apps

  • December 31, 2020

    Launch Specific Parts of a Mac App with Stream Deck and Keyboard Maestro

    Earlier this week in my Favorites of 2020 post, I bestowed the dubious honor of favorite gadget upon the Elgato Stream Deck. I love automation, and the flexibility of this bad boy to control not only aspects of my computer, but aspects of my home, is fantastic.

    Well I recently picked up the Stream Deck XL and have a few extra buttons to play with now. One thing I thought would be interesting is to launch a specific note in Bear Notes. Turns out you can totally do that! Here’s how.

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  • September 1, 2020

    On Buying Jeans and App Subscriptions

    It seems that increasingly, more software companies are moving to a subscription model, where instead of paying once to own the software (or app), you pay monthly, or annually, to keep using it at the latest features. Adobe was perhaps one of the first major companies to do it with Creative Cloud. Now we see it in WordPress plugins, and increasingly, iOS apps. Fantastical did it this year, and this week Deliveries announced they are moving to subscription.

    But before I tell you why this is a good thing, I want to tell you about buying jeans.

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  • August 27, 2020

    My Favorite Way to Capture Ideas: Tot

    One of the main topics I speak about in both my Consistent Content YouTube Video and the upcoming videos for Podcast Liftoff is idea capture. Now there are lots of ways to capture ideas. Your phone probably has a built-in app. Your computer definitely does. Pen and paper are always an option. But once you capture, you need to do something with that info, so using the right tool is important. I’ve found the right tool for me. It’s an app called Tot.

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  • October 25, 2017

    Switching to Apple’s Native Apps

    Since iOS 11 came out, I’ve been forming new opinions on apps and what I want to use on my phone. When I was an Android user, I would try not to pay for apps, and had reasonable success doing so. Call it the open source mentality, sure, but Google also had pretty great native apps — especially when they rolled out Material Design. When I switched to iOS, I went a little app crazy. I wanted to try everything. I was also more willing to pay for apps, mostly because more apps cost money. But recently, I’ve decided to cut out most 3rd party apps and focus on the native apps Apple sends with the phone. Here’s why.

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  • Is it, ‘$30 good’?

    We live in an interesting world where apps, likely because there is not physical product just a download, are expected to be cheap or free. Video games are still $60 a shot, but an app that will make you more productive is $30 and it gets questioned.

    I asked that very question recently when looking at some new Desktop Publishing software. Let me be clear: $30 is not a lot of money for a great app, but the question is, “Is it worth $30 to me?” I love to support developers, but if I don’t use the app, it’s money wasted.

    June 23, 2015

  • October 9, 2014

    Learning Italian with my Downtime

    Lately I’ve been driving/traveling a lot, and I have a feeling that will be happening a bit more due to my newfound flexibility in where I can work. It’s been pretty standard that I listen to music or play games (or you know, read a book), but I’ve decided to try something different. See, the New Year’s Resolution I feel I’ve been slacking most on is learning Italian. I haven’t put an ounce of effort into it; that’s going to change. I’ve decided to give Duolingo a try.

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  • July 8, 2013

    The Mobile Web App Developer’s Dilemma

    I’m currently sitting on an Amtrak train from NY Penn to Exton, PA (the Philly-ish area). The ticket taker was coming by on his nifty device scanning tickets, which would then check a database of purchased tickets to confirm the purchase and the identity of the purchaser. However, when we hit a tunnel (and therefore no data connection), the device stopped working; any scans returned “Ticket not found.” You would think that whoever developed this system for a subway/train company would have considered that at times there might not be a data connection, but that didn’t seem to be the case. This is a bit of a dilemma for anyone developing apps for mobile.

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  • January 31, 2011

    10 Android Apps the Make my Life Easier

    It’s no secret that I love Android as a platform, and I favor Android phones over the iPhone. I did my Master’s Thesis on the G1, bought the Motorola Droid- the first Android phone available on Verizon, and recently upgraded to the HTC Droid Incredible. One of the reasons I like Android so much is because of the openness of the Market Place, and the ability to install non-market apps on your phone. Apps are very powerful for any platform because they make your phone more personal. Today I want to tell you about 10 Android apps that have made my life easier!

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