I speak with Thomas Labarussias of @sysdig about Falco, a cloud-native security tool designed for Linux systems. Falco uses custom rules on kernel events, enriched with container and Kubernetes metadata, to provide real-time alerts and help you gain visibility into abnormal behavior, potential security threats, and compliance violations, contributing to comprehensive runtime security. We talk a little Falco history, the project's recent CNCF graduation, and new developments in the project to make the tool even more useful. Disclaimer: We had some technical issues. Hopefully, I polished things just enough. 00:00 Intro music 00:02 Intro 00:15 Disclaimer 01:12 Intro to Thomas 01:55 What is Falco? 03:01 Graduating in the CNCF 04:16 Falco history 06:30 Falco demo begins 07:34 Falco sidekick 14:44 Falco tunnel 20:50 Falco Talon 31:51 Outro 32:18 Outro music #kubernetes #cloudnative #security

I speak with Thomas Labarussias of @sysdig about Falco, a cloud-native security tool designed for Linux systems. Falco uses custom rules on kernel events, enriched with container and Kubernetes metadata, to provide real-time alerts and help you gain visibility into abnormal behavior, potential security threats, and compliance violations, contributing to comprehensive runtime security. We talk a little Falco history, the project's recent CNCF graduation, and new developments in the project to make the tool even more useful. Disclaimer: We had some technical issues. Hopefully, I polished things just enough. 00:00 Intro music 00:02 Intro 00:15 Disclaimer 01:12 Intro to Thomas 01:55 What is Falco? 03:01 Graduating in the CNCF 04:16 Falco history 06:30 Falco demo begins 07:34 Falco sidekick 14:44 Falco tunnel 20:50 Falco Talon 31:51 Outro 32:18 Outro music #kubernetes #cloudnative #security

I take a look at a new tool in beta from @Adobe that lets you record and produce podcasts in the browser. Will it replace tools like @Descript or@Riversidefm ? I take a look. 00:00 Intro music 00:02 Intro 00:45 Overview of podcast interface 02:03 Recording 02:54 Adding audio files 03:55 Adding music 04:29 Adding placeholders 04:39 Filters 07:23 Changing clip settings 08:49 Downloading recording 09:14 Share templates 09:46 Inspecting exported recording 11:07 Inspecting exported transcript 12:23 Summary 13:45 Outro music #podcasts #recording #production

I take a look at a new tool in beta from @Adobe that lets you record and produce podcasts in the browser. Will it replace tools like @Descript or@Riversidefm ? I take a look. 00:00 Intro music 00:02 Intro 00:45 Overview of podcast interface 02:03 Recording 02:54 Adding audio files 03:55 Adding music 04:29 Adding placeholders 04:39 Filters 07:23 Changing clip settings 08:49 Downloading recording 09:14 Share templates 09:46 Inspecting exported recording 11:07 Inspecting exported transcript 12:23 Summary 13:45 Outro music #podcasts #recording #production

I have a little fun and try messing around with animating some boring images of myself using Dreamface's AI-powered mobile app. 00:00 Intro music 00:03 Intro 00:34 Intro to the app 00:46 Creating a speaking avatar 01:31 Creating a singing picture 01:54 Creating a dancing picture 02:19 Image manipulation 02:55 Creating a singing picture 03:00 Reviewing my creations 04:12 Creating a speaking avatar 04:54 Outro 05:51 Outro music http://dreamfaceapp.com/ #apps #mobileapp #ai #imagemanipulation #aigenerated #video #animation

In this interview and demo, I speak with @CerbosDev about their open source and commercial tool for implementing one of the most tedious of developer tasks more easily, adding roles and permissions. It has a real-time browser-based tool for writing and testing policies and integrates with dozens of hosting and authentication options and programming languages. https://www.cerbos.dev 00:00 Intro theme 00:02 Intro to video 00:26 Intro to the Cerbos team 00:54 What is Cerbos? 02:16 Differences between open source and commercial versions 04:06 Where do you run Cerbos? 05:00 How Cerbos fits into infrastructure 05:34 Demo 06:48 Where you define the policy 07:05 Demo 10:44 Interactive policy manager demo 13:27 Defining tests in Cerbos 18:55 Builds demo 21:55 How did Cerbos begin 26:24 Cerbos integrations 31:16 Deploying Cerbos 34:26 What's next for Cerbos 39:56 The Cerbos logo 40:52 Outro 41:15 Outro music #development #programming #authentication #cloudnative #opensource

In this interview and demo, I speak with @CerbosDev about their open source and commercial tool for implementing one of the most tedious of developer tasks more easily, adding roles and permissions. It has a real-time browser-based tool for writing and testing policies and integrates with dozens of hosting and authentication options and programming languages. https://www.cerbos.dev 00:00 Intro theme 00:02 Intro to video 00:26 Intro to the Cerbos team 00:54 What is Cerbos? 02:16 Differences between open source and commercial versions 04:06 Where do you run Cerbos? 05:00 How Cerbos fits into infrastructure 05:34 Demo 06:48 Where you define the policy 07:05 Demo 10:44 Interactive policy manager demo 13:27 Defining tests in Cerbos 18:55 Builds demo 21:55 How did Cerbos begin 26:24 Cerbos integrations 31:16 Deploying Cerbos 34:26 What's next for Cerbos 39:56 The Cerbos logo 40:52 Outro 41:15 Outro music #development #programming #authentication #cloudnative #opensource

In this interview and demo I speak with Ruan from Fiero about how their two person team has built an amazing browser-based tool that helps game designers and developers to build 2D games in the browser but distribute them to a wide variety of native platforms including desktop and mobile. https://fierogameengine.com

In this interview and demo I speak with Ruan from Fiero about how their two person team has built an amazing browser-based tool that helps game designers and developers to build 2D games in the browser but distribute them to a wide variety of native platforms including desktop and mobile. https://fierogameengine.com

AsciiDoc is a popular markup language amongst technical writers, but tooling options are limited compared to markdown. adoc studio aims to fill that gap, and in this video, I take a look at how it compares to using AsciiDoc plugins in VSCode or an IntelliJ-based IDE.

