Mugs and Mugs: A Grown-Up’s Guide to the Third Place

With age, I've come to realize that the third place that work for me are actually two places.  One would be the café, and the other the bar. Since I find that coffee and beer have become my go-to beverages when I want to relax. meet friends, do some writing, or just take my mind off whatever is bringing me down at the moment.

That is why I tend to prefer small-to-medium places, that play music that blends with the background when I'm there with friends, or just want to put on my headphones to listen to some of my favorite music. That it has WiFi is a big bonus, specially since I like to blog, stream music at times, or just watch some YouTube. Yet, consideres a bit of an option since I can use my smartphone as a hotspot, or I don't need it when I'm with friends or with coworkers.

My favorite cafés, and bars, tend to lend themselves to be places I can socialize or work in a more relaxed manner. Cozy in a way that helps to relaxed, and create a more friendly atmosphere depending on the situation.

The choice of going to a café, or a bar, is more dependent on if I'm going alone or with a friends, the time of the day, and my mood at the moment. As I said, coffee and beer are both my favorite drinks for some time off, do some work, and everything in-between. The weather may come into play, but more so when is hot. When is raining or a bit cold, either drink does a great job hitting the right spot when I need them to.

For now I can recommend Tierra Café, Magma Café, and La Flor de Cordoba. The first two are small cafés with a single location, while La Flor de Cordoba is more a mall chain that has managed to makes its locations feel friendly and cozy.

On the bar side of things, the one I can recommend and go regularly is Santas Alitas. They follow the franchise model, but they do well in making each location fit its surroundings. While all the locations feel cozy and relaxed, the main difference you find in each one it the music they play, and how the waiters serve. All are quite friendly, there are some minor difference depending on the main clientèle they serve at each location.

Other bars I also like, but stop going on regular basis because of the distance and opening hours is Over Wings and Games Bar, but are bars that I'd happily return if I have the chance. The same goes for DrünkenTap de Paseos del Sol, which is more of a craft beer spot, for those who like that type of beer.

At the end of the day, each will choose the third place that better suits their personal preferences. 

Finding the Perfect Remote Desktop Fit: Why RustDesk Beats AnyDesk for Me

After using AnyDesk for a couple of weeks, it didn't fit my needs. The license for the features I need is just to expensive. So, after a some research I moved to RustDesk, and it got all I need.

RustDesk is easy to use, and with a cleaner user interface that allows me to use it effectively. The best thing, is that my use of RustDesk means I don't have to buy a license since I don't need the features that come with it. As such, in both pricing and feature set RustDesk is a far better fit.

After a week of using RustDesk daily, I can say it is quite a good option. For me, the fact that it is open-source software, and it works on Linux Mint, RustDesk the more attractive option. Specially since I prefer to avoid proprietary software when there is an open-source option that works at least as well.

Honestly, RustDesk and Remmina have become my remote desktop apps of choice.  While their use cases are a bit different, I would choose any of them depending on what I need to do. In the case of RustDesk, that is works on Windows and macOS too gives it an edge for me over the apps of the competition. 

The Cozy Side of Linux: How Steam and Linux Mint Brought Back My Gaming Hobby

If you told me five years ago I'd be playing video games via Steam on Linux Mint, on the daily basis I wouldn't have believed you.

Currently I play Palia, and from time to time I also play Sword of Convallaria. Both run rather smoothly on Linux Mint, so much so that Palia has become my cozy place to relax, and just forget about the world for a while. While there has been some hip cups along the way, the experience has been mostly positive, and getting better with each update of Steam on Linux.

So much so, that there have been days when I've lost track of time while playing. Honestly, if I could do anything to improve the gaming experience I have, it would be to add more RAM to my laptop just to give myself a wider margin in RAM usage during my gaming sessions while playing Palia, since is the game that seems to need a bigger RAM overhead.

As such, there are a lot of games on Steam than 16 GB of RAM would be more than enough, just as they would need on Windows. So, at the end comes to what each gamer actually needs to run the games they want without issues.

I didn't need much more reasons to stay on Linux Mint, but now that gaming on Linux Mint is actually doable easily is makes staying that much easier.

The Linux Mint development team has made strides on making the OS better with time, and now that they have made the choice take a longer development time to actually release an update with all the updates they want to make in a polished manner, makes for a better choice for an OS for more users.

Linux Mint is truly an user focused Linux distro. 

Locked In: The Frustration of Limited Data Export in Laundromat Management

One of the most helpful features that out current ERP(enterprise resource planning) system lacks, is the possibility to export anything other that the sales out of the system to a be able to work with the info with other software. Even the features to work with the info within the system is limited to basic things like adding, editing, or erasing data from the builtin databases.

Which limits its usefulness, since you can't use the data in the system to do things like calculate costs, or work with pricing, easily. Coming from ERP systems that had these features, this feels quite limiting.

Not that is makes it a bad system per se, it just feels that it still has more potential to give to make laundromat management a lot easier. A good thing it has for example, is that as admin I can be working on the databases changing, or adding, items without getting in the way of our operations team by having them change users every time something like that needs to be work on. Though it would be better, if could do it by being able to access just the database remotely without having to access the computer directly via a remote desktop application.

