Home Screen: Dave Stachowiak

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.

What are some of your favorite apps?

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.

Which app is your guilty pleasure?

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?

What is the app you are still missing?

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.

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

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.

What Today View widgets are you using and why?

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?)

Any favorite iOS 8 extensions?

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.

What is your favorite feature of the iPhone/iPad?

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.

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

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.

What’s your wallpaper and why?

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.

Anything else you’d like to share?

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.

You’ve Come A Long Way, Baby

Here is the original 128K Mac screen laid upon a 5K iMac display. Spoiler: It’s a postage stamp.

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Update to Mail Send-From Trick

A few years ago I published a screencast explaining how to put keyboard shortcuts to your email send-from account. With the release of Yosemite, you are going to need to tweak that shortcut. Before, Apple Mail would wrap your email in <arrow brackets>. Now Apple Mail removes the brackets and adds an n dash (Option + “-“). If you’ve suddenly found your Send-From trick not working, that’s why. Go in and reset them with the new syntax and you’ll be back in business.

App Specific Passwords

As Apple ups its game with two-factor authentication (you are using it, right?), you may find some of your apps suddenly stop recognizing your iCloud password. I’ve seen this in my life with Sanebox, Fantastical, BusyCal, and Dispatch just to name a few. In these instances, Apple stops recognizing your password and instead requires you to make an app-specific password just for that third party application. If you suddenly find yourself locked out of third party email, calendar, and other iCloud account related applications, you’ll need to learn to set up your own app-specific passwords. It is not that difficult.

It all starts right here at the My Apple ID page.

You are going to want to bookmark the above link. You’ll need it often as you are required to create app-specific passwords. The My Apple ID page gives you a few options. Click on “Mange your Apple ID”.

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Next, you’ll need to insert your account credentials.

You’ll also need to provide two factor verification to get in.

Once your in, click on the security pane and the app-specific passwords are available at the bottom of the right pane.

Click on “Generate an App-Specific Password” and you’ll walk through the process. First you’ll name the App-Specific password. Name it after the app you intend to use it in. Then iCloud will spit out a new password. Use that in your designated third-party application and you’re in.

You can even access (or revoke) prior app-specific passwords. While a bit inconvenient, this is absolutely do-able. Moreover, having app-specific passwords is much more secure. Given the amount of data and information in my iCloud account, the increased security is worth the time this takes to set up.

Audio Messages in iMessages

Today iOS 8.1 releases (hooray!). Now that we’ve all been using iOS 8 awhile how big of a thing is the ability to send a recording of your voice via iMessages? I’ve done it once for the sole purpose of demonstrating how it works. I thought it may be a generational thing but my kids report they aren’t using it either.

The problem for me is that the ability to send an audio message defeats a lot of the advantages I get from text messages. When I’m in court, my secretary can send me updated witness availability via a text message. I can read that text message without having the judge throw me in the pokey. If instead, I start lifting my phone to my ear or playing audio messages, my results may vary. I just don’t see the ability to send audio messages (even with a slick interface) as something taking off. One wildcard in this for me is the Apple Watch. It may be a lot more convenient with something on my wrist. For now, however, I just don’t get it.

MPU 220: OS X Yosemi-fied

Episode 220 covers all that is shiny and new about OS X 10.10, Yosemite. Get is while it is hot.

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To Siri, With Love

Judith Newman wrote a touching piece for the New York times about her autistic son’s relationship with Siri. If you’ve previously written off Siri and iPhone dictation, you should try it again. It just keeps getting better and better. I’m dictating these words using it.

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Home Screens: Hay Oborn

This week’s home screen features Hay Oborn (Twitter)(Google+). Hay hails from Bournemouth, United Kingdom and routinely helps out with the Mac Power User show notes. So Hay, show us your home screen.

What are some of YOUR favorite apps?

Oh I have so many

Overcast – Is definitely up there as one of my favourite apps as I listen to podcast more than I listen to music, obviously this includes MPU – I think I have tried and tested most podcast apps including the Apple Default one and Overcast in my opinion is the best podcatcher.

