This week MacSparky is sponsored by JustSend. It is easy open your iOS email client only to get sucked into the vortex of your inbox. JustSend gives you a simple way to send off email messages without ever seeing your inbox. The app is free through the month of January, starting today. There is zero setup. It works immediately with the built-in email accounts on your phone. A lot of people look at the new year as an opportunity to get rid of distractions and JustSend can help you along that path.

This week MacSparky is again sponsored by Dropzone, the Mac menubar app that makes opening and sorting files wicked easy. Simply drag a file onto the Dropzone menubar icon and a menu slides down with several landing targets. For example, I’ve got a folder I use as a clearing house for work related documents. Using Dropzone, I just drag the file up to the icon and drop them on the folder’s link. Drop zone, then moves the file to that location lickity-split. I’ve also set up an application opening action so when I drag a PDF on PDFpen, it opens the file in the application. If you just need to hold a file temporarily, use the Drop Bar.

Dropzone is a great little utility that you’ll find yourself using all day. You can get it now in the App Store and learn more at the website. Thanks Dropzone for supporting MacSparky.com.

This week I’m welcoming a new sponsor to MacSparky.com, Dropzone 3. Dropzone is a productivity tool that enhances drag and drop on your Mac. Drag files onto the menu item and a beautifully designed and animated grid of all your actions opens. Share with services such as AirDrop, Imgur, FTP, Amazon S3, Facebook, Twitter and many others. Move and copy files, launch applications and even develop your own actions using the powerful Ruby based scripting API.

Dropzone 3 is a huge update to the app that takes Dropzone to a whole new level. You can now add actions to your grid faster thanks to the new quick add menu or by dropping folders or apps onto the ‘Add to Grid’ area. Quickly reorganise your actions using drag and drop and delete them by holding the option key. The new in-grid progress bars let you keep track of task progress. Also see how tasks are progressing at a glance in the new animated menu item.

Drop Bar is another great new feature – Drag files you know you’ll need later onto the Drop Bar area of the grid to stash them tempororily. Drag stacks on top of each other to combine them. You can even drag a stack onto another Dropzone action.

In Dropzone 3, the developer API has undergone a major overhaul. You can now duplicate existing actions and tweak them to your liking. A new bundle system lets you distribute needed libraries or tools along with your action. Actions can now be auto-updated as they are improved. With a little Ruby knowledge you’ll be thinking of your own uses in no time – check out the developer documentation here.

A major update for Dropzone 3 has just been released that brings full support for OS X Yosemite and adds new features such as the ability to activate Dropzone by dragging files directly to the top of the screen and the ability to upload videos to YouTube. There are also many bug fixes and improvements, such as completely rewritten and improved Amazon S3 uploading and an enhanced developer API.

I’ve been using Dropzone for awhile. I’ve got actions to move files to specified folders and AirDrop to my other devices. Also, as a frequent full-screen user on my laptop, I use the DropBar all the time. Since I’m already reliant on this application, when the developer contacted me about sponsoring the site, I jumped at it. Learn more here.

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This week MacSparky is sponsored by MindNode. If mind mapping sounds like hippy-nonsense to you, you’re wrong. Especially with these gorgeous displays in modern Macs and iThingies, mind mapping is a great way to visualize that stuff rattling around in your brain. 

Moreover, MindNode is an excellent place to get started. It has a simple, clean interface and syncs over iCloud with zero hassles. Using MindNode, I can start a mind map on my iPad, polish it up on my Mac, and then add a few nodes over lunch on my phone all without any file management. I keep MindNode in my iPad dock and spend time in the app every day as I plan ideas and big projects. Because everything syncs so easily I can noodle on these projects at any time from any device. Jumping into MindNode for little bursts of brainstorming allow me to properly cook all these ideas and projects before I start digging in on them. I’ve written about MindNode before. MindNode is an essential tool for me and if you haven’t got on the mind mapping bandwagon yet, go get yourself a copy and try it for yourself. 

