In this week’s episode of the Mac Power Users, we share our initial thoughts and impressions of the iPhone X. Also, Austin Mann, having recently finished his Guatemala trip with the iPhone X shares his thoughts on photography with the iPhone including shooting technique, photography applications, and useful accessories.
OmniGraffle, My Secret Weapon for Graphics (Sponsor)
This week MacSparky is sponsored by the app that I use as my own personal graphics toolbox, OmniGraffle. OmniGraffle was created as a diagramming tool but it is so much more. I don’t need to use a graphics app every day but I do have plenty of use for one. My early attempts at using graphics tools were always failures because so often the software was too obtuse. OmniGraffle, however, is not. Using OmniGraffle’s powerful, but easily understandable tools, I am able to not only make diagrams but also maps, flow charts, court exhibits, garden plans, countless school projects, and even the family Christmas card. If I’m doing something that involves moving pixels around the screen, OmniGraffle delivers.
OmniGraffle users range from artists to data mappers to (even) geeky lawyers. The tools are fast and easy to learn and there are versions of OmniGraffle for Mac, iPad, and iPhone. I frequently hear from readers that are OmniGraffle-curious. They are interested in the app but not sure whether it is something they need. My answer is always the same. If you have OmniGraffle, you will find uses for it. OmniGraffle makes the creation of graphics and diagrams manageable. Once you lower that bar of entry, you’ll find all sorts of uses for OmniGraffle.
OmniGraffle has recent updates on both the Mac and iOS. Everything is cleaner and easier to use and access to Stenciltown (where you can import and use other folks’ artwork in your diagrams) is easier than ever. They’ve got some great demonstration videos (although their choice in screencasting talent is questionable). Best of all, there’s a free trial so you can download and try it risk free. Up your diagram game today with OmniGraffle.
iPad Sans Bezel
Image by Benjamin Geskin
Now that I’ve got a bezel-less iPhone in my hands, I’m looking at my iPad(s) a little sideways. Turns out I’m not alone. Benjamin Geskin did some lovely renders of a bezel-less iPad that feels to me like the direction Apple has to be going with this. The trick on iPad will be the swipe up gesture. Currently, there are two separate gestures: short up for dock and long up for the control center. If I was a betting man, I’d say that a bezel-less iPad would switch the long swipe up to match the behavior on the phone and they’d move the control panel to some other gesture.
The Case for RSS
For several years now, the trend among geeks has been to abandon the RSS format. RSS, or Really Simple Syndication, is a way to queue up and serve content from the internet. The MacSparky RSS, for example, gives RSS applications a list of all the articles I post here since you last checked int. It is a great way to read blogs and the backbone of podcast distribution. As social networks took off, a lot of my friends that were previously big RSS fans gave up on the technology and instead relied upon sources like Twitter and Facebook to get their news.
That was never me. The reason I’ve stuck with RSS is the way in which I work. Twitter is the social network that I participate in most and yet sometimes days go by where I don’t load the application. I like to work in focused bursts. If I’m deep into writing a book or a legal client project. I basically ignore everything else. I close my mail application, tell my phone service to take my calls, and I definitely don’t open Twitter. When I finish the job, I can then go back to the Internet. I’ll check in on Twitter, but I won’t be able to get my news from it. That only works if you go into Twitter much more frequently than I do. That’s why RSS is such a great solution for me. If a few days go by, I can open RSS and go through my carefully curated list of websites and get caught back up with the world.
A long time ago, I used Reeder as my primary RSS application. It’s clean, fast, and attractive. Then a few years ago I switched over to Unread, which I found to be slower but a little more delightful. For the last week, I’ve been using Reeder again just for giggles. Their addition of dark mode for iPhone X is great, but ultimately I don’t know where I’ll land between these two great RSS Apps.
If you are thinking about using RSS, I have a little advice. Be wary feed inflation. RSS is so easy to implement that it’s a slippery slope between having RSS feeds for just a few websites and instead of having RSS feeds for hundreds of websites. If you’re not careful, every time you open your RSS reader, there will be 1,000 unread articles waiting for you, which completely defeats the purpose of using RSS. The trick to using RSS is to be brutal with your subscriptions. I think the key is looking for websites with high signal and low noise. Sites that publish one or two articles a day (or even one to two articles a week) but make them good articles are much more valuable and RSS feed than sites that published 30 articles a day.
