My Interview For The BitQuill Q&A

Yours truly interviewed by Devir Kahan for the BitQuill Q&As.

If you could have any single super-power, what would it be?

Cannot decide between ‘melodic farting’ and ‘cognitive television channel zapping’, I am afraid.

Check out the interview for answers a little more valuable and useful: How I work & what writing really means to me.

Your OmniFocus Tasks As A Word Cloud Wallpaper

Now this little hack will not get a single task done or make you more productive by any stretch of imagination. Nevertheless, this fun script by Marko Kästner takes your OmniFocus tasks straight from the cache database, produces a tag cloud like image and sets it as your desktop background. Being a little hacky, making it work and automating it needs a few skills, but the documentation provided is straightforward.

OmniFocus Task Cloud

If you are looking for something more productive you want to check out Marko’s posts on Getting Agile Results with OmniFocus. Marko is also the brain behind the rather helpful Alfred 2 workflow for OmniFocus which I covered earlier.

Silo – A Flat Task List Manager

I typically do not review task or todo list managers, but Silo looked like an interesting concept with a very nice and unique UI design approach: In particular with the currently topical discussion about an allegedly “flat” UI design coming to iOS 7 at next week’s WWDC in San Francisco. More and more apps now come with refreshing simple designs and Silo will nicely match with apps like Mailbox.

Silo iPad version

Silo is minimal in design and focussed around managing individual lists of tasks. No fancy tagging, context, projects or anything. Not even due dates are supported in 1.0. However, Silo has list sharing build in which makes it interesting for small teams, friends or families that have joint things going on – and if it is just as mundane as groceries.

Being available on Mac and iOS (universal for iPhone & iPad) it sets itself apart from many platform isolated solutions available on the App Store. In that respect the name “Silo” is not really deserved.

The iOS UI heavily leverages gestures in a similar way we have already seen it in Clear. Even pro users will get a little excited since Silo includes a x-callback-url scheme which allows for some nifty iOS automation.

Silo is not for heavy lifters and dyed-in-the-wool GTDers, but if you are looking for a simple, well designed task manager available on all your Apple platforms and allowing list sharing Silo should be worth a look.

The Fresh Mac Install

Yesterday I received my new work machine: A current generation 13" MacBook Air with 2GHz Intel Core i7, 8GB RAM and 256GB SSD. Coming from a 11" MBA the new machine feels huge, in particular the screen. I would have gone for a new 11" MBA, but this model is not available in my company. Likewise the 13" rMBP is not on the list, which would have been my #1 choice for 13". The 15.4" rMBP which is available was never been part of my considerations as it really does not suit my mobile lifestyle.

With a shiny, brand-new machine in front of me I started to debate whether I would simply restore from TimeMachine or go for a fresh install. Delegating the decision to my Twitter followers returned a very clear "fresh install".

Essential Utilities

The first thing I do when setting up a virgin machine is to install five essential tools that allow me to efficiently move my data over and get all other applications up and running fast. The below is my exact order of installation:

  1. Dropbox – Before anything goes, Dropbox does. Lots of key data, documents and – very important for this setup – application settings are sync’ed via Dropbox. So before I can do anything, I need my data synchronised onto the new machine. This can take a few hours and I wish there was an option in Dropbox to prioritise some files & folder, such as my 1Password keychain file.
  2. 1Password – Speaking about it, 1Password is number two on the list as it allows me to log into all key websites that I need and holds lot of other passwords and licence keys I need during installations. Installing the browser extensions for Safari and Chrome is just as important.
  3. TextExpander – I am a lazy bastard and many of the things I type are by now muscle memorised TextExpander snippets. My GoogleMail address has not been typed in full for years now as !gml does it. I’d simply be stranded trying to get stuff configured without my snippets. They get ported over conveniently via Dropbox sync.
  4. Alfred 2 – Similar to TextExpander the Alfred hotkey is in my muscle memory and I am genuinely surprised every single time I sit in front of another Mac, hit the shortcut and nothing happens. While I still need to invest more time to exploit all features of Alfred, it is already pretty much my central command & control tool. When using the setting sync feature of Alfred make sure you first enable it on your old/main machine or you’ll learn the hard way (like I did) that Alfred simply overwrites whatever is locally with the settings on Dropbox.
  5. Evernote – a number of installation instructions, mainly for some of my work stuff, as well as some tweaks (see below) are part of my Reference Material stored in Evernote. This is why Evernote is the last quintessential application to be installed right at the beginning together with the browser extension and this super-handy Alfred workflow. If you are not using Evernote yet, you are missing out and should learn "how-to" here.

