Every time Brett Terpstra joins us on Mac Power Users, we have fun and spew out a lot of great productivity tips. This year’s edition is no different.
iPad Pro Ships this Week
Today Apple announced the iPad Pro is available for pre-order on Wednesday and in stores “later this week”. I’m most likely going to buy one. I still feel like tablet devices are a big part of the future of computing and I want to see what can be done with one that is bigger and more powerful. My guess is that anyone with a review unit will have their media blackout end at midnight on Tuesday night so we’ll have early reviews on Wednesday. I’m definitely going to be reading those reviews closely as I make a final decision. This time, I’m also not going to blindly pre-order. I want to go in the store and see one before making a final decision.
The Incomparable Radio Theater
Jason Snell has been doing something pretty special lately over at the Incomparable. He’s started the Incomparable Radio Theater podcast. It grows out of the old radio serials and mixes in references to modern pop culture. The shows are funny and just about 20 minutes each. If you get hooked, pay attention to the voice of Dr. Ecks in episode 1.7. You just may recognize those dulcet tones.
The Magic Trackpad 2 and Better Touch Tool
Getting the new Magic Trackpad 2 led me to consider Force Touch on the Mac. I’ve had it on my MacBook for months and now I’ve got it on my iMac yet I rarely use it. I think this has a lot to do with options. On the Mac, you’ve already got a primary click, a secondary click, and a double click. Add to that the three finger tap and the existing gesture library in OS X and you begin to wonder what you’re supposed to do with a Force Touch. (Jason Snell and Myke Hurley have been talking about this on recent episodes of Upgrade.) I think Apple has the same questions because most of the force touch features are actions already accomplished with some other type of tap.
Then I got thinking about what I could do with Force Touch if I could set the Force Touch actions. This is possible on the Mac using BetterTouchTool. BetterTouchTool is an amazing Mac utility from Andreas Hagenberg. It is donationware–and if you use it you should donate–and it is awesome. BetterTouchTool lets you set custom gestures with your trackpad to perform actions on your Mac. (BetterTouchTool also works with the Magic Mouse, normal mice, keyboard, Apple Remote, Leap Motion, and the BetterTouchTool iPhone app.) BetterTouchTool is flexible. The application recognizes just about anything you could do with up to five digits and a trackpad. If you want a gesture where tap across the trackpad like drumming your fingers, BetterTouchTool can accommodate you. You can even add custom gestures that trigger when you draw a shape on the trackpad.
Either way, once triggered, BetterTouchTool can execute a keyboard combination or perform a system action. For example, when I four finger tap, BetterTouchTool toggles the DragonDictate microphone on and off again.
So I’ve been experimenting with Force Touch and BetterTouchTool and come up with some pretty nice custom actions:
- When I Force Touch on the lower-left or lower-right portion of the Magic Trackpad 2, My Mac optimizes the current active app for the left or right side of the screen.
- Force Touching the upper left corner of the trackpad toggles fullscreen mode for the currently active application on and off.
- A four finger Force Touch sleeps my screen and a five finger Force Touch sleeps my iMac.
- A three finger Force Touch toggles the play/pause button, which comes in handy when the phone rings.
I guess my point is that while Force Touch on the Mac is clever, it really comes into its own when you combine it with BetterTouchTool. Try it for yourself and let me know what works for you. I’m going to do a follow up post with some user submitted BetterTouchTool recipes soon.
Small Business Show Podcast
Today I joined Dave Hamilton and Shannon Jean on the Small Business Show podcast to talk about some of the challenges and joys I faced starting my own law practice. It was lots of fun and you can listen right here. The show is for a more general audience but I still managed to geek the joint up.
Nomad iPhone Charging Wallet
Somebody at Nomad had a pretty good idea. They’ve added a 2400 mAh battery to a men’s wallet. So you can carry your cash, a few cards, and some juice for your phone. The device is supposed to give an iPhone a full charge. While I’m one of those minimalist-wallet freaks, I’m tempted to try one of these. You can get $20 off if you buy before November 15 with the above link.
MPU 286: Launcher Smackdown
This week on Mac Power Users, Katie and I tackle the state of current keyboard launchers for the Mac including LaunchBar, Alfred, Spotlight, and Quicksilver. The show covers relative merits of the applications and some nice usage tips.
The Terpstra Mail.app Index Vacuum
Every few years, Brett Terpstra updates the script for vacuuming out the Mail.app index. A few days ago, he delivered again–with a little help from Mathias Törnblom–with a simple AppleScript that you can run right from El Capitan’s script editor. If you use Mail.app, add this to your bag of tricks. I run it about every six months.
The Magic Keyboard and Trackpad
I was recently speaking with my pal Katie Floyd about the new Apple Magic devices and explained I would “probably” buy the keyboard and trackpad. She snorted. That was a well earned snort because we both knew I’d end up buying them. I did. The good news is I’ve been using them both quite a bit for the last week and you get to benefit from my largesse.
The Magic Keyboard
If you look at the design trend of Apple keyboards over the last several years, the demure size of the Magic Keyboard should not surprise you. The prior Bluetooth keyboard was as small as you could make such a keyboard while at the same time accommodating removable batteries. Get rid of the removable batteries and instead use batteries that can be formed into the case and you get the Magic Keyboard.
