Software

Day One 2 for iOS and Mac — First Impressions

February 6, 2016 · 14:32

I first started using Day One Classic1 in 2011. At least that’s what my first entry shows — I have a “Hello World” post on 29 December 2011. I have never used it on a daily basis, preferring to post most of my thoughts on Twitter instead, but I do try to write down all of my personal stuff in there — mostly all the bad stuff as far I can see. It has become my own way of dealing with all the negativity in the world and in my life. I admit that I have been writing less recently, mostly due to lack of time, but every since Day One 2.0 debuted on Mac and iOS, I have been using it every single day. Obviously part of that is due to the novelty of having and using new software, but I honestly hope I’ll be able to keep it up.

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  1. That’s that the 1.x version is now called. ↩

Five BBEdit Tips From Tobias →

February 5, 2016 · 19:26

Tobias Günther:

BBEdit is one of the most feature-rich text editors on the Mac.
Over many years, it has been improved and refined to become the powerful application that it is today.

In this post, we have compiled 5 tips that will help you get the most out of it.

I’ve been meaning to learn how to use all of the more advanced features of BBEdit since I first started using it. I hope these tips will finally get me started…

Safari for iOS Basics — Open Links in the Background

February 4, 2016 · 22:14

Opening links in the background is something which I do all the time on a Mac, using either the contextual menu under a two-finger tap or simply holding down the ⌘ key while clicking on a link. This means I am free to continue reading or doing whatever it is that I am doing and going back to that link later. This option is also available under iOS in Mobile Safari, but it needs to be turned on first.

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Day One 2 for iOS and Mac, Rewritten From the Ground Up, Launching on 4/02/2016 →

February 1, 2016 · 11:13

Paul Mayne on the Day One blog:

Over the past two years we’ve been working towards a major new version of Day One, using the somewhat awkward-sounding “Day One 2” as its name.

To support Day One 2’s new features, we ultimately rebuilt the app from the ground up, all the while staying true to Day One’s original simplicity. Rebuilding an app as seasoned as Day One is no small task. What I’d hoped would be a year-long effort has taken twice that… but we feel it’s been worth the wait.

Day One 2 will be a new app on Mac and iOS with two headlining features: multiple journals and multiple photos per entry. It will remain a paid app and be priced at $9.99 for iOS and $39.99 for Mac. We will provide a 50% discount to both apps during the first week of its debut. Day One Classic (v1) will continue to be maintained as needed and is compatible with Day One 2 when using Day One Sync.

I have been a Day One user since 2012, if I recall correctly, and continue to love what the team has built. I’m glad they’re coming out with a paid update, which is technically a completely new app, and that they’ll continue to support the older version. I’ll be purchasing the new one as soon as it comes out, although I sort of wish I could pay full price for it straight away, as I know I won’t be able to hold off for a full week. I also like their bold decision to keep the price pretty high, going against the tide.

The 2015 Panic Report →

January 27, 2016 · 08:38

Cabel Sasser:

As always, thank you for being a Panic customer, and a Panic fan. Thank you for allowing us to run this company making neat things that you hopefully like. And thanks for giving us the chance to do what we love every day. I hope that our journey can also kind-of feel like your journey, because you’ve been with us every step of the way.

These guys and their software always make me smile. Thank you Panic for that.

George R. R. Martin Writes Using WordStar 4.0 for DOS →

January 2, 2016 · 09:55

George R. R. Martin in a comment below his post:

Never. And you know why? Because I write my fiction with WordStar 4.0 on a DOS machine. Stable as a rock, with none of the glitches of Windows-based systems.

I’d probably use my favourite Ulysses [iOS | Mac], but I have to admire the geek in him — just setting it up today is not exactly easy. I wonder what kind of hardware he’s running too…

via @antichrista

MacKeeper Leaks 13 Million Mac Owners’ Data →

December 15, 2015 · 08:42

Thomas Fox-Brewster:

Anti-virus provider MacKeeper is known for pushing the message Apple Mac owners need protection. It needed some extra protection of its own today, after a white hat hacker discovered a database containing 13 million customer records was accessible by just visiting a selection of IP addresses, no username or password required.

Do not install this crap. Ever. And delete it if already installed. It does not help in any meaningful way, and is harmful in many others.

Why 2Do Is Federico Viticci’s New Favorite iOS Task Manager →

December 11, 2015 · 09:38

Federico Viticci:

2Do is easily the most customizable task manager for iOS. It’s a powerful app with dozens of options, and, at least initially, a steep learning curve. This article doesn’t want to be a guide to 2Do, or even a full review. Instead, I wanted to collect the features and details that have convinced me 2Do for iOS is the app for me. I’ve been using 2Do for months and I’m still discovering new aspects of it every day – I can only hope to explain how I use 2Do, not everything it has to offer.

2Do for both iOS and Mac is still on sale. Grab it after reading Federico’s short pout on the subject. Or just go grab it — it has to be at least half decent since he wrote about it at length.

★ 2Do – iOS – Productivity – €14.99 > €7.99 →
★ 2Do – Mac – Productivity – €49.99 > €24.99 →

Best of 2015 for Mac

December 10, 2015 · 14:37

Apart from the best apps and games for every platform, Apple also published a list of the runner-up apps and games of the year. The list contains a few excellent pieces of software, some of which I use, including Fantastical, Reeder 3, Ulysses, and many others.