Twitter – This is another app I have used many of, but I still always go back to the regular twitter application as it has everything I need – Sometimes I do jump over to Tweetbot too for a change of scenery.

Evernote – I can’t live without this app, I work as an IT Technician in a local secondary school and have to attend many meetings (Too many in my opinion) I send the meeting attendees the agenda and also the Meeting minutes afterwards and it’s just so simple to use, with the iOS 8 widgets Evernote is a must have – I also work off an iPad at times and this app just runs seamlessly.

TextExpander – I use 100’s and 100’s of snippets, literally if I have to write/type something more than once I will make a snippet for it, I use it regularly for email signatures etc. – By the way Smile Software – I LOVE the iOS 8 TextExpander Keyboard (Awesome Job)

1Password – I was a late starter with 1Password and after listening to MPU for YEARS I decided I needed to give it a bash, it takes a while to setup with changing passwords etc. – but once setup it’s another must have app – I can’t believe I hadn’t tried it before (I even use it on my MacBook Pro)

Which app is your guilty pleasure?

It has to be the iOS App Store as no matter where I am or what i’m doing I can always find something in there to help me problem solve, or keep me entertained when needed.

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

I listen to podcasts on my way to work every morning (20–30minute Drive) I use my iPhone constantly for reading and replying to emails when working around campus, I’m always listening to podcasts if I stay in one place long enough. My iPad is mainly used in meetings because if I use my phone for taking notes people think i’m not listening. I would much prefer using my iPad as my main work horse at work, but we run a Microsoft based network now and I work daily on a Windows PC – My iPad/iPhone/Mac still have a part to play.

What Today View widgets are you using and why?

I have been a slow starter when it comes to widgets – but I do use the Evernote widget which has just made things 10 times faster for me. I also use the Dropbox widget, which is helpful with sharing files and accessing them on the go.

Any Favorite iOS 8 Extensions

I love the 1Password extension, need I say anymore?

What is your favorite feature of the iPhone/iPad?

I have just jumped from the iPhone 5 to the iPhone 6 and Touch ID is a feature I absolutely love, using my thumb print to purchase apps from the store is just genius, also the iPhone 6 screen is just stunning. The camera is also superb and I will be taking advantage on the slowmo and timelapse features on various occasions.

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

Now that Apple own Beats – I was disappointed not to see some sort of Beats headphones with the new iPhone 6 and 6 Plus, I’d like to see that in the future. I would also like them to bring to the table more customisation features to iOS – i.e. Change layout of icons, Custom themes – With iOS 8 I think Apple have started to realise this and the integration of third party keyboards was great. (Love TextExpander’s and SwiftKey Keyboards)

What’s your wallpaper and why?

I like random wallpaper, anything that looks groovy – I’ve had this wallpaper since having the iPhone 6 and have only just realised it is DG Skate Shoes on their side – at first I thought it was some kind of animals face.

Thanks Hay.

A Few Notes on the October 16 Apple Event

I sat down and watched the video of today’s Apple event and was left with a few thoughts:

1. No More iPad Parity

I’m curious why they spent so much time talking up the new iPad Air and then talked about the iPad mini as an afterthought. I thought last year’s updates, which gave you essentially the same specs with different screen sizes, was a great idea. I wonder why that didn’t continue. I can think of all sorts of reasons ranging from low sales of the prior mini to trying to push users to the bigger one. (I am an iPad Air fan.) I also have to wonder if the iPhone 6 Plus plays a role. Either way, the iPad mini is now a second class citizen.

2. Retina iMac

The retina iMac looks pretty nice. As I explained earlier, I’m not planning on going by the Apple Store anytime soon. Did you notice how Apple made a big deal about the electronics they invented to push so many pixels at the screen? I suspect that means it may be awhile before we get a retina 5K cinema display.

3. Sans Steve

Notice how nobody talks about how they miss Steve in these presentations. Apple management has really come up with a new formula for these presentations and they are getting pretty good at it. My only critique is that very short goofy jokes are fine. Longer goofy jokes, like videos of handshakes, get tedious.