RSS Sponsor: TextExpander

This week’s RSS Sponsor is TextExpander and, dear readers, this is one essential app in my toolbox. I use TextExpander snippets to answer e-mail, create OmniFocus entries, prepare legal forms, pleadings, and billings, fill in forms, create meeting agendas, and just about everything else I do with a keyboard. TextExpander is my killer app.

Do you type the same things again and again? TextExpander will save you time and keystrokes.

Just assign short abbreviations to your frequently-used snippets of text and TextExpander does the work for you. You can also use one of the included snippet libraries for HTML, CSS, autocorrection, accented words and URL shorteners.

Try it out – there’s a free demo at Smile Software. And you can get 20% off TextExpander through March 31. 2012. Use the coupon code SYN0312 in the Smile store.

MPU 76: Workflows with Daniel Jalkut

Mac Power Users Episode 76, Workflows with Daniel Jalkut, is live. Daniel is the developer behind Red Sweater Software and his applications include MarsEdit, the premier blogging software on the Mac. Get the episode over at 5by5. Also, don’t forget to subscribe in iTunes.

B&B Podcast Joins 5by5

Congratulations to Ben and Shawn for bringing their podcast to the 5by5 network.

Home Screens - Rob Corddry

When I was setting plans for Macworld 2012, I asked Rob Corddry (IMDB) (Twitter) if he’d fly up to San Francisco to talk about his use of Apple technology in showbiz. I explained there was no budget to pay for his travel or his room but I’d really like him to join us. Rob replied, “If you can guarantee that there will be no per diem or cab fare reimbursement, I’m in.” This is just one of the many reasons why I love Rob. So Rob, show us your home screen.

What are your most interesting home screen apps? There are a few pretty interesting ones: DC Comics, which I use religiously on the iPad, is the only really good comics browser in my opinion. Action Movie is bordering on fascinating. I also love Chefs Feed and MatchBook. Chefs Feed tells me where chefs choose to eat. Matchbook is a location-based restaurant reminder.

What is your favorite app? Omnifocus (iPhone) (iPad)is by far the most useful thing ever to be made for the iOS. And if you know Omnifocus, you know that the iOS apps may actually surpass the desktop version.

Which app is your guilty pleasure? It takes a lot to make me feel guilty. Instagram? Not that I’m ashamed of it, in the way that I cringe a little over my love for the Barbara Streisand and Barry Gibb team-up (best song? Guilty. Very apropos) . I just spend a lot of time on it, poking around in other people’s business.

What is the app you are still missing? Jott’s sudden incompatibility with Omnifocus left a huge hole in my workflow that still exists. I want to be able to push a button on my steering wheel and have whatever I say show up in my Omnifocus inbox. Nerds?

Have you tried Siri integration? - David

How many times a day do you use your iPhone/iPad? My iphone keeps trying to poke bio-mechanic tendrils into my wrist. I use my iPad less frequently. I have two scripts I have to read today which will happen on my iPad. I use PDFpen for iPad to take simple notes with a stylus because I’m more of a pencil/pen notetaker. I also read the majority of my DC comics on the iPad because their browser is leaps and bounds better than Marvels or Image’s. I prefer to read most of my comics on real paper anyway.

What is your favorite feature of the iPhone/iPad? My iPhone is like that fat Swiss Army knife that my Papa gave me when I was too young to even wield a fork that wasn’t blunted, but my iPhone is easier to carry. My favorite singular feature has to be the the camera. I have two really great cameras, a Canon DSLR and a beautiful compact Sony that I NEVER USE.

If you were in charge at Apple, what would you add or change? I have tiny little gripes about everything that I use but nothing that hasn’t been talked about a million times. My biggest complaint is that my wife and I can’t share stuff between our iTunes accounts. That’s where the gloss wears off for me and I can see the seams in Apple’s fabric. It’s a level of control and security that tarnishes everything else for me.

Anything else you’d like to share? A lot of people may balk at my folder structure but if I have single apps on multiple pages I get lost.

Thanks Rob.

Click here for more home screens.

The Podcast Circuit

I guested on two of my favorite shows this week:

52 Pickup
I joined Dave Caolo on his members only podcast where we talked about writing, technology, and the Red Sox. If you haven’t joined as a member at 52Tiger, you may want to consider it. Dave is working really hard to bring quality content to his members.

