Here’s a post that I look forward to reading this weekend the exact same way I used to look forward to opening my Christmas presents. I have a lot of complaints about the Star Wars prequels. One of them is that without the Falcon, it never entirely felt like Star Wars.
(via Daring Fireball)
Speaking of podcasts, Dave Caolo and Aaron Mahnke are doing an email series on the Home Work podcast. There are some really great episodes coving the topic in depth. I joined for episode 198 to talk about email priority.
In this week’s MPU episode Katie and I each picked 10 of our favorite Mac Apps that are under $20. There are some real gems in there.
This week I’m pleased to welcome as a new sponsor Working Copy (Website)(App Store), a Git client for iOS. A lot of people think Git is something you can only do on a Mac or from the command line. Those people are wrong. Working Copy was made to complement existing workflows rather than replace them. Git is a great system for keeping projects in sync between computers and adding iOS to the mix opens up many possibilities with no extra friction.
With access to your Git data from your iPad and iPhone, the possibilities really open up. Many Working Copy users do small edits on their iPhone or iPad. Others use it to do code review or investigate a codebase during their commute. Having Git repositories and all the files inside them available everywhere, also opens up when Git is a good choice as a storage/sync solution as a alternative to Dropbox.
Working Copy is also an iOS good citizen and supports the document-picker and share extensions which lets other applications edit inside repositories. It support x-callback-url for controlling the application from other apps and it bundles a WebDAV server for applications such as Coda and Transmit.
Working Copy’s text editor has syntax highlighting for 35 languages and can preview HTML files referencing images, scripts and stylesheets from within the repository. This includes a Javascript console for error messages letting you jump directly to the point in a file where errors occur.
Even compared to Mac Git clients, Working Copy’s features are quite powerful. The built-in diff viewer works for both text and images. It supports full branching and merging, multiple remotes on each repository and a commit graph with search capabilities. It supports the REST APIs of several cloud Git hosting providers to make repository cloning and creation easier.
If you spend any time in Git on your Mac or PC, you need Working Copy on your iPad and iPhone.
Scrivener for iOS is currently in internal alpha testing and beta isn’t far away. I’ve been waiting for this one a long time.
Apple Notes continues to get its hooks in me. When I showed up at WWDC last year, Apple Notes was nothing more than a target for my derision. When they announced during the keynote that they had an “all-new” Apple Notes I chortled and rolled my eyes.
Then I started using Apple Notes and the strangest thing happened. I liked it. Not only is Apple Notes a contender, Apple has continued to refine the product. Just last week we got a new beta of an upcoming Mac OS X release that includes additional Apple Notes features. One of those new features is the ability to import Evernote and plain text files. It seemed to me like a perfect excuse to slurp in the rest of my nvALT database so I could really push the application’s limits. Now I’ve got 787 notes in my Apple Notes database. It’s growing daily.
So first this was all a big experiment to see what was wrong with Apple Notes and then I just started using the application. I didn’t admit to myself, or anyone else, that I become an Apple Notes user but apparently I have.
I’ve already written at some length about Apple Notes and a few useful tips. That post resulted in a lot of questions about how I’m organizing my notes. Below is a list of all of my folders.
As you can see I’ve got basically three areas of my life: the geek, the lawyer, and the dude. For years I’ve been collecting bits of text relevant to every phase of life. On the legal side, I keep text files on most matters I work on. I split these between the active and closed matters. These include simple things like the name of a court or opposing counsel’s name in addition to any other bits of information I want to have quick access to. As an example, many of these notes have a communications log where I I have a running text list with the date, time, and content of any significant communications for later reference. I also keep bits of research and any other information I may find handy. On the legal side I also sometimes do a bit of research that I know I’m going to want to use again and I keep that is a text note. Finally, I have 286 separate notes including snippets of text I’ve written in the past but may want to use again.
On the MacSparky side I have notebooks related to field guides and everything else. A while ago I started keeping notes on Mac Power Users ad spots. When I come across something interesting with an advertiser’s product, I record it in the text file so I can remember to talk about it in the future episode.
Finally, the personal folder is the catchall. That one runs the gamut of notes I took when reading a book to useful Latin quotes … Sit vis nobiscum.
My 787 notes seem to be synchronizing just fine. When I add something on the iPad and iPhone, the new text makes its way to my MacBook faster than I can open the lid and go looking for it. I’m not aware of losing any data. One of the nice things about my active matters notes is that I can now add a picture. When I’m sitting down with the client and they start explaining something to me I can visually diagram it right in front of them and then keep it digitally. (This is just one more reason why the iPad Pro is increasingly becoming essential to me.
I also find myself frequently using the bullets, checkmarks, and other text features. I gave this tip my prior post but it’s worth repeating: Learn the Mac and iPad keyboard shortcuts.
That doesn’t mean Apple Notes is without fault. I wrote before, and it still remains true, that the text size on the Mac version is just too small. They keep adding new features with the betas and it keeps amazing me that they don’t address this problem.
The search also needs work. Searching in Apple Notes only searches all of your notes. You cannot search inside an individual notebook. I would think that the more appropriate behavior would be that if you are currently in a notebook, search remains inside that notebook. The library of nearly 800 notes, sometimes I just want to search inside an individual notebook.
