Creating “zero click” content
Creating “zero click” content As I mentioned a few weeks ago, a growing problem with Google is the number of “zero click” searches on there — searches that don’t lead to another click, because Google answered the question for you. It’s generally a good thing for users, but it’s a bad thing for companies wanting to get more website traffic. In the case of Google, there’s not much you can do. In other cases, though, it might be best to just lean into this trend. Most social media sites quietly ...
Grateful in the macro and the micro
Grateful in the macro and the micro When you ask someone what they’re grateful for, you often get the same kinds of things – health, family, friends, etc. Those are all wonderful things, and we should all be grateful for them, but being grateful for smaller things can sometimes have a bigger impact. In a recent episode of “My First Million”, the hosts (Sam Parr and Shaan Puri) interviewed Gary Vaynerchuk and it was a fascinating conversation. I encourage you to listen/watch the entire thing w...
Shortform for long books
Shortform for long books I’ve been using Blinkist for some book summaries for a few years now, and it’s great! However, I’m noticing a growing problem in the gap between long books and Blinkist, in that the “Blinks” just aren’t long enough to really share the heart of the book. Blinkist and most related platforms are proud of the fact that they give you “15 minute summaries”. Those are a fantastic way to get an overview of a book, but then they leave a bit gap between that 15 minute summary a...
Creating “zero click” content
Creating “zero click” content As I mentioned a few weeks ago, a growing problem with Google is the number of “zero click” searches on there — searches that don’t lead to another click, because Google answered the question for you. It’s generally a good thing for users, but it’s a bad thing for companies wanting to get more website traffic. In the case of Google, there’s not much you can do. In other cases, though, it might be best to just lean into this trend. Most social media sites quietly ...
Grateful in the macro and the micro
Grateful in the macro and the micro When you ask someone what they’re grateful for, you often get the same kinds of things – health, family, friends, etc. Those are all wonderful things, and we should all be grateful for them, but being grateful for smaller things can sometimes have a bigger impact. In a recent episode of “My First Million”, the hosts (Sam Parr and Shaan Puri) interviewed Gary Vaynerchuk and it was a fascinating conversation. I encourage you to listen/watch the entire thing w...
Shortform for long books
Shortform for long books I’ve been using Blinkist for some book summaries for a few years now, and it’s great! However, I’m noticing a growing problem in the gap between long books and Blinkist, in that the “Blinks” just aren’t long enough to really share the heart of the book. Blinkist and most related platforms are proud of the fact that they give you “15 minute summaries”. Those are a fantastic way to get an overview of a book, but then they leave a bit gap between that 15 minute summary a...
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One of the popular features on Android phones over the years is the ability to change to a different launcher. The “launcher” is essentially the software that controls your home screen and app layout — the main grid of icons that you swipe through.
Years ago I used to experiment with different launchers quite a lot, but lately I’ve been content to stick with the default Android launcher. However, two things recently happened that caused me to give a different launcher a try.
First, I’m trying to de-Google things as much as I can. While I’m not going crazy on that, and I’ll likely purchase the new Google phone later this year, moving to things like the Brave browser and ProtonMail have been good moves.
One thing that I was unable to solve on Android was changing the Google-powered search box at the bottom area of the phone. While you can change many of the default search actions on Android, you literally can’t change or remove that box without a large amount of work. The easier solution is just to use a different launcher, which is as easy as just loading an app from the app store.
I came across one called Niagara Launcher and had to give it a shot. Most launchers are fairly similar to one another, with the familiar grid of icons. Niagara, on the other hand, changes things up quite a lot. At it’s core, it lets you choose up to eight icons on the home screen, along with a few small optional widgets (calendar and weather), and then you can scroll down the home page to find all of the other apps.
Here is a before and after example from a user on Reddit:
If you want to find another app, just scroll and they’re right there. You can even just tap a letter on the side of the screen to jump to that section. For example, if I wanted the “Truist” app, I could just tap the “T” on the right and get to it quickly. Here is a screenshot of that kind of scrolling:
It’s quite a change from how I’ve used my phone for years, so we’ll see if it sticks or not.
You can find Niagara Launcher here. It’s free to use, and has a premium version that is just $9.99/year and has some nice features. We’ll see how it works out.
If you’re Android user, do you ever use alternative launchers?
One of the popular features on Android phones over the years is the ability to change to a different launcher. The “launcher” is essentially the software that controls your home screen and app layout — the main grid of icons that you swipe through.
Years ago I used to experiment with different launchers quite a lot, but lately I’ve been content to stick with the default Android launcher. However, two things recently happened that caused me to give a different launcher a try.
First, I’m trying to de-Google things as much as I can. While I’m not going crazy on that, and I’ll likely purchase the new Google phone later this year, moving to things like the Brave browser and ProtonMail have been good moves.
One thing that I was unable to solve on Android was changing the Google-powered search box at the bottom area of the phone. While you can change many of the default search actions on Android, you literally can’t change or remove that box without a large amount of work. The easier solution is just to use a different launcher, which is as easy as just loading an app from the app store.
I came across one called Niagara Launcher and had to give it a shot. Most launchers are fairly similar to one another, with the familiar grid of icons. Niagara, on the other hand, changes things up quite a lot. At it’s core, it lets you choose up to eight icons on the home screen, along with a few small optional widgets (calendar and weather), and then you can scroll down the home page to find all of the other apps.
Here is a before and after example from a user on Reddit:
If you want to find another app, just scroll and they’re right there. You can even just tap a letter on the side of the screen to jump to that section. For example, if I wanted the “Truist” app, I could just tap the “T” on the right and get to it quickly. Here is a screenshot of that kind of scrolling:
It’s quite a change from how I’ve used my phone for years, so we’ll see if it sticks or not.
You can find Niagara Launcher here. It’s free to use, and has a premium version that is just $9.99/year and has some nice features. We’ll see how it works out.
If you’re Android user, do you ever use alternative launchers?
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