This week MacSparky is sponsored by Jeffrey Abbott’s book, The Ultimate Unofficial Dropbox Guide. I am so glad Jeff wrote this book. We are all using Dropbox but very few of us are taking advantage of its power features. The Ultimate Unofficial Dropbox Guide was created to help make our digital lives more organized and efficient. The guide is a comprehensive look at power-using Dropbox, whether you’re just setting up your Dropbox account or already think you’re a pro.

The book covers a lot, including a comprehensive walk-throughs for photosharing, best practices for organizing your folders and documents, keeping your files secure, and automating tasks using IFTTT. There are also some bonus products including a handy keyboard-shortcut reference page, 15 Tips and Tricks for Families, and Photosharing Guides you can share with non-tech family members who still want to see photos of your kids. A book like this was overdue. I’m glad someone wrote it.

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This week I am pleased to welcome Drafts as a sponsor of MacSparky.com. Drafts is one of the most innovative apps to show up on iOS. The idea is simple: make it dead simple for people to capture text on their iPhone or iPad and then make that text dance for them. Drafts executes on this, flawlessly. When you first open the application, there is a blank screen and a keyboard. There is no need to monkey with opening new files, Drafts does it for you. Indeed, you can set it so it does this happens every time you open the application. 

Once you’ve put some text in Drafts, you can then send it somewhere else on your iOS device. There are simple built-in solutions like sending it to a new email message or an application, like OmniFocus but you can also customize it. For example, I’ve got a custom task that sends a text message to my wife and two daughters. The workflow is so simple. I open drafts, dictate a short message, and push a button and the message goes out to those three. Drafts’ developer keeps adding new features like deep control over Dropbox, Evernote, and now coming iCloud. I reviewed Drafts awhile back. Learning to automate text with your mobile devices is a game changer and if you haven’t tried Drafts yet, shame on you. Go check it out and let them know you heard about it here.

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This week I’m pleased to welcome back Middle Davids Artisan Candles. Dan Catlin and his team at Middle Davids understand the use of rituals to help with productivity. We all like our good coffee (or tea!), our clicky keyboards, and our clean work surfaces, but what about scent?

I burn candles while I write and I always feel that the ritual of lighting the candle is a way to tell myself “it is on” and get to work. After I’ve worked a few hours, I blow out the candle and take a break. You’ll be surprised how well this works. My favorite this month is Carribean Teakwood.

Dan, the proprietor, is a candle geek and obsesses on candles like I do productivity apps. The candles are 100% botanical soy wax, not paraffin (which is a petrochemical) and the wicks are cotton woven (no metals).

MacSparky readers are already loving their Middle Davids Candles including graphic designer Cody Jones, who explained, “Making Light helps me to define a time to lock into my creative and productive zone. Lighting that candle is one of the best parts of my workday.”

Middle Davids has a subscription plan that gets you two candles a month with 40 hours of burn time. That’s two hours of focus a day. You also get a box of wooden matches, and a sample of the next month’s scent. Give it a try. You’ll surprise yourself. Use the code “MacSparky9” (or “macsparky9”) for 20% off.

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This week MacSparky.com is sponsored by Rocket Matter, the premier cloud-based law practice management solution. The folks at Rocket Matter get how to run your business in the Internet age and Rocket Matter is the place to go when you’ve finally had it with the expense and pain of trying to do it yourself. The service now even integrates with Microsoft Outlook.

This week Rocket Matter is giving away a free ebook, The Telecommuters Guide to the Galaxy. This book is full of tips and advice on how to work remotely. If you are going on vacation or just sick of spending all your time in the office, go download the book. You won’t regret it.

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This week MacSparky is sponsored by Rocket Matter, makers of the finest cloud-based law practice management service in the galaxy? Most recently they’ve released an update that lets you integrate your RocketMatter account with Microsoft Outlook. Larry and the gang just keep pushing the envelope.

Rocket Matter also has a new ebook they are giving away to MacSparky readers, Rocket Matter Case Studies, where they demonstrate how several law firms have increased productivity with cloud-based data management. Frankly, this book is useful to anyone in the service business that wants to take advantage of the cloud. Go check it out.

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