Using our system when you only have one location, is a solid 8/10 since it has almost all what one needs to manage a laundromat. It lacks some features that would greatly improve the ease of management, but as it is a set forward of having to do it by hand, or apps that aren't meant for the task.

Yet, since we have plans to expand our to other locations it time, it starts to became less useful for such management. 

Software Is No Longer an "Afterthought" in Traditional Brick-and-Mortar

I've noticed that the people who should at least understand how software licenses work, and how that impacts the they own or distribute, don't understand how it works or impacts their business.

Currently, I'm in the process of setting up a laundromat, and as part of the set up the people who are setting it up bundle the app that helps running it. As such, a member of the management team wanted to know if could install the app on as many computers of the management team as we wanted, or if the license of the app had any restrictions on it. To which the person doing the setup didn't know, or had an answer.

Which is important, because we have plans to expand to other locations around the city in time. And knowing if we could just keep using the app without paying for each install come into play, since the license isn't all that cheap. Which is not a problem, since it works, and it seems that we could work with the developer to add functionalities to the app to better work with how we want it to work for us. Like being able to connect remotely  without the use of remote access tools like TeamViewer, and add more reports to help with other the administration of the laundromat.

With the app being such an import aspect to the administration of the laundromat they sell their service to setup, it would seem that knowing how the licensing works on the app the bundle it would be a lot more important for them. I can understand that they wouldn't have deep know how on the development side of it, but at least they should know details like if you could install it on more computers as needed.

It could be argued that not that many people who are setting laundromats know, or care, about how the app is licensed. Yet, with such apps becoming much more important to help owners manage their laundromat, and the chance for expansion, such knowledge is becoming far more important.

To be honest, I'm seeing a business opportunity for an app that simplifies not only the laundromat operation, but also it's management in the same app for owners, or managers, who run only one to a dozen. Specially with the younger ones who are already used to using computers, and smartphones, to help them do so.

For know, I'll be focusing on first making the laundromat work. After that,  developing the app along side the needs of the laundromat, or the expansion to more locations, would be more interesting.

The Case for the "Micro-ERP": Why Small Businesses Need Better Integration.

Finding apps that cover all aspects of the administrations of micro, and small, businesses, is something that proves to be hard and expensive to do. Shopping around apps for a laundromat has revealed that apps that are affordable focus to much on the operational side of things, and leave out the administrative side.

Most give allow to manage sales, and what is in stock, but when you want to know how the stock is used or accounting for the period directly from the app it can’t be done. Managing the operation is easy, but managing the administration is something that the apps can’t help you with. Which is strange, since that is something businesses of all sizes need to do, and being able to do so from the app you use on daily basis would make it more easy to manage.

The worst part, is that the ones that have the option are far too expensive for a micro, or small, business to pay. While doing the administration on other apps is doable, using the same app for all the needs of the business would make the app a lot more useful and effective.

What I wonder now, is why I don’t see such integration. The two main reasons I see, are that micro and small businesses aren’t asking for it, or what developers need to add those features isn’t there. Or it could be a mix of both, that in some sectors users aren’t asking for those features, so developers don’t look into them.

Coming from being on the administrative side of thing on a medium size business, I might have different expectations on the tools that these kind of apps need to have to help businesses reach their goals. Yet, I’m sure that development of these features for micro, and small, businesses is doable. Not only that, is something that would make those kind of businesses more resilient.

Another feature I’d like to see on those apps for micro,and small businesses, is the ability of users to use the app remotely and without interfering with the day to day operations. The way most developers expect remote access is not one that helps with this.

To be honest, that these apps are available for micro, and small businesses, is a huge step forward. Yet, there is still a lot of development room to make those apps even more useful, and valuable, for those businesses.

Escaping Google’s Influence: A Review of the Zen Browser

I've been using the Zen browser for a couple of months now, and it is quite a great web browser. Before using Zen, I used Firefox for well over a decade and never imagined that I'd make the jump to other browser in that time.

Specially since I prefer open source apps, and most browsers out there are proprietary or heavily based on Chrome tech. While I used Android, Gmail, and Google Maps, I prefer my browser to be out of Google's influence. So, Zen being based on Firefox made it a good choice for me to at least give it a try.

To be honest, it took a really short time to make Zen my favorite web browser. Mainly because of two things, it is easy to easy to use, and I can use my Mozilla account with it. After a decade using Firefox, being able to use my Mozilla account made it a lot easier to make the jump, since all my history of use and other things came along to Zen without a problem. So much so, that I've been using Zen as I'd use Firefox from day one, with some minor adjustments that actually have made my web browsing that much easier.

So much so, that the only two web browsers I'd recommend are Zen and Firefox. Both work great on Windows and Linux, so they are some of the few apps I can recommend for users who use any of those OSes. I've personally used them on both, and they work the same, making them a no brainier to recommend.

If you are a Firefox user that is frustrated where it is going, or want a web browser that feels more modern that uses the same core tech, Zen is what you are looking for. The same if you want a modern web browser that uses none of Google's stuff under the hood.

At long last, there is and option to Google's dominance on the web browser arena-