MPU 250 Live: We're Just Getting Started …

It was fitting that our 250th episode took place with a live audience. You'd think that after this long Katie and I are running out of things to say. We're not and there is lots of great content planned for the coming months. 

In this episode we're joined by Brett Bruney to discuss scanning on the go, we follow-up on LaTex, RSS and cord-cutting. We also address listener questions about splitting iTunes accounts, merging contacts, scheduling time to complete tasks and share listener tips about automating a home webcam, using Keyboard maestro, and automated RSS feeds.

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Initial Apple Watch Reviews and a Few Thoughts

Today a bevy of Apple Watch reviews showed up on the Internet. They are all mostly positive. If you would like to burn a couple hours, head over to this Mashable linkwhere they have got a summary of the key reviews and links. 

There seems to be a few common threads throughout the reviews. Some early reviewers complaint that it took them awhile to figure out the new interface. For so many years now, Apple has been training us to use iOS and the “escape anything” home button. That isn’t going to work on the watch and it looks like this new paradigm is going to take some getting used to for some people.

Another common theme is the frequency of notifications. Watching the video reviews, it appears you can have a lot of control over what gets your watch but out-of-the-box, it drives them all at you. I already have most of my notifications turned off but those who like to leave the fire hose turned on should expect a lot of taps and dings from their wrist.

For me, the biggest news from these reviews was that there were no complaints about battery life. As big of an Apple geek as I am, the Apple Watch would be a non-starter if it runs out of gas at dinnertime. I was happy to see that the reviewers, who were presumably playing with these watches a lot more while writing their reviews than a normal user would, were all able to make it through a day without trouble. 

I’m still wavering between the sport and stainless steel models but having looked through the reviews, I’m definitely planning on ordering an Apple Watch of one sort or another.

The iPhone Extension Trick

Have you got any contacts that have extensions in their phone numbers? If you do, you'll know that adding extension information to your contacts can give your iPhone fits when placing calls. There is, however a trick.

When creating a contact, instead of this:

Jenny
866-5309 x1982

Do this:

Jenny
866-5309;1982

The semicolon is secret code to your iPhone to wait once the call connects and gives you the option to dial the extension when you tap it at the bottom of the screen.

I use this for telephone extensions and also for my conference call dial-ins—that seem to always have ridiculously long conference ID numbers.

Alternatively you can use commas to have the phone delay slightly and enter a digit for you. For instance, if you frequently have to call your cable company to reset your cable box and you know the tone sequence to make that happen, you could have a phone number like this.

Cable Box Reset
555-1212,3,5,2,3

Assuming you got the numbers in the right order, that sequence would actually penetrate the bureaucracy and reset your cable box.

You can set the commas and semicolons in the Contacts app on your Mac, which is obvious. Not so obvious is the fact that you can add commas and semicolons on your phone too. To do so, press the symbol button on the dialer and then "pause" for a comma or "wait" for a semicolon.

Clever.

Sponsor: OmniFocus 2.1 for iOS. Now Universal!

This week MacSparky.com is sponsored by OmniFocus. The Omni Group has been hard at work since last year taking all of the their iPad applications universal, so they work on both the iPad and iPhone. Version 2.1 of OmniFocus for the iPad is now officially universal and works on the iPhone.

This new version looks fantastic on the larger iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus screens. The new version works in landscape mode with a Sidebar on the iPhone 6 Plus, lets you use the Review perspective on your phone, create perspectives (with the Pro version) and view perspectives with project hierarchy (again with the Pro version). This single development has me thinking I may have to get the bigger iPhone the next time I upgrade. 

There are also some really nice new features for both the iPad and iPhone including:

  • Home screen customization. You can now tile your favorite perspectives within easy reach.
  • Display a custom perspective in the Today extension. I’ve got it currently showing my hotlist of items nearly due or flagged items and it’s super-useful. (Pro version only.)

