In this episode of Automators, David and Rosemary cover the automation changes with iOS 15, and look at Shortcuts on the Mac. There’s also an powerless automation conumdrum to solve!
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In this week’s episode of Focused, Sean McCabe talked about how he uses his calendar not only to plan future events but record older ones. I do the same thing, but I’ve never written about the practice.
To me, the current moment is where my calendar transitions from a planning to an archive tool. I mean that I have time planned for the next week with projects I plan to work on and places I plan to be. However, that is only hypothetical in the future. I may plan to work on a client contract tomorrow afternoon at 14:00, but then again, maybe one of my kids will need me, or another client will call in with an emergency. Some days follow the plan. Others do not.
However, as part of my overall effort to track my time and attention, I’ll adjust my calendar to match what happened as the day goes by (or at least at the end of the day). So in the moment of “now”, my calendar moves from a planning tool to an archive tool.
So why the extra step? I find that recording in my calendar has several benefits:
Better Understanding
By recording how much time things take, I get a better understanding of … wait for it … how long things take. In the future, that will pay off with better estimates.
Reflection of My Actual Time and Attention
Maybe I planned to spend the entire morning working on the next Field Guide. But then, later, having to go back and change that block to reflect that, in reality, I spent the morning watching YouTube videos about USB-C cables, which forces me to reflect on whether I am spending my time wisely.
Catching Falling Plates
Going back to that earlier example, I may have a block of time set aside for that client contract. Seeing that I didn’t get to that on a busy day gives me the opportunity to move that block into the future, back into planning, and making sure I don’t drop the ball.
Easy Reference
Sometimes I do find myself trying to figure out what I was doing on a particular day. Having this data in my calendar makes that trivial.
Turning your planning calendar into an archive tool takes some extra work throughout the day (or perhaps just at the end of the day), but in practice, the amount of time it takes is just minutes, and I find that a trivial investment of time for the payoff to be worth it.
Readwise has been building its own fully integrated reading app. It’s a more powerful, more flexible version of the classic read-it-later app. From newsletters, RSS reading, Twitter threads, web highlighting, read-it-later, and PDFs, Readwise is looking for their Reader app to be the one-stop place for power readers to get all of their reading done. They’re working on features from instant syncing, to highlighting images, to powerful search, also:
It’s made to handle modern and established content alike, from Twitter threads to PDFs, and everything in-between.
It serves both casual and power users, with the flexibility to accommodate a variety of consumer, professional, and academic use cases.
It’s designed with a local-first, cross-platform architecture enabling blazingly fast interactions and full-text search across all of your devices (even offline).
It connects seamlessly with all your other tools for thought such as Roam Research, Notion, Evernote, and Obsidian.
It embeds powerful workflows to help you conquer content overload — one of the most acute pain points of read-it-later power users.
It’s being actively developed with responsive customer support and rapid feedback loops informed by beta testers who are already reading in the app for hours a day.
Readwise reading app is still in private beta because it’s not ready yet for self-serve onboarding, but they’re letting in friendly beta testers. If you’re an existing Readwise subscriber, you can be among the first users to gain access to the public beta once it’s launched. If you wish to gain earlier access (or you’re not already a Readwise user), sign up to join the waitlist for the private beta.
I am really looking forward to this app. I’m already sold on Readwise and being able to put the entire read-it-later workflow into one app (with all these features) sounds great.
I got to join Nick on Linking Your Thinking to talk about how I use Obsidian. Watch as I share my screen. I also hung out to do an Ask-Me-Anything session. Join us.
Hooray! The DEVONthink Field Guide lives! I first started work on this Field Guide in April. Now it’s ready for you.
The Details
DEVONthink secrets unlocked
8.5 hours
100+ videos
Over 9 gigabytes of video files
PDF and ePub transcripts
Downloadable data sets
Fully captioned
Combined videos for easier download
Six video interviews with DEVONthink power users where they explain how they use the app
Everything you need to take you from a DEVONthink novice to expert
The DEVONthink Field Guide teaches you, soup to nuts, how take advantage of one of the most powerful research / artificial intelligence / do-anything-with-your-files apps available for Mac, iPad, and iPhone. With 8.5 hours of content, the course starts from zero and, by the end, turns you into a DEVONthink pro. The material is accessible to beginners and power users alike, with a thorough explanation of DEVONthink and all its features.
