Geddit: the login-free Reddit client without API limitations
Reddit announced the shutdown of the free API and restriction of some of the privileges of the API interface some time ago, which caused a large number of users to be dissatisfied, and quite a number of boards (even core boards) also announced the shutdown to protest against this policy of Reddit, and even in the “Pixel Battle” some time ago, the internet users from the world were united in the protest at the last minute.
Of course, it was the developers of third-party clients who were most affected, as many of their own open-source, free works had no source of income to pay for expensive APIs, and therefore had to stop developing and maintaining them. However, this does not mean that all third-party clients have reached the end of the road, such as Geddit, a “different way” client.
According to the developer, Geddit does not use API to access Reddit, but through RSS/JSON to get the content, so it can access the content of the site at will. In fact, if you’re just using it to brush up on your posts, you probably won’t even notice the difference between Geddit and Sync Pro or Boost for Reddit. Whether you’re refreshing your timeline, viewing an image, or playing a video, Geddit loads just fine.
Incidentally, Reddit restricts API access to NSFW functionality, which Geddit can easily resolve (like this video of Card Sister’s counterattack, which I don’t know why it’s labeled as NSFW).
But if you’re an active user, Geddit’s capabilities may be stretched thin, so Geddit doesn’t offer a login feature, which “protects privacy” but also prevents users from posting and replying, though it’s good to know that Geddit can be followed and filtered from within the app, and that comments can still be displayed relatively fully. In addition, you can’t Upvote or Downvote because RSS/JSON only pulls messages and doesn’t generate data interactions like an API.
If you’re just a Reddit user who likes to dive in, watch the action, and read funny memes, then Geddit is perfectly suited to meet your needs (and it’s hard to say, in case that avenue gets shut down someday.) Geddit is open-source and free, and can be downloaded from GitHub and IzzyOnDroid.
Photon Camera
Camera+ developers released a new camera last week, Photon Camera, which is very similar to Camera+ in terms of design and functionality, and may be a lighter version of Camera+ at a time when lighter apps are more prevalent.
Camera+’s logic is very complex, with shooting modes adjusted on the shutter button, manual adjustments selected at the bottom of the viewfinder, adjustment sliders on the bottom half of the viewfinder, focus and exposure lock buttons on the focus point, and a few flash, macro, and portrait functions on the top.
Photon has made some “drastic” cuts, keeping only the most basic adjustments for focus, ISO, shutter speed and white balance, which are all placed below the viewfinder frame. When you need to make manual adjustments, click on the corresponding buttons, and this line will automatically turn into an adjustment slider, which you can manually slide left and right to adjust, or click Auto to restore automatic mode. Adjustment or current usage data will be reflected in the upper right corner of the button or slider, overall very intuitive. The viewfinder frame retains only the buttons for tapping to focus and switching lenses, and it even cuts out support for the front-facing camera. The top area, which was a complicated area of functions, is also reduced to a single button for flash.
Photon inherits the histogram, focus contour lines, zebra stripes, and grid view from the new Camera +, which can be quickly switched on and off by tapping the Settings button in the lower right corner. The focus lines and zebra stripes only appear during the adjustment process, and then automatically hide when the adjustment is complete without affecting the preview view in the Viewfinder.
As a professional camera app, Photon still maintains support for HEIF, JPEG, ProRAW, and RAW image formats, which can be adjusted in Settings > Capture, or quickly switched on and off with the button in the upper-left corner of the viewfinder. For iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro Max owners, you can also use the app to take 48-megapixel oversampled photos.
Like Camera +, Photon has a subscription model and a one-time buyout, with manual controls and other key features unlocked for a fee, and while it’s certainly streamlined and unified compared to Camera +, it’s a bit more stable, but it’s also a lot less feature-rich. At the current subscription price, I can’t really find any core competencies in Photon. If you’re already paying for a manually controlled camera like Camera+, I wouldn’t recommend “moving on”, but perhaps you can keep an eye on what it comes up with before making any changes. You can download Photon Camera for free from the App Store.
