There have been several developments in the iPad world as of late so Katie and I spent some time talking about where the iPad fits, which one you should use, and some of our own personal workflows. I also spend some time discussing my new giganto-pad.
Daylite 6 Ships
Marketcircle is definitely one of the “wise men” in Mac productivity circles. For a long time, Daylite was the application that just about everybody ran their Mac offices from. It supports multiple users, tasks, calendars, and all the other bits you need to get work done with a group of people.
Then the cloud become a “thing” and people started moving these types of shared data applications to the Internet. The trouble that I’ve always had with these solutions is they are limited to the browser and generally look like crap, are hard to figure out, difficult to train to your staff, and –when the Internet goes down – completely useless.
This cloud trend did not go unnoticed by the makers of Daylite and for a few years now they’ve been refining a solution that lets you have your cake and eat it too. Specifically, a native app with all that OS X goodness and years of development and UI experience combined with cloud sync. Today Daylite releases version 6, which is really something special.
I’m friends with some of the people at Marketcircle and I know how hard they’ve worked to make this happen. I’m impressed and if you are looking for something with the panache of Daylite combined with reliable cloud sync, you will be too. Learn more from Marketcircle.
Sponsor: PopClip for Mac
I’m pleased to welcome PopClip as this week’s MacSparky.com sponsor. PopClip is a Mac utility that gives you the ability to perform acts upon your text just by selecting it. Select some text and you are just one tap away from doing something clever, like changing text formatting or dialing a selected phone number. This works just like the popup tools you get on the iPhone and iPad. One of my favorite PopClip actions is putting quotes around selected text when I’m writing legal briefs.
There are now 143 downloadable PopClip extensions that range from something as simple as converting the selected text to uppercase to something more exotic, like looking up the selected word in the urban dictionary or sort the selected text alphabetically.
For just $6.99 you can dramatically shorten the amount of time you spend formatting and otherwise working with text on your Mac. This one’s a no-brainer. Learn more at the developer’s website.
Disneyland’s Season of the Force and Rebel Force Radio
Disneyland just did a bang-up job of turning Tomorrowland into Star Wars-land, at least temporarily. My wife posted some great photos and video. Also, I guested on a recent episode of Rebel Force Radio to give my report from the field. If you just want to hear the Disneyland part with me, it starts at 1:25:20.
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.
DaisyDisk is Half Off
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.