The Little Helpers

The next step, before installing all the big applications, is to get all my little helper utilities up and running. Most of which live in the menubar or in the background. In no particular order, these are:

  • Hazel – a lot of automatic clean-up and filing (including adding to Evernote) is done by Hazel. When moving from one machine to another, Hazel allows you to export all rules per folder and important them on your target machine.
  • CloudApp – For quick file sharing and URL shortening.
  • Moom – Best window management tool around. I mainly use it when my MBA is hooked up to my 27" Thunderbolt Display, but with the new 13" screen I can see me using it on the MBA itself as well.
  • Caffeine – Hate when your laptop goes to sleep while presenting slides? Me as well. There is also a nice and simple Alfred workflow to trigger Caffeine.
  • Crashplan – my current cloud backup solution, part of my overall backup strategy which also leverages SuperDuper for maintaining a full offsite backup clone.
  • Fantastical – While it has not fully replaced other calendar application for me like it did for others (still appreciate a graphical representation of my week), I love Fantastical to pieces as my quick entry and calendar lookup.
  • Tweetbot – of course.
  • Bartender – After installing all my essential utilities, the little helpers and with the Mac OS X standard items I have a pretty cluttered menu bar. This is where Bartender comes in.

A Few Tweaks

Finally, just before the normal download and installation of the real work (or entertainment) applications start, I do a few minor, but important tweaks to Mac OS X:

  • Kill the Dashboard (I neither need nor use it) with this terminal command:
    defaults write com.apple.dashboard mcx-disabled -boolean YES
    killall Dock
  • Remove the Dock delay:
    defaults write com.apple.Dock autohide-delay -float 0
    killall Dock
  • Set the save dialogue window to expanded by default in all applications:
    defaults write -g NSNavPanelExpandedStateForSaveMode -bool TRUE

If you like a few more tweaks, I recommend this list of 50 useful terminal commands. It is a bit dated and some of the commands may no longer work with more recent Mac OS X versions.

Application Keyboard Shortcuts

Next to obviously changing System Preferences to my liking and requirements, I align some keyboard shortcuts across applications. The keyboard is my primary source of input and navigation, but at best my brain can remember one shortcut for one functionality. For example, I use numbered and bulleted lists a lot and hence I prefer to use the same keyboard shortcut for it in all relevant applications. Under ‘System Preferences > Keyboard Shortcuts > Application Shortcuts’ I therefore create/overwrite relevant shortcuts.

The Big Hitters

The list below contains all applications I use on a regular basis. I often have more installed for either testing purposes or a very specific/edge use case.

  • OmniFocus (1 & 2) – surprise, surprise.
  • OmniGraffle Pro & OmniOutliner Pro – My goto applications for conceptual work.
  • Microsoft Office 2011 – I know, it is sad. But I work in a big corporate environment and PowerPoint & Co are the common denominator and de facto standard. While I own iWork, I presently do not have it installed. There are still incompatibilities with Microsoft Office and the only use case at the moment would be for myself. Very unfortunate, but the better application suite loses out in this case.
  • MindNode Pro – Still the fastest, simplest and best looking mind mapping application on the Mac. If only they would finally update the application icon which not only looks outdated, but ugly.
  • Byword – My (Markdown) plain text editor of choice in combination with Marked for previewing/rendering.

My Launchpad

  • MarsEdit – While I write long-form posts like this mainly in Byword, MarsEdit is still the best WordPress publishing client around – its UI could do with a facelift, but other than that Daniel Jalkut keeps doing a great job!
  • Unbound for Mac Beta – Dropbox and Unbound on Mac as well as iOS have fully replaced iPhoto for me
  • Rdio – My secondary music source after iTunes (Match). Follow me on Rdio if you like.
  • Google Chrome & Firefox – Some of my employer’s internal websites are so old that they cause issues in Safari and I also need to cross-browser-test my website when I do tweaks. Firefox really only for use of the Firebug extension.
  • DayOne – This application really got my into journaling.
  • Espresso – for the little HTML & CSS editing I do.
  • Pixelmator – any image or photo operation is done here.
  • Sketch – My graphic design skills are a bit rusty, but sometimes I only vector draw a little to calm myself down.
  • iBooks Author & ScreenFlow because I am still trying to work on my book project.
  • Outbank 2 – an awesome banking and finance management application supporting German and European security and encryption standards. Apparently they are working on a version for the US market.

This setup might appear simply to some and a complex to others – milage varies and depends on what you create, produce, work or consume. Brett Terpstra’s first applications on his Mac for example look different since he is more focussed on (genius) development work. For me, a few days in with this fresh setup, I am not missing anything.

Repository Of Mail.app Plugins

Many, many moons ago Hawk Wings was the place for Mail.app plugins, hacks, tips & tricks. While the site is still online it now looks a like a little museum. Today I came across this effort by Robin Benson which appears to be a current and well maintained list of Mail.app plugins.

The Missing Mail.app Plugin

Fixing a Mail.app issue that exists since the early days of Mac OS X:

Universal Mailer is a Mail.app plugin that solves some issues when sending emails. It removes ATT00001.htm files, it correctly formats messages with attachments and inline images and offers an option to set the default font for outgoing messages.

When enabled, Universal Mailer is able to correctly format outgoing emails, so that even after Exchange EWS filtering they retain the original format.

Too good to be true. Testing it now in my corporate (read Microsoft Exchange) environment. Special thanks to @florianbuerger and @radexp for building me the latest version from the Github source. There is, of course, also ready-to-install version.

