Fantastical 2.4 for Mac Gets Travel Time and More

Today Fantastical for Mac released a significant update with several new features:

  • You can now view, create, and edit attachments on iCloud and Exchange
  • Travel Time! Receive notifications when you need to leave to reach an event on time
  • Fantastical will now combine identical events that are on multiple calendars
  • Undo and redo got a lot more powerful

There are quite a few more new features. Indeed so many updates that I made a few videos for the Flexibits team showing off the new features. Below is the “What’s New” video. I’ve been running this update since its early betas, and it’s solid. Head over to Flexibits to learn more.

Get Your Thoughts Organized with OmniOutliner (Sponsor)


This week MacSparky is sponsored by OmniOutliner. OmniOutliner is the best outlining application for the Mac, iPad, and iPhone and it just keeps getting better. One of the things I love about purchasing software from the Omni Group is that they continue to make their various productivity applications work better together. Most recently we saw this in the additional features allowing you to import OmniOutliner outlines into OmniGraffle. You already look pretty great, but when you import them to OmniGraffle, they can look amazing. Once your outline is in OmniGraffle, you can even add to or reorganize your outline using OmniGraffle’s outline editor. You can learn more about combining your OmniOutliner outline with OmniGraffle at the excellent Omni Group Blog.

The ability to move your outline to a different app is just one of the many features you’ll find in OmniOutliner. OmniOutliner makes it easy to create complex and beautiful outlines on your Mac, iPad, and iPhone. They’ve got new business model for OmniOutliner that lets you get in with OmniOutliner essentials for the basics or the Pro version if you’re looking for the real power tools. Head over to the Omni Group today and check it out.

Game Recommendation: Monument Valley 2


IMG_0047.PNG

I had a little down time this week and wanted to play a game on my iPad. I settled on the recently released Monument Valley 2 from ustwo Games. I enjoyed this sequal even more than the orginal. Monument Valley 2 puts you in charge of guiding a mother and her daughter through a variety of optical illusion style puzzles. They get difficult towards later levels but are absolutely solvable on your own. There are no zombies or killers with machine guns. Just a mother and her daughter and some satisfying puzzles. I found the game a perfect way to relax and recommend it to you for this weekend.

The New Dash iPad Sleeve


I’ve been sporting this new 10.5” iPad for awhile (that I love) but I’ve not shared any details about my case. For several years now I’ve been using Waterfield bags and cases. It’s a San Francisco-based company that locally manufactures excellent bags for your Apple gear. With my prior iPad I used a one of their Dash sleeves and for this new one I went again with the Dash iPad Sleeves.

However, since I bought the last Dash sleeve, they’ve updated the design. The new Dash 2.0 design is pretty great. The sleeve is made just big enough to hold your iPad (or your iPad plus a Smart Keyboard). The iPad slides in to a soft fabric with foam backing to protect you iPad. The exterior is either ballistic nylon or a rugged textile. I’ve been romping around Hawaii this week where it rains often and I discovered the fabric is water resistant. The Dash Sleeve comes in several colors including black ballistic nylon and blue, green, grey, and red fabric.

Like the prior Dash sleeve, there is a simple bit of elastic on one side that you can pull over the top to secure your iPad in the sleeve. New to version 2.0 is a zippered pocket to securely add a few accessories. The pocket is tall enough to hold an Apple Pencil and there’s even a little slot inside the zippered compartment to hold the Pencil. Once you stow your Pencil in the slot and zip up the compartment, it’s not going anywhere. The compartment is also big enough to hold my plus-sized iPhone

I really like the updated Waterfield Dash 2.0 iPad Sleeve. It’s both attractive and protective enough to carry your iPad around without any other case. I often use it as my sole case as I move around my day living the iPad lifestyle. At the same time, the Dash Sleeve is small enough that it easily fits in my breifcase or backpack so I can throw my Dash-protected iPad in with other gear without worrying about it getting damaged.

I was first attracted to the Waterfield products when I saw friends carrying them at Macworld Expo years ago. Their products are great looking but also built to last. Waterfield bags I bought years ago are still in great condition and getting used everyday. I expect this new Dash Sleeve will be no different and taking care of my iPad Pro for a long time to come.