I’ve continued to press down on the production values button, and these videos came out great. Also, there are 2 gigabytes of data for you to download to build a sample database as you are learning the app. To truly understand DEVONthink, you’ve got to throw some data at it.
DEVONthink is a powerful application, and I built this field guide to help you get the most from it. There is a limited time launch discount, so get it now.
Apple unveiled new versions of the iPhone, Apple Watch, and a couple different iPads. On the latest episode of Mac Power Users, Stephen and I talk through the news and our thoughts on the new products.
This episode of Mac Power Users is sponsored by:
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Here’s a new one: I am writing this review on a Windows computer. With Apple’s transition to Apple silicon, Boot Camp is going away, and many folks who occasionally need to run Windows on their Macs are asking for solutions. There are several, ranging from keeping an Intel Mac or Windows PC around, to working with the ever-improving Windows for ARM.
However, one of the easiest is to subscribe to a virtual Windows PC somewhere on the Internet and run it virtually on your Mac. That’s what I’m doing today with this Windows 365 test machine that Microsoft loaned me for a month. It’s running on my M1 Mac mini through the Microsoft Remote Desktop app, and it appears to be working swimmingly.
One of the biggest reasons to set up a Windows PC virtually is the convenience. If you have a Microsoft Business Enterprise account, you can sign up for a cloud PC at windows365.microsoft.com. The configuration is automatic. You feed it a username and password, and at the end, you get a Windows PC somewhere out there running in a screen on your Mac. It can work through the browser but is a better experience through Microsoft’s Remote Desktop software.
My machine had 8GB of RAM and 256GB of storage along with a 2vCPU. In terms of performance, this cloud PC has been fine for most work, like writing, spreadsheets, and web research. In this case, the bottleneck will not be the PC but the Internet connection. This rig is not for gaming or video production, but for many folks, this is plenty of performance to get their work done. The bottleneck is more likely your Internet speed than the Windows 365 compute power. For me, it helped that I recently upgraded my network. I wrote this whole review in NotePad, and it felt as if I was working in a native app. I downloaded and installed software on my machine, watched some YouTube videos, and generally treated it as my PC. There weren’t any problems at all.
Then I went over to my iPad and downloaded Microsoft’s Remote Desktop Mobile app and logged into my remote PC from my iPad with an attached keyboard, and it worked just as quickly as it did on my Mac. Again, I could do word processing, spreadsheets, and web work all without issue, but this time from an iPad.
I’ve tried virtual PCs in the past, and they never felt responsive enough. Windows 365 was the first time I’ve seen this technology work at a level that I could see myself using day-to-day. The pricing for a Windows 365 Cloud PC depends on how many machines you set up and how beefy you make them. The one I’m using would cost $41 to keep. There are alternative builds ranging from $20 to $162 per month. If I were to start using a Windows 365 virtual PC, I’d probably buy-in at the $31/month tier (which has 4GB instead of 8). For the work I’d be doing on it, that would be plenty. At that tier, for $372 per year, you could have an easily accessed PC on your Mac without having to partition your drive and very little to no hassle.
Sean McCabe comes back to Focused to report in on what happened when his year-long sabbatical smacked into a pandemic and how he keeps his focus while winding up a new business.
This episode of Focused is sponsored by:
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The Presentation
The opening video hit me in the feels. I saw lots of grumbling about “California Pride” on Twitter. However, the older I get, the more I love California. Also, that drummer is a complete badass.
One Hour and Fifteen minutes. I like the pacing of these virtual events.
Apple TV
Everyone that hasn’t watched Ted Lasso is sick of being told to watch Ted Lasso. But if you haven’t watched Ted Lasso, you should watch Ted Lasso.
iPad
The latest iPad Basic continues to be the best bang-for-your-buck product you can buy in an Apple Store. A very capable machine for $329. It’s probably enough iPad for most people, including, if I’m honest, myself. HOWEVER, I wish they could find a way to make it work with the G2 Apple Pencil.
iPad Mini
I dig the new iPad Mini. I’m a massive fan of the flat edge design and stoked to see it spread to the iPad Mini (giving the iPad mini G2 Apple Pencil support).
