Risky Business

Last week I quit my day job. Maybe I should explain.

As the Field Guide publishing business, the podcast, and other MacSparky endeavors have grown, I’ve always felt my life was on a bit of a collision course. For years now I’ve been doing three things simultaneously. 

  1. I’ve been growing all things MacSparky.
  2. I’ve taken care of my legal clients.
  3. I’ve been keeping up with the constant press of additional legal work arising from working in a law firm.

Each one of these priorities has its own pluses and minuses. Keeping up with them all, however, sometimes feels like running so fast that I’m about to fall on my face. 

The things I do as MacSparky have brought meaning to my life. I love the podcast. I love the books. I love all the friends and interactions that come with them. MacSparky saved me. I can’t imagine my life at this point without this website, the podcast, and the books.

With respect to my legal clients, I’ve always taken a country doctor approach to their problems. A lot of my clients are small and medium-size businesses that need someone to tell them when they’re onto something and when they’re running off a cliff. I like being a trusted advisor and I like shepherding my clients from small successful businesses to larger ones. Again, I couldn’t imagine myself not doing this. It is part of me. 

Finally, as a member of a law firm, I was afforded an opportunity to litigate many cases and be involved with many transactions over the years. It was a 21-year run of one crazy case after another and I enjoyed every minute of it. Also, being a part of a successful law practice means you get a really nice salary. For 21 years now the firm has been the foundation of my family’s solvency.

So for the past few years, I’ve been serving these three masters all at once as I watched MacSparky grow, attempted to work more with my own legal clients, and keep up with the ever-increasing workload at the firm. 

I knew I was heading to a point where I’d have to make some hard decisions. I was also doing everything in my power to ignore this looming decision. I told many friends that all I had to do was “just keep pedaling”. If you’ve ever had a similar experience in your life with ignoring inevitabilities, you know how well that works out. 

Last October, I got involved with a big case at the firm that took a great deal of my time and attention for months. Things went well on the case. My “firm” commitments were satisfied. Everything else in my life went to hell. When the dust settled I took stock of my big three things and realized that while I was taking care of that case, my next Field Guide, which I had planned to ship in November was still unfinished and my own legal clients were giving me cryptic phone messages about how hard it was to get my attention. 

It occurred to me that, unknowingly, that fateful day where I’d have to make some tough decisions had arrived and I had been too busy to notice. Put simply, the big case needed me and I pushed aside MacSparky and my own clients without thinking of it. The realization that I’d made a decision without actually considering it upset me. How did I let myself fall into this trap that I’d merely deferred on what is one of the most important decisions of my life?

I stepped back and took stock of my life. I realized I had two options in front of me.

The Safe Road

The benefit of working in a law firm is that there is usually a lot of work to do. When you put a group of lawyers together, they generally are able to combine resources, help each other out, and keep everyone busy. The downside of working in a law firm is that there’s a lot of work to do. You’re always busy. Because you are always busy, there is a regular paycheck. Regular paychecks are a pretty nice thing.

I’ve always known that the “safe” route of sticking with the firm, letting more books slip and cashing the regular paycheck deserves serious consideration. That is the best way to get the bills paid without risk. That also was the option with the most inertia behind it. I’d been at the same firm for 21 years. How do you turn that upside down? Also, I work with some really top notch lawyers and that environment is a pretty rare in the legal racket. 

I grew up with Depression-Era parents. They were awesome. They taught me so much and gave me a fantastic work ethic. They also drilled into me the importance of avoiding risk. Probably the biggest motivation for me to stay at the firm was that conservative risk-adverse mentality I’ve carried my entire life.

Risky Business

My other option was to leave my regular paycheck and health benefits behind and jump into the chaos that ensues from running a smaller, solo attorney law practice and (in my case) a book & video publishing business. I could serve just my clients with my own, smaller law practice and do things a bit more on my terms. This would give me the added benefit of much more control and allow for more time to publish more Field Guides and produce more MacSparky and Mac Power Users content. While all this sounds dandy, it also comes with a big pay cut and the possibility that things could get much worse if I don't have enough legal clients, or people stop buying Field Guides, or both.

So much of my own neurosis screamed out at me to keep the steady job and continue “pedaling” as best as possible. I laid awake at night. I rambled on about it incessantly with my family and closest friends. They all had excellent, well-meaning advice, much of which was contradictory with one another.

