I did a recent interview with Chuck Joiner on Markdown, both the language and the book. Chuck is one of my favorite people in the Mac community and I always have fun speaking with him. You can check it out here.
Paperless Version 1.3
Paperless version 1.3 is available for download in the iBookstore and via PDF. This update includes the new Scansnap iX500 scanner, including a new movie. There are also updated sections on NeatCloud, PDFpen for Mac version 6, and some additional services. Since I finished this update, there have been even more new improvements (like yesterday’s Hazel update) so version 1.4 is already in the works.
To download this new version in the iBookstore you need to delete the book and re-download it. (I know. It is a big file.) Because Paperless pre-dates the book-updating mechanism, it appears there are issues. (I’m working on this for 1.4.)
Thanks again everyone for supporting me. My plan is to keep doing incremental updates for free with the Field Guides and then do a second edition a few years after original release. Enjoy.
5by5 LA Meetup this Saturday
Dan Benjamin is coming to town. Saturday night there will be a 5by5 meet up in Santa Monica. I’m attending. Why don’t you?
Hazel 3.1 with Date Matching
I often receive inquiries concerning ways to automatically pull a date from the text of a PDF document and insert it into the file name. This has, to some degree, become a Arthurian quest to automate file naming and use accurate dates. Since I first released Paperless, I’ve had several readers send in suggestions that involved very complex AppleScripts, multiple Hazel rules, and other devices that never quite seem to work.
Today, Paul Kim released Hazel version 3.1. The new version includes an improved content matching feature to include dates. This seemingly benign feature is anything but. It allows you to search the contents of a document for date formatted text. You can even set the type of date format you’re looking for. For instance 6/19/13 or June 19, 2013.
If Hazel finds a date, it will then retain that date and save it, in essence, as a variable. You can then apply that variable later to the file. In this case, I’m going to use the date in the file name. Hazel even corrects the date format, converting the slashes to dashes. It’s like magic. This new feature got me so excited, I made a short video explaining how to do it. My thanks to Johnny Knittle for providing the music.
Hazel 3.1 from David Sparks on Vimeo.
Easier Conference Call Planning with TextExpander
Organizing conference calls used to be a lot of trouble. It required a pay service, multiple telephone numbers and access codes (that were always changing), and the simple act of getting word out to everyone about the details always took more time than it should have. Times are changing. I recently started using freeconferencecalls.com for conference calls. It’s a great, free service that gives you a single call-in number and access code that never changes. You don’t have to schedule anything with the service. You just send out the number, access code, and time to your call participants and get back to work.
At first I just kept these numbers in my contacts list and used a bit of copy and paste when necessary. After doing this a few times, I realized TextExpander was a much better solution. I’ve now put together a clever little TextExpander snippet that sends out the conference number, access code, and date and time for the call.
I’ve also added a fill-in snippet for the conference call agenda and a pop-up menu for the estimated length of time. I find that if you give people an agenda and time estimate going into a conference call, you’re much more likely to stay on the agenda and complete it within the estimated time.
Now when I have a new conference call to setup, I just open up an email to all the participants, fire off the TextExpander snippet, and send it off. In addition to saving me a lot of time, I think it scares the other participants to the call just a little bit.
I’ve actually got two of these snippets because I have two freeconferencecall.com accounts. One is for the day job (which gets shared with other participants at my office) and the other is for MacSparky.
Here is the snippet in action:
You can download the TextExpander snippet here.
Keyboard Maestro Version 6
Keyboard Maestro is one of my favorite Mac utilities. They’ve recently released version 6 and it is a really great update. If you’re unaware of this application, you need to check it out. It lets you automate nearly anything on your Mac. The new version includes some great nerdy fodder. For instance, you can now trigger a macro when you plug in a USB device. Do you have a ScanSnap scanner and want the ScanSnap software to load when you plug it in? Keyboard Maestro can make that happen. The new version also can run macros when your Mac connects to a new network. For instance, if you want certain application to run when you arrive at work, Keyboard Maestro can do that. I also dig the new icon.
That’s just the tip of the iceberg. We are going to do an updated Mac Power Users show on this application. (We last covered it in 2011.) If you want to get ahead of the curve, check it out now. If you bought version 5 from the Mac App Store (like me), you need to transfer your license and buy an upgrade from the developer directly. There is no way this app could comply with Apple’s sandboxing rules.
