Talking with Brett Terpstra on the Systematic Podcast

I’ve been doing a nerdy sort-of press junket to talk about the Email book. As a result, I’m on the latest episode of Systematic with Brett Terpstra. Brett got me talking about all sorts of divergent things. I’m not sure if he knows it or not, but Brett is really good at taking interviews in interesting directions.

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The Sweet Setup

Shawn Blanc and friends has a new website, The Sweet Setup, that provides recommendations for the best apps on your Mac, iPad, and iPhone. Think of it as The Wirecutter for Apps. A ton of work was put into creating this site and it shows.

Mavericks and New Contacts

Did you know that in addition to returning to a sane user interface, the Mavericks Contacts application also adds the ability to paste a full address in one step? Just paste an address (single or multi-line) into a contact’s street address field and the application parses it for you. It doesn’t pull the contact name or phone number but the days of individually pasting street address, city, state, and zip are over. David Chartier over at Finer Things Mac even has some sample links to try this out.

More on the Email Field Guide

The initial reception for the new Email Field Guide has been fantastic. I’ve already received some great emails from readers explaining how the book has changed their game and feedback like that pushes every single one of my buttons.

There is an error in the book with respect to Screencast 4.20. I’ve posted the missing screencast on Vimeo and I’ve got it at the bottom of this post. I’ll fix this problem with the 1.1 update that will ship in December. If you haven’t bought the book, watch the screencast anyway so you can get an idea of its content. There are 36 separate screencasts in the book showing how to use different email technologies.

Over the weekend, the Mac Power Users published a new episode about email. I promise it’s not a one hour commercial for the book but instead some real practical tips for making email easier.

I honestly believe the MacSparky Field Guides are some of the best work I’ve done in my life. Thank you again everyone for supporting me in this.

Merlin Mann’s Great Discontent Interview

The Great Discontent did a great job on this interview with Merlin Mann. There is a lot worth quoting here but this passage really resonates with me.

“Over the years, I’ve learned to be a little bit easier on myself while simultaneously trying to be more realistic about what I can actually do. I think a lot about do-ability with whatever silly project I want to do next. I don’t think about whether something is easy or not: I think about what trade-offs I have to accept in order to do it well, on time, and on budget.”

I still find saying “no” and making hard decisions about what projects to take on extremely difficult. Merlin was the first person that confronted me on this issue and I’m grateful for that. My own neurosis aside, this is a great read.

Animated Sheet Music from Miles, Bird, and Trane

I so much enjoyed reading/watching this post. For your Sunday afternoon why don’t you sit back and watch Charlie Parker do something amazing with Confirmation.

Final Chance for the Productive Macs Bundle

There are just a few days left on the Productive Macs Bundle. You can get Default Folder X, Keyboard Maestro, Circus Ponies Notebook, FX Photo Studio Pro, Trickster, Vitamin-R, and Numeric Notes all for $29.99. I’ve bought most of those apps over the years and paid a lot more than that.

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Philippine Relief Fund Through iTunes

I’ve not said or written much about it but 20 years ago, I had the good fortune to marry into a Filipino family. I’m not bragging when I say I have the best in-laws in the world. Filipino culture is amazing. There is great food, and love, and compassion for one another without reserve. We celebrate each other’s victories and cry each other’s tears. Don’t believe me? Here is my mother in law last Christmas, who decided to jump on the coffee table to model her new jacket.

So I’m sure you can understand we’ve all been watching the tragedy in the Philippines with a lot of concern. I am contributing to the relief fund today through iTunes.

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The Email Field Guide

I just published the fourth MacSparky Field Guide. This one is all about email. I’ve spent most of the past year looking very closely at email and how it works. This new book explains the best methods, technologies, services, apps, and workflows to make email work for you.

There are over 300 pages and nearly 1.5 hours of video screencasts and 200 screenshots as I walk you through. I’ve also included several audio interviews with friends including Serenity Caldwell, Rob Corddry, Merlin Mann, Fraser Speirs, Jeff Taekman, Aisha Tyler, David Wain, and Gabe Weatherhead, that provide even more perspective on the best ways to tackle email.

The book features a new craftsman-style design and is illustrated by Mike Rohde. In a lot of ways, this book feels like the culmination of everything I’ve learned along the way. I’m really proud of this book and I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed creating it. It is available in the iBooks Store and PDF for $9.99.