Moshidon
With the series of changes of X (former Twitter), many users from the beginning of the unacceptable to call each other “X friends” can be said to maintain as much elegance as possible as a user, of course, in the early days of the changes of X, there are quite a number of users began to switch to other social media platforms such as mammoth, Threads, and so on. As a newcomer to using Mammoth, I’ve found that there are a fair number of developers working on third-party clients for either platform, which is perhaps a sign of the longevity of this social media.
Moshidon is a third-party Mastodon client for Android, and most of the third-party Mastodon clients for Android look the same, or even less compatible with the platform than the official client. Moshidon’s appearance is not impressive, and the interface is almost 90% similar to the official client.
However, compared to the official client, Moshidon has made a lot of efforts in more details, first of all, the homepage interface is more convenient to switch, Moshidon has stuffed the homepage with three different timelines: homepage, this site, and federation, which can be quickly switched by swiping left and right, or by double-clicking the homepage button to get the latest information faster, and of course, the user can customize the timeline to fit his/her needs. Of course, users can also customize the timeline according to their own needs, such as adding specific tags or lists.
Moshidon allows users to make more detailed settings for timeline behavior than the official client, such as whether to show each action button, whether to collapse a long text, whether to automatically hide the write button, and so on, so that you can create a simpler or more functional home timeline according to your usage habits.
In terms of notification display, Moshidon is richer than the official client. While the official client only displays a preview of the notification content, Moshidon adds more action buttons, such as reply and favorite, to make it easier for users to perform more actions on the notification. If you’re using Mastodon as your primary social media platform, it’s worthwhile to try out the different third-party clients to find the one that’s more to your liking.
Flighty 3.0 Update
Flighty is a comprehensive flight information service on the Apple platform, and is also the winner of this year’s Apple Design Award for Outstanding Interactive App, which has won the hearts of many users with its excellent interface design and silky smooth user interaction. Recently, Flighty has been updated to version 3.0, adding a number of features to share with friends, making it easy for them to follow their own flight information, as well as keeping track of the flight information of other friends traveling with them.
First of all, Flighty has introduced Flighty Friends, a feature that allows you to share your flight information with friends and family, who can get flight status updates through the Flighty app, and also see your friends’ flights on a map.
Secondly, in the Today screen I can see my own flights as well as the flights of my friends and the estimated arrival times of these flights updated in real time. Finally, Flighty also makes it possible to share multiple flights in bulk, so recipients can add them directly to their own Flighty or simply view them through a browser. Additionally, when we share flights via Flighty, the list, map, and notifications show everyone’s name, photo, seat number, and other information to prevent confusion.
Flighty can be downloaded and used for free from the App Store, and paying $47.99 per year or a one-time $249 buyout unlocks Flighty Pro, which unlocks real-time activity, lock screen widgets, delay predictions, flight reminders, and more.
Groupy 2
On Windows 11, Microsoft finally added tabbed browsing to File Explorer, but there are still a lot of native applications that can only be used one window at a time, especially for office workers like me, the software that I come into contact with most every day is Microsoft’s Office three-piece suite, but this core software can only be used to open one document in one window, and if multiple types of documents need to be opened at the same time but need to be switched, you can only stare at the hidden file name in the taskbar. If a variety of types of documents need to be opened at the same time, but the need to switch can only stare at the taskbar to apply the hidden file name to repeatedly find can be very inconvenient.
In addition to replacing commonly used office software, it can only be realized and resolved through third-party software, such as the recently updated version 2.0 of the old tool Groupy, which focuses on the different types of software windows in the form of tabs integrated in an application window, so that it is easier to switch between the software and functionality.
Groupy is relatively simple to use, drag a software window close to another software window, there will be a prompt to overlay it into a tab, release the mouse to integrate the software window in the form of a tab with other software in a window, and then simply set up the icon in the taskbar, and you can choose whether to present the application icons of the different software separately, or present them together as a collection.
The version 2.0 also has a number of new features, such as the new grouping feature that allows you to save a group of software as a collection, and then start this group of applications at once – like I often need to open Word and Excel at the same time, and it’s really a pain to start them separately, but you can start all of them at once, and at the same time you can switch from one software window to another via the Tabs in a software window to switch, the operation will be smoother. At the same time, the new highlighting feature can also add color to the tabs, the advantage is that it is very convenient to assign or manage different tasks, after all, with color recognition will appear more intuitive.