Bro Show
I made this commitment to join Myke and Terry months ago. Little did we know at the time that Apple would release the iPad [new] today. It was a lot of fun talking about the new gear.

If you’ve had enough of my dulcet tones, I was thrilled to see You Look Nice Today is back in production.

The World's Greatest E-Mail Disclosure

I so wish I could use this. (THIS POST IS INTENDED TO BE IRONIC.)

The Evolving Omni Sync Server

This week the Omni Group announced that the Omni Sync Server is officially out of Beta. Nearly two years ago I signed up for the Omni Sync beta for my OmniFocus database. At the time, it was a great alternative to the now defunct MobileMe. Specifically, it seemed to me the Omni Group found a way for its users to sync their databases without spending $100 per year with Apple or setting up their own servers. So it started life as an alternative platform for syncing OmniFocus. That made sense.

Throughout this beta, however, the Omni Sync Server evolved. I spent some time with the Omni Group’s president, Ken Case, at Macworld and he explained the vision for Omni Sync. Specifically, as users increasingly look at cloud based storage solutions, Omni faces a challenge. Their users are going to want to store documents on Dropbox (or some Dropbox-like service) and iCloud. In either case, Omni Group customers find themselves using Omni Group software with cloud storage by someone else. For most companies, this is fine. Not for the Omni Group. The Omni Group attacks customer support with a near religious ferver. These guys really want everyone to love and use their products. I’ve witnessed this devotion to customer satisfaction and it is impressive.

Getting back to the cloud thing ,the idea of absolute dedication to the customer experience combined with file storage managed by someone else is the Omni Group’s equivalent of an unstoppable force against an immovable object.

It is not acceptable to the Omni Group to simply tell a customer, “Sorry, your file is lost on iCloud. Call Apple and good luck.” The mere possibility of having that conversation with an Omni Group customer probably gives the Omni Support Ninjas the cold sweats.

So what did the Omni Group do? They built their own sync server. The Omni Sync Server is not going to be the wallflower OmniFocus sync engine that I originally believed. It is going to become a fully independent, Omni controlled, backbone to file syncing for a host of the Omni Group apps. Specifically: Omni Outliner, Omni Plan, OmniGraffle, OmniGraph Sketcher, and OmniFocus. Think about it a moment. Start an outline on your Mac. Polish it at Starbucks on your iPad. Finish it back on your Mac without any folder syncing or other incantations. During our interview, Ken explained that the roll out has already started. Omni Plan for Mac and OmniFocus already use the Omni Sync Server more support on the Mac and iOS will continue throughout the year.

The Omni Group still intends to incorporate iCloud syncing where it makes sense (file based apps like Omni Outliner but not database type apps like Omni Focus) but the purpose of the Omni Sync Server is for the Omni Group to serve up it’s own soup to nuts solution for software and hardware. If something goes wrong, the buck stops in one place. The cost for this service? Free. The Omni Group explains that this is part of your software license.

I believe the Omni Sync Server is just one more manifestation of why I respect the Omni Group so much. They really do sweat the details and don’t see their future tied to the ability to “gotcha” its users but instead make really useful software. I’m in. To sign up for the free OmniSync service, click here.

Degrees of "Free"

In this week’s episode of Build & Analyze, Marco Arment explains the challenges of competing with free. At some point over the last few years I’ve migrated away from free services for anything I consider essential. I’d like to say this was calculated but this shift took place at a subconsious level. This shift has two reasons:

1. No Monetization = Temporary
   I don’t want to waste my time in something temporary. I’ve been burned too many times over the years investing my time and effort learning a free service or app that disappears with little or no warning. If something is good, I want it to stick around and I understand that requires money.

2. Free is Not Free
   While some apps are free downloads, they are rarely “free”. I end up paying with intrusive ads or information about myself. I’d much rather pay a few dollars to begin with. In my book, that is much cheaper.

Applying this to Instapaper, not only did I pay for the app on my iPhone and iPad, I also am a subscriber and pay $1 per month for this ridiculously useful service that I use every day.

Two Mail Settings To Get Work Done Today

Do the Math

A “ding” every five minutes equals:

• 12 interruptions an hour.
• 96 interruptions in an 8 hour day.
• 480 interruptions a week.
• 1,920 interruptions a month.
• 23,040 interruptions a year.

Macworld 2012 Expo Hall Video

Wally Cherwinski captured the Macworld 2012 expo hall perfectly with this video.