Jeff Perry

James Rogers writing for iPad Insight:

Contrary to what you might think after reading that headline, I am not a hater. Not at all. I have actually been a fan of John Gruber’s writing and podcasting for several years and I typically agree with his point of view regarding Apple and the tech world, in general. However, I can’t say that’s the case when it comes to the iPad.

It started with his rant about the state of the iPad when it turned 10, followed by his episode of The talk Show with Ben Thompson of Stratechery (who’s opinion on the iPad is even more out to lunch, in my opinion). The addition of multitasking to the iPad, or at least how it was added and how it works, has really gotten progressively under Gruber’s skin. If you listen to that episode he rants a lot more than in the article and Thompson gets all kinds of worked up about what a “tragedy” the iPad and iPadOS are. I finished that one just shaking my head.

I wrote about this article and podcast at the time because, as an iPad fan and power user, I am about as diametrically opposed to these opinions as you can get. While I understand the complaints over the complexity of multitasking in iPadOS as it stands today, I can’t get on board with throwing the baby out with the bathwater. Gruber makes it clear on several occasions that he thinks iPadOS is a dead-end mistake and that Apple has to roll it back completely to move forward. Here is one such quote from his 2019 Apple Grades. He gave the iPad a D, by the way.

[…]

I use my iPad Pro at work and I don’t need a glorified e-Reader with no multitasking there. I waited years for the device to grow into something that could produce content as well as it allowed you to consume it. I could see the potential as far back as the iPad 2, but it was slow going. I even left the iPad behind for a couple of years because it wasn’t moving fast enough in that direction. It was the iPad Pro, the Apple Pencil and the addition of real multitasking that brought me back.

Mr Gruber hasn’t stopped his complaining about the iPad and iPadOS with one article and a podcast episode. In his Polish Stink Eye podcast episode last week, he mentioned his distaste for iPadOS multitasking again when talking about the death of Apple legend Larry Tessler. Gruber also alluded to the fact that he’s been working on some longer pieces detailing his thoughts on the iPad. Oh boy. I can’t wait.

[…]

I am convinced that the belief that Apple should start over on a system that is obviously still evolving, or worse that Apple should just go back to the iPad’s original positioning as a third device, are on the fringe. I absolutely believe that most iPad users and fans want Apple to continue to improve and refine what they have in iPadOS and keep the power, rather than dial the platform back to make a small number Apple superfans happy.

That last part is why I am writing about John Gruber’s ongoing complaints about the iPad. While Apple tends to keep to itself, they do listen to some key influencers and John Gruber has been among them for years. Their words carry weight. You could tell that Apple took the tech press and Apple superfan criticism over the iPad’s lack of power features very seriously last year, as the feature rundown of the new iPadOS read like a wish list from the previous two years.

There are certain writers and podcasters, and if you are an Apple fan, you likely know who a few of them are, who can push an agenda and legitimately get Apple’s attention. A guy who can get Apple execs to come on his show obviously ranks very high on that list. However, in this case, I hope whoever is in ultimately in charge of the fate of the iPad and iPadOS development roadmap takes Gruber’s words on this topic and says thanks, but no thanks.

It’s one thing to offer constructive criticism. It’s quite another to advocate for Apple to tear down and fundamentally re-architect a platform that is still in the process of growing into a more powerful form, just because you don’t like where it is at the moment. As a fan of a more powerful iPad and iPadOS, I see John Gruber’s current mini-crusade against iPadOS as a problem. A threat, even. I can only hope it falls on deaf ears at Apple and they continue down the path they already have a solid start on.

[…]

(Note: After I finished writing, I saw that John Gruber’s guest on The Talk Show episode released today is Federico Viticci, who is a huge fan of the iPad and a well-known user and advocate for the platform. I won’t have time to listen tonight, but I am very interested to hear what he has to say about Gruber’s stance on iPad multitasking. Viticci comes off as a big fan of the feature in his own writing and podcasting, despite its complexity.)

Jason Burk:

It’s a rare time we live in where the number of individuals and small teams can have such a massive impact on the populous at large. The apps, systems, and tools that you build are touching lives more regularly that almost any other thing we interact with today as humans. These digital goods are so prevalent, yet hide in the shadows of microchips and circuit boards.