At the end of this process I found myself repeatedly coming back to my hypothetical death bed. If I was laying somewhere right now facing down the reaper, what would I regret more? It then became crystal clear to me. 

If I let MacSparky and the Field Guides linger and wither, I would never forgive myself. 

With that realization, a long tortuous decision process found clarity and purpose. I realized that if I ever had my ladder leaning against the wall of being a hot-shot partner in a big law firm, it had long since moved. I love being a small, crafty country doctor lawyer. The small business David that uses his Mac to sling rocks at big firm Goliaths.

I also love writing Field Guides and being MacSparky. My legal and publishing aspirations could co-exist if I’d just get over my insecurities and leap.

So I leapt.

The people at my firm were baffled when I gave notice but after I explained myself, became understanding and supportive. I’ve spent the last several weeks planning a transition that came to fruition late last week. 

Now I’m a self-employed lawyer looking for a few great clients. Here’s my website.

I’m also a geek writer with a bucket full of ideas that I finally have more time to execute upon.

Finally, I’m a husband and a father that is really excited about a new adventure and more than a little terrified that I’ll blow it.

As I write these words, I’m only a few days into this grand adventure but I decided to write about it here because the MacSparky audience has been such a vital part of this journey. If it weren’t for MacSparky, I wouldn’t have had the option (or the guts) to take this leap.

So What Does this Mean for MacSparky?

This is going to result in more and better content here at the website, on the podcast, and in the books. I’ll have more time to produce things I’m proud of. Some of it will be free. Some of it will cost a few bucks. There will definitely be more Field Guides (both iBooks and video formats) on things interesting to me and—hopefully—helpful to you.

So Are You Still a Lawyer Or Not?

This doesn’t mean I’m going to stop being a lawyer. I like being a lawyer. I’m one of those weirdos that thinks I actually help people as a lawyer. I’ve opened my own solo practice and have a group of fantastic, loyal clients that came with me from my prior firm. I could definitely use a few more but I suspect they will come.

The two passions of my life (outside my family) are MacSparky and my legal practice. In one I’m able to help thousands of people in little ways. In the other I help far fewer people in much bigger ways. I need the happy chemicals that come with both of those endeavors.

How Exactly Are You Pulling This Off?

I’m doing it the way any self-respecting geek would. I’m pulling pieces of technology together to make me look like superman in both the MacSparky and legal world. I’m having a lot of fun developing new workflows and, yes, I’ll be writing and screencasting about that here.

While I have an office, I’m also going to be spending a lot more time working from home, which lets me do things like take walks with my wife, goof off with my growing kids, and write legal briefs while wearing jeans and a T-Shirt. (My company has a very liberal dress code.) Like I said, I’m only a few days into this but I can already see some pretty interesting content developing out of the experience.

Are You Going To Prattle on About This Forever?

Hopefully not but I’m also sure you’ll hear about it on occasion. I still catch myself with small bits of anxiety. What if the books stop selling or the clients dry up? If that happens I’ll have to figure something else out but I’d rather have to figure out that Plan B than lay in a bed some day upset at myself for not taking a risk.

Despite that occasional anxiety, I find myself with this overwhelming exhilaration that everything in my life thus far has led to this point. Deep down, I truly believe this risky business will not only enable me to take care of my family, it will also lead to some of the best work of my life, both as MacSparky and a lawyer. I feel it in my bones. 

Stay tuned gang.

Sponsor: Elgato Thunderbolt 2 Dock

This week MacSparky is sponsored by the Elgato Thunderbolt 2 Dock. This new dock from Elgato enables you to connect everything to your MacBook or Ultrabook at once. With two Thunderbolt 2 ports, connect your computer with only one cable and simultaneously enjoy the extended versatility of Thunderbolt.

A built-in HDMI port can drive up to a 4K resolution, and three additional USB 3.0 ports assure that all of your devices are connected when you need them, at full speed and with up to 1.5A of power. Tap into the full performance of wired network connections with the built-in Gigabit Ethernet port, and enjoy crystal-clear conference calls through the separate microphone input and amplified audio output. An added benefit is stand-alone USB charging even when your computer is not connected. Learn more right here

If you’ve got a desk full of equipment, this dock greatly simplifies (and improves) the experience.

This post is sponsored by Syndicate Ads.


