Today is Disneyland’s 60th birthday so I though I’d pick a Disney-related jazz track. One of my favorites is Alice in Wonderland, by the Dave Brubeck Quartet. This track is on an album full of Disney tunes called Dave Digs Disney from 1957. The Dave Brubeck quartet was one of the pioneers of the West Coast Jazz movement and is one of the most distinctive in jazz with Paul Desmond’s lilting melodies on Alto Sax and Dave Brubeck’s harmonics on Piano. Alice in Wonderland delivers on all counts.
This week I thought I’d feature my own home screen. So here you go.
Apple Maps
I know Apple Maps is the whipping boy but it’s got a lot better over the last few years. It’s no longer “Apple Maps Bad”. Also, I like using Siri with Maps. (“Hey Siri, Get directions home.”)
Tweetbot
My love of Tweetbot on iPhone just barely exceeds my disdain for the iPad version. I’ve been using it for years and occasionally look for something new and I always come back.
Slack
I’ve just recently started participating in some Slack channels and I’m hooked. The Slack app keeps evolving and that’s a good thing.
This app on my home screen is aspirational. I’ve never been much of an Instagram user but am trying again. (I’m “MacSparky” on Instagram if you’re interested.)
The Audio Row
Music, Overcast, Beats, and Sonos for my audio needs. I’m hooked on Overcast for podcasts. Before Apple bought Beats, they had a promotional price through AT&T. I tried it and it stuck. I have a lot of great playlists and like the way it works so easily with the Sonos at home.
The Productivity Row
I’ve written about MindNode, OmniOutliner, Editorial, and Soulver at length. I’d just add that I find it surprising how often I work on mind maps and outlines on my iPhone.
Unread
RSS feeds are my guilty pleasure. I read through feeds every day and for awhile now, I’ve been doing it in Unread.
I’ve been using Pocket as my read-it-later service for a few years and am getting ready to embark on an Instapaper experiment but for now Pocket is still on my home screen.
1Password
1Password is a great password management tool but it also has the ability to store secure notes behind a separate wall on my phone. I use those all the time.
Photos
I guess there’s no secret that I really like the new Photos. Now it’s on my home screen.
Fantastical
Fantastical really pushes all my buttons as an iOS calendar application. The list view of data connects with my brain and new event entry is also a breeze.
OmniFocus
Workflow
I also really like having Workflow on my iPhone. Are you keeping up with the updates to Workflow? You should.
Drafts
There is no faster way to get words from my brain to my phone than Drafts.
After all these years, I still love my iPhone. It is probably my most important piece of technology.
Here you go. I’m definitely a “Utility” man. I keep turning the numbers on the face on and off. (Currently off.) I’ve tried several other faces and none of them have stuck. For complications I’m using fitness, weather, and next event.
Mark Gurman reports that iOS 9 and OS X 10.11 might very well get the San Francisco Font, currently used on the Apple Watch. If true Helvetica Neue will go down in history as the George Lazenby of Mac fonts. Given that Apple designed the San Francisco font, I would not be least bit surprised if they brought it to all of their platforms. (John Gruber points out that San Francisco is now the font used on the new MacBook keyboard.)
I like San Francisco on the watch. It is clean and clearly designed to be on a screen and not piece of paper. I have no idea how San Francisco will look on the phone and Mac, but I’m curious. I’m probably not the person to make such decisions though since I was a fan of, and actually turned in a college paper using the original Mac San Francisco font. Yes. This one.
Today is David Letterman’s last show. Like a lot of people my age, Dave was one of my original stick-it-to-the-man inspirations. This week Jason Snell produced a very special episode of The Incomparable, Monkey Cam, with interviews from some very smart people and an excellent narrative about David Letterman’s career and what it means. If you have any interest in this stuff, I’d urge you to listen to this one hour episode.
Since I posted my initial review of the new MacBook, I’ve received a lot of email about the keyboard. From other new MacBook owners, the feedback has largely agreed with me that the keyboard is inferior to that on the MacBook Pro or iMac with a few vocifous objectors who felt that the smaller throw keyboard is superior. I guess that shouldn’t surprise me. The way a keyboard feels is definitely a personal preference thing.
Regardless, more water has run under the bridge since I put out the first review and my opinion of the keyboard has not changed. I still don’t think it is as good as the keyboard on my old MacBook Pro but it’s not so terrible that it’s a dealbreaker. Moreover, as time goes by, I think of it less and less and instead just get my work done on this amazingly light laptop with this amazingly crisp text. I sold MacBook Pro and it is now happily being used to edit video. I haven’t missed it at all.
Last year Apple announced Home Kit. It has been nearly a year now and Home Kit support in third party devices is expected to ship soon according to the Verge. I’m interested in home automation and have a mixture of WeMo switches and Hue lights throughout my house. One of the challenges is that every little ecosystem has its own app and and own idiosyncrasies. Hopefully Home Kit solves that. We’ll find out soon.
This week Merlin Mann returns for his annual visit to Mac Power Users. This is one of my favorite episodes every year. This year we discuss hardware and software updates and if it’s necessary to keep up with the latest and greatest, Merlin’s growing use of iOS over Mac OS, and kids and technology use.
Did you also know we just received a new episode of You Look Nice Today? YLNT involves Merlin, Scott Simpson, and Adam Lisagor recording their often bizarre and always funny conversations, adding a little bit of ukulele-ladden post production, and releasing it to the world.
This week I had the real pleasure of joining John Gruber on The Talk Show. We talked about The Watch, career choices, dress shoes, the new MacBook, and Photos. It was a lot of fun and at several points John had me in giggle fits.
Art Pepper was one of the most influential alto saxophonists in the 50s and 60s and considered one of the founders of the West Coast Jazz movement. As a Californian, I’m a fan of West Coast Jazz in general and Art Pepper in particular. There was a lightness to his sound that is delightful. Unfortunately, Art had a lifelong heroin problem and, frankly, a rough life including several prison stints. There is a great documentary about Art Pepper, called Art Pepper: Notes from a Jazz Survivor. Over the Rainbow (iTunes) is a great Art Pepper track because he plays the whole thing solo and really stretches out.
This week’s home screen features Michael Simmons (Twitter) from Flexibits (Website), developer of Fantastical. Michael also co-founded HockeyApp. So Michael, show us your home screen.
More than anything else, I made Fantastical for myself and still use it every day.
The way I do email, Apple Mail works for me. I like the more recent feature additions, like swipe to mark as read.
I’m a calorie counter and this app makes it painless. I’ve had a running streak of counting calories every day for three years now.
This is my favorite Twitter client. I use it for both my personal account and my Flexibits account and I’m using it all the time.
I’m strangely addicted to Periscope. I’m still trying to figure out what I’ll broadcast but I really enjoy watching the broadcasts. As a communications major, I find the idea of anyone being able to stream from anywhere really interesting, a new intimate form of communication.
This is my favorite app for listening to music and I love being able to (pretty much) listen to whatever song I want, when I want it.
I most often take Instagram pictures when I travel but I check it every day.
Fantastical. Of course.
I’m not very good at writing things down on my iPhone. I want to get better at taking notes on my phone.
A lot! (laughs)
I use the Fantastical widget and also like Dark Sky in the Today view, which shows the forecast for the next hour very quickly. I also keep my stock information there.
That it all just works. Of course things can be improved but I like the ecosystem and how it all works.
I would like to add the ability to see and use two apps side-by-side which could add the potential to do things like drag and drop.
I’ve used the same dark perforated leather wallpaper for a long time. It was created by Adam Betts. (I originally had it on my Mac.) It looks great and doesn’t draw my attention away.
Sure.
Thanks Michael.
