Life Tips Blog

TextExpander + OmniFocus

2012-04-29T21:33:00.000-07:00

Two of my most used and favorite Mac Apps are TextExander and OmniFocus. TextExpander saves me time by typing out repetitive text for me with custom keyboard shortcuts, and OmniFocus is my task manager. This weekend I learned about a way to integrate these two tools. I have created a folder of TextExpander snippets for entering OmniFocus tasks in the quick entry window.

I have several types of tasks that I enter everyday. These tasks are assigned to ongoing projects that never will never be finished. These ongoing projects also have consistent contexts and due dates. One thing I didn’t know about TextExpander is that it will not only expand text but will also enter keystrokes. You can invoke that tab key in a snippet by entering %key:tab%. Using this technique, the snippet can cycle through the OmniFocus Quick Entry Window, specifying project, context, start date, and due date, and then return the cursor to the task name for entry.

Here is how the snippet is set up:

Music Department(Project), Computer(Context), 1Day(Due Date)

%key:tab%department%key:tab%computer%key:tab%%key:tab%1d%key:tab%
\dc1(my keyboard shortcut)

Here is another one, without a due date:

Life Tips Blog(Project), iPad(Context)

%key:tab%life%key:tab%ipad%key:tab%%key:tab%%key:tab%
\bi

I am continually amazed at all of the uses for TextExpander. I like anything that saves me time and keystrokes. Add a comment below about how you use TextExpander.

If you are interested in downloading my OmniFocus Textexpander group, here it is.

Sparrow: My New Email Client for Mac and iPhone

2012-04-21T23:15:00.001-07:00

I am not one to stray away from the built-in Apple apps. I use iCal, Address Book, the iWork and iLife suites, and have always used Apple Mail for email. However, there is a new app in town for email and it has been getting a lot of press, so I took the plunge and have transitioned over to Sparrow. Sparrow has been around for awhile on the Mac but it is new for the iPhone. At this point, the iPhone version of Sparrow is much better than the iPhone version of Mail, more so than the Mac version of Sparrow being better than Apple Mail. Overall, I am liking Sparrow but I am not sure I would recommend it quite yet to my Apple Mail friends.

The Good

On the Mac, there are two key features that are better than Apple mail: DropBox attachments and Gmail shortcuts. We have all tried to send files as attachments that are too big. While there are internet services for sharing large files, it is kind of a pain in the neck. Sparrow's headline feature is that you can drag any file of any size into the email to attach, and if you drag to the top of the screen Sparrow will automatically move that file to a folder in your DropBox and insert a link for download. It is really seamless. If you want to attach a file the old fashioned way, then simply drag to the bottom of the compose window.

If you use Gmail and use the web interface you may be familiar with the built-in keyboard shortcuts for Gmail. These are simple, and well-thought out shortcuts that can make processing email a breeze. Sparrow has a preference option to turn these on.

The Bad

There aren't a lot of features that prevent me from recommending Sparrow, but lack of LDAP support is one of them. If you need to access a shared address book at your job, then Sparrow is not yet for you.

Mac

Pros
- Dropbox attachments
- Universal keyboard shortcut for starting new messages[1]
- Quick reply
- Gmail keyboard shortcuts
- Quick and accurate search across all accounts
Cons
- No LDAP support
- You can't move a message to a folder in another account

The Good

On the iPhone, there is a lot to like. The first is support for gestures to quickly move around your accounts and folders, or to pull down to check your mail. Before using Sparrow, I would move all my messages to an archive folder on my iCloud account so that I could search my archive in one place. Mail on iOS seemed to only search the folder that you were currently in. With Sparrow, the search is fast and looks across all the accounts, so now I can quickly archive my messages and not care that I have an archive folder in each account.

Another big one for me is that you can send messages to groups of contacts from your address book. I still can't figure out why this isn't possible with the built-in Mail app. Up until now I have used an app called Groups to send group emails.[2] With the easy archive and gesture support, I have found that it is much easier to achieve Inbox Zero.

The Bad

There are only a couple of cons on the iPhone. The biggest one, which may be fixed soon, is lack of push support. However, using an app called MailTones, you can convert any email address that supports forwarding into a push address. I have this setup with three accounts and so far so good. The other downsides include no landscape support, you can't change your default mail app on the iPhone, and for some reason you can't save images that come in your email to the camera roll.