 

Where is Find Friends on the Mac?

The Sparks family uses Find Friends all the time. With my kids off at events, jobs, and school, we often check up on each other. I like to think of it as a nerdy version of the Weasley family clock. We're not creepy. Really.

The one piece of this I don't understand though is why Apple hasn't found a way to put Find Friends on the Mac. (It's also not a part of iCloud.com.) I would guess this is an issue of engineering resources but now that we have Maps on the Mac, I hope Find Friends is not far behind.

BusyContacts Ships and Interview

Yesterday BusyMac released BusyContacts. This is one I’ve been waiting for. In the same way that BusyCal improves upon the built-in Apple calendar, BusyContacts improves upon the Contacts application. There is so much to like about this application.

  • Multiple view - You can display your data in multiple or single column list views.
  • Tags - Group and filter contacts easily.
  • BusyCal integration — BusyContacts integrates with BusyCal by linking contacts to events in your calendar.
  • Email Integration - Click on a contact and see recent emails right in Busy Contacts. The same goes for messages and social media network posts.
  • Syncing - It all syncs with the built-in Contacts app so you are not silo-ing your data

Learn more here.

I’m a fan of the team of Busy Mac and took this opportunity to talk with John Chaffee, one of the company founders.

Q. BusyMac is now known for BusyCal and BusyContacts, but you guys have been working on Mac calendar software for even longer than that. When did you first get started?

A. In the early 1990s Dave Riggle and I teamed up at the original Now Software to create Now Up-to-Date, which became the best selling calendar app on the Mac. That was over 20 years ago – when System 7 was shiny and new, and long before OS X or iCal existed.

In 2007, Dave and I returned to our roots and formed BusyMac to once again build the best calendar app for the Mac, BusyCal. :)

Q. Why BusyContacts now?

Nearly everyone is frustrated with the shortcomings of OS X Contacts. From our first demo of BusyCal, people have been begging us to build a contact manager app. Not only is BusyContacts a powerful replacement for OS X Contacts, it’s a great CRM solution when paired with BusyCal.

Q. What was the greatest challenge you faced in bringing BusyContacts to life?

A. Time was our biggest challenge. We are a small company and are careful not to spread ourselves too thin. It took us five years of building and refining BusyCal before we reached a point where we felt we could afford to invest in a second product. We have now spent 1.5 years building BusyContacts and are fortunate in that we were able to leverage much of the syncing technology in BusyCal.

That treasure trove of technology and experience saved us years of development time and has resulted in a very robust product. BusyContacts 1.0 actually exceeded our expectations.

Q. What feature are you personally most excited about with BusyContacts?

A. There’s a lot to like in BusyContacts – List View, Tags, Smart Filters, Social Network Integration, BusyCal Integration, Sharing – but I think the feature that users find most exciting is the Activity List. It provides a history of interactions with each of your contacts through rich integration with BusyCal, Mail, Messages, and social networks.

Thanks John.

Home Screens: Kourosh Dini

In addition to other super powers, Kourosh rocks a fedora.

In addition to other super powers, Kourosh rocks a fedora.

This week’s home screen features Kourosh Dini (website)(Twitter). Kourosh is the classic triple threat: psychiatrist, musician, geek. Most recently Kourosh released a second edition of his fantastic book, Creating Flow with OmniFocus. To me, a trip to Chicago is not complete until I’ve broken bread with my pal Kourosh. So Kourosh, show us your home screen.

What are some of your favorite apps?

OmniFocus remains my main application and has the easiest reach at the bottom right corner. 

The Phone and Drafts apps are also on the lower bar. Other communications apps are embedded in a folder on the lower bar. The default Mail app and Tweetbot are actually on the second page of that folder to minimize my propensity to check either reflexively.

Timers

Across the top are Settings and three timers.

Wind-up is useful for simple timing. I use it for meditation and making tea. I like the windup action.

Due is good for setting up a time to begin closing a session of work. I love how it can ding every minute. 

When an alert or reminder just rings once, it can be disruptive as I must either: 

  • Stop present work abruptly and move on to the next thing,
  • Turn off the ringer and hope I remember to move on soon, or
  • Leave the ringer on and irritate me while work.

Each of these options leaves something to be desired.

Due’s minute reminder is not so intrusive that I can’t work but is present just enough to tell me it’s time to wrap up my present work. If I would like to continue with present work, then I can purposely make that decision and deliberately reset the clock.

