It’s just a week until WWDC so Brett Terpstra and I are celebrating with a sale on our book, 60 Mountain Lion Tips. The book includes sixty of our favorite Mac tips with explanations and screencasts. It’s a great book and it can up your game on your Mac. The best part is that now through Sunday, you can get it for just $2.99. Both Brett and I are proud of this book so check it out if you haven’t already and tell your friends.
My Luggage Can Beat Up Your Luggage
Sven Fechner, at SimplicityIsBliss, has been running a series of posts about traveling gear and tips. I contributed over the weekend with a post about my precious Pelican 1510LOC.
OmniFocus Template Script – Bigger and Better
For the longest time I used Kurt Clifton’s OmniFocus Template. Today I stumbled into Chris Sauve’s updated OmniFocus Template script.
¡Ay, Caramba!
How did I not check this out sooner? This updated template script (which pays homage to Kurt’s original template) brings it. You can set default dates, folders, listed variable, conditional tasks, and more. It goes on and on. If you do any sort of repeated projects in OmniFocus, take 20 minutes out of your life to set this up and learn the syntax. So worth it.
eyeFree Stopwatch and Young Developers
Sixteen-year-olds Connor Koehler and Max Greenwald wanted a stop watch that could start, stop, and reset without them having to look at their iPhone screens. So they built one. The app doesn’t look like a high school project. I’m hearing increasingly from young developers. As an old guy I’m always impressed by the gumption required to create a product when you are in high school. I’m equally amazed how it is even possible for a few teenagers to have a good idea and get it in front of a global audience.
Help Protect Podcasters
The latest patent attack is against podcasters. A patent holder is claiming that any distribution of episodic content requires a patent license and is now enforcing that against podcasters. I can tell you from experience that podcasting is something you do for love, not money. If producing a podcast starts meaning you are going to have to deal with patent litigation, a lot of good podcasts will go away.
If you enjoy podcasts, please skip your next meal out and contribute to the EFF. I just contributed quite a bit more than a meal.
Home Screens: iThoughts HD’s Craig Scott
This week’s home screen comes from Craig Scott (Twitter) (Website), the developer of iThoughtsHD, the app that finally convinced me to start making mind maps. So Craig, show us your home screen.
What are some of your favorite apps?
From a dog food eating perspective, it’s got to be on my home screen.
This is a really nicely designed app and a pleasure to use. I use it like a private Facebook. I try to add one entry per day (usually with a photo) to act as a simple diary. What I’d really like, however, is the ability to add a short textual comment to pictures in my standard photo library – then have them sync back to iPhoto etc. Once in iPhoto (or Apple TV) the text comments would appear with the photo in slideshows. There you go Apple – you can have that one for free.
Who would have thought it would be so useful to have a torch with you all the time?
I spend a lot of time ferrying my kids to various after school clubs and sitting around waiting for them. Trashy novels help keep me sane. I try to avoid having techie books on my iPhone. Not sure what side of the brain stories use – but it’s different to the logical techie side I use most of the day and it needs exercising!
The de-facto secure storage app. Not keen on the actual app design, but I love the fact that I can sync it via Dropbox with my Mac version and have access to all my stuff. Previously I used Yojimbo but they wouldn’t support data entry via their iPhone app, so I had to jump ship.
BBC iPlayer (Link not available for US)
On the odd occasion that I get sufficient 3g coverage then I may try to catchup on some TV. I still feel guilty streaming video over 3g even though I don’t have a data cap – it just feels wrong – like I’m using up some finite fossil based resource!?
Which app is your guilty pleasure?
I have two – the first is Reeder. It started out as a time SAVING thing, to reduce the time I spent trawling through my favourite websites. Trouble is, it saved me so much time I decided to include more websites in my list. Google killing their RSS feed thing is probably doing me a favour. My other guilty pleasure is the TED app. I can justify this on the grounds of it being educational – but it sure can eat up an afternoon.
What is the app you are still missing?
I can’t really think of one – but that’s more down to my lack of imagination than anything else. I can still remember arguing with my friend about how pointless it was to put a camera in a phone and how music downloads would never replace CDs. I’m not a great barometer for the future of innovation…
How many times a day do you use your iPhone/iPad?
Sad though it sounds, it’s the first thing I look at in the morning and last thing at night.
What is your favorite feature of the iPhone/iPad?
Physically, I guess it’s the camera – it’s the only one I use nowadays. From a software perspective I really appreciate the consistency of the UI and the visceral feeling that the OS and apps strive to achieve by way of animations etc.
If you were in charge at Apple, what would you add or change?
Tricky one since a lot of the things that bug me about Apple are what makes Apple, Apple. However, if I had to pick on one thing then I’d argue that they need to rethink their whole approach to files. They seem to want to remove the whole concept in order to keep it simple for users. Personally I believe that files and folders are a perfectly good ‘metaphor/abstraction’ which also benefit from having real world counterparts understood by everyone. Their current approach (keeping information siloed within apps) is not good – it drains much of the value from that information. It also results in services like iCloud… </rant>
Anything else you’d like to share?
