I’ve recently received my shiny new Retina iMac and chose the event to clean up my home desk. I know it is kind of a thing for people to take these “posed” pictures of their workspace. Nevertheless, here is my desk-porn. In my defense, most days my desk is this clean. I wrote a book on how to live paperless, remember?
Yoda, The Millenium Falcon, and Stitch are with me at all times.
I’ve written and talked about travel gear several times over the years. There is a new gadget on the market that is worthy of consideration for road warriors. It is the HooToo TripMate Elite (Amazon). This device is about the size of an older AirPort Express (the kind that would plug directly into the wall) but made of black plastic instead of white. Moreover, it is a combination of several devices useful on the road.
There is a 6000mAh Battery Charger with two USB sockets so you can charge two things at once. When you get to your hotel (or find a spare socket at the airport) you can plug it in for charging later.
The HooToo also has a built in Wireless N Travel Router. If you show up to a hotel room that just has ethernet Internet, you can plug this in and create your own little wireless network in your room. You can also plug a USB flash drive into the device and broadcast the data on it to your iOS devices using a proprietary application. While all these functions are available on devices already on the market, I have not seen someone put all of them and one device before. This is pretty nice being able to carry a travel router, battery charger, and media streamer all with one device. I haven’t ordered one yet but I probably will before my next big trip.
For a long time merchants have been paying a lot of fees to credit card companies and they don’t like it. So they started their own payment initiative, called CurrentC, that gives them the ability to cut credit cards out of the loop and provide them more data about their customers. Then Apple unleashed Apple Pay on the world, creating something much more secure and easier than anything CurrentC could do but which still leaves merchants paying credit card companies. Rich Mogull does a good job of explaining the details at TidBITS.
The stage is set. Hijinks shall ensue. I bet the CurrentC backers had no idea how much nerd-attention they were going to get when all of this started.
To me, the most interesting element of this looming dispute between mega-corporations is how clear the battle lines are. Apple Pay uses existing credit cards but adds a lot of security (with one-time transaction numbers) and a bit of convenience. CurrentC is more clunky (QR codes!) and cuts out the credit card companies and, to a lesser extent, Apple. CurrentC collects helps build a customer profile which is great for merchants and creepy for consumers. In terms of security, CurrentC doesn’t use one-time number but instead stores your existing ATM card number or relies upon you charging up your account with merchants. So the three biggest pieces affecting consumer experience are security, data collection, and convenience. Apple Pay wins all three. (However I could see Apple incorporating loyalty program numbers and customer tracking numbers into Apple Pay at some point.)
CurrentC feels like something that solves the merchants’ problems at the expense of their customers’ convenience and security. I understand CurrentC’s point that if merchants could stop paying credit card fees, they could lower prices but that is not enough for me to have to deal with QR codes and continued security problems. I also have to wonder if they actually would lower prices or then explain that they need the money they used to pay credit card companies to now maintain CurrentC.
Wearing my consumer hat, I can tell you the deciding factor for me is security. Merchants like Target and Home Depot have proven they are not capable of protecting my credit card information. I have one credit card. I’m now on my fourth number for that account this year. Apple Pay solves that entire problem. When choosing where to shop, merchants that will accept my secure Apple Pay one-time number will go to the top of the line.
Tim Cook wrote an excellent essay for Business Week about being gay and the impact it has had on his life.
Being gay has given me a deeper understanding of what it means to be in the minority and provided a window into the challenges that people in other minority groups deal with every day. It’s made me more empathetic, which has led to a richer life. It’s been tough and uncomfortable at times, but it has given me the confidence to be myself, to follow my own path, and to rise above adversity and bigotry. It’s also given me the skin of a rhinoceros, which comes in handy when you’re the CEO of Apple.
I really like the tone of this essay. Tim goes out of the way to explain how he is not trying to be heroic but instead do his part. Over the past few years, a close friend of my family is a young gay man that I’ve watched face down prejudice and rejection with a dignity and honor that you wouldn’t expect of someone his age. People like Tim Cook writing things like this are making a difference.