Alarm Clock is useful as a regular alarm and as a time display. Combined with a kickstand (using an Aduro case), I might set it near my computer while I work with some OS X application in full screen mode. (The kickstand is also nice for Face Time sessions or watching a show on the fly.)

Listening

For music, I use the default Music app as well as Spotify

Instacast is great for podcasts as I do not need to store the sound files on the phone and can, instead, stream them. 

I still have the Shazam and SoundHound apps, even though I know Siri can do this automatically. Siri, unfortunately, does not understand me. I believe she is too polite to tell me that I mumble.

Travel

Google Maps is great for getting around town on public transportation. Most of my travel is by foot, train, and bus.

Transit stop is useful for knowing when the next bus is arriving. 

Art Institute Membership - I love having membership cards in my phone. It’s one less thing to carry. 

Business:

Square register for credit card transactions. It used to be a magical thing to be able to process a credit card transaction, an action left to the major retailers. That we can do this as small business entities highlights a neat societal shift. 

Epocrates is useful for medication information. 

I also have a Date Wheel date calculator, which is useful for calculating something like when 90 days from now lands on the calendar.

PDFPen Scan + and JotNot Pro are useful as scanners. I haven’t settled with one or the other yet. Combining either with an online faxing service, I can scan a piece of paper and fax it quickly. (Yes, I still fax.)

Reading

Kindle and iBooks for books.

Newsify for RSS feeds.

Pocket for individual articles.

Dark Horse Comics for awesomeness.

Study

Mindnode is an elegant mind mapping application that strikes a nice compromise of mapping features and simplicity. I use this more on OS X than on iOS due to the screen real estate, but it’s nice to have on iOS, too.

inShort stays at the front page beckoning to me to learn it. It seems to have a complexity that requires a certain threshold of knowledge to work through before finding a stride. However, I have yet to make that effort. Maybe if I get the OS X version, I’ll get into it. 

Duolingo is a neat language learning experience. While it does not replace actual practiced conversation, it is always nice to have around for a quick lesson.

Remotes

Remote and Roku remotes are useful for my Apple TV and Roku devices, respectively.

I’ve also been experimenting with the new Alfred remote. I like being able to quickly jump around the system settings using the app. I’m not sure how else I’ll use it yet, but it looks like there are some interesting possibilities.

Guitar:

Clear tune for tuning the guitar and Tabs to taunt the kids with poorly practiced renditions of “Let it Go”. 

Multi-Measures is a nice measuring kit. Though for me it is more for silly fun. I like to use it to measure the ambient noise level when walking around town. Watching the ambient noise level shift and change as I move from one environment to another gives the whole walk a story-like feel. Visiting the L train , I’ve seen it range into the 90 dBs. Quieter places are in the low 30s. 

Apps like this also just go to show how much the smart phone has become a present day swiss army knife.

Writing:

Byword is connected to a single folder in Dropbox where I store the majority of my text files.

Drafts is very useful, too, to just get some thoughts down, especially if I don’t know what I’m doing with them yet. 

DayOne is good for journaling. 

Which apps is your guilty pleasure?

Alien Blue is an application that interfaces with Reddit. The community there is at once endearing and enraging. It also helps me keep up to date with what is interesting in the community at large.

Dark Horse comics is another guilty pleasure. I’ve been reading the Leaf Upon the Wind Firefly comics. 

What is the app you are still missing?

OmniOutliner for iPhone. I like to use OmniOutliner for templates of tasks - morning routines and the like. While I don’t always consult them, they are nice to have handy. I store these in an OmniPresence linked folder so I can get to them from iPad or OSX. However, I have the iPhone handy much more frequently. (Stay tuned on this one Kourosh. -D)

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

Still too many, but I am better. I read of someone deliberately hobbling their phone, turning it into a “distraction free” phone. I’ve yet to take that plunge, but I am considering it.

What Today View widgets are you using and why?

I’ve got the weather up top. 

OmniFocus is listed next. I do hope that The Omni Group allows for customizing which perspective appears up top. Presently, it is only for Due tasks. I would love to be able to use one of my Dashboard settings (a combination of “Filter by Status: Due or Flagged” with “Filter by Availability: Available” and “Sort actions by: Due”). That way I could see all the tasks I’ve set for today.