USB-C on the iPad Mini. Come on Apple … you are so close. Just adopt it across the line.
The front-facing 12MP ultrawide camera for iPad and iPad Mini (adding center stage) makes so much sense. In my usage, the front-facing iPad camera is way more important than the back-facing camera.
If I were in charge, I would have made the iPad mini’s back-facing camera flush with the device, even if that meant a lower quality back-facing camera.
The Apple Watch
I kind of love that the rumor mill got the flat sides wrong. I wasn’t sure I’d like a flat-sided Apple Watch.
The rumor mill wasn’t, however, wrong about production delays. They don’t have a sales date at this point except “later this fall”.
Hopefully, the new bike rider features can keep Stephen Hackett alive longer.
Quick charging will be a helpful feature. If you can fully charge your watch in under an hour, it will make it even easier to sleep with it on. I did note this will require you to buy a “quick charge” cable.
That dark feeling that overcame you when they announced the continued sale of the Apple Watch 3 was a moment where every Apple Watch developer in the universe cried out in agony. I wish they could have price-dropped the Apple Watch SE and drop the Apple Watch 3. Friends don’t buy friends the Apple Watch 3
No Ceramic, but titanium remains. I bought the Titanium Apple Watch Series 5, and I still wear it every day. It looks pristine.
Apple Fitness Plus
I use it often and got a thrill out of seeing some of my favorite Apple Coaches in the video (Team Betina!)
I thought with the inclusion of Tai Chi workouts, they’d be adding Tai Chi to Apple Fitness Plus. Sadly, no.
I know Apple Fitness is easy to make fun of, but it resonates with me for the reasons in the video. I don’t have to go to an expensive gym and deal with all of that, yet I still get good workouts.
The A15 Bionic Processor
I’ve never understood why they add the “bionic” moniker.
Apple continues to crush everyone with chip design. They have a 5nm process and didn’t even really brag on it. 15 Billion transistors … in your phone!
I know this is not a giant iPad, but wouldn’t it be awesome if it was?
PICTURE
iPhone 13
I’m glad the iPhone Mini is coming back. But I don’t know anyone that currently owns an iPhone Mini and plans for their next phone to be an iPhone Mini. In the end, I think it is the battery life that spoils the fun.
Starting at 128G. Amen.
Midnight and Starlight are the new Space Grey and Silver.
iPhone 13 Pro
I like the new Sierra Blue, though I’ll likely buy the silver … ahem … starlight one.
I was hoping they’d have an always-on screen with at least the time.
The faster refresh rate is very noticeable to me on the iPad. I’m super curious to see how it feels on the phone. Apple also did a good job explaining why this won’t crush your battery.
I feel like those giant camera lenses are going to matter. I can’t wait for Austin Mann to get his hands on one of these and report in.
Cinematic Mode
Yes!
There still isn’t as much separation (bokeh) as you’d get with a fancy camera system, but if it performs as demonstrated, it will be great.
A Few More Points
Did you catch the part that the new Mag Safe wallet has built-in Find My? Yes, please, but for everything Apple makes.
A real concern for many around the world these days is, what’s the air quality like and is it safe to go outside?
There’s now a widget from the app-maker Karbon called Breathable, which is an air quality index (AQI) widget for iOS, iPadOS and macOS.
You can now quickly check out what air quality is like where you are. You know that I live in Southern California and in recent years have written about wildfires near my home, sometimes close enough that my neighborhood is given evacuation orders. The fires were close enough that you can just see that the air quality is really bad, but there are other times, like regular days when the smog is bad, that you can’t tell how safe it is. So a widget like Breathable comes in handy. I walk around the neighborhood daily, so it’s really helpful to know what the air quality is actually like outside.
Breathable uses AQI data from two services, which both offer free accounts and API access for personal use. Breathable uses the United States AQI for all values world-wide. It can use your device’s current location or you can select a location to find the AQI, and your location is only used to request AQI data and is not shared with Karbon or any other third-parties.
The widget is only $1.99, and a portion of proceeds will be donated to one of several climate change foundations such as Clean Air Task Force, Climate Change Emergency Fund, and Union of Concerned Scientists. Air quality is a daily concern here in California theses days and this is best widget I could find to keep me updated.
