Focused 67: Staying Motivated with Laura McClellan

On this week’s episode of Focused, Laura McClellan, the Productive Woman, joins Mike and me to talk about her perfectly scheduled day (and what happens when that goes wrong), habits, mastermind groups, and staying motivated.

This episode of Focused is sponsored by:

FreshBooks: Online invoicing made easy.
Hover: Extensions for anything you’re passionate about. Get 10% off any domain name.
Squarespace: Make your next move. Enter offer code FOCUSED at checkout to get 10% off your first purchase.

Automators 17: Travel Automation

The most recent episode of Automators is a fun one. We recorded it live on stage at PodCon with a very enthusiastic audience. In the show, we took the opportunity to dive into some of their travel automation setups. Once back in the studio we then caught up with some automator based feedback.

Upgrade on Apple Video

This afternoon I listened to the most recent episode of Upgrade. If you have further interest in the Apple Video service and the expected March Apple Video service keynote, this is a good listen.

Thoughts on the Apple Video Service

Occasionally, Apple surprises us with a new product that we had no clue was coming. That is not the case with the soon-to-be-released Apple video service, which I’ll call “Apple Video”. For at least a year now it has been an open secret that Apple is hiring entertainment executives and making deals for the independent production of new content for Apple Video.

If the rumor sites are to be believed, they’ve made deals for science fiction shows, comedies, children’s shows, and just about everything else. It appears as if Apple wants to hit the ground running with a wide assortment of original programming.

With the rise of cord cutters and some of the fantastic original program we’ve seen from nontraditional media companies, like Netflix and HBO, there appears to be a bit of a gold rush with entertainment companies vying for your monthly subscription dollars. In addition to Netflix and HBO, CBS has a service (that you need to get the new Star Trek series), Hulu has been after your monthly subscription for years, and several new contenders are entering the field.

Disney has announced that they will be launching their subscription-based content channel this year. Disney has been maneuvering for this launch now for years, and they have a lot of pieces in place. They have Disney content, Pixar, Marvel, and my beloved Star Wars. Disney will get my subscription just based on the planned live-action Star Wars series. Besides, Disney has years of back catalog from these sources that they can use to fill programming, and they’ve recently also bought big chunks of the Fox catalog.

In contrast, Apple doesn’t have anything in terms of back catalog. While there are many rumors of deals for new content, there have been very few rumors of them licensing the existing content to put on their new channel. Looking at it in terms of sheer volume, the Disney service looks to eclipse whatever Apple can offer.

That got me thinking about whether or not Apple Video can succeed. No matter how good the original programming, there won’t be that much of it and consumers are not going to be excited about paying a monthly fee for just a few shows. While there is a gold rush right now for networks and entertainment companies to get your monthly subscription dollars, eventually I expect there to be a reckoning and there’s no certainty that Apple will survive that. Netflix has been hammering away at creating additional content for years, and Apple is just getting in the game. Disney has an impressive amount of existing content and Apple has none (or very little). As much as I like Apple hardware, they are not guaranteed to get my money for their video content unless they can make a compelling case.

I am not predicting that Apple Video is doomed. It just seems to me that they are facing an uphill battle. Indeed the lack of original programming to kick the service off makes me think they may take a different approach. Maybe they won’t immediately want $10 a month from you but instead, merely give you the programming as part of an Apple music subscription or some rebranded Apple entertainment service that includes both music and video. Or perhaps they will offer it at a drastically reduced amount while the service builds up programming. If, however, people are expecting Apple to get massive numbers of subscribers at $10 a month with limited new content and no old content, they may be surprised.

Mac Power Users 470: From Computing to Sheep Farming, with Oogie McGuire

Programmer and sheep farmer Oogie McGuire joins us on this week’s episode of Mac Power Users. She talks about LambTracker, her application for managing flocks and the hardware that goes along with it, as well as her ongoing project of digitizing historical photos.

This episode of Mac Power Users is sponsored by:

CleanMyMac X: The all-in-one package to awesomize your Mac.
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: 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.

More OmniFocus Perspective Icons

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Speaking of OmniFocus … if you like the built-in OmniFocus design aesthetic but wish there were more options today’s your lucky day. Josh Hughes has an excellent set of graphics for use as OmniFocus perspectives that fit right in.

Improved AppleScript to Automatically Insert Recipient’s Name in Apple Mail using TextExpander

Years ago I published an AppleScript that allows you to automatically insert a recipient’s name to an email using TextExpander on your Mac. This is a cool trick because when you use it, you never get a person’s name wrong when replying to them.

Reader Greg (Twitter) wrote to me about the script a while back. One of the flaws with my script was that if the email was written in a way that listed the recipients last name first (e.g., Sparks, David), the script didn’t work correctly. As I wrote it, the script required the person’s first name to be listed first.

Greg broke out his AppleScript editor and made a few changes. The new version is below:

tell application "System Events"
    tell process "Mail"
        tell text field "To:" of window 1
            if UI element 1 exists then
                set theToRecipient to (value of UI element 1)
                if ((count words of theToRecipient) is greater than 0) and (theToRecipient does not contain ",") then
                    return word 1 of theToRecipient
                else if ((count words of theToRecipient) is greater than 0) and (theToRecipient contains ",") then
                    return word 2 of theToRecipient
                end if
            end if
        end tell
    end tell
end tell

The new version looks at the number of words and looks for a comma. If it finds a comma, it uses the second word as the recipient’s first name. In hindsight, this little addition is obvious. Nevertheless, Greg was kind enough to share this with the rest of the Internet and me through this post. You can download the script file right here.

To implement this, create a TextExpander snippet that runs as an AppleScript and includes this script.

You can see my shortcut phrase is “xmm” (x name in my head) but I never trigger it with that phrase. Instead I embed it in other snippets with different salutations.For instance, to start it with “Hello” and a comma after the name, you would make it look like this.

If you want to have a less formal one starting with just “Hi”, it would look like this.

I’ve run the whole board with versions for “Hey” and “Dear” as well. You can download the TextExpander snippet group, including the script, with this link.

If you have TextExpander and use Apple Mail, I recommend trying this out. I use these scripts with nearly every email I write on my Mac. I love that it got just a little bit smarter with Greg’s tweak. Take the time to set this up. You will not regret it. Also, if you’re on Twitter, tell Greg “thanks”.

AirBuddy for Using AirPods on Your Mac

Guilherme Rambo, the gent who keeps finding scoops for 9to5Mac with some very clever sleuthing, recently published a simple app to make using AirPods with your Mac easier called AirBuddy. Once installed, it keeps an eye out for your AirPods. When you open them AirPods case you get a little animation that looks very familiar to what you see on iOS.

Screen Shot 2019-02-12 at 3.09.20 PM.png

AirBuddy can also add a widget to your Mac’s sidebar that will give you easy access to battery status.

(It’s a good thing my iMac has a 100% battery.)

That’s really about it. Guillermo is using a choose your own price model with a recommended price of $5. That makes it an easy purchase.

Mac Power Users 469: Running a Business with G Suite

With G Suite, Google offers paid versions of its free web apps and services. On this week’s episode of Mac Power Users, Stephen and I discuss our usage of these tools and how G Suite compares to other solutions available to individuals and small businesses.

This episode of Mac Power Users is sponsored by:

The Omni Group: We’re passionate about productivity for Mac, iPhone, and iPad.
SaneBox: Stop drowning in email!
Squarespace: Make your next move. Enter offer code MPU at checkout to get 10% off your first purchase.
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.