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I’ve mentioned before on HN how I make around ~$7k from my Lunar app nowadays [0] but controlling monitors is a larger niche and the app was developed and perfe

by alin23 4y ago

I’ve mentioned before on HN how I make around ~$7k from my Lunar app nowadays [0] but controlling monitors is a larger niche and the app was developed and perfected over the course of 5 years. This time I’d like to show you the progress of my last year’s project, https://lowtechguys.com https://lowtechguys.com. It’s a small macOS app studio and here are my App Store sales for the last month: https://f.alinpanaitiu.com/gjxBpg/Image.png https://f.alinpanaitiu.com/gjxBpg/Image.png You can see trends in red because December is a slow month for app sales, not sure why exactly. But even with just 4 small macOS apps I manage to make ~1k/month with close to zero maintenance. I have a lot more ideas for small non expensive apps that could add to the revenue but less and less time for them. Right now I have to rebuild an old wooden house and finally move out of my rented apartment. I’m grateful to have a source of income on the side that can support me this year so I can pause tech while I do field work. [0] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=33620955 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=33620955

deleted 4y ago
[deleted]
gcanyon 4y ago
I have an idea for rcmd -- if possible, it would be great to be able to assign a right-cmd-key to <whatever Safari tab is running mail.google.com> -- or open one if none is. Likewise for calendar.google.com and probably others. I'd pay an extra few dollars for that feature, as I'm forever opening <yet another mail.google.com tab> because my tab hygiene is lacking. I read your piece on window switching -- would AppleScript work? This works: tell application "Safari" tell item 4 of windows set the current tab to item 3 of the tabs set the index to 1 end tell activate end tell
- alin23 4y ago
  Hey that’s a useful feature indeed, and it can already be added by the user with rcmd’s Window Actions which support AppleScript. I actually have done that myself already for Firefox. I could maybe try to implement the main part of the “find and switch to the tab if it exists” so that users can simply assign the URL. Thanks for reminding about this use case!
  - gcanyon 4y ago
    Oh, that's interesting. Okay, I'm pulling the trigger. I used to write AppleScript in a previous life, so I think I can handle that part. (we'll see if I'm right...)
  - gcanyon 4y ago
    I have rcmd installed and working, and I wrote this AppleScript: tell application "Safari" repeat with w in windows set mt to (tabs of w whose URL contains "https://mail.google.com/") if mt ≠ {} then exit repeat end repeat if mt ≠ {} then set mt to item 1 of mt set the current tab of w to mt set the index of w to 1 end if -- activate -- needed if not activated otherwise end tell How do I set up window actions in rcmd? I don't see that in the page on your site.
    - alin23 4y ago
      Not sure if you already installed the Experimental Window Switching part, leaving it here just in case: Click on Switcher in the rcmd menu Scroll to the bottom and click on Try experimental window switching Install Hammerspoon Install the rcmd script Screenshot: https://lowtechguys.com/static/img/rcmd-window-experimental.png https://lowtechguys.com/static/img/rcmd-window-experimental.... After that, you should be able to press Right Option + Equals ralt-= to assign a key and an action to the currently focused app: https://files.lowtechguys.com/rcmd-window-actions.png https://files.lowtechguys.com/rcmd-window-actions.png If assigning doesn't do anything, try restarting both Hammerspoon and rcmd, there can be a race condition when the script is installed the first time.
      - gcanyon 4y ago
        Wait -- why do I need Hammerspoon to trigger an AppleScript that I wrote? Actually, now that I think about it, isn't this easier to do: 1. Write the AppleScript (done) 2. Save it as an app 3. Assign a right-command to that app. 4. There is no step 4.
        4y ago

by alin23 4y ago

deleted 4y ago

[deleted]

gcanyon 4y ago

I have an idea for rcmd -- if possible, it would be great to be able to assign a right-cmd-key to <whatever Safari tab is running mail.google.com> -- or open one if none is. Likewise for calendar.google.com and probably others. I'd pay an extra few dollars for that feature, as I'm forever opening <yet another mail.google.com tab> because my tab hygiene is lacking. I read your piece on window switching -- would AppleScript work? This works: tell application "Safari" tell item 4 of windows set the current tab to item 3 of the tabs set the index to 1 end tell activate end tell

alin23 4y ago
Hey that’s a useful feature indeed, and it can already be added by the user with rcmd’s Window Actions which support AppleScript. I actually have done that myself already for Firefox. I could maybe try to implement the main part of the “find and switch to the tab if it exists” so that users can simply assign the URL. Thanks for reminding about this use case!
- gcanyon 4y ago
  Oh, that's interesting. Okay, I'm pulling the trigger. I used to write AppleScript in a previous life, so I think I can handle that part. (we'll see if I'm right...)
- gcanyon 4y ago
  I have rcmd installed and working, and I wrote this AppleScript: tell application "Safari" repeat with w in windows set mt to (tabs of w whose URL contains "https://mail.google.com/") if mt ≠ {} then exit repeat end repeat if mt ≠ {} then set mt to item 1 of mt set the current tab of w to mt set the index of w to 1 end if -- activate -- needed if not activated otherwise end tell How do I set up window actions in rcmd? I don't see that in the page on your site.
  - alin23 4y ago
    Not sure if you already installed the Experimental Window Switching part, leaving it here just in case: Click on Switcher in the rcmd menu Scroll to the bottom and click on Try experimental window switching Install Hammerspoon Install the rcmd script Screenshot: https://lowtechguys.com/static/img/rcmd-window-experimental.png https://lowtechguys.com/static/img/rcmd-window-experimental.... After that, you should be able to press Right Option + Equals ralt-= to assign a key and an action to the currently focused app: https://files.lowtechguys.com/rcmd-window-actions.png https://files.lowtechguys.com/rcmd-window-actions.png If assigning doesn't do anything, try restarting both Hammerspoon and rcmd, there can be a race condition when the script is installed the first time.
    - gcanyon 4y ago
      Wait -- why do I need Hammerspoon to trigger an AppleScript that I wrote? Actually, now that I think about it, isn't this easier to do: 1. Write the AppleScript (done) 2. Save it as an app 3. Assign a right-command to that app. 4. There is no step 4.
      - 4y ago