IMG_2528.jpg
IMG_2546.jpg
IMG_2531.jpg
IMG_2532.jpg
IMG_2535.jpg
IMG_2540.jpg
IMG_2548.jpg

Productivity Apps and Subscription Pricing

Day One, the best diary app for iOS and Mac is transitioning to a subscription model and they are taking a beating for it. Gabe Weatherhead wrote a post about this and I agree with every word.

I spoke with a developer friend that makes legal-related apps. He explained the transition of his app to a subscription model as a last resort to keep the lights on but also “the worst two months of my life”. This new app economy has been particularly rough on quality productivity apps. Those apps take a lot of time and attention to do right while at the same time consumers are not used to paying subscriptions for them. Nevertheless, that is probably the best model available to them at this point.

My fear, as someone who really likes quality productivity apps is that all this will end up driving productivity apps out of business.

Being friends with (and representing) app developers for years, I can tell you this also has had a chilling effect on productivity app development. I know several app developers that had a great idea for a productivity app but didn’t pursue it because it’s “too hard to make money” in that space.

The traditional model for productivity apps was the upgrade price, where developers released a new version every year or so and everyone paid a reduced fee upgrade price. I know the App Store has made improvements over the last few years but, having zero inside knowledge, I can’t help but feel we will never see upgrade pricing in the App Store. In the meantime expect more quality apps to go to the subscription model and, if they are apps you love (or even like), I’d encourage you to support them through the transition.

Forces of Destiny Focuses on Girl Power in Star Wars

Starting this week Lucasfilm is releasing Star Wars Forces of Destiny, a 2D animated web series by Lucasfilm Animation series getting distributed on YouTube. The first episode is below. The series centers on female characters across multiple eras and installments of the franchise. Episodes are two to three minutes each and eight will be released in July 2017 with an additional eight will be released in fall 2017.

There are some heavy hitters behind this series starting with developer Dave Filoni, who has led Lucasfilm Animation for years. The original actresses from the movies will voice their characters in the series including Ashley Eckstein, Felicity Jones, Vanessa Marshall, Daisy Ridley and more. The series narrator will be Oscar winner (and voice of Maz Kanata) Lupita Nyong’o. Having a daughter that loves Star Wars, I’m really happy Lucasfilm is giving her more stories from her favorite Star Wars characters.

Manage Email Attachments with SaneBox (Sponsor)




This week MacSparky is sponsored by SaneBox, the powerful email tool that can help you conquer your inbox. I’ve written before about SaneBox filtering, which is awesome. However, SaneBox smart filtering is just the beginning. SaneBox can also sort your inbox, keep track of reminders and snoozed emails, rescue email from your spam folder, upload attachments your cloud, and more.

It’s that attachment part that I’d like to focus on today. SaneAttachments allow you to say goodbye to bulky attachments and hello to automatic uploads to the cloud. With SaneAttachments enabled, SaneBox will monitor your inbox. When someone sends you a large attachment, SaneBox will save it automatically to your destination of choice. (I use Dropbox.) This allows you to keep the size of your email database down and gives you a reliable place to go find large attachment. If you like to automate, this gives you another avenue into Hazel. For instance, I have Hazel monitor the Dropbox folder where SaneBox puts attachments. If it sees something land there that matches a Hazel rule, Hazel will automatically rename and file it. This is all very powerful and just one more feature you get with the SaneBox account.

SaneBox is a great service that I use every day to manage my email. You should too. To learn more and over to SaneBox.com and check it out. MacSparky readers even get a discount.

See Me at the CMD-D Conference




When Sal Soghoian left Apple I explained to friends that I was sad to see such a great advocate leave Apple but also happy to know we’d get more of Sal’s feedback and help in the community. We can already see the effects of his collaboration with the Omni Group.

If that’s not enough, Sal’s also organizing a conference on Mac and iOS automation, CMD-D, to be held on August 9, 2017 in Santa Clara. 

Today’s news is that I’ll be one of the speakers. Specifically, I’ll be covering iOS Automation, focussing primarily on Workflow for iOS. I think this conference will be a lot of fun. If you’re planning on attending, please look me up.