I fully expect many of these features to be added over time. I am also looking forward to an iPad version of Sparrow. I will either stick with Sparrow for my email workflow, or maybe Apple will copy these features in their next version of Mail. Time will tell.

iPhone

Pros
- Gesture
  - Swipe right to change folders or accounts[3]
  - Hold down a message to mark as read
  - Search all archives across all accounts
  - Pull to refresh/check mail
- Priority Inbox
- Unread Only Inbox
- Separate signatures for different accounts
- Send and Archive
- Label and Archive
- Always reply all
- Send email to groups in your address book
- Picture avatars to see who is emailing
- Attach photos right from newly composed email messages
- Empty trash and spam folders across all accounts
Cons
- No Push, yet [4]
- No long press to save images to camera roll
- Can't change default mail app on iOS
- No landscape support

I have set mine to CTRL-OPTION-CMD-N so that I can start a new message from any app on my computer. ↩
I still enjoy using Groups to make new groups of contacts and send group SMS. ↩
Swipe left to quickly star, reply, archive, delete ↩
MailTones: Add push to any email that can forward ↩
- Get custom sound alerts for arriving mail
- Custom alerts for subjects, domains, and contacts
- Many unique sounds to choose from
- Do not disturb times for blacking out notifications

AppZapper

2012-04-16T21:14:00.000-07:00

Springtime is a great time to clean house. This also applies to computers. I recently went through my applications folder and deleted apps that I haven’t used.1 Apple users have long bragged that it is easy to uninstall apps on the Mac; all you have to do is to drag an application to the trash. This is true, but not the whole story. There are thousands of preference files and caches that build up over time on your hard drive. These are related to and used by applications to run more efficiently. The problem is that all of these small preference files don’t get deleted when you drag an application to the trash. So over time, “cruft” builds up on your hard drive, taking up space and in some cases causing your computer to slow down. My preferred solution for uninstalling applications is AppZapper.

AppZapper is touted as the “uninstaller that Apple forgot.” Instead of dragging an application to the trash, drag it to the AppZapper icon and the application, as well as preference and cache files will be compiled into a list for you to easily “Zap” off of your computer, complete with a satisfying zapping sound effect. AppZapper has several ways to clean up your hard drive:

Drag an application to the AppZapper icon
Drag an application to the AppZapper bin
Toggle the AppZapper view to see all applications on your computer. Select an application to view all related files.
In addition to applications, you can also delete system preferences, dashboard widgets, and plugins.

I was able to delete many applications this weekend, most of which were very small files. However, small files can add up to significant hard drive space. I recovered 5GB of space back on my drive. The savings could be even more significant on your computer.

I admittedly have an app problem. I have way too many applications on my computer that I never use. ↩

iTunes Match Playlist Tip

2012-04-11T22:06:00.001-07:00

iTunes Match is a feature of iCloud that allows you to upload all of your iTunes music to the “cloud” for backup and for streaming/download access to all of your devices. It costs $25 dollars per year for the service, and is well worth it from my perspective. I love having all 13,415 tracks available to me wherever I am. However, there are some quirks with managing your iTunes Match tracks in iTunes. For example, if you aren't careful, you can accidentally delete songs from your playlists.[1]

The Scenerio

So you are running out of hard drive space on your laptop, so you go to iTunes to start to delete some music. Why not? With iTunes Match you can re-download your tracks at any time, and in a higher bit rate than they were originally imported. So, you find a playlist that you don't really need and you hit delete, and… Uh, oh. You just deleted all of the songs out of that playlist. What's the deal? It turns out, that in order to delete songs off your laptop, but keep the songs assigned to playlists, you have to delete them from your main music library. That can be annoying if you want to delete only selected playlists, but not all of the songs on your computer. You would need to find each song individually in the library and delete one by one. Ugh! Fortunately, there is an easier way. Smart playlists to the rescue.

The Procedure

With Smart Playlists, you can find specific tracks to delete in one fell swoop, and maintain all of your playlist assignments.

Here's how:

Find the playlist you want to delete locally, but you want to keep in iCloud.
Create a new Smart Playlist
In the criteria, choose “Playlist - Is.” Select the specific playlist in the drop down list.
Click OK
You now have a duplicate playlist, but one of them is a Smart Playlist, as identified by the gear icon.
You can select all of the tracks, and then press Option-Delete.

You can choose to delete from iCloud (which you don't want to do), and to remove from your computer. The little iCloud icon will appear next to the track to indicate that it is not on your computer, taking up precious hard drive space, but remains on iCloud for streaming or re-downloading.

iCloud and iTunes Match can be confusing at times, but as a service it is pretty slick. I am sure it will only get better over time.

Playlists also sync with iTunes match. In fact, you can create an on-the-go playlist on your iPhone and have it almost instantly available on your computer when you get home. ↩

OmniFocus Tip

2012-04-10T20:29:00.001-07:00

I have several projects in OmniFocus that are constant projects that will essentially never be completed. These include: teaching, music department, guest artist series, etc… As long as I have my current job, there will always be tasks assigned to these projects. In OmniFocus, the default setting marks projects complete when the last task is marked complete. This can be kind of annoying to have these persistent projects hidden whenever I get caught up on my to do list. Fortunately, it is easy to setup a project so that it won’t be marked complete automatically.