Mac Travelling – MacSparky travels ruggedised

This little series of posts looks at the most efficient way to travel with your Apple devices. I am on the road often, flying across Europe and doing the odd trip to the US. When I travel I like to keep things light, but functional. Over the past 10 years I have learned many lessons and have incrementally improved by electronic travel setup. These posts cover aspects of my setup and those of fellow nerds. This guest post is by David ‘MacSparky’ Sparks.

I’m one of those guys who loves to travel light. That would all be fine if I’d just keep it to myself. I can’t. I’m always yakking about how I can go away for a week with just carry-on. It’s a thing for me. I spend days obsessing on how I can get away on the next trip with one pair of shoes and exactly which electronic bits are necessary so I can get by with carry-on. As you can see, I’m invested in this.

The question then becomes, what carry on? For years I thought all carry on luggage was created equal, craptacular. You bought a shiny looking something and in three years or less, it exploded at the seams, usually while I was on a trip. I’d then duct tape it together, and ritually trash it upon my return only to repeat the cycle. Then I heard about the Pelican luggage. Pelican makes luggage that serious travellers use to ship their serious gear. It comes with a lifetime guaranty. Lifetime. If you were carrying unobtanium, you’d do it in a Pelican case. Their luggage is hard shell, water tight, and completely bad-ass.

Pelican 1510 Carry On CasePelican 1510LOC Laptop Case

Four years ago after the implosion of my latest carry-on, I decided to try a Pelican. I ended up getting the Pelican 1510LOC. The 1510 dimensions are exactly within the carry-on spec and it fits in overhead compartments with the type of precision that only a Bond villain could master. I love this luggage much more than a grown man should ever love luggage. The 1510LOC is designed for someone like me. It has a nice main compartment able to hold my clothes, toothbrush, and socks. There are also two modular tear-outs in the lid. One is large enough to hold a 15″ MacBook Pro and the other is a zippered pouch for my cables, connectors, and plugs. On travel day, I leave my Mac locked away in the Pelican. (The iPad and a BlueTooth keyboard are enough at the tray table.)

I’ve had the Pelican for four years now and it still looks great. The wheels still work the same way they did when it was new and despite some abuse, the hard case still looks good. The hard case also doubles as a chair, foot rest, and desk when I’m stuck in an airport.

The best thing about the Pelican 1510LOC is that I no longer worry about my stuff when I travel. When the guy in the shuttle service throws my Pelican in the back of the van like it is a sack of potatoes, I don’t worry about my stuff. (The other people in the shuttle, however, should worry.) When there is no overhead room and the airline checks my Pelican, I don’t worry.

You can find the Pelican 1510LOC on Amazon for about $250. In my opinion it is worth every penny. I’m going to be using this luggage for many years to come.

Other Posts In This Series:


David SparksDavid Sparks is a lawyer and creator of many things Mac/iOS. Not only does he co-host the Mac Power Users Podcast – already at 139 episodes and counting – he also published and co-authored a number of rather successful books, including Paperless, Markdown and 60 Mountain Lion Tips. There are too many good things to list that David is involved in, so I recommend checking his personal blog and follow him on Twitter to stay current.

Travelling With The iPhone

Over the past weeks I have provided insights about how I have optimised by baggage, Mac, iOS devices and accessories for regular business travel. Dave Caolo takes the subject to much more detail in his iPhone Traveler series on 52 Tiger. He covers about everything aspects you can think of when being on the go with your iPhone: From data roaming, travel recommendation apps to navigation.

I picked up a tip or two and so will you.

An Eisenhower Matrix Approach To OmniFocus

Esteban Umerez Argaia, another lawyer using OmniFocus, shares his somewhat unique OmniFocus Setup in his first ever English blog post. The uniqueness comes from him using the Eisenhower Method (or a variation of it) to distinguish importance, in Esteban’s case demand, and urgency of projects.

One axis is for Urgency, but the other one is for Demand. I mean, how demanding a project or a task can be, whether it’s because the client is very demanding, or because the task itself is complicated. That way, a task can be urgent and demanding, urgent but easy, not urgent but demanding, not urgent and easy. And everything should get laid out in four quadrants, but I actually only use three of them, that I have called: Urgent and Active; Keep In Sight; On Hold.

This approach is followed by Esteban also for Perspectives while Contexts seem to be less important to him, though he still uses them.

Unbound Dropbox Photo Management for iOS & Mac

If you followed my post on Exporting your iPhoto Library to Dropbox, moved away from iPhoto and iCloud and consider quitting Apple stock apps for Photo Management altogether than Unbound is for you.

Unbound dropbox photos ipad iphone

Unbound is a Photo Management and Viewing app for iOS with separate version for iPhone and iPad. Next to browsing, viewing and sharing it allows to move, delete and upload photos right within the application. The clean and simple user experience is further improved as Unbound caches photos you view from your Dropbox and hence reduced load times as you show around the latest picture of your kids.

I am using Unbound for a couple days now and need to say I am very happy with it. I am staring to consider dropping iPhoto on Mac OS X as well and replace it with either Unbound for Mac, which is currently in beta, or with Pixa.