For several years now Hoban Cards has sponsored MacSparky. I love Hoban as a sponsor because I’ve always wanted to make this site about discriminating content and products and Hoban fits the bill perfectly.

They’ve proven it once again with the third iteration of the Hoban Cards website. As always Hoban Cards give you a way to minimize the cost of letterpress printing while still getting something beautiful. The website is better than ever and there are some new templates to choose from. (I like “The Requisite Card”, pictured above.) They’ve also got some gorgeous Stationery, again reasonably priced.

If you want to do something even more unique, head over to Hoban Press and Evan will help you make something beautiful. Regardless of which route you take, use the discount code “MacSparky” for $10 off. Thanks again Hoban for sponsoring MacSparky.

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This week MacSparky is sponsored by OmniPlan 3 for the Mac

It has been four years since the last major update to OmniPlan and the recent release of version 3 is a doozy. OmniPlan brings the usual level of Omni-style attention to detail to a project planning application. 

Like versions before, you can easily set up an outline and turn it into a Gantt chart. I use this with project planning in my day job and share the charts with clients. It lets everyone know when to expect things to start happening. As with every other Omni Group productivity application, everything looks gorgeous.

The new version includes a substantial number of brand new power features starting with network diagrams, which do a fine job of pushing my nerd buttons. With the network diagram, you can see the visual flow of your project and make connections and adjustments.

With the Pro version you get a multi-project dashboard that lets you track now only one but many projects going on in your company at the same time. The Pro version also has a reports feature that lets you see where things are working and not working. They’ve also added Monte Carlo simulation, which lets you run your project through different scenarios to see how it impacts the project outcome. It’s powerful stuff and it’s now in OmniPlan 3 for the Mac.

I’ve been using OmniPlan for some time and am going to start covering it in more detail here to explain where I can make it work for me. Learn more at the OmniPlan website. 

This week MacSparky is sponsored by inShort. inShort is a project diagramming and planning tool that wears big-boy pants. Using inShort, available for Mac, iPad, and iPhone, you can build a diagram of processes and resources and then see that diagram with as much (or as little) detail as necessary. You can then continue to use that diagram as you track through that project and even view your data as a Gantt chart and integrate deadlines with the Calendar.

There’s so much more you can do with inShort so head over to the website now and check it out. That’s not all though. This week I’ve got some inShort for Mac licenses to give away. I’m going to hand out the codes randomly. To enter, send an email to this address with the words “inShort FTW” in the subject line.

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I’m pleased to have Hoban Press back sponsoring MacSparky.com this week. I’ve heard from many readers that love their new Hoban Cards pressed out of Hoban’s 1902 letterpress machine. I sure love mine. Since Hoban Press first started advertising here, its proprietor, Evan Calkins, was able to leave his day job and is now working full time at his passion of creating beautiful letterpress paper products. There are several categories of Hoban Press products available to you.

HOBAN PRESS

Hoban Press specializes in custom letterpress printed items like wedding invites, custom business cards and stationery. This is the best choice if you need to use your own logo or artwork. They also provide design and layout services.

HOBAN CARDS

Hoban Cards specializes in in minimal calling cards. This is a less expensive way to get into letterpress printing. Pick from among beautiful, typographic calling card templates. These are perfect for individuals or businesses looking for a unique and classy alternative to conventional, mass produced, soulless business cards.

There is no doubt I’m a geek but I have to admit I really love handing out letterpress cards. Use ‘MacSparky’ during checkout to receive free shipping.

If you have a unique product or service you’d like to advertise at MacSparky, let me know.

This week I’m pleased to welcome back Automatic as a MacSparky sponsor. Automatic is a device  that plugs into your car’s OBD-II port. (Just about every car made since 1996 has one.) The Automatic then has access to your vehicle’s data and connects via BlueTooth to your iPhone. It gives you tons of data and new and geeky ways to interact with your car. Just a few of the things you can do with Automatic are:

• Get extremely accurate data about fuel efficiency, trip distance, gas used, and other performance metrics.
• Get notifications when your car’s fuel level is getting low.
• Get explanations of any alarms or other events your car reports. No longer do you need to visit a mechanic when you get a cryptic light on your dashboard.
• Detect when the vehicle has been in a significant accident and call you, your loved ones, and emergency support.
• Get driving feedback when you are accelerating too fast, braking too hard, and otherwise doing silly things behind the wheel.

