Mac Power Users 446: MPU+: Are You Going to Go Big?

Join Katie and I on this week's Mac Power User's episode as we speculate about Apple's upcoming September 12th event. Also, I go laptopless again. We discuss hiding cables and technology clutter around your home, shutting down Wi-Fi on a schedule, storing business cards, and fixing a broken iPhone. And it's time for some listener feedback.

This episode of Mac Power Users is sponsored by:

• TextExpander from Smile: Type more with less effort! Expand short abbreviations into longer bits of text, even fill-ins, with TextExpander from Smile.
• 1Password: Have you ever forgotten a password? Now you don't have to worry about that anymore. Save up to 20% using this link.
• Casper: The Internet’s favorite mattress. Get $50 off select mattresses with the code ‘MPU’.
• eero: Never think about WiFi again. Use code MPU for free overnight shipping.

The Irvine Spectrum Apple Store

My "home" Apple Store is located at the Irvine Spectrum. The center has been getting some updates lately and, with little warning they moved the Apple Store from a typical outdoor mall site to its very own building. I had a little business there yesterday and was able to check out the new store. Very nice.

Manage Email Replies with SaneReminders – Sponsor

This week MacSparky is sponsored by SaneBox, the powerful email tool that can help you conquer your inbox. I’ve written before about SaneBox filtering, which is awesome. However, SaneBox smart filtering is just the beginning. SaneBox can also sort your inbox, keep track of reminders and snoozed emails, rescue email from your spam folder, upload attachments your cloud, and more.

One of my favorite features is SaneReminders. This feature alone can be a game changer for you. When I send an email to someone that requires a follow-up, I just blind copy to "1week@sanebox.com". If in the following week my recipient doesn't reply, SaneBox sends me a reminder so I can follow up. This whole workflow is the most seamless way to keep up with email responses and I use this feature multiple times a day. This is all very powerful and just one more feature you get with a SaneBox account.

SaneBox is a great service that I use every day to manage my email. You should too. To learn more head over to SaneBox.com and check it out. MacSparky readers even get a discount.

Video Review: Waterfield Pro Executive Laptop Backpack

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Click to enlarge. Turtle not included.

I've been wearing Waterfield's Pro Executive Laptop Backpack for the last few months and I made a new review. This is one of the first reviews to come out of the new studio. I hope you dig it.

Mac Power Users 445: HomeKit Intensive

On this week's episode of Mac Power Users, Katie and I dive deep on HomeKit and discuss the HomeKit app, managing rooms, creating scenes, automation, and our favorite HomeKit-enabled devices. We also discuss where HomeKit falls down and our workarounds.

This episode of Mac Power Users is sponsored by:

• Squarespace: Make your next move. Enter offer code MPU at checkout to get 10% off your first purchase.
• The Omni Group: We're passionate about productivity for Mac, iPhone and iPad. 
• Fujitsu ScanSnap: ScanSnap helps you live a more productive, efficient, paperless life. 
• Gazelle: Sell your iPhone for cash at Gazelle!

Drafts Screencast on Managing Actions

Last week AgileTortoise released the latest in my ongoing screencast series on Drafts. This one is all about managing actions.

MacTrack Legal Conference

Victor Medina and his team are putting on another legal-themed Mac and iOS conference in Orlando, Florida this year, September 27-29. The conference (formerly MILO Fest) has been re-branded MacTrack Legal but has the same excellent content for anyone that uses Apple gear and works in the legal profession.

I spoke at and attended this conference a few years ago and was impressed at the breadth of information available. I also really enjoyed meeting the other legal professionals in attendance. This year they are focusing on iOS, which makes a lot of sense because lawyers really should be using iOS more now. If you’re running your legal practice on Macs, iPads, and iPhones, this conference is definitely for you.

Get Beautiful Letterpress Cards with Hoban Cards – Sponsor

This week MacSparky is sponsored by Hoban Cards, makers of fine letterpress calling cards and stationery. I've been using Hoban Cards for years and it seems I get a compliment on my business cards every time I give one away. They have solutions for every budget from beautiful existing designs to custom cards. Lately, they've also started doing letterpress colophon cards that really stand out. (I'm probably going to end up buying a set of those for myself.)

At the source of all of the beautiful Hoban produts is their collection of vintage letterpress machines. While you may think your cards look just fine made with a Mac and a laser printer, you really haven't seen anything until you see a calling card made with 1500 pounds of steel and iron. I'm hooked on Hoban's stationery and cards and I bet you will be too. 

Best of all, mention "MacSparky" at checkout for a little help on your order. Learn more at Hoban Cards.

Free Agents 54: I Have to Try It, with Casey Liss

Podcaster and programmer Casey Liss joins us on this episode of Free Agents to talk about his free agent journey, what caused him to take the leap, the tendency to do too much, and his desire to pull the thread which  led to him becoming an accidental YouTuber. 

This episode of Free Agents is sponsored by:

• Squarespace: Make your next move. Enter offer code FREEAGENTS at checkout to get 10% off your first purchase.
• FreshBooks: Online invoicing made easy.