Here’s how:

Select the persistent project
Open the inspector from the toolbar or from the inspector menu
Select the third tab, the Project tab
Uncheck the box, “Mark complete when completing last item”

Awesome Note

2012-04-08T20:52:00.001-07:00

Awesome Note has been around for several years as a note taking, to do list, journaling, sticky note, all around organization app for iPhone. Its design aesthetic is a bit heavy handed, but all in all a beautiful app for keeping notes and organizing them into graphical folders. It is highly customizable and includes many options for changing backgrounds, adding custom folders, fonts, and adding pictures to notes. This past weekend it received a major update that launches the app into the league of productivity suite. The new headline feature for the iPhone is that it syncs with the built-in calendar for events.[1]

I am heavily invested, in both time and money, into OmniFocus for my to do list, and as such am used to having my tasks separate from my calendar.[2] But some users prefer having their to do list integrated more closely with their calendar. This is where Awesome Note excels and may be the preferred productivity app. With the “To Do List View,” you can see a list of your events from your calendar, with to do list items intermingled according to their due date and time. The app also supports drag and drop for notes and to dos so you can easily move items to other dates and locations.

Pros

All of your calendar events, to do list items, notes, journals, etc… all in one place.
Syncs with the iPhones built-in calendars, including round tripping new events from Awesome Note.
Many options for customizing the look of your notes. Highly tweak-able.[3]
Inexpensive

Cons

Syncing is limited to Evernote and Google Docs. There is some support for transferring your data to the iPad version, but nothing like seamless Dropbox or iCloud integration.
No Mac/PC counterpart beside Google Docs and Evernote.
Not a universal app, the iPad version costs extra.

I won't be moving away from OmniFocus anytime soon as it fits my workflow perfectly, but I know several people who would prefer a simpler solution. If you want your tasks and calendar in the same place and don't mind having your iPhone as your sole device for these items, then Awesome Note might be for you.[4]

As far as I can tell, this update with calendar integration is only for the iPhone version. While there is a separate app for iPad, Awesome Note is not universal and the iPad version has not received calendar syncing yet. ↩
Forecast mode in OmniFocus does integrate your daily events with your due items for the day, but it isn't the type of integration that some users are interested in. ↩
Great for when you don't really want to get things done off of your to do list. ↩
There is a lite version of Awesome Note that is fun to play with, but doesn't include the calendar integration updates. ↩

UPDATED: Competition Is Good

2012-04-02T21:02:00.000-07:00

UPDATE: OK, I am back using Instapaper. I was lured away by Readability's attractive UI, but Instapaper's features are superior. The last straw with Readability was that I was having syncing issues. I would keep seeing old articles that I had already deleted. A logout and re-download would fix it, but only for a few days. I still like Readability's looks, but I do love the following Instapaper-only features:

One click on a link to add to "Read Later"
Automatic dark mode at night, and the new sunset feature.
Folders are nice for organizing saved articles
Article suggestions are nice to get me out of my niche topics

Call me fickle.

A few weeks ago I wrote about a new app that came out to compete with Instapaper: Readability.¹ Readability received a lot of attention when it came out, even getting Apple’s App of the Week spot. I liked Readability’s design and search features so much that I switched all of my reading workflow over to Readability. I am still enjoying it for my offline reading.

However, competition is a great thing for consumers. Instapaper was recently updated and added many of the features that Readability was getting press for. These include many beautiful font choices, gesture support for swiping between articles, and a return to a list view on the iPad. These are all welcome features and great update to Instapaper. I don’t know why, but I am still preferring Readability’s design and probably won’t switch back at this point. Both apps still have their pluses and minuses. I hope the competition continues. The ball is now in Readabilities court for an update response.

Instapaper Pros

Automatic dark mode - when the sun goes down the screen turns dark for night reading. Really cool.
Tilt scrolling - use the accelerometer to scroll through the article.²
Click a link, send to “Read Later” without visiting the link in a browser.³
Folder organization

Readability Pros

Really beautiful design
Gestures are more fluid
Search archive and reading list titles⁴
Free

As a brief reminder, Instapaper is the most popular app in the store for reading websites and articles later, with ads and cruft stripped out. I have been a happy Instapaper user for several years. ↩
Cool feature, but I never use it. ↩
This is the one feature I miss most and hope that Readability copies it. ↩
To get search in Instapaper you have to subscribe, incurring a monthly fee. ↩

Back To Work

2012-03-31T21:43:00.001-07:00

I am a big podcast fan. If you are interested in productivity, starting your own business, or just getting better at managing your time and attention, you need to check out Back To Work hosted by Merlin Mann and Dan Benjamin. Merlin is a productivity expert and is known for his theory on managing email: Inbox Zero. Dan runs his own podcast network, 5by5, which has many fantastic shows each week centered around technology.