[…]

I can understand that this path you have chosen can feel thankless but please know that there are many of us out here that appreciate your hard work and dedication. Unfortunately, the perceived value of the work you are doing is being warped to an unsustainable level. Perhaps this is because of the faceless nature of your work, or the warped sense of values and entitlement in the world of technology.

[…]

People do not go to a farmer’s market and comment about how great the peaches look and then ask why they are not free. I get so upset when someone shows genuine interest in a great app I am using and their first question is “What is it called?” immediately followed by “is it free?”. No, it isn’t 🤬 free. This mindset has to change. I can only hope I am helping in any small way with my daily interactions with people reminding them that there are people behind these products.

I couldn’t have written a better thank you letter if I tried.

This article was first posted on The Clicked Newsletter. Please subscribe to get more stuff like this everyday Tuesday.

Field Notes’ longstanding tagline is “I’m not writing it down to remember it later, I’m writing it down to remember it now.” The line comes from co-founder Jim Coudal’s grandfather who was “an avid notetaker.”

I recently began thinking about my longstanding hobby of collecting and using Field Notes journals. I started using them back in college when I first learned about Field Notes’ other co-founder Aaron Draplin. I was obsessed with his work and loved his design portfolio. I never got into graphic design myself but I did learn a lot from Draplin through osmosis and watching his talks and tutorials over the years.

For whatever reason I decided to learn more about why Field Notes chose their tagline and I stumbled upon some really cool videos I wanted to share with you.

The first being from YouTube user Ekpap called “The Importance of Field Notes.” This was a video I thought surmised the essence of a Field Notes journal perfectly and what the tagline is all about. He then goes into generative note-taking and non-generative note-taking from a study from the University of California and University of Princeton called “The Pen Is Mightier Than the Keyboard: Advantages of Longhand Over Laptop Note Taking.” If you want to read the paper itself you can do so here. They were also on NPR in 2016 explaining their paper as well.

I know this is a lot to throw at you but I promise that the video stands on its own two feet and is worth the 3 minutes to watch. That said, the paper itself is also fascinating to read.

www.youtube.com/watch

The second video I wanted to share is from Stephen Hackett of 512 Pixels. He is a podcaster, YouTuber, and blogger and he explained in his own video why he still uses paper notebooks over a digital notes app. He also saves all of his notebooks both physically and digitally by scanning them into his computer for safekeeping. It is very delightful to learn about his reasonings to keep a notebook on hand and use day-to-day as a tech-nerd like myself.

www.youtube.com/watch

After watching both videos again I realized that the tagline is as close to perfect as you can get for them as a company. They aren’t making commemorative notebooks you need to be careful with, it is meant to be used every single day for every single thing that needs to be written down no matter what.

When I filled my first Field Notes journal I took out a brand new one of the same color and compared them side-by-side. The used one could barely stay closed because the papers had been manhandled so much that they would push on the covers. I also noticed that the old one was significantly dirtier. It was as if someone decided to throw a journal into a muddy puddle and then dried it with a hair-dryer. For some reason when I made these observations I made it my goal to make every notebook I finish look like a shell of its former self.

One big thing that I had trouble with when I used a medium-sized Moleskine journal for my note-taking was that I felt that I needed to have something witty or mind-blowing to say when I wrote in them. With my Field Notes I make the conscious choice that nothing is too important nor too insignificant to write down. I have things from ideas for my blog and podcasts in there as well as quick math problems I try and solve when working out my finances. Nothing about these notebooks are special and I fill every single page with something before I decide not to use it anymore.

In fact, I have given a number of my new Field Notes journals away to friends and colleagues and I always say to them my one rule: you fill them with your thoughts and ideas. It might be a little corny but I genuinely want them to use their new journal as much as possible. I want them to never have an idea that doesn’t get written down, even if it is a bad one.