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Last One to Leave Turns Off the Lights →

December 1, 2015 · 20:12

Bohemian Coding:

Today, we’re announcing an important change in how you receive updates to Sketch. After much thought, and with a heavy heart, we’re moving Sketch away from the Mac App Store.

I’m sad to see this happen more and more often. Ultimately, the Mac App Store will be full of the leftover “fart” apps, which have no value whatsoever. This should be a concern for Apple, because of the negative picture this paints for new Mac users who are visiting the Mac App Store for the first time. I hope something changes before it’s too late, if it isn’t already.

‘I Turned on iCloud Photo Library and It All Exploded’ →

November 30, 2015 · 10:43

Stephen Hackett:

I imported my photos and uploaded my 70GB photo library to iCloud. Everything went very smoothly, so I turned on iCloud Photo Library on my iPad.

Aaaaaand it all exploded.

This is the first time that I’ve seen anyone having serious issues with Photos and/or iCloud Photo Library. It has worked perfectly for me so far — probably the only Apple internet service that has.

Tweetbot 2.2 for Mac is out!

November 18, 2015 · 19:02

Apple finally approved Tweetbot 2.2 for Mac, with a few new interesting changes and bug fixes. Most notably, the conversation view now follows Tweetbots for iOS’ behaviour, with the newest Tweets on top, and the app now supports Split View and fullscreen mode in OS X 10.11 El Capitan.

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Lightroom 2015.3 / 6.3—Old Import Dialog is Back →

November 18, 2015 · 11:42

Adobe:

Lightroom CC 2015.3 and Lightroom 6.3 are now available on Adobe.com.  The goal of this release is to provide additional camera raw support, lens profile support and address bugs that were introduced in previous releases of Lightroom.  This release also restores the Import experience available prior to Lightroom 6.2.

I was waiting for this—the import module in 6.2 increased my import times by a factor of two. Hopefully everything will be back to normal.

My plea to Adobe: Please spend the next few months optimising Lightroom for speed.

Upload Photos to Instagram From a Browser with Insta-UP!

August 18, 2015 · 18:20

Many people consider Instagram to be a social network that should be reserved for images created on an iPhone or another compatible smartphone. I always saw it as just another place for posting my photos, similar to Flickr or 500px. This was quite easy since I have been syncing my iPhoto library with my iPhone since 2008, and has recently been made even easier with iCloud Photo Library and the new Photos for iOS and OS X.

But using a browser is even easier …

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Tweetbot 2.0.1 Submitted to the App Store—Waiting for Approval

June 17, 2015 · 10:52

Paul Haddad of Tapbots posted a tweet informing that Tweetbot 2.0.1 for Mac has been submitted to the Mac App Store. The new version includes the following features:

  • support for the new tweet quote feature
  • support for “unlimited” DMs which Twitter announced will go live in July
  • fixed a problem that resulted in a crash when typing @mentions in the compose window
  • fixed a problem that caused a crash when uploading a new profile image
  • improved the speed of the app when switching accounts

I posted my short review of Tweetbot 2.0 for Mac a few days ago—it’s the best Twitter client in the world. In my humble opinion naturally.

★ Tweetbot 2.0 – Mac – €19.99 > €12.99 →
★ Tweetbot 3.0 – iPhone – €4.99 →
★ Tweetbot 1.0 – iPad – €2.99 →

Tweetbot 2.0 for Mac is Out—the Best Twitter Client in the World

June 6, 2015 · 20:26

I’ve been traveling these past few weeks, having a wonderful time in Morocco, and I didn’t have my MacBook with me—I went iPhone only and I didn’t regret it until two days ago, when the wonderful folks at Tapbots announced Tweetbot 2.0 for Mac [App Store]. This has been my goto Twitter client ever since the iPhone version gained notifications back in … a long time ago. This is also my favourite piece of software. Ever.

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Welcome to Typed – the Markdown Editor for the Rest of Us

December 2, 2014 · 18:29

Having discovered Markdown completely by accident many years ago, I quickly got hooked on the concept and dropped Apple’s Pages and other apps to focus on plain text documents. The most important feature for me wasn’t Markdown itself—it was the knowledge that I’ll be able to read and access my files in the coming years without issues. It might seem ridiculous that we should worry about such things, but I have a set of 3.5” floppy disks with my school projects in various obscure formats which are completely unusable today.

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PCalc for OS X Yosemite with Continuity / Handoff

October 17, 2014 · 13:26

I had the opportunity to beta test the wonderful PCalc by James Thomson for these past few weeks and I’ve really come to love it, especially on the iPhone. You can read my short review about the iOS version here.

The two other new features that got me hooked are support for Handoff and PCalc’s widget. Handoff — one of iOS 8’s new features — means that I can start my calculations on my iPhone and should I choose to pick up my iPad, a little icon will appear on the lockscreen, allowing me to continue where I left off. I’ve actually had a few situations where this worked out perfectly. The only downside is that Handoff support in iOS 8 is still a little bit finicky — sometimes it just refuses to work.

I’ve also been using the OS X version and unfortunately, Handoff only worked correctly between iPad and iPhone – I just couldn’t coax anything useful out of it on OS X on either of my computers. James rolled out the update in the Mac App Store a few days ago and I just updated it a few minutes ago. At first it didn’t work at all with my iPhone 6 and iPad mini 2… and then I had the idea of turning on Bluetooth on both devices, to test it again (this did not work earlier during the betas). The PCalc icon appeared in the lower left hand corner of my lockscreen immediately. And it worked the other way too!

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