This week’s episode of Back To Work focused on what it means to build a platform. While Merlin’s background is web design and startup companies, his advice is universally applicable. Merlin is a quite a character, and probably an acquired taste. The podcast is riddled with inside jokes, which will go over the head of most first-time listeners. I have been listening for over a year and, “turns out,” that the longer you listen the more enjoyable the experience because you become familiar with the inside chatter.

The two most successful podcast networks for tech are Dan Benjamin’s 5by5 network and Leo Laporte’s TWiT (This Week in Tech) network. Here are my favorite podcasts from the two networks:

There are other shows that I occasionally follow, but I don’t miss too many episodes from the above list.¹

I use Downcast exclusively as my podcast catcher. It is awesome!↩

Scanning Music With iPhone

2012-03-23T21:26:00.001-07:00

Scanning musical examples for Keynote presentations or handouts is a regular task for music teachers. It can be a convoluted process with dealing with scanning software, finding the perfect resolution, getting the settings right for black and white versus grayscale, and then cropping and importing the scans into the document. A few weeks ago I presented a new session about clarinet fingerings, so I needed to make a new Keynote slide deck. Instead of the traditional scanner for scanning my music examples, I turned to my iPhone 4S and the app CamScanner+.

I know my new iPhone 4S has a terrific camera but I didn’t realize how effective it is at scanning close-up musical excerpts. Instead of having to scan a whole page of music, when all I need is a couple of measures, I used my iPhone to close in on the measures that I needed. CamScanner+ does a fantastic job of converting to black and white, and the results were really sharp. CamScanner+ saves out to PDF and integrates with Dropbox so that I could import the scans into Keynote on any of my devices. For this presentation I used strictly iOS. I scanned and cropped on my iPhone and then built the Keynote deck on my iPad.

Here is the workflow:

Use CamScanner+ to snap photos of the music. ¹
If you want a PDF of your scan, CamScanner+ can easily send that PDF to Dropbox, Google Docs, Evernote, Box.net, or iDisk.
I wanted to import into Keynote on the iPad, so I needed image files, not PDFs. CamScanner+ will also save to the Camera Roll. With Photo Stream turned on, the images were automatically available to Keynote on the iPad in a few moments.

I was really impressed with the sharpness and quality of the scans when I used them in Keynote. This workflow saved time and brought better results than using a traditional scanner.

Happy scanning.

The default Magic Color settings in the app do a great job of converting to black and white setting the resolution.↩

Mac Software Bundles

2012-03-21T20:07:00.000-07:00

It is no secret that I love Mac software. My Applications folder is overflowing and I really should go through and thin some of the Apps out that I don’t use. One way that I have accumulated so many applications is through buying bundles. It seems that about every six months a company comes forward with a bundle of Apps for sale at an outrageous discount. MacHeist is a popular service that I have participated in several times. Each bundle usually comes with about 10 applications for $50. There is only one or two that I am interested in, but the purchase price is so reasonable that I have a hard time resisting. This time it is BundleHunt putting out their Spring Bundle of apps. $371 worth of apps for $50. Here they are:

RapidWeaver 5
MotionComposer
FX Photostudio Pro
Fantastical
ExpanDrive
Key Cue
IconBox 2

The app I wanted out of this bundle is RapidWeaver 5. I have been using RapidWeaver 4 since last summer and really liking it. I rewrote both my personal website and this blog using RapidWeaver and Stacks. I was hesitant to upgrade to RapidWeaver 5 because it didn’t seem like a major upgrade. Boy, was I wrong and I have been enjoying my upgrade to version 5 since purchasing BundleHunts Spring Bundle.

Another welcome addition in this bundle is Fantastical. I have been using QuickCal as my easy entry calendar app. I had heard of Fantastical but wasn’t sure what all of the fuss was about. Now I know. Fantastical is beautiful and a joy to use. I have transferred my calendar quick entry shortcuts over to Fantastical on the Mac.[1]

There is plenty in this bundle to like though. I am looking forward to getting to know MotionComposer and ExpanDrive better.

If you are still interested the BundleHunt Spring Bundle 2012 is available for less than 2 more days.

Still using QuickCal on iOS though. ↩

Taking Attendance With Numbers

2012-03-16T23:24:00.001-07:00

I continue to find uses for the iPhone and iPad in my teaching. One of the promising features of iCloud is Documents in the Cloud. When this was first released it wasn't working reliably for me. Since then, I reset my iCloud settings and I am happy to report that Documents in the Cloud is pretty fast and reliable between my iOS devices.¹ So what does Documents in the Cloud have to do with my teaching? Answer: taking attendance in class.

