Month: January 2025

How can I mute the Mac sound before a break, then restore the volume afterwards?

A customer said that they play music via YouTube, and wanted to silence it during their breaks. Time Out is very flexible, so I was able to come up with a solution for them, using Automator workflows as Break Actions.

I created three workflows, that you can download from the Script Actions section of the Time Out Extras page. Here are direct download links for your convenience:

You can of course edit these in Apple’s Automator app to choose different volume levels.

To install them, choose Reveal Scripts from the + menu on the Break Actions page in Time Out:

Reveal Scripts

Then decompress those actions and add to the revealed folder in the Finder. They will then appear in that menu so you can use them with a break.

Here’s a fancy example, where Time Out will flash the screen 10 seconds before a break is due, play a bell sound 5 seconds before the break is due, mute the volume once the break fades in, set the sound volume back to 25% level once the break ends (whether done, postponed, or skipped), and finally play a different bell sound 1 second after it is done (but won’t play if postponed or skipped):

Volume actions

I hope you find this helpful.

Sinclair Trails 2024 theme for Time Out

I’ve just added a new Time Out theme for your enjoyment: a fast timelapse of driving our Tiffin Allegro Bus motorhome throughout 2024. This combines all of the motorhome travel timelapses for 2024 into one video, at 20x the speed of the original timelapse videos.

You can download this theme from the Time Out Extras page, and follow the instructions on that page to add it to Time Out.

As you may know, my wife and I travel the US in a 40-foot motorhome. We typically drive about two to six hours between campsites. I record each drive of the RV on a dash cam, and post a much shorter timelapse video of the journey. I sometimes add a view from the truck being towed behind our coach, often at the start and/or end of the journey.

This theme will start playing from a random point in the video each time it is used. A great way to have some ever-changing scenery during your breaks.

You can see the full 52-minute video on the Sinclair Trails YouTube channel — and I’d appreciate it if everyone reading this would subscribe to this channel, as it still has very few subscribers. It’s free!

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Dejal plans for 2025

What’s in store for 2025? When not working on my consulting projects, I plan to split my time between the big 3.0 update of Time Out (and subsequent versions), and working on another new app. Of course, I’ll also work on other existing apps if they need an update, but I don’t have anything planned for them at this stage.

Time Out icon Time Out

Work on Time Out version 3.0 is underway. It will include an overhaul and modernization of the data and user interface, though don’t worry, it’ll still look much the same; I know big UI changes are rarely welcome. I’ll actually update it over several releases; version 3.0 will concentrate on the underlying data, to enable supporting syncing between multiple Macs, and version 3.1, 3.2, etc will update different areas of the app, probably with a little more frequent updates than in recent years. Despite the updates in 2024, I feel that Time Out has been a little neglected of late, while I work on other apps, so I want to refocus on it; it remains my most popular app, so deserves more attention.

I’m also keen to add an optional auto-renewing subscription, to make it easier for people to continue to support the app, and boost revenues. But I know that while subscriptions are more accepted nowadays, some people still don’t like them, so I also plan to continue offering the non-renewing supporter options as now. And continue allowing the core features of the app to be used for free, for people who can’t afford to pay for software or don’t need more than the basics.

I also have a bunch of other enhancements planned for version 3.0 and beyond, like an option to manually end a break, extra exclusion options, easier adding themes, and much more. I always have a long list of feature suggestions and ideas, and have a roadmap planned for versions 3.0 to 3.7, and ideas for 4.0 and beyond. But I always welcome more ideas, too.

To set expectations, I should note that you shouldn’t look for version 3.0 to be released for a few months. Between the major changes and splitting my time with other apps and activities, it’ll take a while to be ready to release. But rest assured that it’s underway. Make sure you subscribe to the DejalNews newsletter to get notified when it is available for a TestFlight or general release.

Date Stamp icon Another New App

I mentioned another new app. I won’t give details of the new app just yet, but I’ll say that it is related to calendars — not a calendar app as such, but a helper. I have a prototype of the new app that I wrote to scratch my own itch (as is often the genesis of an app), but I have a bunch of enhancements before it’ll be ready for release. This will be a simple app, and will probably be free, at least initially; like with Time Out, I have a list of feature ideas that I may add in future versions, so it might become a paid app somewhere down the road, but not initially. Definitely for Mac, and probably other platforms. Again, subscribe to the DejalNews newsletter to be amongst the first to learn of the app.

SheetPlanner icon NewsBlur icon Consulting

On the Dejal Consulting side of my business, I will continue working on SheetPlanner and NewsBlur. Both have major enhancements in the works, which will be released later in the year. I’m really excited to get those updates out, and continue with other planned improvements.

I am currently fully booked up for the next several months at least, but am always interested in talking with potential new clients. If you have a macOS or iOS project you’d like help with (or a custom Simon enhancement), check out my consulting page for more information.

Sinclair Trails logo Sinclair Trails

Finally, on the personal side, my wife and I will continue to explore the US in our motorhome; we should complete visiting all 48 contiguous states by the middle of this year, and visit all National Parks in those states, plus a bunch more baseball stadiums, and other attractions. This is a great time to start reading the Sinclair Trails blog, as I’m now posting daily summaries of our 2024 RV modifications, travels, campgrounds, attractions, and more on the blog, plus will have more travel timelapses on the YouTube channel (please subscribe!). I hope you’ll follow along there.

Thanks for reading! 2025 is going to be an exciting year on all fronts.