Plain Text. Gadgets. Art. Geek. Speculation. Mac.
I have been experimenting with using the built-in Notes app on iOS and macOS lately. I’ve found some unique capabilities that make it a pretty interesting project management app, in particular the ability on macOS to add links to files from the Finder, as well as drag in links to email messages and setup names as mailto hyperlinks.
Continue reading “Project Management in Apple Notes”Pretty clever workaround to search the web for any selectable text in iOS: select the text (in any app) and then tap on the “Define…” option in the contextual menu. The resulting screen will likely tell you there are no results and offer you the chance to search the web (which will happen in Safari).
I just posted our 15th podcast over at The Apple Artist. If you’re a digital artist working on a Mac, this is for you. Joined by my Mac artist friends Krishna Sadasivam and Tracy Bishop. We discuss the popular Cintiq alternative Yiynova MSP19u and the brand new Manga Studio 5. As usual, filled with other tips, app suggestions and other geeky stuff. I’ve even been told that PC artists find it helpful!
More Yiynova MSP19u & Manga Studio 5 – The Apple Artist Podcast #15 – The Apple Artist.
I love the Drafts app for the iPhone, and I love automating stuff. The downside to using Drafts is that the workflows I’ve set up aren’t possible with any software on the Mac. I cobbled together some methods to achieve at least the one most common task I have, appending info to a master plain-text log file on Dropbox. Here’s how I did it.
[UPDATE 2017-12-30: here’s the companion article on prepending text files]
Continue reading “Append Text File With Hazel, Automator & Shell Scripts”
Moves is a clever and stylish pedometer app that I’m really enjoying lately. Continue reading “Moves: Stylish Pedometer App”
Poster for WordPress is a slick blogging app. It has just enough unique features to make it worth paying for over using the free official version. Continue reading “Poster for WordPress”
Faux stitched leather annoys me too. But I’m not sure all skeuomorphic design is bad.
Wikipedia defines skeuomorphic design as:
an element of design or structure that serves little or no purpose in the artifact fashioned from the new material but was essential to the object made from the original material
I find it annoying in certain situations in iOS and OS X, such as the Phone app icon ¹, the Address Book on the Mac, the page flips in iBooks. Still, I’m not turned off by the green felt in Game Center.
Continue reading “In (Partial) Defense of Apple’s Skeuomorphic Design in iOS”
Text Convert fills a niche that I wish Text Expander Touch could fill, since so many of my iOS writing apps incorporate it. The niche? Reformatting text on the clipboard. Continue reading “Text Convert”
Interesting alternative method for invoking bookmarklets in Mobile Safari using iOS keyboard shortcuts. In short, you just add the bookmarklet URL as the phrase for a new keyboard shortcut, and then assign a shortcut for it. Tap the URL bar, hit the X to clear the field and type your shortcut.
1Keyboard is a virtual bluetooth keyboard application for Mac OS X that allows you to wirelessly connect to Bluetooth enabled devices such as your iPhone, iPad and Apple TV. It does not require a wireless Bluetooth keyboard. Works great. It went from free to being a paid app since I tried it out. There’s a free demo that lasts for 2 days so you can give it a whirl.
The Overthinker 