This week MacSparky is sponsored by Shimo, an outstanding Mac VPN client.

Later this week we’re getting the macOS Sierra update and if you use a VPN client, you need to take note that Apple’s built-in VPN client will no longer support PPTP VPN. Never fear though. Shimo does. Indeed Shimo supports several VPN protocols including OpenVPN, IPSec, PPTP, SSL, AnyConnect, SSH.

Shimo sits in your macOS menu bar and is always ready to work for you. User experience is key to this app and you’ll be surprised how easy it is to configure and operate. 

Shimo also takes your security seriously with its support of two-factor authentication and Trigger Automation, which lets your Shimo automatically connect VPN accounts based on certain trigger conditions. All of this adds up to seriously good security with a seriously good user experience.

Up your VPN game today with Shimo.

This week MacSparky is sponsored by SaneBox, the email service that brings order to my email chaos every day. Recently SaneBox announced the SaneFwd service. SaneFwd is an easy way to automate email forwarding to your favorite third-party apps and team members.

With SaneFwd, you can:

• Automatically turning emails into tasks with Any.do and Todoist

• Automatically saving emails and attachments to your Evernote

• Automatically forwarding receipts to Expensify

• Automatically forwarding trip itineraries to Kayak

• Automatically forwarding certain emails to certain friends or colleagues

As an example, let’s say you have a newsletter that you want to automatically save to Evernote. With SaneFwd, you can train SaneBox to keep on the lookout for future newsletters and automatically forward them to your Evernote account. 

Another great example is email-based bills. If you get an invoice sent to you via email every month, why not have SaneBox automatically route it to your Todoist account (or OmniFocus mail drop address)?

SaneFwd is just one more example of how SaneBox can help manage your email so you can get on with your life. I’ve heard from so many readers that tried and fell in love with SaneBox. You should give it a shot. Use this link to get a nice discount off your subscription and let them know you heard about it here. Thanks again SaneBox for helping me in the battle against email every day.

This week MacSparky is sponsored by HoudahGeo. HoudahGeo is a Mac app that makes attaching locations to your photos ridiculously simple. The case for adding geo-location data to your photos is easy. Looking at your photos on a map gives you all sorts of options for sorting, viewing, and sharing your pictures. Want to see all the pictures from that beach trip? With HoudahGeo it’s a snap. Because of the way our human brains work, years in the future we may not remember when we took a certain trip but we will remember where we went and with HoudahGeo on your side that’s all you need.

The trouble is that a lot of cameras have no ability to geocode your photos for you. That’s where HoudahGeo comes in. HoudahGeo actually geocodes photos. It writes industry standard EXIF/XMP tags to the original image files, which makes the geocode information permanent. (Not all geocode apps do that.)

HoudahGeo also works with multiple geocode workflows. You can automatically geocode photos form a GPS track log. You can also manually geocode photos using the map in HoudahGeo. It’s easier than you think. You can even drag-and-drop geocoding data. HoudahGeo also allows for viewing (and showing) photos in Google Earth.

If your camera doesn’t save geo-location data to your photos, you can solve that problem today with HoudahGeo. For a limited time, get 20% off with discount code “MACSPARKY”.

This week MacSparky is sponsored this week by inShort. inShort is a project planning and diagramming tool like you’ve never seen before. The application has a unique interface that lets you see a project from the 20,000 foot view and then, with just a few taps, drill down into the details. For example, in the below project plan, you can click on the individual boxes to get further details on any specific component.

I like the way this application handles Gantt charts to include schedules for the work and material resources, as well as places.

inShort is a serious project planning and diagramming application but it could be used for so much more, like planning out a dissertation, creating a lesson plan, or even your own personal goals. It’s always under active development with new features in the pipeline.

inShort is easier to use than ever with a clever tutorial that show’s off the power of the application and teaches you how it works at the same time. There are versions for both the Mac and iOS. To learn more visit the inShort website and check out the User Guide. My thanks again to inShort for sponsoring MacSparky.com.

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This week MacSparky is sponsored by OmniPlan. OmniPlan combines the simplicity and beauty that comes with all Omni Group apps with some serious planning power including features like Microsoft Project compatibility, Monte Carlo simulations, network diagrams, and earned value analysis. OmniPlan takes advantage of the Omni Group’s OmniPresence syncing service to make everything sync across to your Mac, iPad, and iPhone.

A lot of people are interested in OmniPlan but not sure how to get started. The Omni Group just released a series of videos called the “Project Planning 101” series. In it, they explain, in the context of world domination, how to easily set up your own project planning workflows. I’ve embedded the first in the series below. Thanks again OmniPlan for supporting MacSparky.
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This week MacSparky is sponsored by Hoban Cards and Stationery, where you can get quality letterpress calling cards and stationery that stand so far above the competition. There’s something special about the paper goods that roll off Hoban’s 1902 letterpress machine.

Recently, Hoban added several calligraphy calling card styles that look great. If you want to share the Hoban Letterpress love with your friends, they also now have an affiliate system.

Since Hoban Press first started advertising here at MacSparky, I’ve heard from many readers that love their Hoban Press cards and stationery. Every time I give one of my Hoban-pressed cards to a new client, they comment upon how nice they are. You too can set a great first example. Head over to Hoban Cards with this link to learn more.

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This week MacSparky is sponsored by Interact from Agile Tortoise. Interact is a replacement for the iOS contacts application and it is so much better. The native iPad and iPhone contacts application is feature limited and, as a result, difficult to use for any serious work.

That is not the case with Interact. This app gives you the full suite of contact management tools including the ability to manage groups, communicate with friends and family, and use your contacts with third-party applications.

Everything connects to the native contacts database so any work you do in Interact shows up everywhere else.

One of my favorite features is the Scratchpad. You can paste someone’s contact information in the Interact Scratchpad in just about any format and Interact will figure out what is what and automatically put the appropriate information in the appropriate fields for you. There’s even an extension so you can use this from other applications. The below video shows off the Interact Scratchpad.

Interact is the result of a very clever programmer asking the question, “What if we made an iOS contacts application right?” I’ve been using Interact since the product first launched and it has absolutely replaced Contacts on my iPhone and iPad. 

Best of all, for this week, you can get Interact for 20% off.

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This week MacSparky.com is sponsored by SaneBox. I’ve been using SaneBox for years and at this point I can’t imagine email without it. There are so many great benefits to Sanebox. It filters my mail so I don’t wake up to an inbox bursting with irrelevant email. It allows me to defer email messages so they get out of the way while I am doing other things. It also lets me set reminders for outgoing emails. One of the nice things about SaneBox is that it lets me manage less important email without having to incorporate the email into my task management system. This makes my system tighter and saves me a lot of time. 

I’ve been using a lot of different iOS email applications the last few months and I really appreciate the way SaneBox does its magic from the server-side, so I can use it with any email application and jump between them at will without losing any email in proprietary single-app systems. 

I love using SaneBox. I’ve talked to the team at SaneBox and they are getting ridiculously high conversion rates from MacSparky readers and Mac Power Users listeners. If you haven’t tried it yet, you should. Use this link to get $10 off. It’s a win-win. Also, below is a cool video SaneBox recently made showing you how it all works.

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