In this episode of Automators, Rosemary and I are joined by Kelly Guimont and dive into getting started with automation, fun seasonal lighting, and the trouble with tribbles, er HomePod mini multiplication.
This episode of Automators is sponsored by:
LinkedIn Jobs: Post a job for free by visiting this link.
Hunter Douglas: Take advantage of Hunter Douglas’ ‘Season of Style’ rebate savings event – until December 6, 2021.
Hover: Make a name for yourself. Get 10% off any domain name.
This week MacSparky is sponsored by the Timing App, the time tracking app that tracks time for you automatically. It’s that “automatic” part you should really pay attention to. Because I do so much work at my Mac these days, I’ve been using Timing and it is really nice being able to have the application keep track of exactly how long I spent in this Word document or on that Website. It makes my time tracking data so much easier (and more accurate).
Also, the app recently got a new “Activities” screen which gives you everything you need to know including App usage and project time spent. Other new improvements include the ability to start and stop timers right inside the app and growing support for automation. For instance, I’m working on a Shortcut that will call out to the Timing web API and automatically start and stop timers from my iPhone and iPad. (It’s still a bit ugly but I’ll share it here soon.) If you’re curious, you can get started with Timing’s web app to track time from anywhere, and combine that with Timing’s sample Siri shortcuts to start and stop timers as quickly as possible.
If you want simple, accurate time tracking data and you work on a Mac, look no further. You can download the free 14-day trial today and get 10% off for the first year.
I’ve longed talked about Hazel being one of the best tools available to automate using your Mac. Noodlesoft, the makers of Hazel, have released an update with Hazel 5.1, which now supports macOS Monterey. Features include:
New “Run Shortcut” action to run Shortcuts workflows on Monterey.
AppleScriptable: You can use AppleScript to control Hazel’s run status as well as the active status of any rules.
Support for newer modes of SFTP for the “Upload” action.
Various fixes and other improvements.
If you purchased Hazel 5, the update is free. If you’re running version 4 or earlier, the upgrade is $20.
I’m excited to be joining Michael St. Pierre for the upcoming Nonprofit Productivity Summit, which is from December 7-9, 2021. Other guests include Mike Vardy, a past guest of Mac Power Users and Focused (back when it was Free Agents), and the father of Getting Things Done (GTD), David Allen, a past guest on the Mac Power Users. If you’re interested in learning more about how to be productive, reserve a spot today and join us. It’s free and virtual.
I’ve been using FastScripts for years to run AppleScripts, and it’s just released a major update. FastScripts 3.0 has got:
Parallel script execution: no more waiting for long tasks before starting another.
ScriptLight menu searching: quickly see a summary of matchings scripts in your script library.
Script progress feedback: If there’s something wonky going on, this makes it easy to help me decide if I want to stop a script.
FastScripts 3 is free to use, but the premium features are disabled. If you’re an existing user who wants to upgrade a paid license for FastScripts 2, the price is $19.95 (free for those who purchased it on or after January 1, 2021). For automation and keyboard shortcuts ninjas who want to use the premium features, you can purchase FastScripts 3 for $39.95. My congratulations to Red Sweater on this new release.
I’ve chosen Obsidian as PKM weapon-of-choice, but that doesn’t take anything away from the strides made by the Craft team during the App’s first year.
Craft now supports inline Markdown, backlinks, code snippets, images, videos, attaching PDF files, and rich link previews. With Craft, you can nest notes within notes and create your own structure so you can group and organize your thoughts and notes in a way that makes sense to you, and you can easily create links and connections between pages. Craft also makes sharing and exporting your docs and notes easy by simply sharing a link or working with others in real time.
While Obsidian is evolving faster, thanks to the third party plugin architecture, Craft is much more of a native-app experience on Mac, iPad, and iPhone. I know a lot of readers prefer Craft over Obsidian for this reason and I completely get that.
I’m so happy to see that this notes revolution we’re going through has multiple good options. My congratulations to Craft on their first anniversary.
Believe it or not, it is time for the annual MPU Holiday Gift Guide. Listen here.
This episode of Mac Power Users is sponsored by:
TextExpander from Smile: Get 20% off with this link and type more with less effort! Expand short abbreviations into longer bits of text, even fill-ins, with TextExpander from Smile.
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I’ve been suffering from a creeping case of tinnitus over the years. My left ear rings at a minor third to my right ear. I’ve gotten used to it, but I notice it a lot more often in silent rooms.
So I’ve become a fan of ambient noise. One version of that is the extensive list of ambient videos on YouTube. You can find them in Yoda’s hut, at Hogwarts in the rain, or even on a beautiful hike. Recently, I decided to make my own at Disneyland, of the Millennium Falcon. So my friend Liana Lehua and I showed up at Disneyland one Sunday morning with our fancy cameras. We shot several long videos of different angles of the Millenium Falcon. There is no music, just the ambient sounds of Disneyland and the Batuu spaceport.
This one is scratching my own itch, but I love it. If you’d like some noise on in the background along with a pleasant video, check this out. You’ll even see a few cameos from Liana, Daisy, and myself. We’re thinking about making more if people like this one.
Many folks have written me to explain that they don’t use Obsidian because there is no live preview of the Markdown syntax.
The Obsidian team is now firmly in the process of knocking that particular domino over. I’ve been using it only a short while, and it works as expected. You type Markdown syntax in, and Obsidian renders it as rich text (including links). I’m happy they’ve added this feature, though I expect I’ll still be doing most of my writing in Obsidian in plain Markdown text. The beta live preview mode is now available for Obsidian Catalyst supporters. It’s only a question of time before everyone gets it.
Obsidian sans markdown text
This week MacSparky is sponsored by Daylite, which also sponsored this week’s Focus Mode webinar. Daylite has been the definitive CRM solution on the Mac for a long time. While most CRMs these days rely on a boring, uninspired web interface, Daylite has native apps for the Mac, iPhone, and iPad, taking full advantage of all the Apple APIs. At the same time, Daylite uses the latest cloud syncing technology to give you your data wherever you need it. It’s like combining peanut butter with chocolate.
Of course Daylite already has support for Apple’s Focus Mode, including setting up Daylite notifications as time-sensitive. You can learn more about Daylite and Focus Mode right here. There is no reason your CRM shouldn’t give you that native app feel and feature list. Just head over to Daylite and check it out.
