Okay, so this is pushing all my nerd buttons. Chris Sauve made using AppleScript templates in OmniFocus easy and kind of pretty. There is even a 17 minute screencast to walk you through. Very nice work.
Macworld Walkabout
Wally Cherwinski, the unofficial videographer of Macworld/iWorld, nails it, again.
MPU 126: The Home Server Show
In the latest Mac Power Users episode, Shawn Blanc joins us and we talk in detail about setting up your own Mac home server. This isn’t nearly as daunting as you may think it is. It just requires an extra Mac (not necessarily new) and a desire to spend a few hours now to save many hours later.
Book Recommendation: Among Others
I am really happy about subscribing to Jason Snell’s Incomparable podcast. In addition to entertainment and information, Jason and his merry gang are also great sources for book, movie, television, and comic recommentations. On their recommendation I just listened to Jo Walton’s Among Others. The book is the diary of a 15-year-old girl during 6 months of her life as she deals with magic, science fiction, and (hardest of all) being a 15-year-old girl. The book won last year’s Hugo Award and I really enjoyed it. Now I’m trying to get my 16-year-old daughter to read it.
If you are an Audible subscriber (I am), I recommend listening to the Audible version. The primary character’s Welsh heritage is a big part of the book and having someone read it with a Welsh accent made it all the better.
Remotely Advancing iPad Keynote Slides
Update: January 2015
The Satechi remote does not work with iOS 8. This may no longer be the remote you are looking for.
The last few months I’ve been giving presentations with my iPad and using a remote to trigger slides. I’m not talking about Apple’s Keynote Remote, which feels fiddly to me, but an actual clicker. I push the button and the next slide or animation triggers. It even works with the iPad’s dock connector connected to a projector. This means I can now walk in a room with an iPad mini and a remote and give a presentation. When I spoke at the Omni Group event last month, I had several people asking me how I did it. The trick to all of this is the Satechi Bluetooth Smart Pointer Mobile Presenter (Amazon affiliate link).
I paid $45 for mine on Amazon. As a remote, it really isn’t anything special. It does have a power slider so you can turn it off and be assured it won’t run down the battery in your bag. However, it charges through USB so if it dies, you need to plug it in. (You can’t just replace the batteries with a few spare AAs.) The laser is red (I prefer the more visible green.) It is also not particularly ergonomic. The buttons are flush with the surface so you can’t always figure out exactly where your thumb is without looking down at the remote. My Kensington remote is better in almost every way except for one: It can’t advance iPad Keynote slides. Despite all of issues surrounding the Satechi’s design, it finally lets me remotely trigger Keynote slides on my iPad.
The Trick
To make this work, Satechi had to get creative. There is no easy way to tell Keynote via Bluetooth to trigger slides so instead they used the iPad’s accessibility features to pull it off. There are few steps:
1. Pair the Remote
It is a Bluetooth device and you need to hook it into your iPad. This works just like any other Bluetooth pairing. In this case, a code is entered from a set of numbered buttons found under the Satechi’s sliding face.
2. Enable VoiceOver
Next you need to enable VoiceOver in the iPad’s Accessibility settings. Set it to trigger on a triple click of the iPad’s home button but don’t enable it yet.
Once that is done, set the remote to “Accessibility Mode” on the slider on the back right side. The other modes are useful for multimedia or using the remote to present with your Mac. I keep it in my bag as a back up for these purposes but so far all I really use this remote for is to present with the iPad.
Now go find your presentation in Keynote on your iPad and open it up. Then triple-click the home button on the iPad to enable VoiceOver. You’ll want to turn down your iPad volume at this point.
That’s it. Now you can move forward and backward in your presentation with the remote. That has always been a major gripe for me and now it is fixed with this hacky (yet effective) solution.
Cooking Ideas
In the past week, I’ve received several notes complimenting this episode of Mac Power Users. I’m pretty proud of this episode where I explain how I use mind maps and outlines to make things happen.
Seven Dirty Secrets of Data Visualization
One of the first questions to ask when considering a potential visualisation design is “Why is this better than a bar chart?” If you’re visualising a single quantitative measure over a single categorical dimension, there is rarely a better option.
I think it is really easy to get too clever displaying data. Even displaying charts and graphs in three dimension can skew the visualization. Don’t believe me? Make a pie chart with 10 and 90 percent wedges and display it in three dimensions in Numbers. Then start rotating the the pie and watch how your perception of the 10% wedge changes as it rotates.
Thanks @drdrang for the link.
MPU 125: Essential iPad
Mac Power Users episode 125 breaks down the iPad with discussions of which iPad to buy, which apps to install, and some of our favorite accessories. Check it out.
My iPhone Wallpaper
Following yesterday’s post about my home screen, a lot of people were asking about my wallpaper. I picked it up somewhere on the Internet around the time the iPhone 5 released but now I can’t find where. If anyone knows, please send me a note so I can give credit and a link to its creator but for now, here it is.
Click Here to Download
Credit!
Several readers wrote in to say the wallpaper’s creator is Dan Waldron (@dwaldron) who shared it with this tweet. Moreover, I’m pretty sure I found it with this post at MacStories.
Thanks everyone for writing in and thanks Dan for some great work.
TE Snippets: Foreign Thanks 1.1
Thanks everyone for the tweeks and additions to the foreign thanks snippet set. I’ve updated it in the original post and TE Snippet page.
I’ve also received some nice snippet lists from readers for future posting. If you’ve got something you’d like to share, send it my way.
