Jeff Perry

I have been thinking a lot about writing and blogging lately. I genuinely miss it, and I have been slowly making the habit of writing more and more constant in my life. In fact, I am writing this at 5 in the morning, 4 hours before I normally leave for work. Why? Because I have made the conscious effort to get up early solely to write.

Along with writing habitually I have been thinking about what I want to write about. I shared my feelings about writing about the tech industry and how it was a battle for me, but after more thought I do truly miss being a part of that conversation. Not solely because I can be part of the virtual water cooler but because I still deeply care about the tech we use and how that can affect us in various ways. Which is why I am happy to announce that Tablet Habit is coming back. I will share more about this in a bit but I also want to write about workflows and where you can find posts of mine going forward.

After a post from Numeric Citizen where he detailed his writing workflow, I decided that it was time for me to do the same.

This is not nearly as pretty or elaborate as Numeric Citizen’s but for now it will do. Also, this is what allowed me to decide to bring back Tablet Habit while continuing to write on my personal blog. I am sure someone over the years told me to do this exact kind of workflow, in fact I am sure of it, but I never truly feel good about an idea until I flesh it out for myself visually.

To quickly go into detail how this works, everything starts with news I receive from various outlets. Reddit, blogs, Twitter, and newsletters are the most common places for me to find something that interests me. Once I find something I want to save it goes to Craft. I am still working on the organization and chewing on my thoughts about this app, but as fo right now this is an app that has allowed me to understand the power and usefulness a wiki notes app can have. I have barely scratched the surface, but it has been a genuine dream to have an app that works the same way my brain does. If you haven’t, I highly recommend you read the review for Craft on MacStories.

From Craft I will usually export it out via Markdown to Ulysses and write things out there. As of this point where I post this is to be decided later. The main focus is to get ideas out of my messy and busy brain and onto the calm and simple page. Once I get that down it’s easier for me.

Finally, after I have written something I think is worthy of posting I decide where it should go. If it is something small or obviously personal it goes to my personal blog at JeffPerry.blog. This is basically a catch all for quick thoughts (which used to go on Twitter), non-tech stuff, and links that don’t necessarily fit the more specific topics Tablet Habit has. It allows me to separate the ephemeral thoughts I want to put out into the universe and the more thought out articles and pieces I want to write. In the event I have something long to write about that is more personal, like this for instance, it will go on my personal blog as well. I try to emulate other people who do this such as Shawn Blanc with The Sweet Setup and his personal blog.

For Tablet Habit, things along the lines of Apple, iPad, Silicon Valley, or other things tangentially related to those topics will be posted there. It can be link posts, articles, reviews, or something else. The difference between Tablet Habit and my personal blog is that Tablet Habit is beholden to certain topics and areas while my personal blog is a place for me to post shorter content and things unrelated to my niche. It is also two different platforms. My personal blog is on micro.blog whereas Tablet Habit is on Ghost. Micro.blog is more of a short-form social platform and that is how I use my personal blog, where Ghost is more meant for longer articles which is perfect for Tablet Habit.

Another thing that I have learned about myself over the years of blogging is that if I pressure myself to post regularly to be “relevant” on Tablet Habit it tends to go south. So for that reason, I will no be holding myself to a schedule and instead use my various blogs and platforms for what I originally intended them to be, a way for me to express myself and the various things that interest me.

If you are wondering how you can still read everything I write, you can subscribe to RSS feed of my personal blog and to the Tablet Habit Newsletter below, or you can follow me on Twitter @iamJeffPerry which cross-posts everything from both websites.

JeffPerry.blog RSS

Tablet Habit Newsletter

@iamJeffPerry on Twitter

@TabletHabit on Twitter

If you would like to get in touch you can also do so on Twitter via DM or you can email me, which can be found here.

Jay Peters writing for The Verge:

When you ask Siri to play a song on iOS 14.5, you may be prompted to select which app you want to use to play it, according to a screenshot shared on Reddit.

The menu to select an app.

Image: u/matejamm1 on Reddit

I’m on the iOS 14.5 beta, but interestingly, the feature worked a bit differently for me. I asked Siri to play some Tame Impala, and I wasn’t presented with a list of apps to choose from, like in the screenshot above. Instead, I was shown a prompt asking for access to my Spotify data, which I allowed. After that, requests for songs went through Spotify without any prompts.

Matt Birchler:

If I had one recommendation to people launching new web projects, it would be that you need to present value right up front. Often I see new projects launch with a message of “subscribe and find out what I’m going to be doing”, which may work for some people who are hugely popular already, but I don’t think works for 99.9% of people.

For example, if you launch a YouTube channel, you really should have a video up by the time you announce it that either acts as a trailer for what’s to come, or that is an example of the content you are going to be creating. It’s hard enough to get people to subscribe from inside a well-produced video, so telling folks to go to an empty channel page and hit the subscribe button isn’t a very strong sell. That can extrapolate out to newsletters, blogs, and any other creative work online.

Matt Birchler:

I think we need to change up the conversation about the iPad. Apple sold $8.4 worth of iPads last quarter, almost the exact same as Mac revenue. With a lower average selling price, one could safely assume more iPads were sold than Macs last quarter, so clearly people are buying these things. Do developers think most of them are going “aw man, I can’t develop iOS apps on this thing!” when they get home?

