Pixelmator and InShort Updates

Two Mac apps that I like got gesture-based updates.

First, InShort for Mac received a Yosemite-friendly update with several interface tweaks, including the ability to scale diagrams on a touchpad. The app also has the ability to keep a catalog of locations and mark in which of them the process will be executed or the resource is located, is introduced.

Similarly, Pixelmator also now supports pinch to zoom gestures and the ability to scale objects. Pixelmator is, by the way, an excellent resource for fiddling with holiday photos. Here is a Pixelmator-modified image of some holiday decorations my kids and I made this year. Don’t look in Blitzen’s eyes too long.


Home Screens: Geoff Barrall


This week’s home screen features Geoff Barrall (Twitter). Geoff is the guy that came up with the Drobo and then followed that up with the Transporter. Geoff’s a geek, like us, and love’s his iPhone. Despite Geoff’s serious job (and picture), I’ve honestly never seen him without a smile on his face. So Geoff, show us your home screen.


What are some of your favorite apps?

Apps I use all the time that aren’t on my home screen are – OpenTable (lot’s of business dinners), ETrade, Starbucks (to pay for coffee), Plex to sync video for trips from my Drobo 5N and ComiXology.

Which app is your guilty pleasure?

On the iPad it’s Castle Panic for sure. I’ve spent a lot of time on that one.

What is the app you are still missing?

The original version of Siri (before the acquisition) was really interesting. It could plan a whole trip for you. I know the founder a little and he had big dreams for the way it’d connect many many services. I’m hoping Apple get it back to that position long term so it really becomes a mobile personal assistant.

How many times a day do you use your iPhone?

All the time. I use it for notes in meetings and to hold my agenda. Even when sitting at my PC I use both depending on which is easier.

What is your favorite feature of the iPhone/iPad?

Everything in sync, contacts, calendar etc. This has really been working well for me in recent years.

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

Sandboxing & The App Approval process. It’s at a point where the best OS X Apps aren’t in the App Store anymore. The App Store could be really awesome. I think it’d just take Apple to trust the companies making Mac software a little more (not everything needs to be Sandboxed). The new extensions for iOS was a great step in the right direction so I’m hopeful Apple is on a better track now.

What’s your wallpaper and why?

I think it’s still the default. Busy.

Anything else you’d like to share?

If there was I’d use Transporter to do it! 😀

Thanks Geoff.

Jazz Friday: Christmas Time is Here


With this last Jazz Friday post before Christmas, I’m going to feature one more holiday song. You can’t think of the Peanuts without hearing Vince Guaraldi’s amazing music. Vince (Wikipedia) was an accomplished jazz musician with a career entirely outside of the Peanuts. By far, my favorite Guaraldi album is the Charlie Brown Christmas album and on that album, my favorite track is Christmas Time is Here (Instrumental). I love the melody, the pacing, and the chord changes. This song represents the whole package. A lot of people have covered this song in past years. My current favorite is this one by Diana Krall. However, in my mind nothing beats Vince Guaraldi’s original.

Ulysses for iPad

Ulysses now has a public teaser site for the upcoming iPad version. Ulysses for Mac, that has really matured into something special over the past few years, has always been able to sync to the iPad with Daedalous Touch but I’ve never found that experience very satisfying. Giving Ulysses a home on the iPad for us mobile writers makes a lot more sense and it looks like that is exactly what we’ll get. Between this and Scrivener for iPad, 2015 should be a great year for iPad writers. I look at both of these apps as something beyond a simple text editor and I can’t wait to get this kind of power on my iPad.

Less Wibbly-Wobbly

I wrote a few weeks ago about how the App review process has made Apple look bi-polar as of late. I’m pleased to see they have reversed course (in the right direction) on two of the more notable apps. Last week, Apple permitted Transmit to get its extremely useful iCloud upload back. Today, word is getting out that Drafts gets back its widget. I’m encouraged by these developments. On behalf of all of us boundary-pushing nerds, I hope this is an indication that Apple understands we’re okay with our apps being awesome.

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.