This week’s home screen features my pal Todd Olthoff (Twitter)(Website)(YouTube). Todd is a pastor by day and OS X Server guru by night. Todd has a really great YouTube channel with many Mac tutorials, including an excellent series on Mac OS X Server. Most recently Todd agreed to guest on the Mac Power Users and tell us all about it. Okay Todd, show us your home screen.
What are some of your favorite apps?
Some of my favorite apps are replacements for the built in Apple Apps. For calendar I use the incredible Fantastical. Fantastical is one of those applications that simplifies my life not only on my iOS devices but across my Mac devices as well. Nothing like using natural language to set up appointments. Another app I use often is Cobook for my address book. The way Cobook pulls in all of my contacts from not only my address book but from social media as well and puts everything in one place is incredible. I also like the ability to see what my friends have been tweeting about lately just by looking at their contact in Cobook instead of having to go out into another application. It will be interesting to see what happens with Cobook now that it has merged with FullContact.
For social media and keeping up on tech news I use Tweetbot for twitter, Reeder for RSS feeds, Pocket for my read later content, and Downcast for all of my favorite podcasts (like Mac Power Users, of course). I also have a general social folder for all of the other social media sites I touch base with like Google Plus and Facebook.
Being a true Mac geek I love being as productive as possible on whatever device I am working on so I use tools like Drafts to quickly get text based items into my system for later action. I use Launch Center Pro as my starting point for my daily review and other tasks. Putting all of the items I normal check with various swipes and taps in one place has really helped me cut down some of the time it takes for me to get things done. I would also have to add 1Password into my attempt to stay productive and secure on my iOS devices. I just can’t put a value on being able to access all of my passwords in one place to quickly login to websites in a secure manner.
As far as dealing with writing and information, I am a huge fan of Day One for my daily journaling and capturing life events or thoughts on the run. For more serious writing I use Daedelous Touch. It’s combination with Ulysses on my Mac make it a killer app for me now that I am writing in Markdown (thanks to you David!). For storage and archive I am a big fan of Devonthink Pro Office and I use their companion app to take files and documents with me on the go for easy access when I need them.
And of course, being a Pastor for my day job, I love being able to carry the whole Bible in one little app in my pocket. For this I use the YouVersion App (Which I think is still smaller than one MacSparky Field Guide Book).
Which app is your guilty pleasure?
Being a guy who likes to play around with OS X Server, one of the apps I have found a guilty pleasure is Server Admin Remote. This app let’s me access my server’s vitals from my iPhone. I can check to see how my network is behaving, power usage, storage and what services are running. I can also start and stop services remotely and view log files from my server. Though it hasn’t been officially updated for the most current Server OS, I have found it still works for me under 10.9. A great app if you need to keep up with your OS X Server.
How many times a day do you use your iPhone/iPad?
Honestly I use my iPhone more times than I would like to count. It serves as my time piece so I am always pulling it out to check to see what time it is. I also use it to stay in touch with co-workers & family. The iPad I am trying to work into my workflow and find I use it mostly for media consumption, taking notes in places where using a laptop is not convenient, or when I want to travel light. I still heavily rely on and love my 13 inch Retina Macbook Pro! So overall, I am constantly using my iPhone and occasionally use my iPad for tasks needing a bigger screen.
If you were in charge at Apple, what would you add or change?
If I was in charge at Apple I would like to see more cross app collaboration so developers could tie into each other’s apps a little easier. We see with what Readdle has been trying to do with their suite of applications and how they communicate with one another, what can happen when you allow this kind of integration. I know it goes against the current rules, but it really would make the experience of an iOS device more seamless in my opinion.
What’s your wallpaper and whys?
My wallpaper usually changes over time depending on my mood. I have a wallpaper application called Wallpapers 2 that uploads some nice stuff. I usually browse through there from time to time when I get bored of the wallpaper I am currently using.
Anything Else You’d Like to Share?
Thanks so much for the opportunity to share my home screen David!
Thanks Todd.