I have been using Numbers from Apple's iWork suite to take attendance. Numbers includes a built-in Attendance template, which is perfect for the task. What I like most about Numbers on iOS is that you can easily make forms based on your spreadsheets. Here is my workflow for attendance.

Using the Numbers template, I setup the class roster and dates for the semester.
The template already has a form setup for recording the daily attendance, but if it didn't, it is easy to create a form based on current spreadsheets just by clicking the plus icon to add a new tab.
In class, I use the form to easily checkmark who is missing. The spreadsheet updates automatically with attendance totals on the bottom.
For tardies I change the color of the cell for the student and date. This way I can visually see the tardies on the spreadsheet.

Documents in the cloud keeps these attendance charts up to date on my iPhone and iPad, so I can update these records with either device.

Just one more little tip that helps me use less paper.

We are still waiting for the Mac to catch up to Documents in the Cloud. It is kind of crazy that it has taken this long for iWork on the Mac to have this iCloud integration. We now know that it will be delivered with the release of Mountain Lion this summer.

Byword for iOS

2012-03-14T23:33:00.001-07:00

Today Byword was released for iOS. Byword is a popular text editor for Mac that is known for its simple, clean interface for writing. It also has extensive support for Markdown for those who are writing for the web. I am a newcomer to Byword on the Mac but I do like its interface and features. Tonight I am writing this post with Byword on the iPad. I will write a more detailed review later after I have some more time with the app. There is one known bug with this first version, which prevents markdown footnotes from being processed in the markdown preview.

The markdown text editor space is crowded, but it's nice that with Byword you can use a unified App experience that syncs via Dropbox or iCloud.

More to come...

Tips: Evernote Merge Notes

2012-03-12T19:59:00.000-07:00

I have been an Evernote fan since they came out with an iPhone App. I use at as a reference archive for websites and PDFs, but more specifically, I use it to store my receipts. Now that tax season is rolling around, I find myself using Evernote even more to get organized with my tax receipts.

Today I discovered a little tip in Evernote that I didn’t know existed: merge notes. I have been very consistent with my receipts with tagging them so that I could easily find them when I do my taxes. When I receive an emailed receipt, I automatically forward that to Evernote, either by clipping it with Evernote’s built in services, or by sending it to Evernote via email. Once the receipt is in Evernote I make sure to tag it as a receipt. Evernote conveniently has smart folders for all of the tags. Today, I sorted all my receipts by date and then wanted to email them. I inadvertently right-clicked on the selected notes and noticed a selection for merging notes. I gave it a try and it took all of those 2011 notes and merged them into a new note. It also deleted the original notes so that my receipt folder was more tidy. I was then able to email the single Evernote note. When the email arrived, it contained a list of all the notes, as well as individually attached PDF files for each of the original receipts. Pretty slick!

I liked the note organization so much so that I merged my receipts from 2008-2010.1 Now my receipts folder is nice and small and my 2012 receipts are easily seen.

There is a caveat though. It appears that merged notes cannot be un-merged and it does seem to delete the originals. ↩

Converting to PDF With iAnnotate

2012-03-10T19:14:00.001-08:00

I love using my iPad for reading and annotating PDF documents. I think it is the perfect device for handling these types of documents. I have tried my fair share of PDF apps for iPad, literally 20 or more apps for organizing and annotating. My first favorite app for annotation was iAnnotate. It has been gathering virtual dust on my iPad, tucked away into a folder on my second screen. I happened upon it again last week and it has been updated with some nice features since I have last used it.

Converting to PDF

Given how much I enjoy marking up PDF documents, sometimes I find myself wanting to convert a Word Document to PDF. I have a dedicated PDF Converter that I use for this, but to my surprise, iAnnotate has incorporated PDF conversion as an experimental feature. PDF Converter will convert more file types than iAnnotate, but if your needs are simply to convert Word Documents, then iAnnotate can do this quite nicely.

Since this is an experimental feature it isn't enabled by default.

Open settings (gear icon in the upper right corner)
Navigate to the advanced settings
Turn on "Experimental Features"

After enabling these settings, you can send Word Documents from other apps into iAnnotate using the iPad's "Open In" feature. Sometime having one app to do our work is better than having two.

Readability for iOS

2012-03-03T10:34:00.000-08:00

The reading app space on iOS is getting more competitive. These apps let you save articles from websites for later reading. They are great for stripping out ads and other cruft from the website and let you focus on just reading the article. Additionally, once your articles are processed, you can read them offline without a connection to the Internet. For the past several years I have been an active Instapaper user. I literally use it every day to read the latest Apple news. My twitter client and RSS client both have support for sending articles to Instapaper.