Personally, I’m hoping this next round of iPad Pro reviews avoid the “is this finally a computer?” thread that is currently present in every…single…review. Can the iPad be a “real computer”? Obviously, yes, but that’s not the question. We should be considering how new iPad hardware and software improves what the iPad already does, and expands it into new use cases.

We live in a world where we’re surrounded by computers. People have a home computer, a work computer, a phone, a watch, a smart TV, and smart speakers. Hell, even the iPad’s harshest critics often have one that they use for watching video and playing games. The iPad is the only device in that list that some people mandate has feature parity with another item on that list.

While I whole-heartedly agree with Matt here, I feel like the one strand connecting this all that isn’t talked about is how these reviews are used to leverage clicks.

One of the biggest reasons Nilay Patel gets linked every year with his iPad reviews is because of how controversial they can be. When someone claims the iPad isn’t a computer, or the iPad is “still an iPad” it could be their actual take but by no means would they have gotten as many views and clicks if they hade a lukewarm take.

Personally, I take a large amount of reviews with a grain of salt. The people I will take reviews from are those I either have the pleasure of knowing personally or have a reputation that I can get behind.

Sadly, I have very little optimism that the “iPad vs Mac” or “Is the new iPad a Mac Killer” titles and headlines won’t be going away anytime soon. If I end up being wrong, I will be pleasantly surprised.

As I wrote about recently I have been having trouble working out what I wanted to blog about. I knew that I wanted to write and publish online, but I just needed to be pointed into a direction that can allow me to just write.

After a conversation on micro.blog and Twitter, the idea of a 30 day blogging challenge came to mind. I know this isn’t new, micro.blog does microblogvember every November to encourage daily blogging. In fact, that challenge is what made me realize that this idea was possible.

What is different from microblogvember and this is we have a growing community on Discord that I intend to keep up and running year round. There will be different channels and discussions available constantly from both me and other members as the community grows.

This is also not just a microblogging challenge. You can write essays, stories, poems, photos with captions, or a micro post if you want. Blogging has many different kinds of formats and we encourage you to use the formats you are interested in. This can also be a time for you to experiment with different kinds of formats as well.

As of right now this is just going to be happening from March 1st to March 31st, but it is my hope that if things go well and people like this I will do more of these blogging challenges throughout the year. If you join this March you will be the first to know about any future plans.

How it works

Every day in March we will post a prompt on the Daily Blogging Challenge website as well as the Discord Server. From there participants can write and publish their post.

Once published, you can post a comment with a link to your blog post on the original post from the Daily Blogging Challenge website. You can also find links to other participant’s posts for that prompt as well and respond to it. We hope that this will encourage people to not only write everyday with our prompts but also find and follow other participants as well.

The only snag is that in order to post a comment on the website you must be registered. We did this to avoid spamming as it is still a huge issue today when you have comments open for anyone on a WordPress website. You can register for an account here.

Topic Ideas

We also wanted to allow for those interested in this challenge to submit topic ideas. So we went ahead and set up a google form for you to fill out a topic idea you have. We also give the option for you to submit your email to be added to a newsletter we plan to use sparingly. We will send you something in February about being a part of the test run and a final reminder just before March to get signed up and ready for the March event. That’s it. Two emails will be sent to you in total. After that we will set up a different newsletter list you have to join for future plans and announcements.

You can submit your topic ideas here.

How to Join

If you want to join just follow these instructions and you will be notified when we get things started in March and how you can be a part of a test run in mid-February.

Register on the Daily Blogging Challenge website.

Join the discord Server

Submit topic ideas

Share this post with your friends and family.

I am beyond excited to be a part of this challenge and I hope you join me on this journey as well.

It has been several months now since I have written anything. Originally, the reason was because I was moving to my new house, and I wanted to take the time I was spending writing to packing and moving with my wife. However, after the couple of weeks we spent packing and moving it became apparent that my interest in writing for Tablet Habit was no longer there. I stopped reading blog posts, articles, and news about Apple and the iPad. Why I lost interest isn’t directly apparent but if I had to guess I would say it is equal parts burnout and no longer wanting to be a part of the consumerist aspects of tech and Apple.

A quick note about the consumerism that tech and Apple can cause among us that write about them. I am not saying everyone that talks about the newest device from Apple or Samsung is automatically bad or consumerist. There are, however, a good chunk of those that will create a quick and meaningless article or a video about a new device and why you should buy it simply because it generate clicks and views. People pray on FOMO and I can’t think of a more predatory industry than tech and Apple media. On the other side of that coin are people like Chris Lawley, Matt Birchler, and others I have followed for years that constantly think about their audience before putting out articles and videos. I was someone that wanted to bring consistent content that had meaning and substance, but I also felt myself sliding into worrying about clicks and growth instead of the quality of my content. It was for that reason, among others, that I didn’t immediately get back into writing after the move. Now, I am a voice without a topic. A boat drifting in the sea without a sail.

For the last few months I have been thinking about this quote from Merlin Mann from a talk he did with John Gruber back at SXSW in 2009.

