What I Do

Dear family and friends,

I know I’m a big nerd and what I do must seem all super nerdy and vague — and it is pretty nerdy but it doesn’t have to be vague. I’ll explain what I do and why. 😀

I do two main nerd things: write a blog and make an app.

Blog

My blog inessential.com (this site) has been going since 1999. I mostly write about Apple nerd stuff. Other Apple nerds read it.

I’m very proud of my blog — it’s had an audience for over 25 years — and I love writing, and that’s about all there is to say about it.

App

I love reading at least as much as I love writing, and I write an app for reading news called NetNewsWire — because then I never run out of stuff to read. 👍

It runs on Mac, iPad, and iPhone. And it’s free. Completely free.

I started NetNewsWire in 2002. In the Apple nerd world I’m the NetNewsWire guy.

NetNewsWire has a goal…

Escaping the outrage

The big social networks like X and Facebook make money by showing people things that make them outraged, since that keeps them using the app. (Which means they see more ads.)

NetNewsWire, on the other hand, shows you the articles from the sites you want and only those sites. Newest at top. Simple as that — not trying to make anybody outraged!

(In NetNewsWire you add bloggers and websites you like, New York Times, The Guardian, whatever you want. Could be a few, could be hundreds.)

In other words, NetNewsWire is not, like X and Facebook and others, adding outrage to the world for the benefit of people like Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg.

I know that NetNewsWire can’t solve the problem of social-network-induced outrage — and everything that follows from that — all alone. But it can help, even in some small way, and as part of a larger community effort, and that’s why I do it.

But please know that I don’t judge and I won’t push NetNewsWire on you. I’m not that kind of person! 🐣🐥

Bonus points for reading this far

So I’m a nerd and a computer programmer.

But what I am not is a math nerd. I didn’t graduate from college, and if I had I would have had an English degree, not a math degree. (In some other life I would have been a high school English teacher.) Note how the things I make have to do with reading and writing.

I’m usually the worst person at math in any room I’m in. Shock, I know!

You might think computer programming is very math-y — it’s really not. Some can be, yes, but I’ve never been interested in that kind of programming. And if there is any arithmetic to do, I make the computer do it. 😀

Computer programming is really about communication: communicating with the machine, yes, of course — but if you’re not just coding but making an app, as I am, it’s mostly about designing the app so that it communicates with the user. So that it’s easy to understand and fun to use.

Coding’s the easy part — making a useful app that people like is the challenge and is such a reward when it works. Like any other popular art form, it’s about connecting with humans.

That’s me. I also play guitar, but you knew that. 💥🎸

❤️,
Brent