I finally got some time to play with Pixelmator for iPad this evening. I know some of the people at Pixelmator and I know they’ve been working on this application for a long time. I knew it was going to be something special but not this special. For five dollars, you’ll get a full features photo editor that just a few years ago would have required a Mac Pro and thousands of dollars in software. Moreover, the touch interface makes the photo editing more intuitive. I’m going to write more on this as I dig in deeper but for now, if you’ve got a recent iPad, just go buy this. Learn more at the website.
In a recent episode of the Mac Power Users I made an offhand remark how I thought it would be clever to use the Apple Watch to unlock my Mac. I received multiple emails from listeners telling me that this functionality effectively exists already with the application called Knock. I’ve been using Knock (iTunes) (website) now for a few weeks and am happy to report that those listeners were correct.
Knock is an iPhone application. It costs four dollars and once you install it, your iPhone becomes aware of when it gets near your Mac, even when it is locked. (You also need to download and install a utility app on your Mac found on their website.) Once you’ve got the system in place, when you get near your Mac, you will see a message on the lock screen that invites you to unlock by knocking twice on your phone. You can do this right in your pocket. For added fun, do this while pointing a toy sonic screwdriver at your Mac. The developer has a clever video that shows off this feature on their website.
After two weeks I’m convinced that this is more than a cute demo. I love unlocking my Mac simply by walking up to it and knocking on my pocket. I still think the Apple Watch could make this even easier but for now, you should check out Knock.
This week Aleh Cherp, an instructor at two universities and publisher of Macademic.org joined us to discuss how he gets work done with his Apple Technologies. In it we cover dealing with students and research and writing. There are some great tips in this one.
A few days ago I received the final printed edition of Macworld magazine. Even though I get most of my information these days digitally, I could never bring myself to cancel my subscription. There was something comforting about receiving it on my doorstep. Nobody should be surprised about any print publication shuttering in 2014 but that doesn’t make it any less sad. Having made a small contribution over the last few years and seeing the Macworld team in action at Macworld expo, I can attest, Macworld was published by a fine group of geeks.
It is bittersweet to find a small automation piece I wrote made it into the final edition. I’ve published a lot of things in my life but I have to admit I always got a little bit of a thrill seeing my name in the magazine when it arrived.
Jason Snell delivers his review of the new retina iMac over at Six Colors and he liked it enough to buy one for himself. After reading the review, I went into a local Apple Store and violated my own rule. I looked at it. There is definitely a Retina iMac in my future. I am weak.
It is clear to me now that when I wrote this list I should have added:
5. Whatever you do, don’t read Jason Snell’s review.
Dave Stachowiak (Twitter) is the host of the Coaching for Leaders and Carnegie Coach podcasts. Dave is also Executive Vice President, Talent Development at Dale Carnegie of Southern Los Angeles. Dave, through his podcasts, manages to combine a love of technology with a bit of sanity towards being productive. So Dave, show us your home screen.
One of my go-to apps is Lift. This app helps me reach larger goals by keeping track of daily, important habits. I have seven daily habits right now, including things like “walk 12,000 steps” and “read a book for 30 minutes.” At the end of the day (or when I complete the habit), I mark it off and it keeps track of my progress over time with graphs and other cool stuff. I’ve interviewed co-founded Lift Tony Stubblebine and they’ve got great plans for the future of Lift.
My excuse for owning pretty much every podcast app out there is that it’s helpful for troubleshooting the occasional podcast feed issue for folks in my listening community. The real reason is that I was always searching for the perfect podcast app. That all changed with Overcast. Finally, I feel like I’ve found an app that balances great features with ease of use. The smart speed function is amazing. The rest of my podcast apps have been relegated to a podcast folder on the second screen.
I’ve tried several of the third-party calendar apps over the years, but always ended up back with the Apple Calendar app, since it seemed like meeting invites (I get a lot) never got handled correctly and the learning curves were steep. I have no idea why I was so stubborn about not trying Fantastical, since I’ve heard great things about it for years. Once I did, not only am I not going back to the Calendar app, but it now has a beloved spot in my dock.
Who doesn’t love Drafts? Thanks to Mac Power Users for getting me hooked. I definitely underutilize it…right now, just to capture thoughts as they come in, and twice a week I have an OmniFocus task set to go in and file/clear all my content ideas and random thoughts. It’s high on my list to learn lots of the new advanced sharing and power features in the new version.