Automatic truly lets you geek out your ride. One of my frequent uses is to keep track of mileage for my work. When I finish any trip in my car, Automatic gives me a notification to mark the trip as work-related. (The notification even displays on my Apple Watch.) If I tap the button, Automatic flags the trip and I can view it through the free Automatic App or on the web. I liked it so much that I bought two more for my wife and daughter’s cars. Having automatic in their cars gives me a notification if any of the car’s sensors go off and also gets me a phone call if they are in an accident.

There is no subscription fee. Once you buy your Automatic, you’re good to go. Moreover, they are giving 20% off to MacSparky readers. Use this link and the usual price of $100 drops to $80. I use my Automatic every time I step in my car. I bet you would too.

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This week I’m pleased to welcome a new sponsor to MacSparky, HoudahSpot. Imagine if there were a group of engineers at Apple that wanted to turn up the Spotlight search a notch or two and had nobody in management to tell them “no”. That’s what you get with HoudahSpot. 

HoudahSpot lets you search your Mac like a boss. It improves upon Spotlight to let you find files by multiple criteria, like name, text, content kind, author, recipient, and pixel count just to name a few. You can combine these search criteria to drill in quickly and choose which locations HoudahSpot looks in and which locations it ignores. You can even set up templates for repeat searches.

I’ve used HoudahSpot for years and if you haven’t tried it yet, you should. Here’s a quick war story. In a recent trial I had things go a little bit wonky with some PDFs I wanted to use as exhibits. I suddenly found myself with a “needle in the haystack” scenario with 10 minutes to find the documents. I knew they were there …somewhere… and I cooked up a quick HoudahSpot query that found them with time to spare.

Anyway, don’t take my word for it, go try out the app. If you like it you can get 20% off with the coupon code MACSPARKY or purchase through this link. There’s no better way to search your Mac.

This week MacSparky.com is sponsored by inShort, an iPhone/iPad/Mac application that lets you plan projects and processes graphically across all of your Apple devices. InShort for Mac just got a significant updated adding several new features including: 

• Data synchronization using iCloud (The iOS version also now synchronizes data via iCloud)
• The ability to queue tasks and organize the work with active tasks in accordance with the elements of the GTD methodology
• Control lists for diagrams — giving you the ability to monitor the sequence of actions with the diagram step by step.

You can now order tasks in relation to specific projects and priorities. Once you complete a task, it disappears from the list. There are different ways to display the tasks including organization by active tasks, tasks under way, deferred tasks, and tasks waiting for other tasks to begin or finish or waiting for resources. 

This task integration is a significant upgrade to inShort and worth checking out. You can learn more and purchase that application through the website and learn more with the the application’s PDF documentation or user forum. Thanks inShort for sponsoring MacSparky.com.

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This week MacSparky is sponsored by inShort (website) (Mac App Store) (iOS App Store). inShort is an iPhone/iPad/Mac application that lets you plan projects and processes graphically across all of your Apple devices. This brings a new paradigm to process and project planning and is absolutely worth checking out. 

One of the more clever features is the way it allows you to embed processes and drill down to the level of detail you need at the moment. I like to think of this as “nested” flowcharts and I think it’s really smart. inShort is a great tool to sort out a process in your own mind and then explain it to others when you’re done. 

inShort is actually kind of hard to describe until you lay hands on it. The developer has most recently published a very quick guide to inShort that helps explain it better. The apps continue to get regular updates taking advantage of the newest iOS and Mac OS technologies. The new versions look great on iOS 8 and Yosemite. Want to learn more? Read the developer’s PDF. 

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