Apple Notes also only really makes sense if you are on the Apple platform. It doesn’t synchromize across devices like a plaintext system, Evernote, or solutions will.
All that said, I’m on board now with Apple Notes. I’m going to be continuing to use it for the foreseeable future until either Apple stops giving it love and attention or something else new and shiny comes along. You know I like new and shiny things, right?
There’s probably only one podcast in the world where the hosts can spend an hour and a half talking about contacts and still feel like they ran out of time. I’m talking of course about the Mac Power Users.
This week’s episode goes in detail on how to manage contacts on your Mac, iPhone, and iPad. Contacts are more difficult than they should be and there are a lot of good tips, ideas, and application recommendations in this one.
I have to admit it kind of snuck up on me but a year ago I quit my job and turned my life upside down. Since I owe so much of my independence to the MacSparky readers, I thought I’d fill you in on how things are going.
I explained in excruciating detail what I was up to when it first happened. In short, after over 20 years working in “the firm” I decided to go out on my own. I wanted to have options and freedom that simply are not possible when working for and with other people.
So I quit my job and hung my shingle. This isn’t nearly as heroic as it sounds. I’ve been practicing law for over 20 years and already had a healthy client stable. I’ve also been able to make some money with the books, podcast, and other media products. I knew I wasn’t going to be out on the street but I also knew my life was going to change dramatically. After a year, I have more control over what I do and don’t do. I’m not making as much money as I used to but I’m doing okay. I love my newfound freedom and I’m definitely in a different place now than I used to be and that’s true in all phases of my life.
When I left I wanted to grow a practice that was more transactional and included less litigation. That’s been the general trend of my career for the last 10 years anyway. I still do some trial work but it’s much less than I used to do.
What I didn’t expect was the significant number of clients I would receive from, of all places, my geeky website and podcast. Several readers and listeners actually need the professional services I offer. In the last year I’ve added many of them as clients and I have to say they are some of the best clients I’ve ever had. They are nice people who take their lawyer’s advice and pay their bills.
Because I’m not part of a big organization, I don’t need to be a slave to the billable hour. I’ve revolutionized the practice of law in my own tiny, little way. Most of the work I do is for a flat fee. My clients love it and don’t have to look at their watch while they are talking to me. Put simply, I’m enjoying being a lawyer now more than ever.
Getting the law practice off the ground took longer than I expected (of course) and was quite a bit of work in 2015. Add to that the fact that I had kidney stones kicking my ass for several months and I didn’t get nearly as much produced on the MacSparky side last year as I had hoped. While I didn’t get a book out the door, I did release several MacSparky Video Field Guides and started a new partnership with Lynda.com that resulted in the Lynda.com OmniFocus series.
Rather than beat myself up over not hitting my goals for 2015, I have turned the page and I’m rolling now for 2016. I’m working every day on two new MacSparky Field Guide books and some video projects that I can’t wait to share. I’m going to be throwing content at you this year like never before. Although nothing is at the point where I can share it yet, I’ve been seriously productive on the MacSparky side the last three months.
Another splendid side benefit of these changes is that I get to spend a great deal more time with my wife and children. I work at home more than anyplace else these days. So I’m around to lend a hand when needed or just “be there”. As an example, my oldest daughter (all grown up and in college!) and I go out together and enjoy talking during this new phase of our relationship. My youngest daughter and I went seriously deep into Star Wars with the new movie coming out. In a few years when these young women head out into the world, I’ll be really happy that we had that time.
My wife and I also get to spend more time together. We take walks and talk more than we were ever able when I was getting up everyday, suiting up, and heading to the office. Many friends told me that we’d drive each other crazy if I spent any time working from home. Fortunately they were wrong. After over 20 years of marriage, we still really enjoy each other’s company.
There really aren’t many negatives to these big changes in my life. I took an income hit but I’m working on that. I do miss some of my colleagues from the old firm. They were nice people and outstanding lawyers. Getting sick with kidney stones last year gave me an early lesson that when you work for yourself and you can’t work, things can get ugly pretty quickly.
All that aside, I’m happier now than I think I have ever been in my life. There’s something about being the master of your own domain that is irreplaceable. I need to figure out how to make this work because, frankly, I’m not sure I’m capable of going back. It is not lost upon me that had it not been for the success of this website, the podcast, and the books, none of this would ever have happened and for that I am grateful to every single person reading this post.
Stephen Hacket over at 512 pixels got a 20th Anniversary Mac and made the below video to show it off.
This week MacSparky is sponsored by SaneBox. SaneBox is the answer to your email problems. It filters your email for you, only showing you the most important in setting the less important aside for later. SaneBox also gives you the ability to defer your email, no matter which email client you use. There are many additional features like the ability to remind you when someone doesn’t reply to an email you sent.
The point is they are always making it better. The latest example of that is the SaneConnect service. It’s currently in beta but it’s pretty impressive. SaneConnect shows you the history of your relationship with different companies. Just type in the name of their domain and you see who you’ve been emailing and how often. It even rates the strength of the relationship. It gets even more powerful with team accounts where you can search for a Company and see which of your teammates have relationships there. It’s like asking for introductions on LinkedIn based on email history. It’s a great idea and it’s available to SaneBox subscribers.
Learn more at SaneBox.com.