Window Management with Keyboard Maestro and Screencast

A few weeks ago, I posted about my new two-screen setup. I explained that I have started using the second monitor as a "reference" monitor to the right of my iMac screen. I’ve received emails and questions in the forums about how I manage windows between the screens.

I explained in the post that I do use Apple's Spaces feature—although to a much lesser extent—with the new two-screen setup. What I didn't explain, however, is how I like to manage windows using keyboard shortcuts and our old friend Keyboard Maestro.

First, a Word about Window Managers

There are a lot of applications for the Mac that will manage windows for you. They come in a variety of shapes and sizes and range from simple to complex. You can also manage windows with an AppleScript, if that's your thing. If I had to pick one window manager, it would be Moom. I've used it for years, and I still have it installed despite the Keyboard Maestro shenanigans listed below.

Keyboard Maestro FTW

I think Keyboard Maestro is an ideal tool for window management for several reasons.

First, it is hyper-customizable without being hyper-difficult. 

The second reason for using Keyboard Maestro is that it does so much more. I am a big fan of "stacked" automation. This is the idea that you take two relatively simple automation tasks that you often perform in order and stack them together in the same script. For example, when I want to plan a day, I often open up OmniFocus and my calendar, and I arrange those two applications in a certain way that makes it easy to see data in both. Moreover, in OmniFocus I will open particular tabs so that I can click through them quickly. I demonstrate this below. 

These are all simple automation steps, but when strung together (or stacked), they become a powerful tool to manage my day. Using Keyboard Maestro for window management, not only can I make simple scripts to move the current window to the left side of the screen, but I can also stack more complicated scripts that create a working space based on the task at hand. Since I need Keyboard Maestro to do that second part, it might as well do the first part as well.

And Now, a Screencast

So now it's time to dive into the technical details of how I do all of this. For that, I think a screencast is a lot easier than a bunch of words. Here you go.

The YouTube Plug

You may note with the above screencast that I’m distributing it through YouTube. I have finally set up a YouTube channel for MacSparky, and I'm going to be adding more content going forward. For that reason, I respectfully ask that you subscribe and push whatever other buttons you're supposed to push to make me feel special.

Finally, Some Screenshots

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Mac Power Users 444: Workflows with iPhone JD Jeff Richardson

Jeff Richardson from iPhone J.D. joins Katie and me to chat about how he uses a Mac at home and PC at work, going all in and adopting a paperless lifestyle with the iPad, starting a successful blog, using the Apple Watch, and more. Join us for the latest episode of Mac Power Users.

This episode of Mac Power Users is sponsored by:

• PDFpen from Smile: With powerful PDF editing tools, available for Mac, iPad, and iPhone, PDFpen from Smile makes you a Mac Power User.
• 1Password: Have you ever forgotten a password? Now you don't have to worry about that anymore. Save up to 20% using this link.
• SaneBox: Stop drowning in email!
• RXBAR: Whole food protein bars with simple, real ingredients. Get 25% off with promo code ‘mpu’.

Iconic Pillows on Kickstarter

How could I resist this Kickstarter project. Can't wait to have a permanent 1984 Mac on my couch.

Automators 4 – First Looks at Siri Shortcuts

Today we released episode 4 of the Automators, focused on the new Siri Shortcuts app and related automated tools. It's still in beta, but it is really powerful. 
This show goes through the history of automation on iOS and looks at things like URL Schemes in depth before moving on to Workflow and why it's so powerful. Finally, we go through the beta implementation of Siri Shortcuts and look at where it improves on Siri Shortcuts and where it feels more like a step backward.

I believe Siri Shortcuts is going to open up automation for a lot of people that have never tried it before.

We'll be sharing lots of Siri Shortcuts once it ships so get on board now.

Also, haven't been reading the episode notes for the Automators episodes in your podcast player of choice, you really should.

Laptop-less

My younger daughter's laptop has been failing. It's a second generation 13 inch MacBook air (the first one with the wedge design), and it's starting to do silly things like random shutdowns (even when plugged in) and otherwise giving us warning signs that it is about to give up the ghost. So she's going to need a new Mac.

Rather than buy a new one, I'm going to give her my laptop. I have retina MacBook that's a few years old and which I hardly ever use anymore. Years ago, I gave my prior laptop to my other daughter in hopes that I could live the iMac plus iPad lifestyle. At the time we were in the throes of iOS 10, and I found it just didn't work for me. The biggest problem was the iPad's inability to manage multiple files. In my role as a lawyer, I often get numerous attachments (sometimes while sitting in meetings) and I need to be able to deal with them quickly and accurately. The old system, where you had individually tap and save each file and then dig through all of your nested folders to get it in the right place, just wasn't good enough. However, since iOS 11, I have found that use that laptop very little. File management is a lot easier now on the iPad. In July I took several trips, one of them internationally for a week. With all this travel, I was able to get by just fine with my iPad Pro. I handled several client emergencies on the road and never regretted leaving my laptop at home.

