I’m still trying to bend Apple’s Shortcuts app to my will. I probably would have given up long ago were it not for the joy I get from my HomePod when it actually works. I’ve definitely run into the rough edges of Shortcuts, edges that feel like they result from a small team with too much on their backlog.1
Let’s walk through a few rough edges and get this written down for posterity.
The Problem I’m a big fan of Drafts for iOS. It’s a terrific writing environment and it can integrate with just about anything through URL schemes. But, URL schemes have a major limitation when I write long blocks of text. A URL can only support a finite number of characters (around 2000).
I want to export text from Drafts and send it to other apps as a Markdown file. If I have a markdown header line with a “title” defined I want the file to be named with that title.
With two HomePods in my house (so far) I have moved on to giving them the keys to as much as possible. My second step was to deploy Lutron smart switches to replace some Hue bulbs.
Why Not Hue Hue bulbs are excellent. They are responsive, last a very long time over traditional incandescent bulbs, and have a pretty good app. What I don’t love is that I have to cover every physical switch in my house because if you turn off power to a Hue bulb they magically stop working.
I’ll admit, I’m terrible at rote memorization. I always have been, which is weird for someone that became a chemist. Often chemistry is approached by pre-med students as another flashcard topic, and this definitely works for many people.
If you are someone that uses flashcards then this Anki system looks very good.
There are apps for the Mac and for iOS. Anki has an interesting plain text format that also has quite a bit of power.
I’ve had a frustrated love affair with OmniFocus for many years. My bonafides with GTD, task managers, and OmniFocus is easily discovered here on Macdrifter. This article is concerned with the latest version of OmniFocus for iOS. I dedicated myself to running my home and work projects with nothing but OmniFocus 3 for the past month. It’s been mostly successful.
TL;DR: Tags and new Perspective options are highlights of a dated user experience.
Another great update for Procreate on the iPad. Most notable is the addition of “liquify” tools. I love Procreate, even as a non-artist. I enjoy doodling, drafting, and just messing around.
With apps like Procreate, Art Studio Pro, and Affinity Designer the iPad Pro is one of the most creative devices I own. I think there’s still opportunity for improvment of the Apple Pencil but I enjoy using it every single time.
This short summary by Jordan Merrick is very promising.
Since its acquisition by Apple, I’ve been very skeptical of the Workflow app. Apple tends to behave like a child excited to buy a new toy only to leave it in the driveway to get run over at the end of the day. While Workflow has received a few minor updates since the acquisition it felt like development was stalled. Clearly I was wrong, so take the following opinions with a grain of salt.
GoodNotes is a terrific app for handwritten notes. I often need a combination of diagrams, text, and plain old doodles for meeting notes. The advantage of GoodNotes has always been its excellent handwriting recognition and export. But, I’ve switched to Notability since a recent update that adds handwriting recognition on top of Notability’s other more refined features.
Handwriting The ink system in GoodNotes is subtly better than Notability. It feels a bit smoother and more realistic to me.
Let’s see if I can do a Dave Pell style post.
I actually liked Snow Leopard more than Leopard, so a year of improvements is just fine by me. 2018 feels like the year of “sorry we ruined your family life” from Apple. I still don’t want a HomePod I actually kind of want a pair of HomePods. I wouldn’t say no to a series-3 Watch but I’m also not saying yes until I see Overcast for Apple Watch Siri actions will enable the most productive, dumbest assistant I’ve ever worked with Great, now I need to pretend I don’t know how to do group FaceTime just like I pretend I don’t know how to do group messaging Please, oh please don’t let game makers use tongue detection.
I immediately turned on iCloud storage for Messages with the latest iOS update. I liked this succinct summary by Paul Horowitz over at OS X Daily. That’s a lot of storage moved to iCloud.
