I recently joined my pal Chuck Joiner on his MacVoices podcast to talk about my recent field guide releases and the big switch to video. In addition to being a staple of Macintosh podcasting, Chuck is a longtime friend and I had a lot of fun checking in with him.
A surprising number of people wrote in to ask how I made UI elements appear orange in the OmniFocus Field Guide. It wasn’t a bit of clever hacking but instead a cool new feature in macOS Mojave. Watch the short video below to see how it works.
This week MacSparky is sponsored by PowerPhotos. There is a lot to like about Apple Photos on your Mac, but if you use it for any length of time, you’ll also realize the app is missing a lot of the tools you need to truly manage your large photo library.
That’s where PowerPhotos comes in. If you have photos scattered across multiple libraries that you want to merge together, have a library that you want to split up because it’s gotten too large, or want to get rid of duplicate photos, PowerPhotos can help you get your photo collection back in order.
PowerPhotos gives Apple Photos the tools it needs, but Apple didn’t provide. With PowerPhotos, you can work with multiple Photos libraries and store them wherever you want, including on an external drive or a network drive. You can also split up your giant library into smaller ones by copying photos and albums with a simple drag and drop, preserving metadata such as descriptions and keywords along the way. Or, if you already have multiple libraries, use PowerPhotos to merge them while weeding out duplicates along the way. PowerPhotos also features a powerful duplicate photo finder, a browser to let you see your photos without even opening up Photos itself, a multi-library search feature, and more.
PowerPhotos also has full support for dark mode on the recently released macOS Mojave.
You may recall an app from the iPhoto days called iPhoto Library Manager that gave you a similar set of tools. PowerPhotos is by the same developer, and it’s just as reliable.
So go check out PowerPhotos today. Best of all, MacSparky readers get a 20% discount. Just use the code MACSPARKY18 at check out.
Last week Pixelmator Pro released a new version, 1.2, including full support for macOS Mojave. As a pro app, Pixelmator Pro has always had a dark mode. So with macOS Mojave, they’ve tweaked the dark appearance and released a new light appearance. That way whether you’re running your Mac in dark or light mode, Pixelmator will fit right in.
What is most interesting to me about this new version is reliance on machine learning for photo optimization. For years I’ve been fiddling with the buttons and dials in photo applications to try and make my pictures look better. But I’m just a little better than a monkey when it comes to fine-tuning images. With Pixelmator Pro, the developer has been using machine learning, having the application look at professional photos, so the application can better understand what makes a good photo and automatically tune your pictures for you. With the latest version, they have a machine learning algorithm trained on millions of professional photos. There’s a video explaining how it works below. Between the iPhone and Pixelmator, the robots are making my picture look better than ever before.
On this week’s Mac Power Users episode, Katie and I run down 30 of our favorite apps and services that are under $30.
This episode of Mac Power Users is sponsored by:
Luna Display: The only hardware solution that turns your iPad into a wireless display for your Mac. Use promo code POWER at checkout for 10% off.
TextExpander from Smile: Type more with less effort! Expand short abbreviations into longer bits of text, even fill-ins, with TextExpander from Smile.
1Password: Have you ever forgotten a password? Now you don’t have to worry about that anymore. Save up to 20% using this link.
The Omni Group: We’re passionate about productivity for Mac, iPhone and iPad.
This week MacSparky is sponsored by OmniFocus 3 for Mac. This new version of OmniFocus is a winner. The Omni Group has been hard at work on this new version for some time, and they deliver the goods.
The new version features a unique design that makes smart, useful changes without making change for the sake of change itself. Moreover, they’ve added several useful features of the application, my favorite of which is tags. Adding tags OmniFocus gives you the ability to have multiple vectors to get into your OmniFocus database and find exactly what you need precisely when you need it. I even wrote an article about how I’m using tags for the Omni Group’s website.
I use OmniFocus every day to keep my life together. There is no way I could run a law practice, video business, three podcasts, and be a dad without the powerful tools that OmniFocus gives me. Why not check it out for yourself? Head over to the OmniFocus website and download the free trial. Make sure to let them know you heard about it here at MacSparky.com
Podcaster and programmer Joe Buhlig shares his free agent journey, from bean field to office to family room. Listen to this week’s episode of Free Agents to hear Mike talk about his experience solving problems, how to let things go, and finding your own definition of success.
This episode of Free Agents is sponsored by:
Timing: The automatic time-tracking app for macOS. Use this link to save 10% on your purchase. Check out the Timing blog for articles for independent workers.
Squarespace: Make your next move. Enter offer code FREEAGENTS at checkout to get 10% off your first purchase.
One big change with Mojave was Apple’s tightening up of the mail plugin mechanism. As a result mail plug-in makers have been hard at work bringing their products in line with the new security protocols. Today SmallCubed, makers of MailTags and Mail Act-On released the beta of its new product, MailSuite, a combination of all of its Apple Mail plugins in one, new product. It is still in beta but I’ve been running it this afternoon with no problems. I’ll be happy when it gets released.
While I’ve toyed with the idea of tagging email, it kind of falls apart when you get to iOS and don’t see your tags. Mail Act-On however, is an absolute beast when used in conjunction with SaneBox to move mail messages (or groups of mail messages) into mailboxes – including deferred email folders – via keyboard shortcut. Mail Act-On also has the ability to delay-send emails, which just might save your bacon one day.
Ken Case of the Omni Group, Greg Scown of Smile, and Dave Teare of AgileBits join Katie and me on this week’s episode of Mac Power Users to talk about the state of development for Mac and iOS and life as an Apple developer.
This episode of Mac Power Users is sponsored by:
Fujitsu ScanSnap: ScanSnap helps you live a more productive, efficient, paperless life.
SaneBox: Stop drowning in email!
Squarespace: Make your next move. Enter offer code MPU at checkout to get 10% off your first purchase.
FreshBooks: Online invoicing made easy.
The latest episode of the Automators is up and it’s all about file automation. Okay. Admittedly file automation is not the sexiest topic we could cover on Automators but we all file documents every day and a little automation here could go a long way. In this episode we cover file automation on both the Mac and iOS.
The Mac still reigns supreme as the place to manage files. Not only is the Finder more versatile than the iOS files app, we also have tools like Hazel and Keyboard Maestro to make dealing with files even easier. I wax poetic in this episode about Hazel and Rose talks about some clever Keyboard Maestro tricks to rename groups of files. She even made a screencast.
Eventually, we do get around to iOS and using some clever tricks in Siri Shortcuts on the front end, and Hazel on the back end, we sort out some pretty useful file automation tricks for your iPhone and iPad. I made a screencast on that.
Are you subscribed to Automators? If not, you should. It’s a great way to get better at making your devices work for you and have a little fun along the way.
