Sponsor: OmniGraffle 7 Now in Public Beta


This week the Omni Group released a public preview of OmniGraffle version 7. There are several nice improvements with this new version including:

Infinite Canvas

You no longer have to choose an arbitrary canvas size when setting up a new OmniGraffle document. Instead, just click the infinite canvas and it will shrink and expand to fit whatever you’re creating.

Unified Sidebar

The Omni Group has been moving toward these unified sidebars in many of its applications. I think they make a lot of sense if they’re done right. OmniGraffle 7’s unified sidebar places relevant tools next to each other and it all made immediate logical sense to me.

Conversion Tools

There are several new conversion tools. You can now convert a line to a shape. Just add a few points to the middle of your line and start pulling it apart. You can also add points to shapes and, for the truly adventurous, you can convert text to a shape. Turning text, like an ampersand, into a Bézier-handled object is going to be useful.

There’s More

There is a lot more in the new version that I’m still experimenting with. They added SVG import and export and a new export panel that looks interesting. There’s also  a new feature called Artboards for managing specific elements in your OmniGraffle document.

I’ve been trying the beta and you can too. If you’ve been wondering about OmniGraffle, this is a great chance to kick the tires for an extended period of time. No matter how you pay for your shoes, the ability to make professional looking quick drawings and graphics comes in handy and nothing does that better than OmniGraffle.

Google Docs and the iPad


Today I received a pleasant surprise when Google issued an update to Google Docs and Google Sheets finally enabling split screen.

In this case the “finally” term is merited. Apple first announced split screen in June 2015. It took Google 14 months to update these apps for split screen. I’d love to hear the story behind why it took so long but suspect we never will. During those 14 months, Microsoft Office for iOS got a lot better and I began to seriously question Google’s commitment to iOS.

While it’s nice that these apps support split screen on the iPad Pro, I’m not holding my breath that they’ll be getting lots of attention going forward.

As a writing tool, there isn’t a lot to love about Google Docs. However it does have one advantage … and it’s a big one. Google Documents has is the rock-solid ability for multiple people to access and edit a document simultaneously. While they’ve tried, neither Apple’s Pages nor Microsoft Word come close to matching Google Docs on this feature. Quip was interesting, but they’ve been acquired and Dropbox Paper looks promising, but it is still early days.

If anything, the examples set by Quip and Dropbox Paper is that it is possible for other companies to compete in this collaboration space but Google remains king of this hill. I’m hoping that doesn’t remain the case forever because Google’s been pretty lukewarm about the iPad for the past 14 months or so.

 

 

MPU 334 – She Can’t Take It Anymore, Captain!

On this month’s live episode of Mac Power Users, Victor Cajiao joins us to discuss all the steps of producing a modern music album. We also help troubleshoot an accidentally reformatted hard drive, discuss password schemes, using a ScanSnap for photos, share listener feedback on our Special Event and Keynote shows, and discuss options for Evernote.

Sponsors include:

  • 1Password Have you ever forgotten a password? Now you don’t have to worry about that anymore. 
  • Gazelle Sell your iPhone for cash at Gazelle! 
  • Marketcircle They’ll help small business grow with great Mac, iPhone and iPad apps including Daylight and Billings Pro.
  • Sanebox Stop drowning in email!

A Few Rumors and Speculation Concerning Apple’s Fall Lineup

Apple’s Fall Lineup I expect we’ll see a lot from Apple in the next few months. If history is any indicator, we’ll get new iPhones next month but that’s not all. The MacBook Pro is long overdue and rumored to be coming out by the end of the year and yesterday AppleInsider broke a story about the Apple Watch 2 by the end of the year with GPS, a barometer, and better water-proofing.

If there will be one missing product from the “new and improved” category, I’d guess it is the iPad. The iPad Pros are still pretty new and I’d not be surprised to see any new iPads pushed to Spring 2017. Also, did you notice how the iPod has completely dropped out of the narrative when talking about new Apple products?

Either way, if you’re looking to upgrade some of your Apple hardware, the next few months could get expensive.

1Password Subscription Plans


In recent months 1Password has added subscription plans for families and teams. It’s only natural that now they’ve added one for individuals. Dave Teare from 1Password made a post at the 1Password blog that gives all the details. For $2.99 a month, users get access to all the 1Password apps plus their cloud services.

As 1Password explains in their blog post, subscribers get all the 1Password features plus:

  • Built-in automatic sync across all devices
  • Data loss protection
  • Web access to your data on 1Password.com
  • Item History for restoring deleted or changed items
  • Secure Document storage
  • Brand new multi-factor security model

I get in hot water every time I write this, but I’m okay with productivity app makers adopting subscription plans. Upgrade pricing isn’t realistic anymore and Apple doesn’t even provide for it the the iOS and Mac App Stores. If you want good productivity software, productivity software makers have to stay in business.

With 1Password’s plan, you’re getting all of its apps plus the above features for $36/year. Purchasing 1Password licenses (which is still possible) has always been (and remains to be) quite a bit more expensive than that. Moreover, if you get in on the launch special, you get six months for free.

I’d recommend subscribing to 1Password. It’s a great service and will keep you more secure in an increasingly insecure world. Learn more at 1Password’s blog.

Disclosure: 1Password has been a sponsor of Mac Power Users for years. I’ve been a 1Password customer even longer and happily currently pay $5/month for my 1Password family plan.

New MindNode Screencast Series

I’ve made no secret of the fact that I like to use mind mapping to plan out projects. For several years now, my weapon of choice for mind mapping has been MindNode. MindNode, for me, is the right balance of features and ease-of-use. MindNode’s easy to pick up, syncs over iCloud, and I use it all the time. I’ve done a set of five screencasts using MindNode explaining the why and how of mind mapping from my perspective and you can watch them all over at the MindNode website. Below is the first video. Enjoy.