New OmniFocus Icons




Federico Viticci and Silvia Gatta just released a new set of OmniFocus icons last week at Icons & Coffee. There are some great icons in there that you’ll probably find use for. Some of the icons have even got me thinking about setting up perspectives to match. If I could just talk Federico and Silvia into adding a nice MacSparky lightning bolt … The icons are great and if you are as obsessive about OmniFocus (like me) having your perspective icons just right is worth it. The icons are on sale for $9.99 but will go up to $14.99 shortly. 

∞

Notability for Mac


I have been a longtime fan of Notability on my iPad. It’s a fantastic note taking application that allows me to annotate with a stylus or the onscreen keyboard while at the same time recording. 

The application then indexes the recording to the notes. For example, if I am in a meeting with KatieFloyd and at some point she starts talking about dilithium crystals, and I simultaneously write that in my notes, the recording will later jump to that portion of the discussion when I tap on that line. The application does quite a bit more but it is this audio indexing that I use most.


Screen Shot 2014-09-03 at 2.36.04 PM.png

In my day job I use this often with client meetings, discovery planning, and even office strategy meetings. Is a great way to capture highly detailed notes without spending your time writing things down. I think it would also be a great tool for students.

One problem I’ve always had with the application is that it’s not on the Mac and while I can sync certain data over, that usefulness of being able to tap on the word and hear here the recording from that portion of the discussion simply did not exist on the Mac.

Not anymore. 

The developers recently released a brand-new Mac version of Notability. I’ve been playing with it for a few days and the application delivers. I’m able to easily sync my notes between the iPad and the Mac (there’s also a version for iPhone that I rarely use) and the ability to later easily access the stuff on the Mac only means I’m going to be using Notability that much more. You can download the application from the Mac App Store for $10.

∞

Sponsor: Rocket Matter and Free Ebook




This week MacSparky is sponsored by Rocket Matter, makers of the finest cloud-based law practice management service in the galaxy? Most recently they’ve released an update that lets you integrate your RocketMatter account with Microsoft Outlook. Larry and the gang just keep pushing the envelope.

Rocket Matter also has a new ebook they are giving away to MacSparky readers, Rocket Matter Case Studies, where they demonstrate how several law firms have increased productivity with cloud-based data management. Frankly, this book is useful to anyone in the service business that wants to take advantage of the cloud. Go check it out.

∞

Home Screen: Michael T. Rose


Michael T. Rose (Twitter) is a longtime editor and contributor at The Unofficial Apple Weblog, AOL Tech’s site for all things Apple and app-related. He’s the co-host (with Kelly Guimont), of The Aftershow a new podcast that picks up where TUAW’s long-running weekly Talkcast left off. When he’s not blogging or podcasting, Mike’s day job is with Salesforce.com as a senior sales engineer. Mike lives in Brooklyn with his family and has a personal blog at geekparent.com. So Mike, show us your home screen.


What are some of your favorite apps?

As a New York City denizen, I depend on the city’s public transit system every day to get where I’m going. NextStop is a wonderful transit information app, delivering scheduled (and in the case of a few subway lines, real-time) train arrival information. Citymapper, HopStop, and Embark NYC provide savvy transit routing information that takes repairs, diversions and other schedule changes into account. (Embark was bought by Apple last year, so chances are that app’s capabilities will eventually show up in the iOS Maps app.) But the best app for emulating a New York subway rider is Exit Strategy; it helps you figure out where to stand on the subway platform so that you line up just right to exit at your eventual destination.

I live and die by 1Password, of course, and I use Things to manage my to-do list. MobileDay makes it easy to dial into conference calls with a single tap, and JotNot Pro is my go-to “Paperless enabler” app for capturing receipts and other paper documents. Tweetbot is my Twitter client of choice, and for all my day job connections with my Salesforce colleagues, there’s the powerful and simple Salesforce1 app.  

On my second home screen you’ll find a few more frequent flyers: Tripit, RoadAhead, Overcast, Spotify and the indispensable Sleep Cycle. 

Which app is your guilty pleasure?

I’ve got to go with Timehop, the personal time capsule for social media. My kids are young enough, and I’ve been on Twitter and Facebook long enough, that a look back at “this day in history” is often a reminder of what they were saying and doing when they were small. It’s adorkable. 

What is the app you are still missing?

