The latest Free Agents episode is available for download. Very recently my pal Katie Floyd, left her law firm and went out on her own. We ask Katie about making the move, her workspace and work habits, and the issues of adding support staff and partners versus staying entirely independent.
Discounted Productivity Apps and Services
SaneBox has partnered up with several productivity apps and services to offer some nice discounts. There’s no purchase required. It’s just a group of services offering a discount. For example, you can get six months of free 1Password or 30% off TextExpander and Rescue Time. There’s a lot of services on this list to which I already subscribe and a few I’m thinking about trying out.
iOS Automation and Evolution
Sal Soghoian leaving Apple was bad news for those of us interested in automation. If that cloud has a silver lining, however, it’s that we get to hear more of Sal’s thoughts about automation on Apple platforms. Recently, Sal published this piece on MacStories which makes the case that extensions are simply not enough for true automation on iOS. I agree.
It seems that Apple truly believes the future of computing is all about iPad and iPhone, not the Mac. They are probably right. If you look at the way the hardware has advanced on iPad over the last few years, you can clearly see that this is enough computer for most people to get work done.
The hangup at this point is the software. The iOS operating system is not robust enough to get a lot of work done. Before you start emailing me, I understand there are a lot of people getting by with iPad alone. However that involves a lot of workarounds and accommodations that, frankly, we shouldn’t have to make.
If the iPad and iPhone are to take that next step, Apple’s going to have to ease up a bit on its emphasis of simplicity for iOS and add some more advanced features. A logical way for applications to communicate with each other is one way they could do this.
The question is whether or not Apple is committed to doing so. If the final decision out of Cupertino is that the iOS operating system should not get more complex and powerful, I don’t see how it evolves to further replace traditional computers.
MPU 359: Big Questions
The Mac Power Users has a pretty big audience. As a result, Katie and I get a lot of email asking questions. We thought it’d be fun to do a show answering some of the most common questions. So we did. This episode covers backing up photos, task overload, Apple IDs, cold storage backup, moving your iTunes library, the differences between tasks and calendar items, and more.
Sponsors include:
- Gazelle Sell your iPhone for cash at Gazelle!
- MindNode Delightful mind mapping for your Mac, iPad, and iPhone.
- Pixelmator Powerful image editing that gives you everything you need to create, edit and enhance your images, now on iPad and Mac.
- Squarespace: Make your next move. Enter offer code MPU at checkout to get 10% off your first purchase.
Sponsor – Agenda Minder
This week MacSparky is sponsored by Agenda Minder. We all spend time complaining about meetings but not enough of us do anything to make them better. Agenda Minder is a Mac app that lets you pull meetings in from your calendar and organize them. You can quickly find the right meeting by sorting meeting name or date. You can also filter your meetings based on when they occur. Once you add or import meetings, Agenda Minder lets you easily add agenda items along with data about objectives, notes, task owners, and time. Agenda Minder helps you plan and execute your meetings regardless of whether your other team members adopt it.
Agenda Minder’s developer keeps adding polish and features. Indeed there are so many new features and polish that the price is going to go up soon so if you’re interested, now’s the time to check out Agenda Minder.
Where’s iPod?
Do you remember when the iPod was the most important Apple product? Not anymore.
I spent a little time at the Apple Store recently and just for giggles started looking for the iPods. It turns out the entire iPod line gets one-half of one shelf. Looking around the rest of the store, the iPod gets the same amount of shelf space as 1/20 of the space afforded headphones. Times sure have changed for Apple in the last 10 years.
Finding a Missing AirPod
A listener sent me a link to a new iPhone application, Finder for AirPods. It’s an interesting idea. It measures the signal strength to the AirPod as a sort of homing beacon to help you find a lost AirPod.
I decided to take one for the team and I spent four bucks to give the app a try. It wasn’t worth it. While technically the application works and I have no complaints with the overall design, the W1 and Bluetooth combination in the AirPods works too well for the meter in this application to be effective.
As an example, here is the meter when I am on the opposite side of the house and a different floor from my “missing” AirPod.
Now here’s the meter when I’m standing right next to my missing AirPod. You’ll see there’s not much difference.
Unfortunately, this app is a victim of the remarkably good reception I get with the AirPods throughout my house. Using this App I could confirm the missing AirPod is in my house, but not much more than that.
In effort to avoid the problem of missing AirPods entirely, I’ve been very disciplined about how I use them. Just like my iPhone always goes in my left pocket, AirPods always go in my right pocket. (If I am wearing jeans, they always go into the little coin pocket on the right side.) When I take one or both out of my ear, unless it is going back in my ear in the immediate future, I fish the case out of my pocket and put it away properly. Maybe I’m nuts, but I’m not that worried about losing these. I’m capable of being careful.
Thinking About Touch Screen Macs
I’ve been thinking more lately about touch screen Macs. There’s lots of talk in the community about how Microsoft has added touch screen to Windows and it’s now time for Apple to follow suit. Just a few days ago, I was sent a link for the Air Bar, which is a bolt-on sort of thingy that sort of adds a touch screen to a 13 inch MacBook Air.
I have no inside knowledge but I think you’re dreaming if you expect Apple to add a touch screen monitor to the Mac. Microsoft added touch to Windows because they were unable to successfully launch a separate touch interface. Even with that, Windows touch implementation still has a very long way to go before it is as intuitive or easy to use as iOS. Making a single interface that can satisfy both touch and keyboard/mouse users is no easy task and I’m not convinced Microsoft (or even Apple) can pull it off.
Apple will expand upon touch computing through iOS, not the Mac. The hold up right now is that iOS needs more power but that will come along with bigger and better iPads. You won’t get your touch screen Mac. Instead, you’ll get a gigantic iPad (or whatever Apple ends up calling it). For the Mac, the Touch Bar is probably all we’ll ever get in terms of touch. If they do go further with touch on the Mac, however, I’d expect it to be a full touch screen keyboard, not a touch screen monitor.
Rogue One Soundtrack Analysis
I was very interested in the Rogue One soundtrack in that it is the first Star Wars film music not written by John Williams. Michael Giacchino did a great job. I didn’t realize exactly how great of a job he did until I listened to this episode of Star Wars Oxygen. David Collins is a musical detective but don’t just take my word for it. The Maestro agrees.
Apple TV Party Game Pick: Fibbage
I spent New Years Eve with a pile of family members and we decided to spend some of that time lying to one another with Fibbage on the Apple TV. Fibbage is an Apple TV gameshow-type app. Participants play along using their iPhones or iPads not through a dedicated app but instead a webpage. (It requires your device be on the same WiFi network as the Apple TV.)
Once everyone is logged in, Fibbage gets started by asking a question, like this.
Then each participant types in an answer on their iPhone. You can either try and come up with an answer that your friends will think correct (which gets you points) or something that is just funny (which gets you likes). Once all answers are entered, Fibbage puts all the user answers along with the correct answer on the screen and everyone picks. You get points for picking the right answer. You also get points for your friends picking your wrong answer. In reality, the points matter very little. It’s just fun, particularly with a big group.
We had family members of all ages playing and kept it relatively G-rated but that is really up to the players. We had so much fun playing Fibbage that we almost missed the clocks hitting midnight on New Years Eve.
In addition to Apple TV, they’ve also got versions for Xbox, Playstation, and Amazon Fire TV.