If you’ve already bought the iPad version, go ahead and install it on your phone. If you’ve already bought it on your iPhone, the Omni Group has a plan for you too. Go learn more from the Omni Group and thank you OmniFocus for supporting MacSparky.com

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Apple Watch Guided Tours

When the original iPhone was getting released, it was a big investment and I wasn't sure whether I'd get one or not. Then just a few days before launch Apple released this video and I was hooked. Showing us exactly how the revolutionary phone worked was brilliant and, in my case at least, sold one more iPhone. Apple is going back to the same playbook with a series of guided tours on the Apple Watch. So far there are only three videos available but there are at least seven more that will unlock between now and launch.

My favorite so far is the second video, on faces. Another observation is that in the third video, on digital touch, it looks like a 42mm watch on a slender wrist and it looks pretty big.

Home Screens: Mike Williams

This week’s home screen features Mike Williams (Twitter). Mike is the President and CEO of the David Allen Company and a geek just like the rest of us. Okay Mike, show us your home screen.

Notes about my home screen

My home screen is intentionally very simple. I do this to minimize distractions. The distractions are all tucked several screen swipes away. It is a simple reminder to me to keep things simple. The act of intentionally finding an app helps me become conscious to what I am doing and why. I also turn off 98% of all the alerts. I have a very quite iPhone. 

What are some of your favorite apps?

Fantastical (thanks to Mac Power Users!) - Love the ease of calendar entry. The UI is beautiful and whimsical. 

Omnifocus - This is the part of my GTD trusted system for all things that are Actionable = Yes (Projects, Next Actions, Waiting For). 

Evernote and Dropbox - This is the part of my GTD trusted system for a majority of the things that are Actionable = No (Reference, Checklists, Lists) 

Focus@Will - My Bose over the ears headsets (which I’ve had since 2006) and Focus@Will put my brain in a wonderful state for work. 

Timer+ - I like working in sprints. A timer helps keep me honest and I love the sense of completion. I’ve had way to many situations when productive time has become unproductive time simply because I drifted off. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy drifting off time too. There is nothing like a good day dream. I create some space for that to happen too (e.g. Walking time, Coffee shop time). 

Podcasts - I rarely listen to radio any more. I enjoy a wide range of podcasts. This is my go to app for commuting and walking. 

FlightAware - This is my go to travel app for getting information to help me understand the status of my flight, the status of my specific plane and more. 

Which apps are your guilty pleasures?

USAToday - It is news candy. Business Insider - Ditto. Medium - For the coffee shop or airport reading… a little deeper and longer form reading. 

What app makes you most productive?

It is actually three apps in tandem: Calendar + Omnifocus + Timer. The calendar helps me see my calendared actions and reference information (e.g. appointments, meetings, day specific actions, day specific reminders). When I have “white space” or open time on my calendar I shift to work sprint mode. Omnifocus serves up the list of possibilities for me to choose from based on my context, time available and my energy level. I use the timer and time blocking to identify the number and types of sprints I am going to do within a given amount of time (e.g. process emails for X minutes, brainstorm on a topic for X minutes, clean up ___ area for X minutes, and many more). 

What app do you know you’re underutilizing?

I am working to discover the power of Workflow. I love the ETA (estimated time of arrival) workflow. I use this to help my wife know when I will be home. There is a heck of a lot of territory to explore here. This is another app that Mac Power Users brought into my life - thank you! 

What is the app you are still missing?

An app that, with minimal clicks and super fast speed, can capture an audio idea, turn it into text and send it to my Omnifocus Inbox. 

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

For me, when I am optimally productive, very little. 

When I am less productive, a lot. 

For me, when I am most present, very little. When I am most distracted, a lot. 

What is your favorite feature of the iPhone/iPad?

The whole iOS ecosystem and how it works together. Siri is great for getting information very easily. 

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

Time Machine and all iOS devices backup to iCloud automatically.

What’s your wallpaper and why?

Picture of a latte from Blue Bottle Cafe in San Francisco. Why? I love the serenity of a coffee shop and a journal. It is a reminder of the power of cool funky places. I love the vibe. It is a reminder to build in some unstructured mind wandering time into my day which helps me be more engaged, creative and productive. 

Anything else you’d like to share?

