Pixelmator 3.1


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I really like the way the Pixelmator team just doesn’t stop. Late last week they released version 3.1 Marble. The new version deliverers 16-bit per channel images on the new Mac Pro. I bet it screams. Both graphics cards work simultaneously to accelerate composition rendering and compute demanding tasks.

This new version also partners Pixelmator with MILK Print on Demand to offer a new Order Prints feature. You can now order prints right out of Pixelmator. You can get Pixelmator from the Mac App Store and learn more at the Pixelmator web site. 

Belkin QODE iPad Air Keyboard Case

With my recent upgrade to the iPad Air, I had to retire my Logitech Ultrathin keyboard. Because the new device has a different design, the old Logitech case didn’t work.

Looking into new keyboard cases for the fancy new iPad, I decided this time around I wanted something that would completely enclose my iPad. I don’t always keep my iPad in a keyboard case and, when I do, it is acting much more as a laptop replacement than usual. Therefore, it made sense for me to put it in a case that would protect the entire device.


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This time around I decided to go with the Belkin QODE iPad Air keyboard case.

This new case is made from alluminum alloy and extremely light. The iPad air snaps in to the cover and, when closed, it offers full protection to my device. The case has cutouts for the speakers, Lightening port, headphone jack, camera lens, microphone, and iPad Air buttons so the device is fully functional while clipped in. I’ve been using it a month and it still stays in the device firmly but snaps out easily enough when I need it to.


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The keyboard has a nice feel to it. The keys are definitely smaller and closer together than on a standard laptop. The keyboard “feel” however, is superior to my Logitech keyboard. There is a dedicated Siri buton and some other custom iOS commands. The keys are well-spaced (to the extent they can be) and responsive. I definitely am faster on this keyboard than I am on the iPad’s touchscreen. The keyboard also includes iPad specific shortcut keys letting me, for instance, play and pause music.


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My biggest gripe with the keyboard is key placement. I learned to type with the semicolon under my right pinky and the quote key to its right and the return key to its further right. This keyboard (probably due to space constraints) moved the semicolon key to the bottom to the right of the space bar. This puts the quote key where my brain thinks the semicolon key is and the return key where my brain thinks the quote key is. As a result, my documents sometimes have seemingly random carriage returns at the beginning of very quote and single quotes where you’d expect semicolons. I know attempting to cram a full keyboard into the smaller footprint of the iPad Air can’t be easy but I still think they should have found a better way than moving some of the most commonly used keys. I’d personally have preferred they leave the keys as normal and just made the return key smaller. I’ve now grown used to this quirk and am using the keyboard often. 

The screen props up through the use of magnets to three possible viewing angles. The magnets stay attached and despite all of my bumping and jostling while typing on my lap, they’ve stayed firmly connected. One downside of the multiple viewing angles is a certain degree of bounce in the screen. It’s not locked in at one specific angle so when you tap the screen with your finger, it bounces a bit. I did not find this problem to be troublesome.

One of the most interesting features is the lack of a power button. The device turns off and on as needed. The manufacturer claims the device has 264 hours of active battery life and 4,300 hours of standby. I have not thouroughly tested this but I have been using the keyboard for a month with little respect for the charging cable and had no problems.

Belkin got a lot right with the materials, power management, and viewing angles on this keyboard. The big knock against this keyboard is the keyboard layout alteration. It works just fine on my lap, even without a desk in front of me. If they had found a way to keep the standard keyboard layout, I’d have no problem recommending this keyboard. With the strange layout, I’m more reserved in my recommendation, particularly if you are a touch typist.


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“Considered” and “Planning” in OmniFocus

One complication that comes from using powerful tools is that we can spend more time tinkering with the machine than making widgets. Kourosh Dini wrote an excellent post about the “Considered Task”. Specifically, he will insert the word “Consider” in front of a task to give himself that ability to weigh a task or project before committing to it. It makes a lot of sense and I’m going to start using it. Read the entire post for a more detailed explanation. (I also have to admit I just enjoy Kourosh’s deliberate, paced, writing voice.)

I use a similar (but not as clever) trick for planning projects. Once I’ve committed to a project, I need to plan the necessary steps so I can get to that cranking widgets mindset that releases all of my happy chemicals. The trouble is that quite often the moment I commit to something is not the best moment to do that planning. So at that point, I’ll make a task “Plan Death Ray project”. If the planning is going to take a lot of time, I may even schedule time for planning the project. Planning to plan sounds pedantic and I’ll admit it is a a bit of a cheat but I’ve found it does give me the necessary motivation to actually plan the project and gives the project itself a much better chance of actually proceeding.

Setting Multiple Timers with Siri

Dr. Drang, that consummate multi-tasker, one-upped me today showing how to set multiple timers with Siri. Even though I rarely run multiple timers, Dr. Drang’s method of using reminders is better than mine so I’m going to try it out.

