This is a web-based utility which accesses various information and displays it in a compact window on the screen. It is intended as a way to constantly show useful information which can be seen at a single glance, and uses very little screen real estate.

The information changes depending on what I might need, but includes weather, aurora forecasts, the state of the computer (free memory, CPU load, public IP address, etc), the status of my servers (checks that web sites, etc are running), and a lot of other stuff.

Some of the data is generated through shell scripts triggered through PHP and the remote data (weather, etc) comes from automatically downloaded web pages (using curl, mainly) followed by some complicated string processing to extract the information I want.

The importance of the data is indicated using variations in font style and colour, so if the CPU gets too hot (which it never does any more since I got an Apple Silicon Mac) the temperature will be displayed in bold red and flashing, which is usually enough to attract my attention!

I am currently (2026) not using this system because I am trying to get the information I need in various "widgets" in the menu bar instead, but I might get back to it in future if I decide to go with the "summary window" approach again.

My latest blog post: Think for Yourself: In the end, everything is just an opinion. Be skeptical, and think for yourself! (posted 2026-04-25).

My latest podcast: OJB's Podcast 2026-04-25 Think For Yourself.

If you're not sure what to view from my site, here are some suggestions: My Latest Airshow Report, My Favourite Wines and Beers, An Interesting Astronomical Observation, See Some Photos, Read Some Mac Tips.

Site News (Mobile): OJB's web site, v 2.4 which has major changes, and possibly errors! Please report anything to ojb@mac.com.