I’ve received a lot of really kind emails and tweets about the OmniFocus Video Field Guide. A lot of work went into that project and I’m really happy to hear it is helping people get better at using OmniFocus. I’m as baffled as the next guy about how I am lucky enough to have smart people in the world interested in the things that I make but I sure am thankful.
MPU 227: Home Screens
Episode 227 of the Mac Power User is up. In it, Katie and I talk about what apps make the cut for our home screens and notification center widgets. Also, this is the one where I discovered I am more anal-retentive than Katie. Who’d of thunk?
Sponsor: The Ultimate Unofficial Dropbox Guide
This week MacSparky is sponsored by Jeffrey Abbott’s book, The Ultimate Unofficial Dropbox Guide. I am so glad Jeff wrote this book. We are all using Dropbox but very few of us are taking advantage of its power features. The Ultimate Unofficial Dropbox Guide was created to help make our digital lives more organized and efficient. The guide is a comprehensive look at power-using Dropbox, whether you’re just setting up your Dropbox account or already think you’re a pro.
The book covers a lot, including a comprehensive walk-throughs for photosharing, best practices for organizing your folders and documents, keeping your files secure, and automating tasks using IFTTT. There are also some bonus products including a handy keyboard-shortcut reference page, 15 Tips and Tricks for Families, and Photosharing Guides you can share with non-tech family members who still want to see photos of your kids. A book like this was overdue. I’m glad someone wrote it.
The OmniFocus Video Field Guide
I’m pleased to announce the release of the OmniFocus Video Field Guide. This is a screencast, not a book. A lot of people have asked me to write a book about OmniFocus but instead I made this 2.5 hour video that takes you, soup to nuts, through the Omni Group’s supremely bad-ass task manager. The screencast can turn an absolute OmniFocus novice into a task-managing ninja.
The screencast is fully bookmarked, nearly two and a half hours, and full of awesome. I’ve been working on this screencast for months now and I’m quite proud of it. You can learn more and buy it for $10 from here. Below is a sample video.
Upgrade and Work-Life Balance
At the end of this week’s Upgrade podcast, Jason, Myke, and Greg Knauss talk about their experiences with quitting the day job. Everyone had insightful points to make. As someone that continues to have a day job and a night job, I find this topic fascinating.
Turkey Day App Sale
With Black Friday (Wikipedia) tomorrow, a lot of my favorite apps are on sale. While digesting Turkey today, you may want to pick up a few.
Productivity
Clarify 2 (For Mac)
Clarify makes creating simple tutorials about how to get work done on your Mac dead simple. This is perfect for web tutorials or even just having a manual for staff at the office. It’s half off right now at just $15.
Fantastical 2
This is my go-to calendar app on both the iPad and iPhone. The iPad version is half price and the iPhone version is just $2. The Mac version is also on sale for half price.
Paprika
This app is favored heavily in the MPU episode publishing this weekend where a NASA Rocket Scientist (yes, really) tells us how he plans his whole family meal plans around it. I got so inspired, I bought the whole suite including the Mac version, iPad Version, and iPhone version. Now they are half price. Whoops.
Soulver
Soulver is a different kind of calculator. It is somewhere between a spreadsheet, a calculator, and a notepad, and right now the price is reduced from $5 to just $1.
Fun
Heads Up!
Are you at a dead, boring family gathering at this moment? Head’s Up is free right now and it has saved many Sparks family gatherings. You’ll be suprised at how animated your relatives get when you fire up this app.
TapCellar
This is a fantastic Beer app made by my pal, Gabe Weatherhead and it’s on sale for just 3 bucks.- Beer Finder, Check-In, Logging and Journaling Your Craft Brews: $4.99 -> $2.99
Duet Game
Few games have stuck with me like this one and now it’s just a buck.
Badland
BADLAND is an action adventure with beautiful art. This one was an App Store game of the year for 2013 and now it is a buck.
Shadow Blade
This is a fun platformer. My little nephew and I rock at this game. Today it’s on sale for $1.
Mikey’s Castle of Illusion (For Mac)
Want to use Mickey Mouse to jump around and solve puzzles. This game is reduced from $15 to $7 right now.
Law Podcasting Podcast
I recently guested on the Law Podcasting Podcast. I know there seems to be a lot of podcasting about podcasting lately, but I tried to keep this one practical with a few tips I’ve picked up over the years.
Monument Valley, Ida’s (Red) Dream
I seem to be writing a lot about Monument Valley lately, but I really love this game. The puzzles are just hard enough and the way each level unfolds delights me. I’ve finished the recent Forgotten Shores expansion and assumed I’d have to wait awhile before getting my next fix. I was wrong. The developers have released a new level as part of Apple’s Project (red). It costs just 99 cents, supports AIDS research, and is a lot of fun.
“Organizational Issues”
MacRumors reports on an article about iCloud suffering from “Deep Organizational Issues”. I’ve had my own set of problems with iCloud as of late but based on everything I’ve experienced with Apple, including just a tiny bit of the inside, I don’t think the iCloud stumbles have been a result of untamed bureaucracy or anything organizational. Everyone I’ve ever dealt with from Apple is incredibly focussed.
If I had to bet a nickel, I’d say the problem is that cloud stuff between multiple platforms (even platforms you own) is really, really hard. Dropbox and Twitter started small and got big slowly and they had plenty of growing pains along the way. When Apple releases a new cloud service, it immediately has millions of users. Apple still needs to prove they can deliver the goods in the cloud, but I have a hard time believing their cloud-challenges are organizational issues.
MPU 226: Workflows with Manton Reece
Programmer, podcaster, and man-about-town Manton Reece joins us this week to talk about creating Mac and iOS apps, Twitter and App.net, collaborating with others and more.