Topic times voice. Or, if you’re a little bit more of a maverick, obsession time voice. So what does that mean? I think all of the best non-fiction that has ever been made comes from the result of someone who can’t stop thinking about a certain topic in some cases. And second, they get really good at figuring out what they had to say about it. If you have obsession without voice you basically have a keyword search. […] On the other hand if you have voice without obsession you have people complaining about the Thai food they just had on twitter.

Part of me wishes I still had the interest and passion for sharing my thoughts and feelings on Apple and iPad, but it isn’t there. On the other hand, it can be freeing to not have a niche that people define you by. If you asked me today how I feel about no longer writing about the iPad and Apple anymore it is a coin flip whether or not I am pleased or regretful of my decision. I miss writing about something I am passionate about, I miss sharing a viewpoint and being a voice in the conversation. That said, I also know that the pressure I put myself on being a bigger voice in the Apple and iPad world eventually became too much for me to bare it.

I don’t know what is next for me creatively. I have been looking at fiction writing and screenplays as a hobby but I also miss sharing articles, blog posts, etc. on a regular basis and being a part of the conversation. The issue lies in not having a conversation I want to be a part of anymore. I don’t have any shared interested or passions at the moment. There isn’t anything like the passion I used to have for Apple, iOS, and the iPad. There are things I like, such as screenwriting and film that have been loves of mine for years but they aren’t something I can write consistently about and still enjoy.

One day I hope to have the same spark I did when I created Tablet Habit so many years ago, but until then I will continue to drift in the open sea without a sail in hopes to find my next adventure.

I guess I am writing this in hopes that someone will share with me how I can still be part of the conversation even though I don’t have a dedicated topic or idea. Or perhaps to find a new topic or idea to talk about. If anyone reading this has any insight or advice I am all ears.

Also, I think that one way I can still be a part of the conversation and be helpful to others is to offer editing and critiques to anyone that is looking for it. While I don’t necessarily have much to say about the next version of iOS or the latest MacBook Air, I am sure others do and they might want someone to read it before they hit publish.

If you have an article, blog post, screenplay, or something that you want a second pair of eyes on let me know either on Twitter or email me at jeff[at]tablethabit[dot]com. My DM and email are always open.

As for those who are still passionate and interested in the things they are writing about, I wish you the best going forward and hope that light never dies.

From my newsletter, Tablet Habit:

There are 3 words I look for when making my decision to buy a new iPhone nearly every year: a better camera. If the new cameras in the iPhone have greatly improved, that is something that I am more than happy to justify an upgrade. The newly announced iPhone 12 Pro and iPhone 12 Pro Max check off some boxes that I had going into the keynote, and it solidified my decision to buy one of the iPhone 12 Pro phones. The question is do I go with the iPhone 12 Pro or the iPhone 12 Pro Max?

From Tablet Habit:

The newly released iPad Air is an exceptional mid-tier iPad, but I believe Apple has drawn the line on what constitutes a “Pro” iPad and an iPad Air. Much like the MacBook Air and the MacBook Pro, there are distinct similarities and differences to the design, spec options, etc. I want to talk about some of them today, but before I do, I created a table for you to look at showcasing the differences between the iPad Pro and iPad Air.

This was a fun one to write. Truthfully I didn’t think I had this much to say about the new iPad Air, but here we are.

I am excited to share with you all the August and September wallpapers: RGB CMYK. As I have been talking about screens and screen time I thought that making RGB wallpapers would be a great starting point for wallpapers. Knowing that I didn’t want to make a simple solid color background I played around with making it monochromatic and I ended up really liking what came out of it.

After making the RGB wallpapers I thought “if I am going to make RGB, I may as well make CMYK ones as well!”

After playing around with that I am pleased to share with you all these 7 wallpapers to be used at your enjoyment.

If you have any themes for future wallpapers let me know on Twitter @iamJeffPerry. You can also email me at contact[at]tablethabit[dot]com.

The RGB CMYK wallpapers can be downloaded here. Once downloaded just uncompress the .zip file in Files and save the desired wallpaper(s) to Photos. From there you can set your wallpaper in settings.

Quick Note: due to the Apple Event tomorrow next issue of Tablet Habit will be pushed to Wednesday. I can’t wait to see what Apple has in store for us tomorrow, and I am sure I will have some thoughts on the event to share Wednesday!

This post was first shared on Tablet Habit, the quintessential iPad Newsletter. If you want more posts like this delivered right to your inbox sign up today.

Lately I have found myself gravitating to tools that don’t offer any kind of internet access whatsoever. As some say, I have been using items “off the grid.”

Before I get into the what let me get into the why. As someone that has managed to write on a MacBook, iPad, iPhone, and other devices with access to the web, I have found it to be consistently distracting. When I have a thought to look something up, or check on an app’s features, I stop the writing flow before it even starts. Also, my task manager has become a bucket filled with things I want or need to do but no semblance of organization. Sure I have shortcuts to add items to Things 3, but I am not making it a priority to use that app to help me get things done. I am not opening it much, nor am I organizing the thoughts and tasks in there. I am effectively filing things away and never looking at them again until it has either been finished or hasn’t been done at all.

So, to fix this I decided to use a Bullet Journal and an AlphaSmart Neo 2.