Am I the only person who would like an iPhone5 with an iPhone4 sized screen?
Thanks to David for asking me to do this – it’s been fun.
Thanks Craig.
Workflow: Beyond Productivity
“Productivity” is such a loaded word these days. I even wrote an article about it. It is really easy to spout off tips about how to print faster. I do it here all the time. There is something much deeper to this productivity schtick dealing with underlying gut-level motivations and emotions. For the last two weeks, I’ve been working my way through Kourosh Dini’s new book, Workflow: Beyond Productivity, and this book is the real deal.
Kourosh Explains it best:
“What you will not find is a series of quick fixes or how-to lists. However, you will find an in-depth examination, from basic concepts to an advanced understanding so you can build the secure foundations needed to truly develop meaningful work.”
Kourosh writes with a patient voice that is perfect for this material. The book is $30. That is an introductory price that goes up on June 1. I encourage you to go download the preview and decide if it can inspire you as much as it did me.
The Sketchnote Typeface
Mike Rohde, author of the Sketchnote Handbook and recent MPU Guest, just released the font he created for his book. In my opinion, 99% of all “handwriting” fonts look terrible. Mike’s font fits in the 1%. There is even a web-friendly Typekit version. I plan on putting this font to use as well. For instance, this font is perfect for a Keynote presentation that I want to make feel informal. I’m also not beyond printing out a note card with this font and signing it, as if my printing were this good.
TextExpander touch Snippet Winners
Last week Smile released version 2.0 of TextExpander touch, which I really dig. Yesterday Smile gave me five free download codes to give away for the new app. I put the word out on Twitter to send in favorite snippets for codes and got some really great ones. In fact, I got too many and feel bad about leaving some people out but here comes the winners. Thanks everyone for playing along.
1. MultiMarkdown? Yes thank you.
Sayz Lim submitted a MultiMarkdown snippet to maintain a figure tag in MultiMarkdown. One of the things I like about this snippet is the way he uses the same fill-in snippet twice. I do this often too and I’m not sure everyone knows you can do that.
![ [%filltext:name=Figure Caption%][] ](%clipboard)
[%filltext:name=Figure Caption%]: %clipboard
2. Let Me Know
Trent sent in this simple yet useful script.
ppp = Please let me know if you have any questions.
3. The Breakfast Club Special
Reader Oscar is an educator and needs to send out notices for students that get Saturday detention. He uses this in conjection with an AppleScript that pulls a list of names from a Dropbox text file and works its magic.
The following students have zeros in %fillpopup:name=Classname:Physics:Aquatic Science:default=Forensics% for the week of: %@-9D%m/%d/%y:
%fillarea:name=Student Names%
They need to be assigned to Saturday D-hall on %@+3D%m/%d/%y.
4. Testing, Testing
Michael has a snippet that looks very useful for testing stroke victims. It uses pop ups and several other features. This may not be useful to you but I’m betting there is something in your life that would get easier if you made your own snippet like this one.
NIH Stroke Scale %snippet:.date% %snippet:.time%
1a. Level of Consciousness:%fillpopup:name=1a.:default=0 (Keenly responsive.):1 (Arousable with minor stimulation):2 (Requires strong stimulation):3 (Comatose)%
1b. LOC Questions:%fillpopup:name=1b:default=0 (Answers both questions correctly):1 (Answers one question correctly):2 (Answers neither question correctly)%
1c. LOC Commands:%fillpopup:name=1c:default=0 (Performs both tasks correctly):1 (Performs one task correctly):2 (Performs neither task correctly)%
2. Best Gaze:%fillpopup:name=2:default=0 (Normal):1 (Partial gaze palsy):2 (Forced deviation)%
3. Visual:%fillpopup:name=3:default=0 (No visual loss.):1 (Partial hemianopia):2 (Complete hemianopia):3 (Bilateral hemianopia)%
4. Facial Palsy:%fillpopup:name=4:default=0 (Normal):1 (Minor paralysis):2 (Partial/Central paralysis):3 (Complete paralysis)%
5a. Motor Left Arm:%fillpopup:name=5a:default=0 (No drift for 10 seconds):1 (Drift without touching):2 (Some effort against gravity):3 (No effort against gravity):4 (No movement):0 (Amputation or fusion)%
5b. Motor Right Arm:%fillpopup:name=5b:default=0 (No drift for 10 seconds):1 (Drift without touching):2 (Some effort against gravity):3 (No effort against gravity):4 (No movement):0 (Amputation or fusion)%
6a. Motor Left Leg:%fillpopup:name=6a:default=0 (No drift for 10 seconds):1 (Drift without touching):2 (Some effort against gravity):3 (No effort against gravity):4 (No movement):0 (Amputation or fusion)%
6b. Motor Right Leg:%fillpopup:name=6b:default=0 (No drift for 10 seconds):1 (Drift without touching):2 (Some effort against gravity):3 (No effort against gravity):4 (No movement):0 (Amputation or fusion)%
7. Limb Ataxia:%fillpopup:name=7:default=0 (Absent):1 (Present in one limb):2 (Present in two limbs):0 (Amputation or fusion)%
8. Sensory:%fillpopup:name=8:default=0 (Normal):1 (Mild to moderate loss):2 (Severe loss)%
9. Best Language:%fillpopup:name=9:default=0 (No Aphasia):1 (Mild to moderate):2 (Severe aphasia):3 (Mute or global aphasia)%
10. Dysarthria:%fillpopup:name=10:default=0 (Normal):1 (Mild to moderate):2 (Severe dysarthria):0 (Intubated or other)%
11. Extinction and Inattention:%fillpopup:name=11:default=0 (Normal):1 (To one modality):2 (Profound loss)%
5. The Moxy Award…
… goes to Barry for this.
