Life Tips Blog

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.

Website Redesign

2012-01-02T00:09:00.001-08:00

Last summer I redesigned my websites. With the arrival of iCloud came the disappearance of MobileMe hosted websites. I chose to replace iWeb with RapidWeaver, which I described in a post last July. When I have some free time, like the time this past week for the holiday, I enjoy enhancing my sites. This past week I chose to change the look of Life Tips Blog. I have wanted a site that automatically redesigns itself for mobile users without having to maintain two separate sites. I have been using a theme from NimbleHost, called Qube, which does just that for my personal site, www.adamballif.com. The NimbleHost themes are highly customizable and so I decided to reuse the Qube theme, but change the look of it to differentiate it from my personal site.

Prior to the redesign I used a theme and service called blogger touch to serve up a mobile edition of my blog. This worked well most of the time but there were some downsides:

Since the mobile edition had to rely upon a mirrored blogger site, my comments were not in sync with my regular blog. In other words, I had two sets of comments, one for my main site and a separate commenting system for my mobile site.
The blogger touch site relied upon Yahoo for its search bar, and it never worked for my blog. Yahoo had not indexed my site, which left the search results blank.
Lastly, blogger touch, the service, would sometimes go down and if you tried to access my blog on your iPhone, you would get a blank page.

By transitioning the site over to straight RapidWeaver, using the Qube theme, these problems all went away and I prefer the layout of the mobile site. I have also added a Google powered search box to the blog for quicker access to past articles.

I hope to be putting out even more Mac and iOS tips in the coming year. Happy New Year!

Skitch For iPad

2011-12-24T00:09:00.001-08:00

I have enjoyed using Skitch for some time, it is an easy to use screenshot tool with simple annotations. I mentioned awhile back that it was acquired by Evernote and is now free. Well, now it is an iPad app and is available for free through the App Store. It sports the same easy to use features as its Mac counterpart.

Import from camera roll, websites, or make blank diagrams from scratch.
Use annotation tools such as arrows, lines, circles, boxes, or text. Freehand drawings are automatically smoothed.
Send images straight to Evernote, email, or save to camera roll.

With Skitch for the iPad, my mobile blogging options are even better and I can leave my MacBook in the bag more often. It is especially useful for blogging about iPad topics. Remember, you can take a screenshot on your iPad easily from any app by holding down the home button and power button at the same time. The screenshot will automatically be saved to your camera roll. You can then import that image into Skitch for IPad for annotation. One limitation with using Skitch for annotation is that you cannot annotate PDF files.
Skitch For iPad is free now in the App Store. Evernote has also announced that an iPhone version is in the works.

Liked: MindMap With Your Voice

2011-12-19T09:02:00.000-08:00

Head over to David Spark's blog MacSparky and read about how to use iThoughts on your iPhone to MindMap with your voice via Siri.

http://www.macsparky.com/blog/2011/12/16/mind-map-with-your-voice.html

QuickCal

2011-10-16T21:09:00.001-07:00

iCal has had some major improvements in Lion and iOS 5 (yes, I know you don't like the leather look). One area that has gotten better is entering new events with natural language. Before Lion, I had started to use a great little app called QuickCal to enter events with natural language. Even with Lion's improvements I think that I will still use QuickCal for the following reasons:

System-Wide Access. Wherever I am on my Mac, I hit my keyboard shortcut and can immediately start typing my event. "Meeting tomorrow at noon @office." QuickCal assigns the date, place, time and location and enters into iCal, even with an alarm assigned. (You can setup alarm preferences in settings.)
QuickCal is available on all of my devices. QuickCal has been especially useful on my iPhone where entering events can be tedious. Since the iPad can also run iPhone apps I use QuickCal on my iPad as well. It integrates seamlessly with the built in calendar app on the iPhone.
QuickCal Alarms. I like my phone to help me remember my schedule and with QuickCal, alarms are entered automatically at the interval of my choosing.
Specify multiple calendars. When you launch QuickCal, if your desired calendar isn't selected, simply begin typing the name of another calendar and then hit return. The new calendar will be selected and ready for your event.

QuickCal is available on the Mac App Store and the iTunes Store for iOS.