Yes, I really enjoy Mac Power Users. Many thanks to you and Katie for all the work you do there! If anybody would like to learn more about me, David Allen or Getting Things Done® (a.k.a. GTD®) you can find information at www.gettingthingsdone.com. You can also follow me on Twitter at @GTDmw. Cheers to all! Keep rockin’ the Mac and iOS world!

The New Trackpad

Last week I went into the local Apple store to check out the Force Touch trackpad in the new MacBook Pro 13 inch. It was a strange experience. I walked up to the Apple-specified table and looked at the laptop and confirmed it was the new machine.

Then I began clicking on the new trackpad and moving the mouse on the screen. I was disappointed to find it was not the new machine. It was clicking just like my three-year-old MacBook Pro at home. About this time, one of my Apple Store employee friends came up to me to look over my shoulder.

Apple guy: "So what you think?"

Me: "This is the old Mac. I want to see the new Mac with that fancy new trackpad."

Apple guy: "What you mean? That is the new Mac."

Me (somewhat condescendingly): "No. This one is clicking I want to try the new one that doesn't have the physical clicker."

Apple guy: "That's it. Push harder and you'll get a second click. That didn't happen with the old Mac."

Me: Click-Click. Blush.

That's right. The new Force Touch trackpad stumped me. It turned me into that old guy that doesn't believe something is new. We then turned off the MacBook and I clicked it. Sure enough, nothing happened. The fancy magnets and unicorn tears they put inside the new trackpad absolutely makes it feel like you're clicking.

I remember when automatic windshields were becoming a thing in new cars and my dad told me he preferred the old crank style because those never broke. That could be the case here. Something that was a physical hinge is now something much more. However, my initial impression is that I like the new trackpad a lot better. You can click anywhere on the trackpad, including at the top where it was quite difficult to do so with the previous hinged trackpad.

Moreover, because it's pressure sensitive, it opens up a whole new interface paradigm for application developers. I'm certain that in the near future, as these things become more prevalent, you'll be able to force click applications to make cool things happen and get your work done faster. 

If you're anywhere near an Apple Store, go in and check out the new trackpad and, while you're at it, shut the machine down to realize exactly how much the new trackpad is screwing with your head.

Using Pocket to Create OmniFocus Tasks

On a recent episode of Mac Power Users, I talked about my workflow that uses IFTTT to send articles from Pocket to OmniFocus based on tags. A lot of people have asked me to explain further. Here is how you do it.

The Idea

I wanted a way to tag an article in Pocket and have something specific happen in OmniFocus. The below example takes any article tagged "post" and creates an OmniFocus task titled, "Write Post about" and inserts the URL name. I use this all the time.

Overview

As seen with the below screenshot, this recipe grabs Pocket articles tagged "post" and then processes them through my Gmail account. Gmail is required here because you'll need to customize the message in a way that only Google can in IFTTT. For this step you'll need a Pocket and Gmail account and have their channels connected to your IFTTT account.

Trigger: "post"

This step looks for a specific tag in Pocket. Because you can use multiple tags in Pocket, you could duplicate this recipe and have it perform different actions on different tags.

Action: Send an Email

The Omni Group has this great feature call OmniFocus Mail Drop. You can send an email to a secret link and it adds the email to your OmniFocus inbox. You do have use the OmniSync service but the ability to create tasks via email is really handy. 

This step is just sending an email to that super-secret mail drop location. You'd have to substitute your own mail drop email address.

Name the Task

Next I set a custom subject line, "Write post about " *Title*. This inserts the article title so, as sent, it may say, "Write post about hemp Apple Watch bands." OmniFocus will take that subject line and make it the task name. This is why I use the Gmail account for this recipe.

Flesh Out the Note

Next I have IFTTT send through further details to the email body. This gets added to the note in the task. This recipe isn't particularly difficult to create or earth shattering. In some ways, it may be outdated by iOS 8 and Pocket's ability to add tasks to OmniFocus right inside the app. That lets you avoid pushing items through the Internet pipes. However, I'd argue that there is no way faster for me to create these tasks than simply tagging an article "post" and moving on.