One Day Left on the Productive Macs Bundle
Just one day left on the Productive Macs bundle, which includes some pretty handy Mac apps.
iWork for iCloud: Not Enough
iWork ’09 for the Mac released on January 6, 2009. 2009! That is 1,619 days ago. I use the heck out of iWork. In an industry that thrives on Microsoft Word, I surreptitiously write legal documents in Pages. I run a legal practice and publishing business out of Numbers and I largely pay for my shoes giving Keynote presentations. You could say I’m invested.
So when Roger Rosner took the stage on Monday and explained he was going to talk about iWork, I felt like I was finally getting the update for Mac that I’ve been waiting for so long. I know the tech world is full of hyperbole but in this case the term “so long” is correct.
In January 2009, when iWork ’09 was released, I was thrilled. They added some revolutionary new features (like Magic Move and Instant Alpha) that immediately both made me more productive and made my work look better. It was love at first sight. By early 2010 I was ready to fall in love again. What new feature would iWork get to make me look smarter? Then Steve took the stage to introduced the world to the iPad and a fully working version of iWork for iPad.
“That’s okay”, I told myself. “They didn’t have time to make a new Mac version. In 2011, I’m going to get a new iWork for my Mac and I’m sure it will be double the sexy.” Then 2011 rolled around and iWork for iPad got a lot better but there was no new Mac version. Indeed that has been the case every year since 2009. Apple has iterated repeatedly on the iOS versions, taking them a long way. I’ve been consoling myself on this lack of Mac update with noticeable improvements on the iPad. Now I can even track changes in Pages on the iPad. Incredible.
Nevertheless, I still look at the iWork ’09 box on my shelf and think wistfully about four years’ worth of innovations that never shipped. “This year”, I told myself as WWDC approached. “This is the year that I will get a new version of iWork for Mac.” What we got instead was a promise of some future update for the Mac and a demonstration of iWork for iCloud, a product which, in its current form, I will almost never use.
Don’t get me wrong. What Apple did with iWork in a web browser is impressive. I didn’t think it was possible to pull off the intricate graphic operations they demonstrated at WWDC in a browser. Nevertheless, the web versions of the iWork apps aren’t as good as the native Mac versions. I won’t be able to manage tiny granular animations and object transitions the way I can on my Mac. Those four year old features I love aren’t going be in the iCloud versions any time soon.
I understand web apps are a large part of the future of computing and the advantage that comes with any modern web browser—even one on a Windows machine—running iWork. However, this isn’t something us iWork users in the trenches need right now. We need power and innovation on the platform we use every day. We need a new Mac version.
Also missing from the iWork for iCloud presentation was any mention of the best reason to put an office app on the web, collaboration. I’ve never been happy with the feature set of any of the web-based office solutions. They don’t have the features we get with native apps and are often ugly as sin. There is, however, one redeeming feature in collaboration. Multiple people can work on the same online document at once. Google has mastered this so that I can write one paragraph while watching a colleague (or two or three colleagues) write another paragraph on the same page. iCloud for iWork doesn’t support this. Maybe online collaboration is on the roadmap for iWork for iCloud but there was no mention of it on Monday.
What I’d really like is for Apple to stop toying with my heart. It’s okay to start building web versions and continue to improve upon the iOS versions. All of that is important. However, before doing anything else, deliver a new version of iWork for the Mac that throws me head over heels in love all over again.
iOS 7 First Look
Macworld’s first look at iOS 7 gives a nice feel for the big update. It’s been a few days now since Apple unveiled iOS 7 and it seems like the general consensus is that this new look gives Apple a place to grow where the prior look didn’t have much future. While I have no inside knowledge, I suspect getting this new look presentable in time for WWDC was Apple’s own Manhatten Project and there are probably a lot of really great stories about how they pulled it off. That being said, I think they will refine it quite a bit in the early days something akin to what happened in the early days of Mac OS X. While I‘m largely a fan of iOS 7, I can’t stop looking at that white stuff around the new Safari icon and wonder, “what the heck is that?”
MPU 142: Apple’s WWDC Announcements
The original “vision” for the Mac Power Users included not discussing news and rumors. We made an exception for this week’s WWDC which had many new announcements relating to how both Katie and I see using our Macs, iPads, and iPhones in the future. Episode 142 is, therefore, up and ahead of schedule. I know this episode is different for us but I think it came out pretty good. The first few minutes of the episode also includes an interview with Jean MacDonald with an update of her App Camp For Girls project.