Next up is the Calendar. As much of my work is based on sessions with individual clients, my calendar is extremely important. 

Then I’ve got the Kindle. I really like how I can open directly to any of the last three read books from this view. 

What is your favorite feature of the iPhone/iPad?

Its portability. For instance, I use OmniFocus on the iPhone much more than with the iPad despite the greater feature count of the iPad version. Its direct accessibility and ease of typing both contribute to its use.

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

I can’t wait for internal links to work when exporting from Pages again. With my last book, I had to manually create all the internal links using Adobe Acrobat for the PDF. 

What’s your wallpaper and why?

I like the default watery wallpaper. Setting the icons above the water line makes me happy for unknown reasons. 

Anything else you’d like to share?

I’m learning Android: Netrunner. Board and card games are awesome.

iOS 9 and Snow Leopard Moments

Mark Gurman, who is known for landing Apple scoops, is reporting at 9 to 5 Mac that iOS 9 is going to be light on new features and heavy on bug fixes.

For 2015, iOS 9, which is codenamed Monarch, is going to include a collection of under-the-hood improvements. Sources tell us that iOS 9 engineers are putting a “huge” focus on fixing bugs, maintaining stability, and boosting performance for the new operating system, rather than solely focusing on delivering major new feature additions.

There's been a lot written about iOS 8 and Yosemite and how they seem to be just above (or below, depending on who you ask) the acceptability line. I've written before that I consider the iOS 8 / Yosemite releases to be a special case. The community at large, myself included, wanted for so long for our Macs and iOS devices to talk better amongst themselves. Also, how many home screen posts have I put up here where the subject concluded that if they were in charge at Apple, they'd make it easier for iPhone and iPad apps to share information.

Apple delivered on these requests with iOS 8 but making changes this substantial necessarily came with a lot of bugs. I don't have any of Mark Gurman's sources but I'm willing to agree publicly right now that iOS 9 will at least feel like the upgrade Mark explains in the above quote. This is true if, for no other reason, because I can't think of any update to iOS that would be nearly as ambitious in scope as iOS 8 was. 

 

MPU Two-Pack

This week we released two episodes of the Mac Power Users.

MPU 239 includes a workflow interview with Adam Christianson from the Maccast podcast about his history with Apple, life as a programer, and experiences through the years podcasting and Mac User Groups.

MPU 240 is the February live feedback show. Topics include financial management apps, more on FileVault, antivirus, upgrading your Mac, and we are joined by professor Bonni Stachowiak, who uses screen casting software for student feedback. Katie and I also reveal easy ways to push our buttons.

WesterosCraft

I've heard the stories about MineCraft and I've witnessed nephews and nieces obsessing over videos of people playing MineCraft but I've never really got it. Part of this is the fact that I am a geek and grew up in an era when all we could think about was getting smaller pixels. 8-bit led to 16-bit led to 32-bit and so on. We were always pushing the envelope for the next leap. So when I first heard of MineCraft and its blocky graphics, I thought it was some weird throwback that would never last.

Boy was I wrong on that front. MineCraft is as much, if not more, of an obsession as anything my childhood could throw down. This past weekend I stumbled upon this video where a group of players decided to build a replica of Westeros from Game of Thrones. The word got out on the Internet, lots of MineCrafters showed up, and they did something truly remarkable. Now I get it.


Sponsor: The Omni Group

This week MacSparky.com is sponsored by The Omni Group, one of the premiere productivity software companies for the Mac, iPhone, and iPad. If you are looking for serious solutions for serious problems, look no further. The Omni Group's applications include:

OmniFocus

My beloved task manager that lets me practice law and publish books and videos without completely losing my mind.

OmniOutliner

This is simply the best outlining application for the Mac and iOS. When I need to organize ideas, I break out OmniOutliner. 

OmniGraffle

This diagramming and graphics tool lets me build stunning graphics in a few minutes.

OmniPlan

If project management is your game, look no further.

The Omni Group has its own sync solution, OmniPresence, to keep all of these tools working between your Mac and iPad and, most recently, they've announced they are putting all of these productivity apps on the iPhone as well.

Check out the Omni Group and let them know you heard about them from MacSparky.com.

