The Nomad Wallet/iPhone Charger

It seems only appropriate that on Cyber Monday I review something that you use to hold your money. I must admit that I’ve always been a fan of the “something I always carry but now can also use to recharge my iPhone” category of devices. With that in mind, when Nomad announced the Wallet for iPhone, I was intrigued. Nomad sent me a review unit and for the last few weeks I’ve been carrying it around. 


From the outside, the Wallet for iPhone looks like any other bi-fold wallet you may pick up. The trick is that they’ve sewn an ultra-high density 2400 mAh battery into the spine of the wallet. There’s even a clever little lightning cable tucked in. So anytime you’ve got your wallet in your pocket, you’ve also got a full recharge for your iPhone 6s. Clever.


Nomad makes great stuff and this is no exception. A lot of wallets have wasted space. This one does not. You can see that the design manages to keep the wallet as slim as possible despite the fact it has a battery in there. I guess my point is that the Wallet for iPhone does not feel cheep and I like carrying it in my pocket.

Even if you just used it for busy days when you expect you’d need an extra charge, like travel day or take-the-kids to theme park day, the Wallet is worth it. I’ve found it particularly nice on family trips to Disneyland. Now when my kids say, “Dad, do you have your wallet?”, it doesn’t always mean they want money. The Wallet for iPhone looks nice, is built to last, and doubles your iPhone battery life without having to carry one more thing.

Even better, as this post goes live, the Wallet for iPhone is 20% off.


4461001_f.jpg

DaisyDisk is Half Off


image.jpg

DaisyDisk is still my favorite disk storage management tool. I’ve been using it for years with zero problems. The application has the best user interface of any disk management tool I’ve ever used. Not only is it attractive with its concentric circles, it’s also the best way I’ve ever seen to convey disk storage information. Now that we all have SSDs in our Macs, this is a handy tool on your belt.

Recently the App got a rewrite that dramatically improved the scan speed and gave the user interface an El Capitan-friendly paint job. Best of all, it’s half off, just $4.99, now through Monday.

Happy Thanksgiving Friends!



This year more than ever I have a lot to be thankful for. I quit my job, turned my life upside down, and I’m still paying the mortgage. You, friends, have played a huge role in all of this and for that I will be forever thankful. I hope your Turkey is delicious.

The Right Question About iPad

Lately I’ve been thinking, podcasting, and writing about the iPad a lot. As a result I’ve received a lot of email and Twitter traffic asking if I think the iPad software and hardware has evolved to a point that it can replace a Mac. The answer to that question is, “it depends.” More importantly though, that’s the wrong question. I think it’s a mistake to get hung up on whether or not an iPad can replace a traditional computer. It’s like asking if buying toaster means you can get rid of your oven.

Instead, consider whether or not an iPad in your life makes things better/easier/funner than things are without an iPad. This is not a zero sum game. It’s okay to have an iPad and a Mac. Nobody’s judging you here.

The iPad is so versatile that the reason for its place in your life varies with the individual user. With my iPad I’m better able to review and annotate legal contracts, read Thelonious Monk sheet music, present evidence in court, edit pictures, and answer email while sitting in the garden. These are all things I’ve done in the past without an iPad but are now easier and more convenient with one. I’ve got a different list of things that I prefer to do on a Mac. Using an iPad because it is better at some things but not all things is okay.

The right question to ask yourself is not whether you need an iPad to replace a Mac but instead whether or not the particular things an iPad does best for you are worth the cost to buy one.

More Shell Tricks from Brett Terpstra

Today my pal Brett Terpstra published a short tutorial on how to add line numbering in the Mac OS terminal. This is just one in a series of Shell Tricks posts from Brett. If you’ve always wanted to get better using the terminal, here’s a great way to start.

∞

Shopping Amazon

Speaking of geeks and gifts … if you were thinking about doing some holiday shopping this week, I’ve got a few geek-friendly items on my Amazon page, which also, coincidentally serves as an excellent jumping off point to Amazon shopping trips in general.

Sponsor – Middle Davids Artisan Candles




This week I’m pleased to welcome back Middle Davids Artisan Candles as a MacSparky sponsor. Dan and his team at Middle Davids understand the use of rituals to help with productivity. Have you considered using the scent of a candle? It works.

I burn candles while I work and I always feel that the ritual of lighting the candle is a way to tell myself “it is on” and get to work. After I’ve worked a few hours, I blow out the candle and take a break. You’ll be surprised how well this works. This month I’m burning through a Green Tea candle from Middle Davids. The vast majority of people who try a Middle Davids subscription stick with it. In a world full of technology, this provides a fantastic analog motivational tool. 

