A few years ago I made a rule that I don’t back anything on Kickstarter that includes electronics of any form. However, I’ve thought a lot lately about getting some simple lighting I can use with my phone and camera. This Lume Cube might fit the bill. It seems to strike the right balance between price and quality for the “more than casual” consumer photographer. In other words, pretty sure I’m about to break my rule.
Boss Radar
I spent some time today searching through the Mac App Store for an app that would monitor the battery status of my keyboard, mouse, and trackpad and put them in my notification center. I was unsuccessful (development opportunity!) but while searching, I did stumble upon Boss Radar. Boss Radar will monitor the bluetooth signal of any device it sees and let you know when that device is close. It could, for instance, watch out for your boss’s cell phone bluetooth signal. When the device gets close, Boss Radar, will do things like change wallpaper, stop music, open up documents, and change browser pages. As the developer explains, it will make it appear as if you have “god-like focus”. I didn’t download Boss Radar and I really don’t have any need for it but the fact that: a) a Mac developer thought of it, and b) a Mac developer actually built it and now sells it for three bucks explains exactly why I love Mac developers.
The Mac’s Success
Walt Mossberg has an interesting piece explaining what he calls the Mac’s second act. He makes a lot of good points about why Mac market share continues to rise. I agree with most of his points but I also think he left a few out. The rise of Windows happened at a time when most computer purchases were made by companies, not individuals. Back then the decision was driven by people that administrated computer networks, not people that worked at the computers being purchased. That’s not true any more. (Or at least not as true.) Nowadays, a lot of people buy their own computers and are more discriminating.
Another reason for the Mac’s success is that the Apple tax, is now largely fictional. Macs aren’t as inexpensive as junk computers but their pricing is right in there for comparable Windows PCs. That wasn’t true the first go-around.
MPU 225: The 2014 Gift Guide
Looking to find a gift for that special nerd in your life or perhaps create your own list? Look no further.
MacSparky Ad Space for 2015
I’m opening up 2015 ad space. If you’d like to advertise on this site to the best readers in the world, let me know.
TextExpander Signature Line Snippet
This is probably a lawyer thing but I often find myself adding signature lines to the bottoms of documents, particularly contracts. Something like this.
Dated: November __, 2014 ________________
David Sparks
I was doing this the other day for about the millionth time in my 21-year career as an attorney when it occurred to me I could automate this with TextExpander. Here is my new snippet
The first bit:
Dated: %B __, %Y ____________________________
This creates a line with the date using the format of Current Month __, Current Year (e.g. November __, 2014). Then it tabs and and draws a line for the signature.
The second bit:
%key:tab%%key:tab%%key:tab%%clipboard
This repeatedly bangs the tab key and then dumps the contents of the clipboard.
The way I use this is to select the person’s name from somewhere else in the document, copy it, and then fire off the snippet at the bottom. I use xsigline to trigger this snippet.
This is probably a lawyer-only thing but I do know a few lawyers read this site. Either way, you can download the snippet here.
iCloud Drive Syncing Improvements
A few weeks ago I wrote about my problems getting documents to sync with iCloud Drive. In response, I heard from several developer friends telling me that things were about to get better and to install the 8.1.1 developer preview. So I did. After using it for a week, and the beta going out to the wild yesterday, I’m pleased to report iCloud Drive document syncing is loads better with the latest updates. This morning I spent 30 minutes moving between my iPad and Mac on a large numbers spreadsheet and both devices were keeping up. In short, iCloud document syncing is manageable again. Third party apps, like Drafts and Mindnode, are also seeing the benefits of this update. If you’ve been waiting, or had a bad prior experience, update your Mac and iOS devices with yesterday’s updates and give it a try for yourself.
The reason I’ve been so critical of iCloud lately is because I haven’t dismissed it. I see real potential to using Apple’s cloud solution. I like its tight integration with the operating system and since I’m using all Apple hardware, it just makes sense for me. I’m also considering going deeper into tagging and assuming that Apple tags will be better supported with an Apple cloud. I hope the problems of last month are initial stumbles. For now, I’m just happy to see the service working again as expected.
iOS 8 Crash Course by Josh Centers
My friend Josh Centers, just wrote a new book about getting your arms around the iOS 8 update. If you’re having trouble with new version or would just like to get a little better at it, look no further than the iOS 8 Crash Course.
Transporter Genesis
The Transporter has always been a consumer focussed product, until now. With the recent arrival of the Transporter Genesis, companies can host up to 24TB of data from their own server, effectively controlling their own cloud. A few years ago I wondered how long it would be before people could create their own cloud hosted data solutions from their own offices. It turns out we didn’t have to wait very long at all.
Monument Valley Update
I wrote about Monument Valley when it first released. This game really pushes my buttons. I like the puzzle nature and the wonderful visual treats of watching everything unfold when you figure it out. Now they’ve got an update, The Forgotten Shores. It is just a $2 in-app upgrade and worth every penny.