As of last week the single largest use I had for Dropbox was DEVONthink syncing. I have 10 active databases all syncing thousands of documents between my Mac version and the iOS version. With DEVONthink’s encrypted sync, I rest pretty comfortably knowing that my data is guarded against Dropbox. I’d still like to stop paying for Dropbox if I can. I’m getting closer to that goal.
This week DEVONthink added iCloud syncing and I immediately moved off of Dropbox.
Drafts 5 has been out for a few weeks and I’ve read a lot of interesting ideas about the note app. I’ve also cleaned up and trimmed down (and then expanded) a bunch of my actions for the app since I last wrote about it. Now comes a ton of new stuff in the 5.1 update.
Drafts can be difficult to grok. Maybe the best way to get a feel for what it does well is to hear from people that actually use it.
I finished the iPhone Field Guide by David Sparks last week. It’s a great iBook for pretty much anybody that uses an iPhone. I bought a copy for someone in my family that’s a not very technically oriented. I also enjoyed the book as I would any well written article about iPhone apps and workflows. I think that’s a great description for potential readers that are hesitant to buy an iBook about an iPhone.
Just when it feels like interest in workflow automation is dying, I discover a terrific new site: Automation Orchard. The new site has a terrific navigation and crosses over between iOS and Mac through a single portal. I also like that the site aggregates links from other sites to avoid a single perspective.
Automation Orchard goes way beyond a few apps on iOS. The collections are broken down between hardware, software, and web services.
Adding to the list of Drafts 5 reviews that are more than reviews, is the BirchTree collection. There’s a variety of Drafts actions to install from the review for apps like Bear, OmniFocus, and Things. There’s even an action to post to Micro.blog.
I’ve used the Orbi WiFi system for several months. With the demise of the Apple wireless base stations I figured this was a good time to write about it. Let me start with two disclaimers:
I don’t use most of the advanced features of the Orbi The Orbi is an expensive WiFi solution that may not be for everyone Mesh networks have become consumer products. I ran my own Frankenstein’s monster of a network before buying into the Orbi lifestyle.
I know, the internet tends to repeat itself. I’m sure it’s old news by now, but Drafts 5 from Agile Tortoise was released last week and people like it. Stick with me if you want to hear about an app I rely on. This isn’t a review as much as it is a working log. It feels weird to review an app that I’ve used for over five years.
On its surface, Drafts is just a note app for iOS.
I “scan” a lot of documents with my iPhone because I hate to accumulate paper and a lot of the time I’m far from my ScanSnap. I’ve used just about every scanning app available on the iPhone but I’ve settled on ScannerPro. I have no particular allegiance to ScannerPro so I gave the new version of Scanbot Pro a good try. I’m sticking with ScannerPro.
ScannerPro is simply faster to scan a document in my hands.
I’m not what some would call “a birder.” I don’t seek out birds to watch. I do enjoy several bird feeders and we hike in the nearby Audobon trails. Usually I just have a passing curiosity in identifying birds. I’m just motivated enough to use an app and not nearly enough to use a book. That’s what’s great about the Merlin Bird ID. It’s an app that is so easy to use that I now know the difference between a cow bird and a female cardinal.
What a nice overview of by Jonathan Poritsky at The Candler Blog
The main feature that blew me away was shooting RAW. Halide’s designer, Sebastiaan de With, has an excellent series on the topic, but here’s a quick example that made me want to shoot everything RAW. Halide allows you to shoot both RAW and JPG, the latter of which will have all the noise reduction and color correction the built in Camera app offers.