Liked: Yoink

2011-09-01T07:48:00.001-07:00

Hey Lion users, there is a new app out called Yoink, which promises to streamline your drag-and-drop in Lion. I have not played with it yet but will get back with you on what I think. Until then check out this short post on why you may want Yoink.

Keynote Remote for iPhone

2011-08-31T22:35:00.001-07:00

When I first got my iPad, over a year ago, I was excited to switch to the iOS version of Keynote so that I could leave my MacBook behind and instead teach using my iPad. For the most part, Keynote on the iPad served me well; however; there were some glaring omissions in version one.

No presenter notes
No embedded audio examples

I am pleased to say that these two areas have been addressed in the most recent update on the iPad. I teach music courses and rely both on presenter notes to keep me on track and audio examples.
The Keynote Remote app for the iPhone has been around for awhile but I was never able to rely on it for presentations. Again, the latest version makes the iPhone Keynote Remote a great addition to your teaching toolkit. I have been using the iPhone and iPad exclusively in my teaching so far this semester and so far it has worked flawlessly. Two improved areas have made this a killer app.

Presenter notes are displayed on the iPhone. I can wander around the classroom and see the current slide and the speaking notes for that slide.
The latest Keynote Remote supports WiFi and Bluetooth. This is huge. With the old version, which only connected via WiFi, I could not keep the connection stable with WiFi. This is probably blamed on the WiFi in my building, more than the iPhone, but nonetheless I could not use the remote app for teaching. Now that Bluetooth is supported I have not had any issues with connectivity. Even better, the iPhone decides which wireless protocol to connect with. I do not have to manage or switch between WiFi and Bluetooth, the app takes care of it.

These iOS devices promise more portability and greater content creation features. With the latest version of Keynote for iPad and Keynote Remote for iPhone, that portability now extends to the classroom.

Skitch Now Free

2011-08-22T20:47:00.001-07:00

Skitch has been around for a while and is an easy-to-use screen capture tool. It excels at:

Quick screen shot capture (full screen and crosshair)
Snapping web pages
Use of frames

Perhaps its greatest feature is its ability to markup and edit your screenshots with text, arrows, and shapes. It has a style all of its own and is a joy to use for creating quick and fun images. Skitch has been available in a free version as well as a pro version. I always used the free version and could not justify the twenty-dollar price tag for the upgrade.

The big news this week is that Evernote has acquired Skitch. Not to worry though because now the full, pro version of Skitch is available for Free in the Mac App Store.

Now I can try out some of those pro features that I always wondered about. There has never been a better time to go and try out Skitch.

PS. Evernote also announced that an iOS version of Skitch is coming soon.

Attaching PDF Documents In OmniFocus

2011-07-30T22:23:00.001-07:00

I am a big fan of using OmniFocus for tracking my tasks. I use it on my Mac, iPad, and iPhone. It keeps everything in sync and if you are a fan of the GTD (Getting Things Done) system, OmniFocus is centered around this productivity philosophy.
OmniFocus contains pretty much all of the information that is important to my work. On the iPhone and iPad you can add attachments to tasks as photos or audio files. However, you may not know that you can add other attachments as well through the Mac version and those files can then be synced to your iDevices. Here is a brief tutorial on attaching PDF documents to your OmniFocus tasks.

With a task selected, choose Attach File from the Edit Menu.
Navigate to your PDF, but before you hit OK make sure you select for the file to be embedded into the document. If you only link the file, it will not sync over to the mobile versions of OmniFocus.
The PDF icon will appear in the notes field of the task.
Once you have synced your database the same PDF will show up as an attachment on your iPhone and iPad. You can tap on the file and preview the PDF full screen.

With document attachments in OmniFocus, this productivity app will house much more than only your tasks as you work to get things done.

Liked: Spotify Review From iLounge

2011-07-20T04:49:00.001-07:00

I recently received an invitation to join Spotify, the music subscription service that has been popular in Europe and is now available in the US. I am using the free version, which limits access to your computer, but is really awesome. I can see how this poses a threat to iTunes with its 15 million track catalog and integration with your current iTunes library.

iLounge just wrote a great review of the companion Spotify iPhone app. With the free subscription, the iPhone app is almost useless as you cannot play any of The Spotify music on your iPhone. The one cool feature you can do with the free account is to wirelessly sync your iTunes content to the Spotify app for playback.