WordCounter is a $20 macOS application that shows you how many words you write and where. Does it help make you more productive or is more of an interesting insight? I take a look! 00:00 Intro music 00:01 Intro 00:43 Intro to Wordcounter 01:24 Installing Wordcounter 01:58 Wordcounter interface overview 02:03 Wordcounter preferences 02:42 Overview of words counted 03:06 Adding an app to track 03:30 Viewing tracking history 04:28 Viewing tracking reports 05:09 Outro 07:43 Outro music http://wordcounterapp.com #productivity #writing #macos #utilities

I'm back with my first interactive fiction playthrough and review in…A long time! It's the turn of The Magnatorana, a retro, sci-fi interactive fiction adventure from Peddle Boy. Enjoy! https://peddleboy.itch.io/the-magnatorana

In this video, I take a look at some of the best transcription tools for podcasters and how the recent wave of generative AI has changed the tools now available. I look at @Google recorder, macOS dictation, @Otterai , @Riversidefm , TechSmith Audiate, @Descript , @RogueAmoebaVideos Audio Hijack, MacWhisper, and @Adobe@Adobe Premiere Which is best for editing, features, and transcription quality? I take a look! 00:00 Intro music 00:01 Intro 01:35 Google recorder 02:42 Otter 04:42 Premiere Pro 06:26 Descript 09:31 Audiate 12:00 Riverside.fm 13:48 MacWhisper 17:01 Audio Hijack 19:34 macOS 21:22 Outro 23:12 Outro music #transcription #ai #artificialintelligence #transcript #podcast #editing #editingvideo #video #transcribing

I came across this World War 2 trench on the outskirts of Berlin, and I've never had such an eerie, disconcerting experience.

In this video sponsored by PixieBrix, I look at their low-code tool for adding automation and integrations to existing web pages. It takes a different approach to many others out there, and I was intrigued! I look at how to use its inbuilt connections to APIs and how to send and receive data from external ones. I also look at text manipulation and AI features. More info: https://bit.ly/3TkBFat

Another item taken from the MIT museum exhibition, I love the look of struggle here.

I look at Actions for Obsidian, a standalone application that brings Apple Shortcuts to Obsidian, allowing some connection and automation from the rest of macOS and other applications on your Mac. I look at creating notes by selecting text elsewhere, creating a daily schedule, triggering Obsidian commands and using an Elgato Stream Deck and Raycast with Obsidian. https://support.actions.work/collection/1-actions-for-obsidian Want a blog version of this video? https://chrischinchilla.medium.com/bring-the-power-of-apple-shortcuts-to-obsidian-8cc84949e50e

I already miss autumn/fall. Now it's dark and cold in the northern hemisphere. This was a lovely, almost perfect fall video taken in Harvard Yard. #autumn #fall #harvard #massachusetts

In this video sponsored by PixieBrix, I look at their low-code tool for adding automation and integrations to existing web pages. It takes a different approach to many others out there, and I was intrigued! I look at how to set it up, adding checklists to GitHub pull requests, creating Trello cards from GitHub issues and emails, and how to use PixieBrix with an Elgato Stream Deck. More info: https://bit.ly/3TkBFat

If you've seen any American films or TV shows, you know these yellow buses. Imagine my delight when I witnessed this little procession of them!

JetBrains Writerside, the IntelliJ-based tool for those creating and maintaining documentation is now in early access and available as a separate IDE. In this video I take a look at new features and improvements including support for API specs, Mermaid, Tex, new markup, and more! Sorry everyone I am aware that the video is in mono, my mistake, but it's not possible to update videos on YouTube.

I rearranged my video and audio-making desk recently and wanted to find a way to fit everything without having my space littered with stands. So, I took off the cap on the central pole in my VESA monitor stands and found a great space to fit other straight stands. Double the capacity, same space occupied. Hopefully, it works for you!

In this episode, we look at tools and services to enhance your tabletop and roleplaying game playing and creation. They're mostly ChatGPT, but it's still an interesting experiment to see what kind of fantastical ideas the machines can develop. tldr; They are surprisingly creative! There's a lot of typing in this episode, and we did our best to reduce the clacking of my awesome keyboard…

my feeble attempts to get the cat to stop using my screen as a scratching post

Runme combines your docs with everything great about scripting and pipelines. I take a second look at using this tool with the CLI, VSCode, headless, and in the cloud. There are still a few quirks and issues, but for teams who want to share workflows and runbooks along with their output with each other, is runme what you're looking for? https://runme.dev Blog version: https://medium.com/@chrischinchilla/making-markdown-interactive-with-runme-654afb7a942b

The first of several shorts I will upload from 2023's IT Arena in Lviv, Ukraine. This time celebrating ten years of the event. I have attended 4! 😱 Always such a great event, stay tuned!