NTET = Need TextExpander Touch
Are you still waiting to check out TextExpander touch 2.0? Shame on you. You should be watching this clever video.
TextExpander touch 2.0 from David Sparks on Vimeo.
OmniPresence: A New Option for Syncing Data
For a long time, syncing files was a huge pain. It involved portable disks of one sort or another and lots of walking and fiddling. Then a few years ago cloud syncing services showed up and Dropbox quickly became the solution to most of our syncing problems.
Then Apple jumped in with iCloud and the idea that documents could just sync across multiple devices without opening the Finder and endlessly pressing “Sync” buttons.
Around the time that iCloud first showed up, I spoke with Ken Case, president of the Omni Group, about syncing between the Omni Group apps on my iPad and the Mac. The Omni Group did not jump on the Dropbox or iCloud bandwagons. As Ken explained it to me, the Omni Group prides itself on providing the best experience to their customers and if they were going to start syncing data between their apps, they didn’t want to rely on anyone else. Specifically, they didn’t want to be on the phone with a customer only to say, “Sorry. The app is working right. Your syncing problem is Dropbox or Apple.” The Omni Group wants to own your experience with their apps soup to nuts. Now they do.
The Omni Group built its own sync engine. It’s called OmniPresence and it is great.
On the Mac, OmniPresence installs to your menubar. When you first set it up, it adds a folder to your Mac, just like Dropbox. (Though don’t locate your OmniPresence folder in your Dropbox folder. That’s like crossing the streams.) You can drop any OmniOutliner, OmniGraffle, or OmniGraph Sketcher file in that folder and it immediately gets synced up to the cloud. The icon animates with three dots when there is network activity and clicking on it gets you quickly to your OmniPresence folder.
Then when you install the app on your other Macs, those same files get synced to your magic OmniPresence folder. Because this is just another folder on your Mac, the OS X Versions and Auto Save features just work.
The Omni Group has also built in OmniPresence syncing to the current builds of the OmniOutliner, OmniGraffle, and OmniGraph Sketcher iPad apps. Those apps also see the files in your OmniPresence folder.
Using OmniPresence you can have a file open on your Mac and iPad at the same time and changes made on one platform automatically populate over to this other platform. This part is just like iCloud.
They even made a clever video.
OmniPresence Intro from The Omni Group on Vimeo.
That’s the thing about OmniPresence. It’s Dropbox and iCloud all rolled up into one. And then when you have a problem you can call Omni and they control all the pipes to make it right.
The Omni Group also has a more extensive tutorial that is worth the three minutes it takes to watch.
OmniPresence Tutorial from The Omni Group on Vimeo.
The whole thing is baked right into the Omni Group’s Omni Sync service. That’s how I use it. However, if you want to install it on your own server and keep your data private, you can. OmniPresence works with any properly configured Apache server, which means you can host your own data without having to install any special software from Omni. It even works on HIPPA-compliant services like SwissDisk. The Omni Group has also open sourced the syncing code for iOS apps at github so expect other app developers to start using it too.
Ken Case explains this best. “OmniPresence is not yet another proprietary syncing solution just for syncing Omni apps. On the Mac, it’s designed to work with documents from any other OS X app that supports Auto Save and Versions–such as OmniGraffle, OmniOutliner, OmniGraphSketcher, or even Apple’s built-in TextEdit app.”
There are many nice little touches to OmniPresence. For instance, you can sync multiple folders to different accounts so you can keep your work and personal documents separately.
While OmniPresence is just at version 1.0, I think this is going to become a big deal. It offers a legitimate third options to users and developers to sync data between devices. Its combination of syncing in real time without having to press “Sync” buttons and simple folder accessibility on the Mac make it compelling.
You can learn more from the OmniGroup. If you already have an Omni Sync Service account (you should), I encourage you to log in and enable OmniPresence and check it out for yourself.