Bullet Journal

As I mentioned in a previous post I have been without a task management system. After listening to the latest episode of Focused all about the Bullet Journal, I thought it might be worth a shot. I grabbed an old notebook I had in my office and started to set up a new BuJo. After starting out using this notebook I noticed the “intentional friction” with this system and it was something I hadn’t had in my other task managers. I would have hundreds of tasks in my digital task managers over time, clogging up the system and making it nearly impossible to decide what is important to work on and what isn’t. I was paralyzed by the amount of choices I had. With Bullet Journal you can add as many tasks as you want, but there is no copy and paste, no automation, and no services connected to the Bullet Journal adding things to my to do list automatically. If there was a task or an idea I had, the only way to get it in this system is with good ol’ old-fashioned pen and paper.

Here’s a quote from the book The Bullet Journal Method by Ryder Carroll, creator of the Bullet Journal, that clicked with me:

In 2016 the average American spent nearly eleven hours in front of digital screens each day. Factoring in six to eight hours of sleep (which is also compromised by our smart phones), we’re left with around six hours of non-screen time per day. Now consider the time you spend commuting, cooking, and running errands, and you can see where this is headed: We’re steadily decreasing the amount of time we have to stop and think.

Doing some quick math I average about an hour of free time that doesn’t have screen time in it. My commute is another 2 hours, but I don’t count that because I don’t have a choice in that matter. But my work a free time is almost entirely comprised of screen time, taking up my mental storage and “mental RAM” almost entirely.

As someone that has a full time job watching local TV programming and directing the local nightly news, I am inundated with screen time. It has gotten to the point now where I need to have the anti-blue lens on my prescription glasses to slow the deterioration to my eyes. Reading that quote made me really consider the time I spend in front of a screen, and has made me double down on using a Bullet Journal just to give my mind and my eyes a break.

One thing that I really enjoy about Ryder is that he isn’t just here to tell you how to use the system, but to also share with you insights and information about productivity and task management in general. Honestly, even if you aren’t interested in Bullet Journaling his book can still be of value to people interested in this kind of stuff.

Making pen and paper my main task manager has also allowed me to think beyond the things I need to get done and make decisions about the things I am doing. I am critically thinking about whether or not something on my task list deserves my time and attention or if it is something that I should just remove from my life entirely.

I plan to share more as I continue to use the Bullet Journal methodology and if I find any cool tips or tricks with it I will pass it along.

For those of you that aren’t interested in using a physical journal but are interested in this system, I suggest checking out the app NotePlan. It is a fantastic digital Bullet Journaling app. I have been on the beta for version 3 and it has some very cool features BuJo enthusiasts will enjoy. I don’t want to speak on the new version just yet, but once it is released to the public expect a full review of it here on Tablet Habit.

The AlphaSmart Neo 2

Along with the Bullet Journal, I have been writing with a product that was made in 2013 and has nothing but small LCD screen, and a standard keyboard. The AlphaSmart Neo 2 is a word processor that was meant to be used for typing classes in schools created by former Apple employees. I would be remiss if I didn’t mention Stephen Hackett’s video on the Neo 2, it is a fantastic introduction to the product that I can’t compete with. For me, this product is basically a digital typewriter. In fact, the reason I bought this product (again) was because I was seriously considering buying an actual typewriter but quickly decided against it once I looked at the price of one in good working condition online. To add to that, there is no ink or maintenance needed to make sure this machine is working properly, where a typewriter can be expensive to continue to use over time.

I have written the last several newsletters, including this one, with the Neo 2 because I have found that the iPad, even when in Do Not Disturb mode, I can’t focus. I catch myself looking online for information, checking RSS and Twitter feeds for the latest news, and other things that isn’t writing frequently. It took me over an hour to write a first draft for my newsletter before the Neo 2 because I couldn’t focus on the task at hand. There were too many possibilities and open trails to be explored. No matter how much I tried, when it came to putting my head down and writing, the iPad always seemed to offer other things for me to do.

Before you write in, yes I am aware of Airplane Mode, but even when I would turn it on I would simply disable it to quickly look something up and that would begin my descent into a rabbit hole.

With the Neo 2 those things that I would waste time on the iPad with aren’t available. There is no internet, no videos, no podcasts, and nothing else I can focus on. There is simply a keyboard with a blinking line awaiting for my writing to appear.

I used to see that blank page as something daunting, frightening even, but now with the Neo 2 I know that there is nothing I can do except fill that void with my words. I am much more excited to write with the Neo 2 than I have been on the iPad lately. It seems less of chore and more of an experience. This could be because it is a new thing for me to use, but I also consider the fact that when I wrote on the iPad it took significantly more time.

This may be a simple keyboard with a cheap screen but it allows me to turn off the distraction in my brain and just write what is in my head. The words pour out of me as opposed to the light trickle it was when I was writing on a device that had access to the entire world in just a few clicks.

Conclusion

I plan to still write about the iPad, don’t get me wrong. That being said, I think that the way I will be writing about it won’t be on an iPad initially but instead will be on this “digital typewriter” for the time being.

As for the Bullet Journal, I plan to finish reading The Bullet Journal Method and write a review of it. I also will be sharing some of the things I am doing to make the BuJo experience more catered to me, including digital tools I have used.

I hope you had a great holiday weekend. Coming up Thursday I look forward to sharing with you my thoughts on the new iPad Air that is set to be announced later today. If that doesn’t happen, I will share my August and September wallpapers.