Competition Is Good

A competing product to Instapaper finally reached the iOS app store this week: Readability. Readability has also been around awhile but it has only been available through the browser, not having a dedicated iPhone and iPad app. That changed this week with Readability for iOS. I wasn't expecting to shift my Instapaper allegiance, but here is why Readability is my new reading app of choice:

Free
Built-in search of articles (Instapaper used to provide this but removed it for most users. You now have to subscribe for $1 each month to search for articles.)
Style (both apps allow for changing of fonts, but I am liking Readability's font choices and clean layout.)
It interfaces with all the same twitter and RSS clients that I use (namely Tweetbot and Reeder).
Gestures for navigating between articles.

It should be said that Instapaper has features that Readability doesn't have:

Article suggestions
Liked articles for following what your friends are reading
Folders for organizing articles that you want to save

For some, the above features will be worth the modest price for Instapaper. I personally don't use them much, except for folders. Both apps provide archiving and favorites for some organizing. I have moved my saved articles from Instapaper over to my Readability archive. With the search functionality in Readability I don't feel as much of a need for multiple folders for organization. I am anxious to see how these two apps proceed with features. Competition is good.

Happy reading.

Need Symbols?

2012-02-21T22:44:00.000-08:00

Sometimes in my writing and preparing for classes I need a symbol, glyph, or special character. These include copyright symbols ©, áccents, arrows →, keyboard shortcuts ⌘, and musical symbols ♫. It isn’t obvious at first how to add these to documents, but Mac OS X has included these characters in the operating system for a long time. They are tucked away in the Character Viewer.

The Character Viewer is a menu item that is enabled in System Preferences under Keyboard. Once in your menu, you can select the Character Viewer and a floating palette of symbols will appear. You can then simply double click any of the symbols to add them to your document, or in the case of accents, you can highlight the letter needing an accent and then double-click the corresponding accented letter in the Character Viewer.

I was familiar with the accents, but it wasn’t until recently that I found all of the symbols that are available. Many of the lists deal with accents for languages, and many lists are hidden by default. In the floating palette there is a gear icon that is used to manage the lists and categories of symbols.

Recap

To enable the Character Viewer:

Open System Preferences
Choose Keyboard
Select the checkbox, Show Keyboard & Character Viewers in menu bar.
From the menu bar icon select Show Character Viewer.

To add symbols and manage symbol lists:

Double-click the symbol to add it to the currently opened document.
Highlight letters and then double-click accented letters to add accents.
Click the gear icon in the floating Character Viewer palette to hide and show categories of symbols.

Just another one of those niceties included in Mac OS X.

UPDATED: OmniFocus + Siri = Voice-Captured Tasks

2012-02-16T23:00:00.000-08:00

UPDATE: This post is now obsolete now that Apple has released the iPhone 4S with Siri. However, thanks to the OmniGroup, you can still add tasks to OmniFocus using Siri. Here are some tutorial videos on how to set it up. It uses iCloud and the Reminders app to capture tasks that you have added with your voice via Siri. Isn't the future great?

I use OmniFocus as my task manager of choice for Mac, iPhone, and iPad. It is in my opinion the premier "Getting Things Done" productivity application. While you can add tasks on the iPhone directly into the OmniFocus app, it isn't always convenient to do so. Here is an additional method for adding tasks to OmniFocus using your voice. The key to this method is the interaction between OmniFocus, Mac OS X Mail (using mail rules), and a great iPhone app called Siri.

Siri is a free service for search and reminders on the iPhone, but it can also be particularly powerful in adding tasks with your voice, when your hands are unavailable for typing. Last week I posted about how to use Siri for reminders. The only difference this time is to have Siri send you an emailed reminder instead of an alert.

Here is how you can use Siri reminders to send tasks into OmniFocus:

1. After installing the Siri iPhone app, create a mail rule in Mail.app that looks for a subject beginning with "Reminder: "
2. In OmniFocus preferences on your Mac, make sure that "siri@siri.com" is added to the list of email addresses.
3. When Siri sends you an email reminder about your newly created task, your Mail Rules will send that task over to OmniFocus. When you launch OmniFocus on your iPhone, after syncing, look in your inbox to see your voice-added task. (You do need to have a Mac running in order for the mail rules to be processed.)

Remember, one of the key components to "Getting Things Done," is to be able to capture ideas and tasks anywhere, anytime. Sometimes that is easier done via your voice. Siri and OmniFocus make that possible.

