My New Book: The MacSparky Paperless Field Guide

I’m thrilled to announce my newest book, The MacSparky Field Guide to going Paperless.
The book is a deep dive on paperless workflows for the Mac, iPad, and iPhone. It takes full advantage of iBooks Author and includes picture galleries, interactive images, movies, 32 screencasts, and nearly 27,000 words. There is over an hour and a half of video. Not only does this book tell you how to go paperless, it also shows you.

I’ve been cooking this idea of the MacSparky Field Guides for years. I wanted to make a series of books that go into excruciating detail on technology and iBooks Author is the perfect tool. I spent a lot of time getting the layout and video just right and I’m really pleased with the final product.

These Field Guides are a big deal to me. I had tons of great advice on how to price this book ranging from really expensive to $2. There is no existing model for this kind of book but, ultimately, I decided upon $5. I want a lot of people to see this book. I’m really proud of it. If you buy and dig it, please write a review. I want the word to get out about Paperless.

This book is unlike anything I’ve ever done before and I hope you like reading it as much as I enjoyed producing it. Because of its interactive nature, the book is iPad only. I don’t plan on releasing a Kindle version. I may create a PDF + Video version if there is demand but this book really begs to be read on an iPad.

The book is currently available in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Australia, Austria, Germany, and France. More countries are coming.

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Home Screens – Tim Stringer

Not so long ago, I linked the video The Omni Group produced about Tim Stringer (Twitter) and his journey with technology. Since then, I’ve got to know Tim a bit and he’s agreed to share his home screen.

What are your most interesting home screen apps?

The iPad is a marvellous learning tool. I use the DK HumanBody app to learn more about my inner workings and Star Walk to help find my place in the universe.

What is your favorite app?

If I had to pick one I’d choose OmniFocus. Having mobile access to my projects and tasks helps me keep my GTD system current and my mind clear. Honourable mentions go to Tweetbot, one of the most thoughtfully designed apps I’ve ever used, to Due for faithfully reminding me of time-sensitive events (and helping ensure my tea isn’t over-steeped) and to my favourite writing app, Byword, that comes complete with iCloud, TextExpander and Markdown support.

Which app is your guilty pleasure?

I admit to being a bit of a podcast junkie. I recently started using Downcast to listen to audio podcasts on my iPhone and to watch video podcasts on my iPad. I appreciate the flexibility this app provides, most notably the highly customizable Playlists feature. For example, I have a Playlist called “Favourites” that automatically lists unheard episodes from my favourite podcasts, including Mac Power Users.

What is the app you are still missing?

I’m still waiting for the ultimate visual search app. For example, I’d like to be able to point my iPhone’s camera at the leaf of a tree and be provided with details on the tree in question. The possibilities are endless.

How many times a day do you use your iPhone/iPad?

This varies dramatically depending on my current situation. My iPhone and iPad tend to get used more heavily when I’m out and about and serve quite different purposes. My iPhone fits easily in my pocket and gives me quick and convenient access to everything from bus schedules to weather information. My iPad becomes my primary computer when I’m on vacation and takes the place of a physical notebook when I’m travelling on business. Most of my reading is done on the iPad these days and the outstanding battery life it provides allows for an entertaining diversion on even the longest of trips.

What is your favorite feature of the iPhone/iPad?

I’ve always been rather picky when it comes to displays, and I appreciate the gorgeous Retina displays on my iPhone 4 and my new iPad.

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

I would add an background update feature to iOS that would allow users to give specific apps permission to update their data in the background. For example, OmniFocus could automatically sync and Instapaper could pull down the latest batch of articles without it being necessary to manually launch each app. To address power consumption concerns, there would be an option to disable background updates when the iOS device isn’t plugged in.

Anything else you’d like to share?

Both the iPhone and iPad have the potential to be a major source of distraction. I make a point of going through the Notifications options in Settings with a fine tooth comb, fine-tuning the settings so that I’m not, for example, pulled away from reading an interesting book each time someone references me in a tweet.

When I received my new iPad last month I decided to start from scratch — installing apps on an as-needed basis and eliminating any past cruft in the process. I put general-purpose apps, such as Camera and Calendar on the Home screen and Dock and all other apps were placed in folders based on their related activity. When I have time set aside for reading I open the “Reading” folder and all the other apps fade into the background. Similarly, when I’m in work mode I open up my “Productivity” folder, bringing the focus to my productivity apps.

Thanks Tim.

For more home screens clicky here.

My Tandy WP-2 and the Future




Recent posts by Andy Ihnatko and Shawn Blanc about using an iPad as a laptop replacement got me thinking about my first laptop, my trusty Tandy WP-2. I bought this computer in 1990. I was a first year law student and I rocked this computer for three years.

The WP-2 probably explains my fixation with text. With 32K of RAM and the luxurious 14 x 80 pixel display, I thought I had it all figured out. No apps. No Internet. It just wrote text files and ran for weeks on a couple AA batteries. You could plug it into a computer to pull down the text file or, in a pinch, save to cassette. That is right. I said cassette.




After lawschool, I could never bring myself to get rid of this old warhorse. When my kids were little, I gave it to them to play with and they thrashed it, as the pictures attest. It still worked. When I got it out for my 18 month old nephew last weekend, it didn’t power up and that made me a little sad but didn’t bother him in the least as he plopped it on his desk and started banging out his version of the next great American novel.

For a lot of people (but not all people), a mobile computer doesn’t need to be much. So long as it checks e-mail, gets on the web, and gives you a place to write, you can get a lot done. Looking wistfully at my WP-2, I’m pretty sure we are going to be seeing a lot more “the iPad is my laptop” stories.