This post was first shared on Tablet Habit, the quintessential iPad Newsletter. If you want more posts like this delivered right to your inbox sign up today.

In several reports this morning it is all but confirmed that Apple plans to release a new iPad Air. I have some predictions and concerns about this new iPad Air I would like to share with you today.

From all of the rumors I have read here are the two biggest selling features I can see coming.

iPad Pro Style Redesign

It seems to me that Apple is going away from the soap bar style of product design and is instead going back to the flat edged style of the iPhone 5 and current iPad Pros. If Apple does indeed make this change, it will be a great indicator of what to expect from the iPhone 12 later this year.

Personally, I think this is long overdue and a welcome change to the iPad lineup. This begs the question of whether or not the next iPad will also get a new diagnosis or if it will stay in the old style to make it as affordable as possible. My money is it will stay the same going forward for the time being.

FaceID

There have been consistent rumors and reports indicating that the iPad Air coming out this Fall will have FaceID with the new design. This makes sense seeing that it will be all but impossible to get a TouchID button to fit in the flat-edged design due to it not having a chin and forehead. 

I also think that the FaceID the iPad Air will get isn’t the latest version on the 2020 iPad Pros but instead the 2018 version, which is still great but also more cost effective. I might be wrong about this, but I think that if they skimp out on the latest FaceID for this cheaper model it can offer a fantastic compromise.

Now, there was a rumor saying that TouchID will move to the power button, but I see that innovation being saved for something like the next iPad Pro, or even iPhone. The iPad Air rarely has innovation or brand new features put into it. It’s basically a way for Apple to make a slightly less powerful iPad Pro costing about 50%-66% of the price.

My Concerns

Speaking of price, if Apple is indeed releasing a newly designed iPad Air I worry that it will not be in the price range it has been. The biggest question to determine the price point of the iPad Air is the size. According to the most recent reports the iPad Air will be 10.8 inches in screen size. With this it would mean not only new screens to be designed and manufactured, but also new Smart Keyboards and new cases Apple has to make. All of this has to included in the final cost of the machine, and with all these additions it might be difficult for Apple to justify it staying in the $500 price point. 

Alternatively, Apple could have the screen stay at 10.8 inches but have the bezel jut out a bit more than the Pro to have it fit inside an iPad Pro 11 inch chassis. If that happens, there is still the issue of new screens being made, but the body and accessories are already made and designed, allowing for the cost of manufacturing to decrease significantly.

I will be the fist to admit that I am not a product designer, nor am I an expert about these kinds of things. That being said, it seems evident that the fewer new things Apple has to make the cheaper the products are.

Conclusion

I have never been one to look at the iPad Air as an option for me, but I can *absolutely* see it as a more affordable option for people looking to use the iPad for work and schooling. It is a great machine that allows for more powerful apps to run like butter. 

If I am being honest, it could absolutely be a main computing device for *most* people. If I were in a pinch and couldn’t justify the money I spend on the iPad Pro, I would absolutely be drooling over this new iPad coming out this year.

I hope to see this iPad release sooner rather than later, mainly because I feel that the iPad Air doesn’t need to be on the stage floor for the Fall Apple event. I also think the sooner Apple releases these the better for students who are either waiting to start school or are currently online, but intend to go back to school in the winter. The iPad Air could be a hell of a seller for that community if they get it right.

What do you think about the new iPad? Do you think it will have features I didn’t mention? Leave a comment and let me know.

This post was first shared on Tablet Habit, the quintessential iPad Newsletter. If you want more posts like this delivered right to your inbox sign up today.

This past several months I have been without any task management system. Subsequently, I missed a couple of posts for Tablet Habit. I apologize for that.

I wanted to talk about what it has been like without any task management system. Partly to showcase how important it is to have a system in place and partly because I want to articulate this to myself.

Day to day I was relying on my mind to not only come up with ideas and tasks for me to do but to remember them as well. As David Allen, creator of the Getting Things Done (GTD) methodology, says, “Your brain is for having ideas, not storing them.”

Occasionally I would write my thoughts into a Field Notes notebook for safekeeping. The issue there was that I was capturing ideas, which is great, but after that there was little to no processing.

For those that don’t know the GTD methodology has 5 steps:

1. Capture
2. Process
3. Organize
4. Review
5. Do

These steps aren’t hard to wrap your brain around, but I highly encourage people to read the original book of Getting Things Done to understand the full scope.

A quick anecdote on why people always say to read the Getting Things Done book. I thought it was a step or two away from a cult phenomenon with how many people told me to fully grasp GTD I had to read the book. However, I finally caved after years of reading synopsis and watching videos explaining the methodology. I have to say, the book is much better than anything I can watch on YouTube, read online, or listen to on a podcast. There is nothing like hearing straight from the horse’s mouth what this system is all about.

I had capturing down with my Field Notes notebook but I had nothing in place for digital items. When I shared with you my quick capture Shortcuts those weren’t something that I was making for the sake of my readers, it was something that I was in dire need of.

A long time ago I decide that Things 3 would be my task manager of choice. I could get into my reasoning on a later post, but for me it was the best option available.

WIth capturing down to a science the next step I have to nail down is processing.