The Apple Watch and Big iPhones

Like a lot of other nerds, I’ve been thinking quite a bit lately about the Apple Watch. Over the last year, I’ve been wearing my Pebble watch a great deal and I’ve come to rely upon the ability to get notifications on my wrist. The Apple Watch, however, brings a lot more to the equation due to the fact that it is made by the same company that makes my phone. Put simply, Apple is going to give its watch a lot more access to the iPhone then it gives anybody else’s watch.

One of the points I’m most curious about is how this will affect phone usage. There have already been rumblings about how wearing an Apple Watch means you don’t take your phone out of your pocket nearly as much. That only makes sense. I’m guessing that when the watch first arrives, I’m going to go out of my way not to take my phone out of my pocket.

Nevertheless, at some point the shininess will wear off and we will reach some sort of equilibrium where we understand what tasks make more sense on the watch and what tasks make more sense on the iPhone. The question in my mind, however, is where exactly that line gets drawn and what sort of impact that will have on my choice of future phones.

For example, I carried an iPhone 6 Plus for a week. It was definitely a presence in my pocket and larger than I expected it to be. It was also definitely nicer when looking at the screen with my 47-year-old eyeballs. The deal killer for me was when I stood in an elevator with my briefcase in one hand and couldn’t unlock my phone with one hand to read a text message.

If the Apple Watch takes off and is that useful, the elevator scenario would not happen again. The phone would remain in my pocket and I’d look at my wrist. Put simply, if the Apple Watch is as useful as everybody wants it to be, it may change the tipping point for the bigger iPhone. The next six months are going to be so interesting.

Sponsor: PopClip →

This week I'm pleased to welcome back PopClip as a sponsor. PopClip brings that iOS popup menu that you love on your iPhone to your Mac. 

Not only can you use the the built-in PopClip tools, there is an extension system and lots of smart people have built clever little extensions I use every day. For example, if you like Fantastical, there is a PopClip extension that runs your selected text through the Fantastical text parser. I thought I'd use this opportunity to show off some of my favorite PopClip extensions.

Display as Large Type

This is useful for putting some bit of information across your screen when you need to see it across the room, like when dialing a phone.

Screen Shot 2015-03-29 at 11.49.56 PM.png

Dial Phone Number

Speaking of phones, this one dials the selected phone number on your iPhone. It only appears when you select a series of numbers that looks something like a phone number and it and feels like you are living in the future.

Word Count

Quite often I'll take a writing job that has some expectation concerning word count. This plugin tells me how I'm doing.

Screen Shot 2015-03-29 at 9.44.56 PM.png

Paste and Match Style

So useful. Every day.

Upper Case

There are a few things I do that require uppercase. PopClip is the fastest way I know how to turn a block of selected text into all uppercase.

TextExpander

Whenever I catch myself writing something repeatedly, I select it and fire off this PopClip extension to turn it into a snippet.

Speak Text

There is a running bit in the Sparks house where my computer gives my children bad advice. I used to do this through the AppleScript editor. It is so much faster to pull this trick off with PopClip.

Smart Quotes

Yes. I am fiddly about quotation marks in my documents.

Append

This is handy when pulling multiple bits of text from different places for pasting into a single place. 

You'll notice not pictured are the traditional cut, copy, and paste buttons. After years of training I nearly exclusively pull those tasks off with keyboard shortcuts so I decided to kick them off my PopClip bar and make room for more interesting tools.

This is just a sampling. There are a lot more PopClip extensions right here. There is a free trial so go check it out now. PopClip is one of my favorite utilities and, after trying it, I bet it will be one of your favorites too. 

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Drafts Gets Friendly with Workflow

A few weeks ago, Agile Tortoise released Drafts 4.1.2. My favorite new feature is the “Run Workflow” action. That's right. Drafts and Workflow are now like peanut butter and chocolate. Now I can fire off a Workflow from Drafts with a single tap. The action step can be configured with the name of a workflow and you can even specify the text sent to the workflow. There is a sample Drafts action that lets you round-trip convert markdown to rich text that I've already found handy.

Not to be outdone, the gang at Workflow added their own option in app to add a Workflow to Drafts, which opens Drafts and automatically creates the action. I love it when smart software developers gang up to make their apps even more awesome for us nerds.

