Ultimate Raiders of the Lost Ark Commentary

Nobody can change my mind that Raiders of the Lost Ark is one of the greatest movies ever made. I was having this conversation recently with geek-authority, Jason Snell, who told me to watch the movie again and pay attention to the shadows. Mind blown.

Anyway, Jamie Benning has put together the ultimate commentary track for Raiders of the Lost Ark. I found out about it from Jason Kottke. I’ve watched the first 10 minutes of this and I’m in. I liked it so much that I’m planning my viewing for a time when I’ll have no distractions.

Fantastical 2.4 – Draft Events

Today Flexibits released Fantastical version 2.4 for iPhone and iPad. The big new feature is draft events. You can now save an event as a draft in the middle of event creation and then come back to it later to finish it off. I frequently have need to consult my calendar after I start creating a new event and this feature is really useful. I liked it so much, I made a screencast demonstrating how it works.

Inatech Felt Sleeve Review



I’m several months in now with the new MacBook and my affection has only grown stronger for this ultralight in the meantime. I’ve been traveling a lot lately and having a Mac with me anywhere has been awesome. 

In fact, I like this laptop  so much that lately I’m starting to accessorize it. I wanted a simple sleeve-style case that I could use for carrying it to the coffee shop or even just to protect it when I throw it into my bigger bags. 

I wanted something simple and not too expensive. This led me to the Inateck felt sleeve for MacBook. I’d always admired these sleeves and saw several of them in use at WWDC. I’ve been trying one now for several weeks and I like it.



The sleeve is made of a thick felt material that feels natural to the touch. The inside of the laptop pocket is lined with microfiber. The dimensions are just right and the 12″ MacBook fits in nice and snug. (They have different models for all of the currently shipping Apple laptops.)

There is a smart leather strip across the flap that I’m probably going to mark up with my name and phone number at some point. There are also pockets that can hold an iPad Air in the front and an iPhone in the back. In practice, I’ve been using this for the iPad often and the iPhone rarely. 

The best part of this relatively inexpensive sleeve is the feel of the material. I like that it is natural and feels comfortable to the touch. I also like that when I throw it in my bigger bags, the felt will protect my Precious. You can get this sleeve on Amazon for just $15. If you are currently carrying your laptop “free” in a larger bag, this Inatech Felt sleeve is perfect to give it some protection.



Sponsor: Device Management with Bushel


I’m pleased to welcome a new sponsor to MacSparky, Bushel. Apple is no longer a technology fringe case. People use Macs, iPads, and iPhones at work every day. While these devices are great for getting work done, Apple has never been particularly aggressive about helping companies manage fleets of Apple products.

Enter Bushel.

Bushel is a cloud-based service that makes managing Macs, iPhones, iPads, and iPod devices a snap. Using Bushel, you don’t need to be an IT pro to manage device inventory, app distribution, email and wifi configuration, security settings, and all the other settings needed to manage the Apple devices in your company. 

You don’t need to pay a full time IT staff any longer to solve this problem. Bushel does it for you. Bushel makes complex device management simple and affordable. You can use Bushel for free for 3 devices forever, and additional devices are just $2/device/month. Check it out.



∞

MPU 269: Emergency Preparedness for Geeks

Episode 269 is up and live. Katie and I spent this show talking about emergency preparedness for  geeks. The show just doesn’t talk about what to do with your tech in natural disasters, but we also talk about the subject in references to personal emergencies, illness, and death. 

∞

Keyboard Maestro 7

Keyboard Maestro released its new version 7 yesterday. This new version adds several usability features that give this Mac automation tool even more power. You can now trigger macros just by changing window focus or even pressing the same key multiple times. It also features in-line help, auto completion of variable names, and a lot more macro triggers. I’m still wrapping my head around what I can do with these new features and will be publishing more on it here soon but for now, I just want everyone to know that it’s available.

∞


Tembo 2


The developer of HoudahSpot has a somewhat lighter version, called Tembo. Tembo isn’t quite as powerful as HoudahSpot but also takes more of a guiding role in helping you find your files. For a lot of people it will be just right for improving search on your Mac. This week, they’ve released Tembo 2.0. The application is on sale for $6.99 (usually $15) until the end of the month and worth picking up. There are versions of Tembo 2 in the Mac App Store and directly from the developer’s website. This is one where you are going to want to be sandbox-free so pick it up from the developer directly. 

New features include:

  • Actions: rename, tag, or trash files from search results
  • Sharing: send files by Mail, Messages, Facebook, etc. 
  • File Info window: easy-to-read overview of important file properties
  • View options: font size, date format, grid of icons or previews
  • Menu bar button and global keyboard shortcuts
  • Up to 10,000 results in each group (up from 2,500)
  • Collapsible groups: hide seldomly visited groups
  • Option to hand a search over to HoudahSpot

∞



$49,000,000,000

I knew that 49 Billion had nine zeros but I had to write it down to appreciate it. That is, after all, a lot of zeros. Either way, today Apple announced that last quarter Apple had $49.6 billion in revenue in a slow post-holiday quarter. Do you remember when Apple was legitimately on the brink of extinction? Not anymore. 

Six Colors has some pretty charts that summarize all the details.