For me, the next step is to make time for a mind sweep and gather all of my various notebooks and notes with possible next action steps and see where things go from there.

If you are someone that is in need of a task management system consider reading Getting Things Done by David Allen. If you are comfortable going to a library you can borrow the book for free.

I don’t intend to make this newsletter a GTD newsletter but sometimes the device isn’t the thing I want to talk about, I want to talk about the things we do on the device. Until next time, I will be capturing all of the tasks and ideas I can and begin processing them.

If you have any questions or comments let me know. I’m happy to help anyone interested.

This post was first shared on Tablet Habit, the quintessential iPad Newsletter. If you want more posts like this delivered right to your inbox sign up today.

After making writing a routine for this newsletter I wanted to automate things a bit so that I can get into the writing flow even faster. After some tweaking I think I have finally created a version 1.0 of my Writing Mode Shortcut.

Essentially, this Shortcut sets the brightness and volume where I want it, creates an event called “Writing” in my Calendar, sets Do Not Disturb, Opens Drafts, and adds a word of encouragement before I get started.

Here’s a breakdown of each item.

Set Volume

When I am writing I like to have my volume loud enough where I can hear it, but not loud enough where it distracts my thought process when writing. After some trial and error 20% is about where I need it to hit that sweet spot.

Set Brightness

Similar to the Set Volume action, I like to make sure my iPad is at the brightness level I prefer for writing. To me, 70% seems the be the brightest I want my iPad when I am in my office writing.

Add 30 Minutes to Date

This is an action that I use as a later variable. I use at as a custom Pomodoro technique.

When I first start writing in the morning it can be daunting at times to look at a blank page. When I am in that mood I often use the Pomodoro Technique to get myself going. The first step in creating a custom Pomodoro Timer in Shortcuts is with this action.

This action works by taking the current date and time and adding 30 minutes to it. From there, I use it in the next action to create an event.

You can always adjust the time in this for to your preference if you so choose.

Create Event

With the adjusted time, I create an event called “Writing” in my calendar that starts immediately and ends 30 minutes later using the Adjusted Date as a Magic Variable.

Set Do Not Disturb on Until Event Ends

Once that event is created, I use it as a Magic Variable as well for setting Do not Disturb on. After the event is created I turn on Do Not Disturb and set it to turn back off once the newly created event has ended.

I originally was going to use a simple timer for this Pomodoro Technique but I realized that I wanted to keep track of how must time I was using to write, so I decided to use the Calendar as a means of record keeping.

Of course, I don’t always hit this Shortcut every 30 minutes, so I adjust it later to reflect the actual amount of time I was writing but nonetheless it is a good starting point for me to time track my writing.

Open Dark Noise and play Coffee Shop

Dark Noise is an app that adore using when in the writing spirit. To be honest, I use it when I need to focus while working. If you don’t know, Dark Noise has a multitude of soundscapes you can listen to to help you focus, sleep, or to simply fill your ears with something.

I often use the Coffee Shop sound when I am writing. If I were able to go out to an actual coffee shop I wouldn’t be using this app. Alas, because we are in the pandemic this soundscape will make due for the time being.

Open Drafts

Once I have everything set, it is time to get writing! The app I use when writing is unsurprisingly Drafts. This Shortcut action simply opens the Drafts application. The way that Drafts works is that if you open the app it usually starts with a blank page waiting for you to start writing, which is exactly what I want.

If I indeed need to open something I have been working on, it is stupid easy to open up the drafts list and search for what I need and open it up.

I originally wanted to make this a list of items to choose from. However, after some time with it I noticed that when I give myself the barrier to make a decision before I begin writing it negatively affects my ability to get into writing flow. So, I decided that I will just open a new draft and start writing. It is more important for me to get into the flow than it is to be in the right doc.

Once I am editing or taking a break from writing I can figure out where this writing goes, but for “Writing Mode” priority number one it writing.

Notification of a random thing of encouragement

Finally, I wanted to have a list of different words of encouragement for me to use to get started. So far, I threw in a few simple things in a list.

With this list, I then have it choose a random one and display it as a notification. It is just a small thing that helps me get into a positive mood and trick my brain into being excited to write, even though it’s 5am.

You can download the Shortcut here and start to make it yours today. If you make some interesting tweaks or additions feel free to email me at jeff[at]tablethabit[dot]com (or just reply to this email). You can also share it with me on Twitter @iamJeffPerry.

This post was first shared on Tablet Habit, the quintessential iPad Newsletter. If you want more posts like this delivered right to your inbox sign up today.

Effective immediately, Tablet Habit will be free for all subscribers through October 18th, 2020.

When I launched this newsletter, I wanted to offer both a free and paid plan for the newsletter. However, I didn’t want to charge anyone until _after_ October 18th. Sadly, the way Substack works with paid subscriptions caused some to be charged when signing up for a paid account. It has also recently disabled the ability for anyone to sign up or upgrade to a paid account. In a nutshell, I am making Tablet Habit free for all for now.

This fiasco is because I had billing paused from the beginning of the launch of this newsletter. Unfortunately, that pause did not prevent people from being charged when they first sign up. From what I understand, Substack’s policy is to charge someone who signs up for a paid subscription even if billing is paused. After some time of the billing being paused, the ability for anyone to sign up for a paid account or upgrade from a free account to a paid account was removed. The reason for or this is because I had billing paused, which in turn caused paid subscriptions to be unavailable. 