A lot has been written about Apple keyboards in the last year. First with the new MacBook design and now with the magic keyboard, Apple has reduced the amount of key travel in their keyboards. A lot of people are upset about this. If you like keyboards with a lot of travel, this is bad news for you.
For several years, I used the big clickety-clack keyboards that you could hear from the driveway. I studied mechanical switches like gamblers study racing forms. However, my clickety-clack keyboard went on the fritz one day and I used an Apple Bluetooth keyboard “temporarily” as I got it sorted out. The thing is, I found I liked that Apple Bluetooth keyboard more than my clickety-clack keyboard. I discovered that low-travel keyboards work for me. My fingers don’t get as sore and they are so much quieter when I’m on a microphone.
So exactly how low-travel is the new keyboard? I’d say somewhere between the new MacBook and the old MacBook. This new Magic Keyboard is made for people like me. If you instead prefer big mushy keys with lots of travel, move along … this is not the keyboard for you.
While it’s easy to make fun of the minimal profile of the new keyboard, it is an impressive bit of engineering. It looks great on my desk. Charging the built-in batteries via lightning port was smart. Just about everyone, myself included, already has a lightning cable hanging off their iMac or in their laptop bag so recharging will not be an issue. As an aside, after a week, I have 72% charge remaining in my battery so I’m on track for about a month of usage. I also think the inclusion of a physical button to turn the devices on and off is long overdue.
I’ve read some complaints that the new Magic Keyboard does not include illuminated keys. My guess is Apple had to make the decision between illuminating keys and the extra physical space and battery hit an illuminated keyboard would entail. I would ultimately agree with the decision to leave it out. However, if you rely upon illuminated keys, once again, this is not the keyboard for you.
So who is it for? If you want a keyboard that looks good and features low-key travel, you should take a look at the Magic Keyboard. For most people, getting a new keyboard for their iMac is not something they do until the next time they buy a new iMac. That is sensible. Even if you are a low-travel keyboard nerd such as myself and are currently using the existing Bluetooth Keyboard, I’m not certain you need to upgrade. I think it is nicer but it’s also not cheap. I think this keyboard falls in the category of a “want” more than a “need”. Nonetheless, I am happy with purchase as I tap away these words on it.
The Magic Trackpad
I’m a trackpad guy. I’ve tried to use mice a few times over the past several years and I find they just don’t work for me anymore. I like that a trackpad only takes an alloted amount of space on my desktop and I rock gestures on my trackpad in ways I’ve never been able to match with a mouse, regardless of how many buttons, switches, and dials it has.
The Magic Trackpad 2 is an improvement over its predecessor. Like the Force Touch trackpads in shipping MacBooks and MacBook Pros, it’s not hinged so clicking at the top is as easy as clicking on the bottom.
The new trackpad uses the Force Touch mechanism so everything is a bit mysterious. For fun, turn the trackpad off before a friend uses your computer and watch their faces as they try and click and nothing happens.
I’ve noted that the Force Touch trackpad does have some detractors. Some people don’t care for the artificial clicks and find using them awkward. If you haven’t tried one yet, you should get in an Apple store and try it out yourself. I use one every day in my laptop and I don’t even think about the fact that it’s not actually moving.
Once nice improvement is that the Magic Trackpad 2 is 29% larger. It’s not just bigger, it’s bigger in the right ways. The shape of the trackpad now more closely resembles the wide-screen iMac it is attached to, which makes a lot of sense. With the trackpad getting bigger and the keyboard getting smaller, it’s pretty funny setting them side-by-side. The trackpad is about 2/3 the size of the keyboard. I didn’t see that coming.
That’s right. The Magic Trackpad 2 is bigger than the Millennium Falcon.
Like the Magic Keyboard, the new rechargeable battery situation is much better than before and I’m tracking for about a month of usage on a single charge.
One of the big selling points from Apple is the ability to add Force Touch to my iMac. I’m not so excited about that. I already have Force Touch on my laptop and almost never use it. Hopefully some enterprising developers will find a way to make it essential to me but that hasn’t happened yet. Although I do note that BetterTouch Tool already has an alpha version supporting the Magic Trackpad 2 and that just may be the key for me. I don’t think Force Touch is going away anytime soon and it seems a natural for it to come to the Magic Trackpad.
I think the case for a Magic Trackpad 2 upgrade is stronger than it is the Magic Keyboard. The bigger size and easier click at the top are compelling and while Force Touch isn’t all that just yet, I suspect it eventually will be.
Customizing OmniFocus in Version 2.3
When the Omni group released OmniFocus version 2, the most frequent complaint I heard was concerning the data layout. With the prior version all test data was on a single line which allowed you to see more on the screen at once. Version 2 added a different layout that takes a bit more vertical space but, in my opinion, was better.
With the recent release of OmniFocus version 2.3, that has all changed. You can now officially have your cake and eat it too. By default, OmniFocus still displays tasks with the version 2 “Fluid” view. There is, however, a new preferences window that lets you change that layout to display columns. You can set it globally or just with respect to certain perspectives. While I still generally prefer the flow view, custom perspectives (and denser data) makes more sense for my clear perspective, so I’ve set it up in that perspective only. You can learn more on the Omni Blog.