It is interesting to see which parts of Siri people use. While Siri certainly is not that end-all-be-all solution that the hype implies, using it intelligently can up your game.

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MPU 173: 1Password

In Mac Power Users episode 173, Katie and I dive deep on our favorite password generation, management, and general keeper of secret things app, 1Password.

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Home Screens: Dr. Drang


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Dr. Drang (Twitter) (Blog) is one of my favorite people on the Internet. He is a working stiff, like me, yet still makes time to write up some really useful, nerdy stuff while creeping me out on a nearly daily basis with his psychopathic snowman avatar. So Doctor, show us your home screen.


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What are some of your favorite apps and how have they changed over the years?

So many changes since the last time. In particular, what was my (admittedly self serving) favorite app in 2011, an iPhone-formatted homemade weather webapp that still works, has since been banished to a nether screen in favor of Apple’s built-in Weather app, which been greatly improved over the past couple of years.

My old stalwarts, Notesy, Tweetbot, Reeder, Due, and PCalc are still there and still in the same positions. I use them all every day. Fantastical has taken over the calendar spot from Agenda, and not only because of its renowned natural language input method; I really like the compact but thorough way it presents the list of my upcoming events.

To me, the most interesting changes have been these:

  1. My recognition that I text more than I talk, so Messages should be in the Dock and Phone shouldn’t.
  2. The way podcast listening has become important enough for Downcast to displace the iPod (now Music) app in the Dock.
  3. The rise of Drafts (an upDraft?), as both a quick way to enter notes and, through the x-callback-url system, a way to dispatch text off to other apps. I now do most of my note-writing in Drafts; Notesy is more for reading.
  4. The inclusion of Pythonista. I’m continually surprised that the “locked down” iPhone has such a capable programming environment running on it.

Which app is your guilty pleasure?

Last time I said I was too old to feel guilty about my pleasures, and that still holds, but if I were to feel guilty, it would be for the time spent jumping from word to word in Terminology. Too often I’ve allowed it to change from a productivity app to an anti-productivity app.

I thought I was the only Terminology word surfer. Also check out Wordflex. It will ruin you. -David

What is the app you are still missing?

I’m currently on the hunt for an app to share shopping lists with my wife. There are probably hundreds of list-making apps available, but I’m very particular.

  • I need the process of making and sharing lists to be absolutely transparent for my wife, because she won’t put up with the fiddling that I would tolerate.
  • I need to be able to make and add to lists from my computer, because when I’m at my computer I want to type on a real keyboard.
  • And finally, we need to be able to print a decent looking list from the app via AirPrint. It’s all very futuristic to swipe or tap checkboxes on your phone, but for real efficiency, there’s nothing like a printed grocery list—you don’t need to scroll, you don’t have to worry about dropping it as you reach for the milk, and it never goes blank to preserve battery life.

The top candidate at the moment is 1Writer. Its list-making is almost automatic, and it produces nicely printed lists. It syncs via Dropbox, which is great, but it sometimes needs prodding to upload additions to a recently edited list. It should sync automatically as soon as you dismiss the keyboard.

How many times a day do you use your iPhone?

Not so much during the day when I’m in the office and at my iMac. Constantly when I’m out of the office.

What is your favorite feature of the iPhone?

I have a computer connected to the internet in my pocket, ready to be used at any time—a device that’s smaller and more capable than any of the computers imagined in the science fiction I read as a kid.

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

We desperately need inter-app communication in iOS. In the 6+ years of the iPhone, it has raised our expectations of what a phone can do, and I don’t see how those expectations can continue to rise without a sanctioned and fully supported means of moving data between apps. I applaud Greg Pierce and every developer who supports the x-callback-url protocol, but that’s a workaround, not a permanent solution.

Thanks Doc.

The Geek Gene

John Siracusa wrote an inspirational piece about becoming a geek this week. His message is great. Anybody can become a geek at any time. An interesting tangent to this discussion is the question of why certain people have this inclination to dive super-deep on their interests. Like John, I’ve also got my list of things that I obsess on to reach geek status. However, not everyone is a geek. There are many people that go through life and, while they have many interests, never go to the trouble to read every magazine and devour every scrap of information about one topic or another. I’m not judging. Maybe non-geeks have the healthier outlook but I sure am glad that whatever forces are at work in the universe gave me the geek gene.

Google Buys Nest

The big news today is Google’s purchase of Nest, the people that brought me that fancy thermostat. Sigh. I’m not bagging on Google with my disappointment in this acquisition. I’d be almost as sad if Apple were writing the check.

What I loved about the Nest is that it was an upstart. It was a group of rebels taking a serious look at home automation and coming up with innovative products that they charged money for. There were no complex business models. There were no “downstream monetization” plans. I just bought their thermostat and added some techie magic to my life.

I can’t help but wonder that being a small cog in a big machine makes Nest less useful to me than it was as a big cog in a small machine.