Originally, I wanted to leave Substack because I was furious with this issue and a lack of response from their support staff. However, after speaking with their support team and having one of the co-founders reach out to me and explain the situation, I have decided to continue with Substack.

After contemplating whether I turn on billing to allow for those wanting to pay for the newsletter to be able to do so, I decided instead to make the newsletter free for all until I unpause billing October 19th. 

What this means for current paid subscribers

If you are a paid subscriber, you don’t need to do anything. You will not be charged again until after October 18th because I will continue to have billing paused. If you paid for a year of Tablet Habit, your one-year subscription shouldn’t start until October 18th. If that isn’t the case, let me know, and I will work with you to find a solution. 

What this means for free subscribers

Through October 18th, you will get all the perks and additional emails in your inbox free of charge. Once October 18th comes, you will be back on the free tier unless you upgrade your account. I will be sure to remind you as things get closer to that date, but until then, enjoy the full Tablet Habit experience on me. 

What this means for people not subscribed

If you sign up for free today, you will get Tablet Habit in its entirety for free through October 18th. After that, you can continue to be a free member, only getting one email a week, or you can sign up to be a paid member. You can learn more about being a paid member here.

I apologize for the confusion with this newsletter, but this is all new for me, and I hope that you understand this is just me figuring this out and making decisions about this newsletter. I am also the one giving technical support both on Twitter and email. 

Subscribe Today

If you haven’t, consider subscribing to Tablet Habit today. You can do so here.

I appreciate every one of you who have signed up for this newsletter, and I hope you continue to support me as I work out the kinks with this. 

Stay safe and healthy,

Jeff Perry

After the announcement of new Widgets for iOS and the ability to have them anywhere on your home screen I immediately thought about the new possibilities for the iPad. I wanted to make the iPad home screen a mission control center of sorts. I could have a task manager widget, a Drafts widget, and others available right on the home screen for me to use when I want. Then I learned that widgets aren’t available to go everywhere on the iPad like it is on the iPhone.

I immediately thought that this was some kind of bug, surely Apple has this planned for the iPad as well right? Wrong. Craig Federighi explained on the podcast Waveform that widgets for the iPad will continue to be constrained.

Whether over time we want to let you push that further, letting you move widgets out of their designated spot beside the app icons or not, we’ll see. But we felt like we had a great balanced solution for this already.

To me, this seems like a cop-out for Apple. There are many reasons that the iPad should also have access to put widgets anywhere on the home screen.

The Current Solution isn’t Useful

If we look at the “great balanced solution” Apple has put in place for the iPad it is about as useful as having 4 Shortcuts on your home screen. In fact, I would argue that having 4 Shortcuts is actually more useful than the current widget system they have in place for the iPad.

If you look at the left side of the home screen for the iPad you will see that it is a column that goes from top to bottom entirely, but only shows the first half of the column by default. This means that if you want to see the other widgets outside of the newly created main widget area you have to scroll down the empty column to have them appear.

The phrase “out of sight, out of mind” comes to me when I look at this solution Apple has for the iPad. The 2–4 widgets you decide are worthy for the Home Screen section of you iPad are the only ones that you will always see. The rest are non-existent unless you remember they are there for you to use.

This solution also breeds an unnecessary war for the home screen where the user has to battle with the options they have only to have multiple casualties by the end of it. Can’t there be enough room for everyone on the home screen?

There is More Space on the iPads

Naturally, the iPad has more screen real estate than the iPhones do. Meaning that there is opportunity for more widgets to live on an iPad’s home screen. If the option were there for iPads to have widgets available on the entire screen it would allow for more great widgets to coexist. As I mentioned before, the current system creates a battle for the top, making widgets less intriguing for users. Why can’t us iPad users use the extra space for widgets?

The worst part about the current “solution” is that widgets can only exist on the first page of the home screen. It’s not like each page can have a couple widgets available, it is specifically only page one. With the iPhone you can have a widget on any page without any kind of restriction.

If Apple were to open this up for the whole screen instead of having 2–3 widgets you could have 5–7 per page. This would allow for new and innovative ways for people to use the apps they love with widgets that look fantastic. It’s a shame that the larger iPads have even more restrictions than the smaller iPhones have.

The Home Screen is Barren for Most

The iPad has gone through so many iterations with the Dock and home screen that for many the home screen is now just an empty wasteland. That or they keep the apps they need quick access to when they aren’t connected to a keyboard. I remember several instances where people were just having their entire App Library in a folder on their dock and using Spotlight to get to the apps they have in the folder. In fact, this is how I use my iPad most of the time. However, I don’t have a folder with all my apps in my dock. I just use Spotlight by default to open up apps.

Because the home screen is empty or unused for many, it is rife with opportunities to make that empty home screen something much more powerful and innovative.

Instead of having to open Drafts to start a new note I can simply go home and tap on the widget creating a new note. Instead of having to open up Reminders to add a new task I can just head home and use a widget to add a new task.

If Apple were to allow widgets to be available anywhere on the home screen the uniqueness and personability of a home screen would be endless.