Downcast - Podcasts Done Right For iOS

2012-02-16T22:43:00.000-08:00

UPDATE: I still love Downcast, it has earned a permanent spot in my iPhone dock. The latest version has support for iCloud syncing between your devices. The Instapaper support has also been enhanced so that you can send web pages from show notes to your Instapaper account for later reading. (Version 2.5.5, 2/16/12)

I love podcasts. I listen in the car every day and maintain a large collection of subscriptions in iTunes. I am finding that the only reason I sync my iPhone anymore is to install iOS updates and to load new podcasts. I can check for new episodes on my phone through the iTunes app but sometimes I am unable to download them because of the download limits over WiFi and 3G. If you find yourself needing new podcasts on the go you may want to check out Downcast.

Downcast solves several frustrations with managing podcasts through iTunes.

No need to sync. Downcast downloads all podcasts to your device over WiFi or 3G, and will even auto update your subscriptions in the background.
Downcast supports multitouch gestures during playback. I have previously used FlickTunes to control my music in the car. I still like this app and will use it for music but it's nice to be able to have similar multitouch gesture control right within Downcast.
Access to show notes and links. During playback Downcast displays podcast info and even has a built in browser to access show notes for your favorite podcasts. This is saving me a step from visiting Safari later when I want to remember a "pick of the week" or book recommendation.
Better file management. Given the amount of subscriptions I have, my iPhone memory fills up over time and I have to sync to iTunes in order to delete old episodes. With Downcast you have the control to setup when episodes are deleted. I rarely ever re-listen to past episodes and prefer to have them automatically delete to free up space on my iPhone.

Downcast also supports AirPlay and works well with my Bluetooth headphones. You can also create playlists within Downcast for those extra long podcast listening sessions. Hopefully in the future Downcast will support recommendations for finding new podcasts related to your interests. Lastly, Downcast is universal for your iPhone and iPad.

Let me know in the comments below if you have tried it or if you have other solutions for podcasts.

TripCase for iPhone

2012-02-12T22:50:00.001-08:00

I don't travel much, but recently I have planned for one trip and taken another. In each case, airfare, rental car, and hotel reservations were involved and in both cases I have found a must have app for the iPhone for keeping all of this information together: TripCase.

TripCase is a free app that is a one-stop shop for travel itinerary needs. And best of all, it interfaces with many popular trip planning sites, so entering information is just a click away. With TripCase you can store:

Flight itinerary, including confirmation numbers, gates, arrival and departure times, etc...
Rental car reservations
Hotel reservations
Maps and phone numbers for each of the above items
Alternate flight finder
Sharing travel updates to Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn
Weather reports

These are the basic features when you import your reservations, but TripCase also includes the following Pro Features. These are available now as a free trial through the end of the year. Following the trial they may turn these into pay only features.

Flight schedules a year in advance
Arrival updates
Expense tracker
Airplane seating maps
Traffic alerts
Turn-by-turn directions

I recently used a travel agent to plan a trip. I was pleasantly surprised when I received my emailed trip information that there was a TripCase link in my itinerary. All I had to do was enter the email address that I use within TripCase and magically all of my trip information was automatically imported into my iPhone. This is really slick!

I highly recommend TripCase for iPhone. It is free on the App Store.

Skullcandy

2012-02-06T22:44:00.000-08:00

For Christmas I received some Skullcandy headphones. I had heard of the company and seen them around but had never had a pair. They are pretty cool. I don’t think they are necessarily the best headphones out there, but they have a fun design and do sound pretty good.

When you open them up, they come with some skull logo stickers. If you place the stickers in a prominent place and then take a picture and send it to http://www.skullcandy.com/, then you could win some more headphones if people like the photo. I had some extra time this weekend and decided to make a photo. I combined these stickers with one of my passions: Apple gear. You can check out my creation below. I call it “Candied Apple.”1

Don’t worry, I used some tape to apply the stickers. You don’t think I would permanently cover up my precious Apple logos do you? ↩

Safari Omnibar

2012-02-04T21:10:00.001-08:00

Here is a quick Safari tip. Google's Chrome browser is gaining in popularity, partly because of its unified location url field, which is also an integrated google search. Thus, it gets rid of two text boxes at the top and simplifies the experience. When I want to search or go to a new website, I hit ⌘-T to bring up a new tap and the cursor is placed in the location bar, I then have to tab over to the search if I want to google something. This is a small thing, but with one bar for location and search I do not have to hit tab.

Safari doesn't come with a unified location/search bar, but now we can with the SafariOmnibar. It is a quick, easy, and free download to install this little extension in Safari. It cleans up the top of the browser window and saves me from having to hit Tab. It is a win, win.