 

Photo Management and the Mac

For so long, photo management between our Macs and iOS devices has felt like the mythical white whale. We are all taking more pictures than ever and at the same time using multiple devices, making photo management a nightmare. It didn't help that iPhoto and Aperture lingered, feeling like relics of a bygone era and every independent company that tries to come up with an innovate web-based solution seems to fold up before it gets any momentum.

However, at WWDC in 2014, Apple promised they are taking photos to the cloud and they really get it this time. They even explained they were working on a new photos app for the Mac, called, appropriately, Photos that would let us seamlessly work between devices. 

Then there was silence.

In fact, there was so much silence that I began to wonder if there was a problem. Today, the most recent developer build of Yosemite showed up with the Photos app for Mac, ready for testing. I'm so eager to see this work (and so tired of iPhoto) that I loaded it up and, after making appropriate backups, pressed the button to move my iPhoto library into Photos. I'm not going to go into great detail about it. Others have. I will say however, that the app feels pretty good for a beta and already runs much faster on my Mac than iPhoto ever did with the exact same library.

Am I feeling a glimmer of hope?

There is going to a public beta at some point and nobody outside of Cupertino has tested it enough yet to really render judgment but right now it feels like Apple has a contender for solving the photo problem.

Sponsor: InShort

This week MacSparky is sponsored by inShort (website) (Mac App Store) (iOS App Store). inShort is is an iPhone/iPad/Mac application that lets you plan projects and processes graphically across all of your Apple devices. This brings a new paradigm to process and project planning and is absolutely worth checking out. 

One of the more clever features is the way it allows you to embed processes and drill down to the level of detail you need at the moment. I like to think of this as "nested" flowcharts and I think it's really smart. It's a great way to sort out a process in your own mind and then explain it to others when you're done. 

Most recently, the Mac version of inShort gained several new features including increased mouse and gesture support, the ability to keep a catalog of locations and mark in which of them the process will be executed or the resource is located, and the app has been updated overall to look great in OS X Yosemite. Want to learn more? Read the developer's PDF


 

Condense, OCR on the Fly

Have you ever had an image of some text on your screen that you wanted to quickly turn into actual text? I seem to bump into that issue often and have a complicated workflow involving screenshots, conversion to PDF, and other steps. At least that used to be my workflow. Now I just use Condense. This Mac app makes easy work of yanking text out of a picture of words. You push one button in the app that puts a crosshair on your screen. You drag that over the offending word-picture and Condense pulls out the text. 

There are settings to strip out carriage returns, correct for angled text, and set the contrast. You can also have it automatically save the captured text to the clipboard. It will paste anywhere else on your Mac as plain text and in the few days I’ve been using it, I’ve found it remarkably accurate. 

I think what I like about Condense most is that this is a problem I encounter often and, for some reason, it never occurred to me that an application to fix this was both possible and so useful. I like that developers can still surprise me. I discovered Condense this week (thanks to @mkhudon) and I’m impressed.

Productivity App Sale

There are quite a few good iOS and Mac productivity apps on sale right now. Here are the ones I’d buy:

Fantastical 2

For iPad, $9.99 reduced to $4.99 

For iPhone, $4.99 reduced to $1.99 

For Mac, $19.99 reduced to $9.99

Fantastical is in my dock. This is a great alternative calendar app with its legendary text parsing tools and a really functional user interface. I particularly like the event list view. I’ve tried to replace the built-in iOS calendar multiple times and Fantastical is the only replacement that has stuck. I’ve covered this app before.

Duet Display

For iOS$15.99 reduced to $7.99

I bought this one today. I’ve tried several of these apps that turn your iPad into a remote display for your Mac over the years. This one is the fastest I’ve used yet.

Workflow

For iOS$4.99 reduced to $1.99

I have so much to say about Workflow but haven’t had time to give it proper treatment, yet. (Well … here is a little bit.) Stay tuned for more from me on Workflow but for now, just buy it for two bucks.

Byword

For Mac, $9.99 reduced to $5.99

Sweet, sweet Byword. I use it every day.

Dropzone 3

For Mac$4.99 reduced to $1.99

There are a lot of menubar apps made to hold apps and perform magic on files. I started using Dropzone about six months ago and it’s a keeper. This is another app I use multiple times a day and now it’s just two bucks.

MindNode Pro

For Mac, $19.99 reduced to $9.99

Ready to get serious about mind mapping on your Mac? Look no further.