Final Thoughts

Apple made the move to make iOS and iPad OS different, and they have; just not in the way I would have wanted. The iPhone is getting features that the iPad doesn’t, while the iPad is left out to dry.

This “solution” Apple currently has for the iPad has all of the restrictions with none of the upsides. I for one have filed my feedback on this decision and I hope that Apple decides to change their mind on this before iOS 15. That said, Apple holding this feature back until then would make sense for them to do as a quick win from the community next WWDC.

This was first posted on Tablet Habit, the quintessential iPad Newsletter. Sign up today.

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I recently sold my MacBook Pro and iPad 7 to buy the new 2020 11” iPad Pro. I also picked up the Magic Keyboard and Apple Pencil. The reason for this was because I wanted to get the best iPad I could and make it my one and only computer.

To rewind a bit, I used to use a 16” MacBook Pro for both my marketing/videography job and for personal use when I could; but when I decided to leave that line of work the MacBook had to be returned to the company. Once that happened I found myself wanting to use my iPad 7 as my main device even though I had the 2017 MacBook Pro as well. Mind you, nothing was wrong with my MacBook Pro, I just felt that the iPad was more my flavor of computing.

Now that I am a month into using my 11” iPad Pro full time, I couldn’t be happier with my decision. When people ask me why I decided to move to the iPad over the Mac it comes down to two reasons: the operating system and what I think the future will be for the platform.

Why iPad OS over macOS

After watching the WWDC keynote this year I realized that while the lines between the Mac and iPad are beginning to blur with the announcement of Apple silicon, these devices are still vastly different from one another.

The biggest difference for me isn’t the apps or the way certain things interact on the screen, it is automation and making these computer do the things that you want them to. Enter Shortcuts, the app formerly known as Workflow that has since been acquired by Apple and added as a mainstay for the iPhone and iPad. Shortcuts is by far and away my favorite app of all time. The reason for this is because it’s allowed me, and others like me, to unlock the full potential of my iOS and iPad OS devices.

To me, that is the difference between a Mac and iPad in a nutshell. If you want to do something for automation on the Mac you can either try using an app like Keyboard Maestro or you will need to know how to code something yourself to make it happen. With Shortcuts you can create your own automation system in a matter of minutes using Lego-style blocks to build on one another. Shortcuts might seem like a rudimentary way to program for those that know how to code, but as someone that has tried learning to code over the years Shortcuts makes more sense to my brain than anything I could write myself.

In fact, it’s the first app I go to when I have an idea to automate or make something I do simpler. When I was using my Mac I felt as if that aspect of computing was unattainable for me. For example, I didn’t know how to write code to edit text the way that I wanted to, and as someone that works with text a lot it seemed inferior to my iPad for that reason. With an iPad I can use Shortcuts and make automated changes to the text in a matter of seconds.

I often would write things on my Mac and reach for my iPhone or iPad just so I can take the text that I spent so much time writing and run it through shortcuts for various things I wanted to do with it rather than fiddle with it on my Mac in hopes to find a solution.

This is not to say that Shortcuts is simple or completely understandable the first go around, but I have spent significantly less time learning Shortcuts than I have trying to learn JavaScript or Swift. It is safe to say that I absolutely have a better grasp on Shortcuts than I do any coding language.

Shortcuts allows the democratization of automation for people like me with no coding experience required. For that reason I chose the iPad over the Mac.

That being said, Shortcuts wasn’t the only reason I chose the iPad over a Mac. The other is where I see the iPad and Mac in the future.

iPad and Mac Futures

My other reason for going with the iPad is because after the announcement of Apple silicon my first thought was that the Mac is going to have a turbulent 2-4 years as they transition from Intel to ARM. I am confident the new ARM Macs will be better for the user in the long run, but as we are in a transition period for the Mac it seems to me that buying a new MacBook isn’t a great idea for the foreseeable future. Yes, Apple did say that they intend to release new Intel Macs before going entirely ARM, but the questions of “Should I buy a Mac right now?” and “What is the best Mac for me?” becomes muddied and difficult to answer for even the most knowledgeable.

On the other side of the coin, there is the iPad lineup–specifically the iPad Pro–that has recently had its 3rd iteration and the addition of one of the best keyboards on the market for any computer. To me, the Mac is on its way to being an amazing machine, but the iPad has already set its own foundation for a fruitful future. I firmly believe that this 2020 iPad can easily be my main computer for 2-4 years without issue, which is something I cannot say about the newest Intel Mac computers out today.

I don’t mean to rain on the Mac parade entirely. I am sure that the transition will be an overall smooth process. In fact it seems that Apple has really taken everything into consideration before officially announcing Apple silicon with Rosetta 2, emulation, and more. That being said, even if the new Macs are indeed amazing I personally will still prefer the iPad Pro over a MacBook Pro because the experience on the iPad is far superior than the Mac for me.

Final Thoughts

A much as this article was about the differences between the Mac and iPad, I don’t want this to be an additional piece of artillery in the war over whether or not the iPad is a worthy Mac alternative or not. To me it is, to others it isn’t; it’s that simple.

For me, I am beyond excited about the switch to the iPad and I absolutely adore my 11” iPad Pro. I can’t wait to push this machine to its limit over the next few years and share with you what I learn and create here on Tablet Habit.