Home Screen: Liana Lehua

This week’s home screen post features my pal Liana Lehua (Twitter)(Website). Liana just keeps doing amazing work and never ceases to amaze me. Most recently she was a co-producer and Assistant Unit Production Manager on the motion picture, BOKEH. She also is the co-founder of SignalWorx, one of the best streaming companies out there. So Liana, show us your home screen.

What Are Some of Your Favorite Apps?

Much of my time is spent planning for video or photography shoots, or on set where I have to be able to take notes, track requests, document events, and organize all of it for summary, action, and or distribution in multiple mediums, for various people and purposes. 

I use Notability on my iPad most, because it allows me to easily write and record audio to a document for thoughts and ideas which may be fleeting or that I am afraid I might lose if I don’t capture them quickly. I write extensively in Notability using the Wacom Bamboo pen when I need to mind map ideas quickly. Being able to round trip between my iOS devices and the Notability for Mac app is key to my workflow. 

The Drafts app helps me collect and prepare bits and pieces of information inside of one app that I can quickly capture and distributed in whatever tool I need (text, email, Twitter, etc.).

I am constantly working through concepts or story ideas when I’m on the go. I will take quick notes by topic or in acts using Index Card for iPhone where I can keep a working structure and order to some of my more coherent ideas.

Which app is your guilty pleasure?

Superhero Workout. Hands down. I use the app as a supplement to my regular training. The moves are simple, no equipment is required, and to the movements takes minimal space. The reason I use it is that it frees my mind from having to think about what to do and for how long. It’s perfect for when I’m heads down in a project, need a break, to get up from my laptop, and don’t have time to get outside.

What app makes you most productive?

Coffitivity + Spotify. I find cafes to be distracting, but I like the ambient noise of being in a public place. Coffitivity has various tracks of background noise I play under Spotify’s own “Coffee Table Jazz” playlist. It creates an ideal environment for me to stay focused, get organize, create, and get things done.

What app do you know you’re underutilizing?

Workflow. Between Drafts and Hazel, I have most of my routine actions covered. I’m using Workflow for quick communications on the go, but I know its capable of so much more. 

What is the app you are still missing?

A location scouting app. Reconnaissance is only as good as what can be accurately communicated to my director, cinematographer, line producers, and all my crew. There used to be an app, Pocket Scout, which allowed me to take pictures, writes descriptors, and store information about locations, including geotagging each entry. Then, I was able to search on keywords or phrases, “red brick wall”, or “graffiti tunnel”, for example, and get directions back to that location. 

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

I don’t use any electronic device 2 hours before bed, 2 hours after I wake up, or during meals.

What Today View widgets are you using and why?

(Phillips) Hue: I’m always changing my lights in my house depending on what I’m doing.

Pocket Informant: I like the quick view of the days weather and events. I’ve been a Pocket Informant users since somewhere around 2000 (on a Compaq iPaq 3635, and it still does everything I need and want it to do.

ESPN: Because, sports. 

What is your favorite feature of the iPhone/iPad?

The ecosystem. It’s because of how my devices work together that the hardware is valuable. I stop short of using the word necessary, because I come from a time before having the technology to “Think Different” in my work, play, and life. 

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

I would change the pricing of the Apple Watch Edition collection.

$What’s your wallpaper and why?

Photographer Clark Little’s “Heart”. It reminds me of the things which bring me the most joy. 

Anything else you’d like to share?

I’d love to connect with you on Twitter @lianalehua if you’re interested in film/tv production, live streaming, or photography. You can see my most current work at www.signalworx.com.

Thanks Liana.

PDFpen 7.1, Now with 100% More Deskew

PDFpen 7.1 got a nice update with some bug fixes and new features, including formatting options for page numbering and custom stamps. For me, the big new feature is the ability to auto-deskew when performing optical character recognition. Sadly, some of the people I work with aren't anal-retentive nerds and they often send me scanned documents that are more skewed than a cable news program. 

With version 7.1, PDFpen will now perform the OCR and then straighten the page using the OCR'd text as a baseline. That means when you go to highlight later, everything lines up, just right. This made me so happy that I made a video.