One of the biggest things I’m missing isn’t an app per se, but a feature that’s promised for iOS 8 and Yosemite: tethered mirroring of iOS devices. I do software demos as a major part of my job, including on iOS, and often as not via a remote meeting solution like GoToMeeting or WebEx. Current-gen mirroring tools like Reflector and AirServer do a pretty good job, but they’re only as good as the local WiFi network; mid-demo is not the time you want to have a wireless hiccup interfering with your presentation flow. When I can connect a Lightning cable and show my iPhone screen seamlessly and reliably on my Mac, that’ll be a happy day. 

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

The iPad, maybe 10–20 times – usually for note-taking or reading, or sometimes mobile mindmapping with MindNode. The iPhone? Pretty constantly, although since I got a [Pebble]https://getpebble.com) a few weeks ago I notice that I’m not doing as much “take the phone out of the pocket to see what that buzzing is about” since my notifications are visible right on my wrist.

What is your favorite feature of the iPhone/iPad?

Push notifications. Apps like Dark Sky and MobileDay let me know what I need to know, before I need to know it.

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

I’d allow pa
id upgrades, trials and beta testing on the App Store. The changes in iOS 8 are going to be great, but they still don’t address one of the economic challenges of app development; there’s no good way to capture revenue from the effort of developing a powerful new version of an app, unless it’s positioned as an entirely new app. Which in turn puts original purchasers in a bad mood. 

What’s your wallpaper and why?

This wallpaper is Apple’s very basic gradient with the parallax turned off, as it was giving me some dizziness. Since I took this screenshot, I’ve been experimenting with turning it back on and having a zoomable/slideable background. We’ll see how it goes. Meanwhile, my lock screen includes “if found please contact” information; I should add some “in case of emergency” detail as well.  

Thanks Mike.

“Wish we could say more.”


Today Apple’s official invitations for the September 9 iPhone event hit the wire. This one is void of information except a white-on-white Apple logo and the words, “Wish we could say more”. There is a lot of excitement brewing about this event. There seems to be a lot of smoke surrounding the idea that this one will be special.

The Leaks

Leaks abound demonstrating the new iPhone will be 4.7 inches with an even larger one at 5.5. We haven’t seen as many manufacturing leaks about the 5.5 inch phone, making me think it may be a little delayed or pushed back to another time. I find myself very curious about a phablet sized iPhone. Very curious indeed.

Flint Center

The event is at the Flint Center for Performing Arts. This is an uncommon venue for Apple and hallowed ground. Steve Jobs first unveiled the Macintosh at the Flint Center. I don’t think they’d go back unless they had something special to share.

The Structure

Apple is building something at the Flint Center. Nobody knows what it is but it’s three stories high and should be pretty interesting. Maybe it is as something as innocent as a “hands-on” area for whatever they’ll announce. Maybe it is something amazing like a rocket ship … to Mars. Who knows? It’s Apple.

The Wearable

Suddenly there are a lot of rumors that we’ll see the long rumored Apple wearable on September 9. The fact that they are at Flint Center lends credence to this. The fact that we’ve seen zero leaked photos makes me think they aren’t in production yet but Apple often announced new product categories before they are in full swing. (They did this with the iPhone and iPad.) Maybe announcing it now, before it goes into full production, lets Apple control the message. 

Whatever they are up to, I suspect we’ll have a lot to talk about on September 9.

MPU 210: Task Management

Katie and I cover task management in 2014 including simple solutions, web-based solutions, and OmniFocus. In this show, I talk about my tricks for keeping my task list short with a willingness to delete items and active defer-date management. Since this show went live, I’ve received a mixture of emails telling me I’m brilliant or crazy with nothing in between. I’ll probably be writing on this in the not so distant future.

∞
 

Filling CSV Forms with TextExpander

Cailean Douglas taught himself Perl so he could automate filling in CSV forms with TextExpander. Cailean includes a downloadable link so you can skip the “learn Pearl” part. Not only did he come up with a really clever TextExpander workflow, he also linked to three great jazz songs in the post. Shameless.

Sunday Project: Mac Lovin’ Bundle



Screen Shot 2014-08-24 at 11.49.37 AM.png


Got some downtime this Sunday? Go buy the Stack Social Mac Lovin’ Bundle and dig in on some great new applications. There are some great apps in there that I’ve covered here and on the MacPowerUsers (including Keyboard Maestro, Moom, Hype, and Dropzone) in the past. Overall, you get $861 worth of software for $40. It all ends in two days so go get it now.