So for the second time, I'm starting the experiment of trying to run with just an iMac plus carrying around iPad for mobile computing. I expect this time the experiment will stick. In addition to improvements in file management in the core operating system, several of my other applications have also got more friendly on the iPad since the last time I tried. For example, OmniFocus 3 allows me to select and edit multiple tasks at once where version 2 did not.

Key to this decision for me is accepting that the heavy-lifting work I do on the iMac: screencasting and video editing, simply can’t be done on the road. For me this wasn’t a big sacrifice since looking back, I’ve never done screencasting and video editing on that laptop.

There are still a few sticking points. Google Docs is still not what should be on the iPad for instance. However, I think now I am at the point where those sticking points are just annoyances and not deal breakers for me. The other thing I did was update and reinstall Screens on my iMac so now I can remote access into the iMac if I ever get in a jam. I will report back as I continue with this experiment, but I expect for the foreseeable future I'll be laptop-less.

My Talk at CMD-D 2017

Speaking of Automation and Sal Soghoian, Sal recently posted a video of my presentation at his CMD-D conference last year along with several of the other speakers. My talk was about the Workflow application. This was one of my favorite (and most challenging) talks because the audience ranged from people that had never used Workflow to the actual application developers. Yikes. This was before we learned about Siri Shortcuts but there is still some good stuff. Finally, Sal is going to do the CMD-D conference again this year, and it is a three day AppleScript intensive.

Automators 3 with Sal Soghoian

Between moving into the new home office and dealing with the wildfire last week (that ended up a lot closer to my house than I would have liked), I neglected to post about the latest episode of the Automators.

Episode 3 is our first episode featuring a guest, and there is no one better as a first Automators guest than Sal Soghoian. Formerly at Apple, Sal has been an advocate of Automation with Apple gear for years. In this episode, Sal walks us through how to create an AppleScript. Sal created a website for this episode so you can learn along with him while sitting at your Mac. Rose did a complete write-up of the show over at her website. This is a pretty remarkable experience for an audio podcast, and I'm proud to have been a small part of it.

Get Ahead with OmniFocus 3 - Sponsor

This week MacSparky is sponsored by the Omni Group and their latest version of OmniFocus for the iPhone and iPad, OmniFocus 3. The latest version adds several new features while still keeping it a beautiful (and usable) app. What features you may ask? Why don’t you try these on for size:

• Tags! Make them for people, energy level, priority, location, or whatever floats your boat. 
• The Forecast view now shows your tasks and calendar events in order, so you can better see what’s coming up in your day and adjust if needed. 
• Enhanced repeating tasks are easier than ever to set up and they work with real-world examples, such as the first weekday of the month. 
• Batch editing has been brought over from the Mac, and it lets you set due dates, tags, and other data for multiple tasks all at once. 
• Flexible inspectors now allow you to show only the features you use and reorder them, so your favorites are where you want them. 

There is a bunch more. Just try it for yourself. Also, did you know that the Omni Group has world-class support? If you need help, they even have an 800 number. 

Conquer your task list today with OmniFocus 3.

1Password Course from the Sweet Setup

Today the Sweet Setup released a 1Password course that covers everything from how to use the app to additional ways to use the app (like teams, families, and digital wills). I’ve always been a fan of 1Password, and I use it every day. If you’d like a little help, check out this course. The price is normally $29 but discounted this week to $23.

The Next iPad

Jason Snell wrote up a nice summary of the current rumors and his opinions on the upcoming iPad at Macworld. It seems a near certainty that we'll get at least one new iPad next month with Face ID since the current iOS 12 betas on iPad have gone out of their way to move all information to the top right and left of the screen, thus making room for a notch. That bit of evidence also makes me think the iPad Pro will have an edge-to-edge screen since the current iPad Pro design has plenty of room in the forehead to accommodate the Face ID sensors without adding a notch.

Another interesting point is that with an edge-to-edge screen, what will happen with finger detection on the edges? When the iPad was first released, Apple made a pretty big deal out of the fact that it needed borders so you could hold it without touching the capacitive screen on the device. I know they've been working around that on the iPhone but I expect that problem to be harder to solve on the iPad where everyone will nearly always have at least one finger holding (and touching) the front of an edge-to-edge screen.

Mac Power Users 443: Revisiting Music Management

Join Katie and I on this week's episode of Mac Power Users as we revisit music management and discuss the state of the two major streaming services, how things have changed iTunes Match, managing our music, and audio at home and in the car.

This episode of Mac Power Users is sponsored by:

• 1Password: Have you ever forgotten a password? Now you don't have to worry about that anymore. Save up to 20% using this link.
• The Omni Group: We're passionate about productivity for Mac, iPhone and iPad. 
• Squarespace: Make your next move. Enter offer code MPU at checkout to get 10% off your first purchase.
• Marketcircle: We help small business grow with great Mac, iPhone and iPad apps including Daylight and Billings Pro.