Other than Starbucks, my guilty pleasure these days is the MailChimp app. I’m a big believer in slow, steady growth over time, so the MailChimp dashboard gives me a daily smile when I see people subscribing to my weekly updates. My wife Bonni is on the same account for her Teaching in Higher Ed platform so we get to cheer each other on. It’s a blast. There are worse things to be addicted too, yes?
I already feel like I underutilize so many of my current apps. Writing this is reminding me that I need to carve out some time to learn the advanced features on a few of them. Every time I’ve done that in the past, the time investment always pays off in the long-run.
The short answer? A lot. I work from home and almost all my work is virtual these days, so I choose to stay very connected. We have two children under the age of three, so there are days where a virtual office in my pocket is a life-saver.
That said, I’m intentional about staying off the phone with I’m with our kids or it’s family time. Over the summer, I found I was checking email too much when out and about with kids (Bonni and I aim to share equal time caring for them) so I took email off my phone completely for a month to break the habit. It worked – and today I keep the email app buried in a folder on the second screen. That helps and is a constant reminder to keep email to mostly scheduled work times.
I almost always leave my phone in my home office when work is done for the day and don’t pick it up again until well after kids are fast asleep. The only people I need to be instantly connected to in the evening are already in front of me.
I’ve never been much into widgets. I’ve tried (and like) the OmniFocus and calendar widgets on my iPhone 6, but in practice I always just go right to the app.
One related hack I’ve found helpful is keeping my iPhone, iPad, and Macs on the 24-hour clock. This resolves two mental obstacles I have. First, since I do a lot of work virtually, I feel like the mental addition/subtraction of time zones when booking calls is way easier with the 24-hour clock. Second, the number of times I’ve missed alarms I set for the morning because I forgot to slide the “PM” to “AM” when setting a clock alarm is embarrassing. Problem solved on the 24-hour clock (although whatever weirdness going on in my brain likely remains).
I have very few badge notifications active since I only want to be annoyed with things I actually need to take action on (overdue OmniFocus tasks, my Drafts inbox, unread RSS feeds). Probably I should just take badged off my Unread app too since I seem to be chronically behind on RSS reading (who isn’t?)
I did a Snoopy dance when Pushpin updated their app recently with an extension that allows me to save links right into Pinboard. I use Pinboard for both my reading queue and bookmarking archive. I’ve used both Pocket and Instapaper before (and like them too) but I find it’s way simpler just to have it all in one place.
I’m also loving the new 1Password extension for iOS8. Populating passwords in Safari with Touch ID still warms my heart every time. iOS 8 was worth it for that extension alone.
When the iPhone got slim enough to fit comfortably in a pocket a few years ago, I dumped my wallet and starting using iPhone wallet cases from SenaCases. I was initially disappointed to see the iPhone 6 get taller, cause I’d gotten used to the small profile of the iPhone 5 and dislike anything taking up more pocket space.
In practice through, I haven’t noticed a pocket real estate issue with the iPhone 6 and I have to admit that after a day, I fell in love with the larger screen. I’m now using the Heritage Wallet Book from SenaCases for this phone and love it.
Family sharing doesn’t seem to be all it was cracked up to be. It’s not making sense to have to pay for iTunes Match multiple times or in app purchases again for different IDs in the same house.
Between Bonni and I, we have something like four or five Apple IDs from various stages of Apple ecosystems over the years (.Mac, MobileMe, etc.) It doesn’t compute with me why Apple doesn’t have any option to merge purchase histories of Apple IDs and help people onto a single account. For now, we’re keeping all current/new app purchases on one family account.
I’m pretty boring with wallpaper. The current one
is an iOS default background. I pretty much always use one of the defaults on every device (the Macs I use already have the stock Yosemite photos on the desktops). I do have a photo of my son and I on my iPad lock screen, but that’s it. Probably there is something wrong with me.
I read all these home screen posts and love getting app ideas from others. Thanks to David for such a creative way for us all to learn from each other.
I feel like I’ve arrived now that I’ve been featured. It’s all downhill from here.
Thanks Dave.
