YOKOHAMA (Señor Tomato) – When my hard disk drive died on the 14th of July, 2026, I wasn’t prepared for the consequences of lost files. There were several hundred SwiftUI sample projects that could never be replaced on top of another few hundred Xcode projects. Although I was eventually able to recover a majority of files from it using its two brother HD at the end of the month, I’m convinced more than ever that I need to regularly back up files. And I know what I need. I need a desktop application that lets me accumulate files to back up so that I can regularly save them in a separate storage system. Well, I actually had a desktop project like that 16 or 17 years ago. So here comes HomeSync 2, which I submitted to Mac App Store a while ago.

HomeSync 2 lets you create multiple groups to house files and folders that you need to back up with the click of a button. Select a group and then just drag and drop files and folders onto the application window. Now, all you have to do is just click on the Backup toolbar button.

You have options of saving the selected backup group as a plain folder containing files and folders or a Zip archive. Additionally, you have options of protecting or not protecting a Zip archive with a password.

HomeSync 2 isn’t a regular file backup application. You can reserve seats for unknown files that don’t exist yet but you want to include in the future. When they are available, you can just replace these reserved seats with actual file items. So these reserved seats remind you that you need to include important files before clicking on the Backup button.  Continue reading →

YOKOHAMA (Señor Tomato) – I have been using a Silicon Power Stream S03 USB 3.2 1TB, an external 2.5-inch external hard disk drive for probably a decade or longer. To my dismay, my Mac mini stopped reading data from this HD on the 14th of this month. I have it store all my Xcode projects and sample Xcode projects. That really hurts. Is the data all gone? I thought it was. Wait, it’s one of the twin brothers. I have another HD from Silicon Power that I purchased right at the same time. So what if I take the HD out of the dead external device and put that HD in the good guy? A major issue was how do I crack-open these external HD cases? I’ve searched the Interent, but there are no videos or tutorials.  Continue reading →

YOKOHAMA (Señor Tomato) – Hot, hot, hot! The summer is here. It’s a scary thought that we have to endure this scorching heat for the next 60 days or so. I heard that it’s been quite hot in France and that some people have passed away because the French don’t use air conditioning.

Do you remember that Apple, Inc. used to have iTunes (.app) with which we could listen to streaming music from the Internet radio stations for free? Music (.app) replaced it in October, 2019. So there is no more free streaming music from the Internet radio.

Radio Crazy is a desktop application for which I only spent some 15 hours in developing. Radio Crazy lets you listen to streaming music from your favorite Internet radio stations. It supports several music genres, each of which is further divided into smaller groups. Select one. If you find an interesting station, click on the Play button to test-play it. Then click on the + button to save the station.

Some Internet radio stations broadcast the music title that they are currently playing. Radio Crazy will scroll it from right to left slowly. If you want to capture it, you can simply click on the Copy button.   Continue reading →

YOKOHAMA (Señor Tomato) – I don’t know when they started it, but Apple, Inc. allows us to upload a video to showcase our software. However, there are several specifications that our videos must meet. If you record a video on your iPhone or iPad while testing the app and then upload it as it is without changing anything, it won’t be accepted. To add to the insult, you will be forced to wait as long as an hour or two just to find out that they won’t accept the video you have uploaded. If you want to know why Apple, Inc makes video-showcasing software so difficult, help is on its way.

Mock Video is a desktop application for which I only spent 36 hours developing it. In fact, I am one of those who tried to upload a Preview Video at iTunes Connect back in March or April (2026) and ended up wasting my valuable time. Oh, yeah, I even took Gemini’s advice and used iMovie to create a Preview Video. But it didn’t work. So what makes me think that iTunes Connect will accept a video from this application? Just as shown in the lower row of the screenshot table below, I have been able to upload them for an iPhone app and a desktop application there successfully. And I have learned a lot of lessons while working on Quick Sub 2 and Quick Sub Mobile, which has given me a lot of confidence in developing Mock Video. At the very moment when I had the idea of developing this application, I was certain that I could do it although I never succeeded in uploading Preview Videos to iTunes Connect earlier.

Señor Tomato

Señor Tomato

Señor Tomato

Señor Tomato

Mock Video alleviates the cumbersome task of making your recorded video comply with Apple’s Preview Video specifications. All you have to do is drag and drop a video into the drop box, adjust the final duration, and then click on the Export toolbar button. Mock Video does an excellent job of exporting your final videos without distorting the original content while meeting the size specifications.

Mock Video doesn’t just support mobile phone models but all devices, including all tablet models, desktops, the TV device, and the Vision device. Moreover, you have the option of selecting the Portrait or Landscape orientation.   Continue reading →