The iLounge review does a good job of explaining the service and the many weaknesses of the iPhone app. So, head over to Spotify to request an invite to the free service; then, head over to iLounge to check out their review.

Two Tips For Apple Mail

2011-07-17T21:20:00.001-07:00

Here are a couple of Apple Mail.app tips that fix two annoying behaviors:

When copying email addresses out of Mail, the resulting copy appends the name of the person as well. This adds a step to my workflow because if I am copying an email address, usually I only want the email address by itself.
In an effort to send "pretty emails" when attaching photos or PDF documents, Mail.app will make show the attachments inline in the message so that you can see the full document. The only problem with this is that sometimes when you send to users who don't use Apple Mail, they see an embedded graphic and can't figure out how to open the attachment.

These two annoyances are easily fixed by a trip to the Terminal. For some of you, the Terminal may be a new and unfamiliar app. It is definitely an app that you don't want to experiment with if you don't know what you are doing because you can royally mess up your system. But it is a powerful application that allows you to change the way your operating system works.

Fixing Copying Email Addresses

Once you have opened Terminal and have entered in the code below, Mail will no longer append the name of the person and the email address when copying addresses out of Mail. You will in turn only get the email address, which is what I prefer.

Open "Terminal" it is found in your Utilities folder.
Enter in the following code exactly as it appears below.
Restart Mail.

defaults write com.apple.mail AddressesIncludeNameOnPasteboard -bool NO

Fixing Attachments As Icons

The following steps will make it so that all attachments when composing messages in Mail will appear as an icon. No longer will you have to guess which attachments will show up as an embedded graphic. It should reduce the number of emails that you receive from people asking you to resend the attachment because it didn't come through.

Open "Terminal" it is still found in your Utilities folder.
Enter in the following code exactly as it appears below.
Restart Mail.

defaults write com.apple.mail DisableInlineAttachmentViewing -bool yes

I hope that you find these two small Mail tips useful. Let me know other tricks you use in Mail or any other annoyances needing fixes in the comments below.

RapidWeaver - "Welcome iWeb Users"

2011-07-10T23:01:00.001-07:00

With MobileMe going away next year and iWeb hosted websites disappearing as well, I decided to redesign and redeploy my personal website. I have enjoyed the ease of use of iWeb with its WYSIWYG editing and one-click publishing. Yet, at the same time I recognize iWeb's weaknesses:

poorly executed HTML code making for slow page loads
difficult theme editing
no automatic iPhone-optimized mobile site

These were trade-offs I was willing to put up with because of its ease of use. So in searching for an alternative I wanted to address some of these shortcomings while maintaining relative ease of use. As a part of a Macheist bundle years ago I received a copy of RapidWeaver. While not as easy to use as iWeb, I am pleased with my new platform for creating my personal website and blog.

RapidWeaver is much more than an application for web development, it is instead a whole web development ecosystem, with third party templates, plugins, and add-ons. If you aren't careful you can make pretty big dent in your wallet with tricking out RapidWeaver.

While RapidWeaver comes with many built-in themes, as well as one iPhone-optimized theme, I chose instead to purchase a third party theme. I did this because I liked the look and customization available with the third party theme, but mostly I chose an outside theme because I wanted a theme that would automatically resize for the iPhone. If I were to use the mobile theme built-in to RapidWeaver I would have to maintain two sites, one for desktop users and another for mobile. With the theme I chose, I only need to create one site and the theme detects mobile devices and adjusts accordingly. The third party theme I settled on is called Qube and is made by Nimblehost.

If you are a coder and feel comfortable diving into HTML, RapidWeaver allows you to get your hands dirty. I am not a programmer and wanted a quick and easy solution for building my site. While RapidWeaver has a graphical interface for laying out content, there is one more third-party add-on that makes RapidWeaver much easier to use and it is called Stacks.

Stacks makes using RapidWeaver more like a desktop publishing app, with boxes for text, images, audio files, video, and PDF files. Stacks has its own ecosystem of add-ons to increase functionality. I downloaded and HTML5 audio stack for adding audio clips that would be playable on mobile devices without flash. I also downloaded a PDF embed stack for embedding a scrollable PDF document within a frame on the page.