With the holidays approaching, you may not just want a candle subscription for yourself. You can gift a subscription so your friends or family get a reminder in the mail every month or two that you care. (They have gift options for one, two, three, four, six and twelve months so every budget is covered.)

Dan, the proprietor, is a candle geek and obsesses on candles like I do productivity apps. The candles are 100% botanical soy wax, not paraffin (which is a petrochemical) and the wicks are cotton woven (no metals).

Middle Davids has a subscription plan that gets you two candles a month with 40 hours of burn time. You also get a box of wooden matches, and a sample of the next month’s scent. Give it a try. You’ll surprise yourself. Use the code “Balsam” (which happens to be my favorite scent) for $5 off. Also, check out their video, below.

∞

Home Screens: Lon Seidman


This week’s home screen features You-Tuber Lon Seidman (YouTube) (Twitter) (Facebook). Lon does video reviews of technology products and he loves his iPhone. So Lon, show us your home screen.


What are some of your favorite apps?

I spend most of my time using the Inbox app for managing my Gmail accounts, OmniFocus (of course!) for managing my life, the YouTube creator app for my channel’s analytics and engagement, Downcast for listening to Mac Power Users and many other podcasts, and a bunch of social media apps like Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.

Which app is your guilty pleasure?

These days it’s Pac-Man 256 – a Pac-Man endless runner that’s probably the best retro inspired game I’ve played in a long time. And I will admit I look at Facebook quite a bit too. But it’s smart enough to know I am only interested in seeing pictures of dogs and babies.

What app makes you most productive?

Google’s Inbox app. It’s similar in some ways to Mailbox from Dropbox, but it does some things better like bulk categorization of mail for easy sortation. So unlike the lousy Gmail tabs, the Inbox method is to display those bulk categories into inline groupings that expand within the inbox stream. Really slick and very easy to quickly review messages.

The app works great across all of the many platforms I use (including the web) and has really helped bring some sanity to how I go through my email box. The workflow is so efficient that I can pop in quickly and keep things neat and tidy throughout the day. It also lets me create custom groupings based on specific tags.

What app do you know you’re underutilizing?

I am sure I am not alone in saying Workflow is tremendously underutilized on my iPhone. I am starting to find more and more uses for it which is great but I know it can do a lot more than what I’m currently tasking it with.

What is the app you are still missing?

That’s a good question. I wish I was smart enough to think of the app that I’m missing so I can invent it and have a very profitable exit!

How many times a day do you use your iPhone/iPad?

My iPhone constantly – especially because I can “tend the garden” of my three email accounts very quickly and efficiently while waiting on a line, etc. The funny thing is that since I bought my iPhone 6 I am using the iPad less. The larger screen on the 6 vs. the 5s it replaced was just enough to take some tasks away from the iPad.


What Today View widgets are you using and why?

I have never been much of a widget guy so my today view isn’t something I look at often. I do find the Plugshare app’s view of nearby electric car charging stations really useful. That’s primarily what I use the today screen for if I’m traveling and looking for some free juice for my ride.

What is your favorite feature of the iPhone/iPad?

The first thing that came to mind with this question was Touch ID. It has probably saved me hours over the course of the year by not having to type in my passcode over and over again. Every time I test phones and tablets on competing platforms it’s the first thing I miss having.

If you were in charge at Apple, what would you add or change?

I would be less restrictive with the things users can do on the platform. A great example is comparing something like the Android-based Nvidia Shield TV to the Apple TV. Google is much more flexible in allowing apps like game and computer emulators, and other apps that do things to help third party apps work better together or with the underlying OS.

It would be nice for Apple to treat iOS like the Mac and give users the option to install apps from sources other than the app-store eco system. I know they are mindful of security but there are a lot of fun things I can do on Android that I can’t do on Apple without jailbreaking.


Do you have an Apple Watch?

I do! It’s funny I didn’t think I was going to use the Apple Watch much but now it’s part of my routine. I like the small conveniences it provides as well as the fitness tracking. Apple Pay on the watch is amazing and I use it all the time.

I recently switched to a traditional watch face after using the modular one for awhile. My daughter always requests the butterfly version so that’s in rotation too.

I should have opted for the sapphire face vs. the glass as I already have a gash in mine :-(.

What’s your wallpaper and why?

My wallpaper is a picture of my daughter I took the day she was born. It’s the best photo I’ve ever taken which also happens to be of my favorite subject :).

Anything else you’d like to share?

I am continually in awe of my 2012 Macbook Pro Retina. It is in use helping me work probably 12–16 hours a day. It’s my primary desktop computer for my day job (plugged into a Thunderbolt dock) and is what I use for editing all of my YouTube videos. I have never owned a computer that’s been this useful for so long since my Apple II from the 80’s. I will likely replace it when the Skylake version comes out as I am starting to do more with 4k video.