System Activity Monitor for iPad

2012-02-03T22:08:00.001-08:00

I am still using an iPad 1, and while it is still fantastic and works great, with all of the new apps and iOS updates, it sometimes feels a bit sluggish. This is due to memory management. The iPad is a marvel at managing its own memory compared to a full-blown computer; however, apps still crash occasionally and sometimes it is slow. A restart would fix these issues but sometimes I do not want to take the time to restart. This is where System Activity Monitor comes in.

System Activity Monitor is an app, kind of like on your Mac, where you can view memory usage, CPU usage, battery capacity, etc... What is particularly useful about this app is that when you run it the app will automatically clear up free memory. Below are two screenshots, the first is when I first launch System Activity Monitor. You can see that I only have 3mb of free memory, indicated by the green in the pie chart. After I tap the pie chart, or wait a few seconds, the pie chart updates and I now have 77mb of free memory. It is as if I had restarted the iPad. Apps are no longer freezing and the UI is now fluid again.

I imagine that this is less of an issue with the iPad 2 and its increased memory. iPad 3 should be even better, right? Although, with new hardware comes new software that puts increasing demand on devices. A vicious cycle that geeks like me cannot get enough of.

OnLive Desktop: Here We Go Again

2012-01-14T20:48:00.001-08:00

January must be "Let's put Office on the iPad" month, unless you are Microsoft. Last week I wrote about CloudOn, a new iPad app that lets you use Word, PowerPoint, and Excel on your iPad. Well, at risk of sounding like a broken record, OnLive Desktop hit the App Store this week and it lets you use full Microsoft Word, PowerPoint, and Excel on your iPad.

Both of these apps have a full Windows experience running on a server, and the iPad app is basically using that machine through screen sharing. Each of these apps are free, and may or may not last on the App Store. CloudOn has a leg up because it uses DropBox for its file management. I am heavily invested in the DropBox infrastructure and so all of my files were ready to be edited or added to. With OnLive Desktop you have to sign up for a free OnLive account and use their own file management. This adds a step for us DropBox users to keep our files in sync.

OnLive is unique though to CloudOn because it gives you a full multitouch Windows 7 experience, complete with Desktop and Start Menu. I have only played with these apps for a few minutes, but it is definitely interesting using full Windows 7 on the iPad.

The month is not over yet, maybe we will have a third competitor to this space. Microsoft, are you listening, want to come out and play?

Notion: Music Notation for iPad

2012-01-09T22:33:00.001-08:00

In my day job I teach music students how to use music notation software to create professional quality sheet music. We use the two leading software packages for notation, Finale and Sibelius. These two apps make it possible to notate virtually any musical symbol that one can imagine. Until now there has not been a significant musical notation creation app for the iPad. I am pleased to announce that those days are over. There is a new app on the App Store and it is called Notion.

With Notion you can create and edit music notation files. It supports any instrumentation from solo piano to full orchestra. The developers have even paid close attention to the sounds used to playback the musical parts. The sound samples are said to have come from the London Symphony. There are a wide variety of instruments built in to the app, and if you want more you can purchase more through in-app purchase.

Notion comes with a wide array of tools for adding articulations, dynamic markings, and other musical markings. This app is truly in a league of its own on the iPad. Editing the files on the iPad is tedious, so I would not want to create my next symphony solely using the iPad, but for sketching musical ideas or editing files while on the go it is great.

Notion particularly shines in its import and export functionality.

You can import:

midi files
music XML files (which makes round tripping from Finale or Sibelius a possibility.)

Your can export

midi files
music XML
PDF documents

I am really excited about the possibilities that Notion offers. It again shows that the iPad is for content creation and not just consumption. Check it out in the App Store.

CloudOn: Microsoft Office for the iPad

2012-01-03T15:19:00.001-08:00

UPDATE: And...It is back. (1/6/12)

UPDATE: Too bad, CloudOn has already been removed from the App Store. According to their site, they have sold out.

An interesting development happened today in the world of productivity apps for the iPad. A new competitor arose in the Microsoft Office space, and it was not Microsoft. A company called CloudOn has arrived on the App Store with a free app for iPad. The CloudOn app links to your Dropbox and allows you to use a web version of Microsoft Word, Excel, and PowerPoint. With the app you can:

Edit existing documents from your Dropbox.
Create new documents and have them saved immediately to your Dropbox.
Send email attachments to the CloudOn app for editing.

This is definitely an interesting approach given the other apps for editing and creating Office documents, like Quickoffice and Documents To Go. There is even a rumor that Microsoft will be releasing iPad native Office apps in the near future. One big downside to CloudOn is that it requires an active internet connection to use the app. I have only played with CloudOn for a few minutes. In that time the interface seems to have a slight lag compared to other apps, but I am anxious to give this app a try. It is a free service so you do not have anything to lose.

CloudOn is available in the App Store.