App Santa Returns


For a few years now, a collection of developers have put some of the best iOS and Mac productivity apps on sale at AppSanta. They’re back this year with a full menu of great apps to choose from. I bought several that I didn’t already own this morning. Some of my favorites this year are: 

There are even more listed at AppSanta.

The Perils of Electronic Communications

I’ve been reading the reports of the massive data loss at Sony over the last few weeks. In some ways, the most jarring reports are not leaked finances but instead all the email. As much of a geek as I am (or perhaps because I’m a geek), I just don’t share private thoughts via email or text message. This came up on a recent episode of Mac Power Users and I truly believe people don’t understand how easy it is for governments, or subpoena-wielding attorneys, or … now … motivated hackers to get access to digital communications and records.

I think it runs even deeper than the typical big brother paranoia. Digital communications is permanent and hurtful things said to friends and loved ones via email is equally permanent. If you are pissed at a friend, go confront him. Yell. Scream. Exercise your demons. Bloody noses heal and a shared beer a few hours later heals even better. A rage-filled email however drives a deep, and often permanent, wedge.

So saying hurtful things is, generally, a bad idea and doing so electronically is an even worse idea. Hackers are only going to get smarter and your private communications are more likely … not less … as we move into the future to be compromised.

So here are a few tips the next time you start writing something in an email or text message you don’t feel comfortable projecting on the side of your house:

1. Don’t

2. Do

3. It.

There it is. Three easy tips. 

No Suits For Me

Jason Snell’s editorial voice is one of the best in the Mac community and I’m really enjoying his Six Colors website. Today he published a piece on why removing the “suits” from the recording industry is a good thing. I’d add that to the publishing industry as well. I’ve written books for big publishers and I’ve written books for myself. For future reference, I’ll be continuing to write for myself. 

Bluetooth Battery Revisited


A few weeks ago I wrote about my quest for a menubar app to give me the status of my Bluetooth keyboard and trackpad. Turns out I already had the app I needed. I use iStat Menus for several items but never bothered with it for the replacement battery menubar item. I do now. If you haven’t tried iStat Menus yet, you should. If you already have it, take a look at the menubar replacements you ignored before. You may find you like them better than you thought.

The Song

I love Apple’s holiday ads. When is the rest of the industry going to figure it out? Talking about gigabytes and clock-cycles doesn’t mean anything to 99% of the world. Showing how you can take a few pieces of technology and rock your grandmother, however, is an entirely different story.

Sponsor: Dropzone 3




This week I’m welcoming a new sponsor to MacSparky.com, Dropzone 3. Dropzone is a productivity tool that enhances drag and drop on your Mac. Drag files onto the menu item and a beautifully designed and animated grid of all your actions opens. Share with services such as AirDrop, Imgur, FTP, Amazon S3, Facebook, Twitter and many others. Move and copy files, launch applications and even develop your own actions using the powerful Ruby based scripting API.

Dropzone 3 is a huge update to the app that takes Dropzone to a whole new level. You can now add actions to your grid faster thanks to the new quick add menu or by dropping folders or apps onto the ‘Add to Grid’ area. Quickly reorganise your actions using drag and drop and delete them by holding the option key. The new in-grid progress bars let you keep track of task progress. Also see how tasks are progressing at a glance in the new animated menu item.

Drop Bar is another great new feature – Drag files you know you’ll need later onto the Drop Bar area of the grid to stash them tempororily. Drag stacks on top of each other to combine them. You can even drag a stack onto another Dropzone action.

In Dropzone 3, the developer API has undergone a major overhaul. You can now duplicate existing actions and tweak them to your liking. A new bundle system lets you distribute needed libraries or tools along with your action. Actions can now be auto-updated as they are improved. With a little Ruby knowledge you’ll be thinking of your own uses in no time – check out the developer documentation here.

A major update for Dropzone 3 has just been released that brings full support for OS X Yosemite and adds new features such as the ability to activate Dropzone by dragging files directly to the top of the screen and the ability to upload videos to YouTube. There are also many bug fixes and improvements, such as completely rewritten and improved Amazon S3 uploading and an enhanced developer API.

I’ve been using Dropzone for awhile. I’ve got actions to move files to specified folders and AirDrop to my other devices. Also, as a frequent full-screen user on my laptop, I use the DropBar all the time. Since I’m already reliant on this application, when the developer contacted me about sponsoring the site, I jumped at it. Learn more here.

∞

Home Screens: Mark Pouley


One of the first friends I ever made at Macworld Expo many years ago was Mark Pouley (Twitter). Mark is a photographer that lives and works in the Pacific Northwest, one of my favorite parts of the United States. Mark is a wonderful guy and has a great eye for photography. Mark’s complete portfolio is available to view at twinlakesimages.com. You really should click on that link and check out some of Mark’s shots. I’m thinking about hanging this one in my office. Alright Mark, show us your home screen.


What are some of your favorite apps?

On the phone I use Downcast daily to listen to podcasts on my commute.

Tweetbot is always running and is the app used most on the phone.

I love The Photographer’s Ephemeris (to determine where and when the moon and sun will line up in my location) and I use it very often when I’m out shooting landscapes with my DSLR to line up shots and know when to be in a location.

I shoot with the phone, but edit on my iPad with my favorite photo processing app is Snapseed.

I’m slowly integrating Lightroom Mobile on the iPad into my work flow, but that has been a slow process. I’d like to see a few more upgrades to the app before I think it will be really useful.

Which app is your guilty pleasure?

Intellectually I know the app shouldn’t be on my phone. I know I shouldn’t even have an account. I agree with all the reasons people hate it, but Facebook is my guilty pleasure. It’s how I keep in touch with family and friends and I’ve reconnected with high school friends I haven’t seen or talked to in years. 

It’s okay Mark. No. Really. -David

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

Even though I have a post graduate degree I don’t believe I can count that high. It is a very, very big number.

What is your favorite feature of the iPhone/iPad?

The best feature of the iPhone is the portable power. It is remarkable to me that I can do so much computing and real photography with a small device that fits in my pocket. I take it for granted, but I can’t imagine what life would be like now without it. The iPad has to be its convenience. Whether I’m viewing photos, reading, checking mail, playing games, it is so easy to carry around and flip open to get to work quickly and easily. The phone and pad have changed the way I work and spend my leisure time.

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

I think it is coming, but not soon enough. I would integrate the Beats music streaming service with iTunes match and offer the service at a killer subscription price. I can’t wait to have my entire music collection combined with on-demand streaming on my phone. I was slow to join the subscription streaming band wagon, but I now use Spotify daily, and love it, but I also own a huge library of music. I want seamless integration of all of my music at a great price. 

Anything else you’d like to share?

My switch to using Macs in 2007 is what kicked off my journey into photography. The computer was so easy to use it really kick-started my creativity. I feel like the iPhone and iPad are instrumental now in the work I do, but I also think it is still the early days of what we are going to be able to do with portable computing and I’m excited to see what is coming around next corner.

Thanks Mark.