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.

RSS Sponsor: Mijingo

This week’s RSS Sponsor is Mijingo.com. Mijingo is dedicated to helping you learn something new. Ryan Irelan and the other instructors at Mijingo are top notch. Get started on the right foot with Evernote using the video tutorial by Evernote author Brett Kelly. Quickly learn the basics of the Markdown syntax in 30 minutes. Or learn new ways to work with OmniFocus by following along with their two videos: Customizing OmniFocus and Creating Project Templates in OmniFocus.

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.




Keyboard Deathmatch

I’ve written before about how much I love my Tactile Pro 3 keyboard. The clicky-clacky racket it makes continually annoys my family, Katie Floyd, and the MPU listeners. After listening to everyone talk about the daskeyboard, I decided to see if it could unseat my Tactile 3 in my own private keyboard deathmatch. Having used the daskeyboard now for about a month, I can report it is an excellent keyboard. As an aside, if timing is everything, I really screwed the pooch on this one since last week appears to have been the week for Internet keyboard porn, as evidenced by Shawn Blanc’s epic comparison post and Merlin’s shorter post about retiring his own beloved Tactile keyboard.

While the Tactile 3 uses the traditional ALPS switches dating back to Apple’s own legendary Apple Extended II keyboards, the daskeyboard uses Cherry MX Blue switches that give the keys a tactile “bump” when the key is about halfway depressed. There is a most excellent animation over at daskeyboard.com.

I’m not sure where the ALPS switch actually triggers the keypress and I guess that is the point. You don’t get that same feedback to your fingers that comes with the Cherry switch. They are both loud as hell but the ALPS switch has a little ring on the upstroke that never bothered me but made Shawn Blanc a little nuts.

I’d never used a Cherry switch keyboard before the daskeyboard arrived and I could immediately tell a difference. The Cherry switches are a bit firmer and the typing experience is, for lack of a better word, “tighter”. I don’t have the gear to test the amount of force required for a key press but it sure feels like the daskeyboard needs more force than that Tactile 3. However, the Cherry switch’s feedback really good. You can actually feel the switch engage with your fingers.

You really need to try both of these keyboards if this is a big deal for you but I’d categorize the Tactile Pro 3 ALPS switches as bit softer in feel than the Cherry switch daskeyboard. You’ll feel the difference immediately. Even though I’ve been using a Tactile Pro 3 Keyboard for some time, I prefer the Cherry switches.

Nevertheless I still sat on the fence about this daskeyboard. There are a lot of little things that the Tactile Pro 3 does better than the daskeyboard.

  • The daskeyboard’s keyboard font is a mess. It is a blocky font that isn’t very easy to read. The Tactile Pro 3 keyboard uses a cleaner font and also includes a legend on each key for alternative key combinations.

  • The Matias keys are laser etched on the keys for longevity. After using the daskeyboard for a month, the printing on the left command keyalready looks like it is wearing thin.

  • I also prefer the Tactile 3’s USB port placement. The Tactile 3 includes three USB ports with one on each side and an additional one in back. The daskeyboard has two USB ports both on the right side.

I think when it comes to make a decision on a mechanical switch keyboard, it is really all about the switches and you’ll pick whichever keyboard has the best feel, no matter how ugly the keyboard font is.

Initially, I was pretty sure I’d be buying the daskeyboard rather than returning the review unit. As much as the Tactile Pro 3 gets right, I prefer the feel of the daskeyboard switches.

However, in the name of science I took alternating weeks on the daskeyboard, Tactile Pro 3, and my Apple Bluetooth Wireless keyboard. I didn’t run a typing test but Shawn Blanc’s increased spead on the mechanical switch keyboards doesn’t suprise me. I don’t however find that a compelling reason to switch to a mechanical keyboard because I rarely type from a sheet of paper and the bottleneck for most things I write is in my brain, not my fingers.

The big suprise in this review process was the discovery that when using my Bluetooth Wireless Keyboard, my RSI aggravations were almost non-existent. This got me thinking about my own experiences with RSI and, upon reflection, I often get cramps in my fingers when working from my iMac but not nearly so often from my MacBook Air with its little chicklet keys. In working through this, I had my own little eureka moment as I realized that keyboards with less travel are not as hard on my RSI as keyboards with more travel. (This is obvious in hindsight.)

So at the conclusion of this process, I realized that in my case I’m not using either of these beloved noisy mechanical keyboards but instead sticking with this tiny Apple keyboard. That’s right. The keyboard deathmatch was not won by any of the heavyweight contenders, but a sneaky flyweight. My own inadequacies aside, if I were not contending with RSI, I’d be writing a check to buy this daskeyboard. Despite its imperfections, I prefer the Cherry switches.

Fiction Find: Catharsis

A friend of mine, Aaron Black, recently self-published his first fiction book, Catharsis. The story is set in the 41st century and concerns a teenage Monk in India. I haven’t got to the end yet but so far I’m really digging it. It’s just $3 for your Kindle (or iPad Kindle app). Check it out.