RapidWeaver isn't as easy to use as iWeb but I am happy with the customization options. If you have a site on MobileMe you have a year to find an alternative once iCloud arrives. RapidWeaver definitely deserves a look.

You can check out my newly designed site at www.adamballif.com.

OmniFocus + Siri = Voice-Captured Tasks

2011-05-30T23:04:00.001-07:00

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.

OmniFocus For iPad Updated

2011-05-18T12:36:00.000-07:00

I use OmniFocus on my Mac, iPhone, and iPad to manage my projects and task list. The iPad version has a couple of unique features that I hope make it to the Mac and iPhone versions. One of these features is the Forecast View, which was just updated with a great new feature.

The Forecast View shows your task due dates organized by day of the week. This lets you see visually how many due dates are coming up and which days of the upcoming week will potentially be the busiest. With the latest update, OmniFocus for iPad now integrates with iCal to show you your events for each day, alongside your tasks in Forecast view. If you come from the background of using Outlook or Entourage, where your tasks and calendar reside in the same app, then this new Forecast View will give you some of that functionality.

Forecast View has always shown the overdue, due soon, and upcoming due tasks, but this new update also brings the option for displaying starting tasks. If you use start dates to manage your tasks (and you should), you can set a preference to show what task are available to start within the Forecast View.

Rumor has it that Forecast view will be coming to the iPhone and the Mac versions of OmniFocus in upcoming updates. I am always impressed with the Omni Group and the attention and features with which they are constantly improving their apps.

Downcast - Podcasts Done Right For iOS

2011-05-14T20:28:00.001-07:00

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.

Siri - Quick Reminders For Your iPhone

2011-05-07T22:27:00.001-07:00

There are many ways to setup reminders on your iPhone. From iCal events, OmniFocus tasks, and the plethora of ToDo Apps, you have many choices. While I use OmniFocus as my task list manager and enjoy the reminders and notifications, sometimes I feel like OmniFocus is overkill. I don't put my mundane tasks into OmniFocus like taking out the trash. Instead of using OmniFocus for these types of repeating reminders I enjoy the intuitiveness of Siri.

Siri is dubbed as a personal assistant and has a many capabilities beyond reminders. In fact Siri can:

Reserve a table for you at your favorite restaurant
Find movie times
Get flight status
Tweet what you are up to
Look up local businesses

Just speak or type your wish and Siri will attempt to find what you need. Lately, I have been using it to quickly setup a reminder. I simply speak "remind me to take out the trash" and then I am given options for setting the time and date, and I can even setup the reminder to repeat weekly. The reminder can come as an email or a popup alert.

Siri isn't perfect all of the time, but the interface is a joy to use and even Apple thinks the app shows a lot of promise. Oh, and did I mention that it is free?

Check it out.

Blogsy - New Blogging App For The iPad

2011-04-17T20:17:00.001-07:00

AppAdvice has a new post out today about a new way to blog on your iPad. It is called Blogsy and you can find the review here. Blogging on the iPad has been cumbersome to say the least this past year and it's exciting to see an app like Blogsy hit the market.

In a nutshell it does the following in a pretty elegant way:

WYSYWIG and HTML Editor (swipe to switch between editing modes)
Drag and drop access from the web, YouTube, Picasa, and Flickr
Blogger and WordPress support
introductory price of $2.99

Lots more in the review above. I am excited about this app. Check it out.

GigBook: A New Sheet Music Reader for iPad

2011-04-12T15:38:00.000-07:00

The sheet music reader space for iPad is becoming more and more competitive, and one of the newest additions is GigBook. Check out my review of GigBook at appadvice.com.

Ringtone Remix Pro Added to "Fun With Music" AppList

2011-02-22T08:25:00.000-08:00

Ringtone Remix Pro has been added to my “Fun With Music” AppList. You will want to check out this list to find out how Ringtone Remix Pro can allow you to create custom ringtones using your iPhone.

Fun With Music AppList

Book Cataloging Apps

2011-01-17T10:24:00.000-08:00

Check out my new AppGuide on how to catalog your book collection with your iPhone or iPad.

Book Cataloging Apps

Apps For Designers

2011-01-03T10:56:00.000-08:00

The iPad's gorgeous touch screen is certainly great for content consumption, but I contend that the iPad is also great for content creation, especially for designers.

Check out my new AppList for Designers.