The Workflow for iOS Update
Every time I write that people should still be using Workflow for iOS automation, I get a certain amount of flak. Apple bought Workflow earlier this year, and the reason for the purchase was not so they could keep developing Workflow. With no inside knowledge, I’m guessing the Workflow developers are spending most of their time working on some fancy new automation for integration into the iOS operating system. (Why else would Apple have purchased the company?) However, I don’t think they are spending all of their time on the new project.
Workflow has been steadily getting updates since it went “in-house”. Most recently they released version 1.7.7. It adds iOS 11 drag and drop and iPhone X screen support. It also supports the new Apple HEIF and HEVC image and video formats. The update even adds a few new features, my favorite of which is the ability to save a templated OmniFocus project to a specific folder.
I don’t know how long we’ve got left with Workflow. But isn’t that true about everything in life? I expect the Workflow team will be allowed to continue to nurse the app along until they release their next big thing which, at the very earliest, would be iOS 12 in a little less than a year. Workflow has enough awesome that it’s worth using, even if just for a year.
PDFpen for iOS Tutorial Videos
I recently did a series of seven tutorial videos on how to use PDFpen for iPad and iPhone. They’re now available to watch at the PDFpen website and I think they’re pretty good. Looking back, it’s remarkable just how much my document review workflows have changed with the arrival of the iPad Pro. The combination of that big piece of glass with the Apple Pencil make it easy for me to review and annotate documents digitally. This is superior to my old method of printing it out and using a red pen and highlighter. Now I have way more annotation tools available and because the product is digital, it is easy to save, copy, and share. Another benefit I’ve noticed over time is how much easier it is to hold on to these digital annotations. I recently represented a client on a contract dispute and being able to look at my original annotations when the contract was signed last year was helpful.
Anyway, if you haven’t looked into digital document annotation lately, watch these PDFpen videos. I’ve embedded one of them below.
Austin Mann’s iPhone X Camera Review
Photo by Austin Mann with iPhone X.
Austin Mann took the new iPhone X to Guatemala, where he took some remarkable photos and had some great feedback on the new iPhone camera. One discovery he made was how much faster the iPhone X is at focussing in on a subject in low light. I didn’t notice that until reading the article but playing around with the new camera in comparison to my iPhone 7 Plus, there is a significant difference. Anyway, read the full article and drool over Austin’s Guatemala shots.
MPU 403: Workflows with David_Smith
This week on the Mac Power Users app developer and business owner David “Underscore” Smith joins us to share his favorite hardware, software, and workflows. David is truly an “indie” developer and figured out some workflows that could really help anyone trying to make a go of it.
Keep on Top with SaneBox Reminders (Sponsor)
This week MacSparky is sponsored by SaneBox, the email service that adds power features to any email system. With SaneBox at your back, you add a powerful set of email tools that can work in just about any email client. SaneBox will automatically sort your email for you, defer your email to a more convenient time, set reminders, and automatically forward email.
One of my favorites is SaneReminders. With SaneReminders you can copy (or blind copy) an email to some time period at SaneBox.com. For example, 1week@sanebox.com. SaneBox will then keep track of that email and, if you don’t get a reply in a week, SaneBox will send you a reminder. This is a great way to keep track of email related tasks.
I use this feature a lot. So often I need to keep track of matters through email before they raise to the level of an OmniFocus project. SaneReminders are perfect for this. I send the email, activate SaneReminders, and SaneBox does the rest.
You can also use this system to send your future self time-sensitive reminders. For example, you could send an email to Feb14.2pm@sanebox.com with the subject line, “Buy Valentine Gift for Sweetheart” and SaneBox will send you the reminder at the designated date and time. SaneBox explains reminders further on their website.
Best of all, because you’re a MacSparky reader, you can get $10 off. Try SaneBox today.
Chasing Trane
If you’re interested in jazz, John Coltrane is a very big part of the story and this week PBS is running a documentary on his life, Chasing Trane. I haven’t seen it yet but it looks real good. The clip below is about A Love Supreme, which I wrote about in 2014.