via Shorter Workweek Leads To Greater Happiness, No Loss in Productivity, In Iceland : NPR:

Now, research out of Iceland has found that working fewer hours for the same pay led to improved well-being among workers, with no loss in productivity. In fact, in some places, workers were more productive after cutting back their hours.

More of this, please.

via Substack is getting into comics – The Verge:

Among the creators signed up is James Tynion IV, who until now was the head writer of DC’s flagship Batman title. Tynion wrote in a blog post that he will be using Substack to “create a new slate of original comic book properties” and build “a bunch of really cool stuff on my own terms.” Substack has also signed up Saladin Ahmed, Molly Knox Ostertag, and Scott Snyder, among others.

Panel Syndicate was ahead of its time. I’m happy to see this, and other efforts like exclusive deals with comiXology, to get creators other avenues to explore beyond the old print methods.

via Why People Like Working From Home – The Atlantic:

When you are a full-time employee, you might believe that you are owned by a company and should be grateful to its leaders for generously making you show up in their office every day.

Well said.

Meanwhile, Google and Samsung are merging two totally different OSes. None of Apple’s smartwatch competitors have made anything even vaguely approaching iconic hardware designs. And Samsung, we’re supposed to believe, is OK with competing manufacturers benefitting from this new Wear OS/Tizen merged platform based at least in part on Samsung’s work.

What a mess.

Daring Fireball: Google and Samsung Claim to Be Merging Wear OS and Tizen Into a Unified OS for Watches

I just want to add that it’s even more of a mess when you remember Google also owns Fitbit. Yet another watch/activity tracker OS to support.

*insert shrug emoji*

Today, we’re happy to announce that we’re releasing Outlining on iOS & iPadOS. It’s the same Outline you already enjoy on your Mac, but fully optimized for your iPhone & iPad.

Outlining on iOS – MindNode

Sometimes, you just want to outline. MindNode is such a beautiful app and it’s really helpful to outline thoughts or a project to view visually.

Google’s own search results have clearly gotten worse. The comparison of how low they sometimes push the top actual result are eye opening.

Daring Fireball: Google’s Search Results Have Gotten Worse

Couldn’t agree more.

• It’s impossible to use Google without an ad blocker
• Organic listings are damn near impossible to find at times

Personally, I’ve been using DuckDuckGo for a bit, and it works just fine for me. As an SEO, though, I do have to professionally play Google’s game so I do need to visit and see what the latest is. And each day it gets a tiny bit more depressing to use.

Nothing in life is 100%.

Escaping The Amazon – //Jason Burk

I found Jason’s chronicling of leaving Amazon behind quite interesting. It’s something I’ve thought a lot about recently in addition to Google. I’ve been getting caught up in ensuring I can distance myself from every little facet of each company, but I need to remember the above.

Their tentacles are in places I likely don’t realize. And if I do need use Google Search Console or make an Amazon purchase, all will be well.

A 2021 goal is to now move as much away as I can.

If you are combining your Stream Deck with Keyboard Maestro, you’ll want to check this out.

StreamDeck + Keyboard Maestro with KMLink — MacSparky

Just purchased a Stream Deck to help facilitate a number of automations in my workflow, and couldn’t agree more.

Try KMLink: https://github.com/Corcules/KMlink

For some reason being able to pick up my controller and play on my phone, iPad, or on my TV whatever the situation really fits into my life.

♥️ Stadia – Greg Morris

I received a free Stadia package from Google for being a YouTube Premium (or YouTube TV) subscriber. To quickly recap my previous life as a gamer:

• PlayStation 4 sitting at the living room TV (haven’t touched it in years)
• Nintendo Switch that roams, with docking station at living room TV (played sparingly)
• Various iOS devices (don’t play any mobile games)

I never thought to try Stadia until I saw it supported the latest Madden. That, and NHL, was the driving force of my game-playing days, so I decided to give it a shot. A couple tries later and my brother-in-law and I are hooked.

I haven’t kept up to date with cloud gaming, but being able to go from one TV to another or play on my iPad or computer monitor amazes me. I just pick up my controller and play wherever, whenever I can. It fits into my life perfectly as well.

There’s no longer friction in my video game playing. You know, except for that whole working and having a family thing.

Prior to using YouTube over RSS, I would open the YouTube app on my iPhone or iPad, browse the subscriptions tab and save any video I wanted to view in my Watch Later playlist. Then I’d start watching from there.

YouTube Over RSS – Initial Charge

Reading this piece from Mike hit home. I love YouTube. I subscribe to a ton of content, and even pay for YouTube Premium. However, my usage would oftentimes follow the above, except after something was pushed to Watch Later I’d forget about it.

I usually consume YouTube on Apple TV and just scroll through my subscriptions list. Basically, if I get to it I get to it, which meant I missed out on a lot of good stuff.

Starting today, I’ve pushed a lot of my must watches (Chris Lawley & A Better Computer to name a couple) into my RSS reader of choice, Reeder. With using Reeder’s iCloud option, I just input the YouTube URL and it automatically grabs the feed for me. Even better.

Just today I starred two videos from those above to watch later. It works perfectly, because I actually to peruse my starred articles daily. Time to go watch!