So, if you haven’t already guessed, I want you to start thinking about getting yourself a pocket-sized journal to write down your thoughts and ideas because I think there is some real merit to the claims and discoveries mentioned in the articles and videos above. This isn’t sponsored by Field Notes in any way, nor would I allow this to be a crappy article saying to buy only Field Notes. I honestly don’t care if you buy Field Notes or a drug-store memo pad, I just want you to write things down, not to remember it later, but to remember it now.

This article was first posted on The Clicked Newsletter. Please subscribe to get more stuff like this everyday Tuesday.

From Input:

“I understand it’s easy to keep watching videos,” the smiley guy said. “And trust me, I’ve been there before. But those videos will still be there tomorrow. Go get some extra sleep, turn your phone off, do yourself that favor, and have a great night.”

The guy was TikToker Gabe Erwin, who has two million followers on the platform, but the video wasn’t posted from his personal account. It came from @TikTokTips, which is run by the company itself. Three other high-profile creators, Alan Chikin Chow (722,200 followers), James Henry (2.7 million followers), and Cosette Rinab (1.6 million followers) – have also made videos encouraging people to turn off the app. (“When’s the last time you’ve been outside?” asks Rinab.)

What a weird time to be alive.

After having the idea of making custom Siri Shortcut icons less than 24 hours ago I am very excited to share with you my Alphabet and Numbers Icon Pack.

What it is

This icon pack is exactly how it sounds, custom icons that go from A-Z and 0-9 in various colors with both white and black backgrounds. There are 10 color options for the white background and 10 color options for the black background. In total there are 720 icons to choose from.

This wasn’t exactly what I planned when I shared my idea on Twitter. Originally I wanted to make custom icons manually in a number of different fonts, but once Toolbox Pro showed me just how easy it is to make them in Shortcuts with the help of their app I decided to table my original idea and make these icons instead.

The Shortcut I used to create these icons was actually pretty interesting. I put in every letter and number in a text field, split that text by character, and on a repeat with each action I created icons with Toolbox Pro and chose what colors to use for both the background and the icon color.

All of these icons have circles but that isn’t the only shape it supports. If you want a rounded rectangle you can choose that in the advanced settings by changing “.circle.fill” to “.square.fill” in the Toolbox Pro action “Make Icon.”

I also used slightly different color variants for the white and black backgrounds to make them more complimentary, but the shortcut I used doesn’t just offer the colors I picked. There are over 160 built-in colors to choose from making it a total of over 25,000 unique color combinations! Toolbox Pro didn’t stop there though, you can even use your own hex code in the advanced settings of the Create Icon action.

How to use these icons

All you need to do is download this zip file to your device and save it where you want in the Files app, unzip it with iOS’ uncompress option, and select from file when adding a shortcut to the home screen.

What’s next?

I plan to make even more icons in the future, some being with Toolbox Pro and some being ones I make on my own, but for now I wanted to share what I have and how you can make your own with Toolbox Pro.

If you have any requests outside of Toolbox Pro drop me a line and let me know.

From an Email from Wunderlist:

Wunderlist goes away on May 6th, 2020

We have some important news for you. Wunderlist is shutting down on May 6th, 2020. We hope that our new app, Microsoft To Do, will become the new home for all your lists and tasks. It’s built by the Wunderlist team and available for free on Android , iOS , Windows , Mac and web.

We know it’s hard to pack up and move, but we want to let you know that we’ll be with you every step of the way.

Microsoft To Do makes you feel like home. We will be with you every step of the way.

You may have questions about why we’re doing this and what it means for you. After May 6th, your to-dos will no longer sync but you’ll still be able to import your lists, tasks and other content into To Do. We are no longer accepting new Wunderlist sign-ups. Take a look at our blog post for more answers to all your important questions.

From Wunderlist’s Blog:

We’ve been working tirelessly to ensure our new app, Microsoft To Do, feels like a new home for your lists. We want you to be able to start planning your day and checking off those to-dos as soon as you hit that import button. Your favorite features are all in To Do – features like list groups (folders), steps (subtasks), file attachments, and sharing and task assignments. We held ourselves to a high design standard on Wunderlist, and To Do is no different. In fact, we have even more background options in To Do, so now you can color code each list to keep work separate from home.

This brings us to our important news.

When we first announced Microsoft To Do, we also announced that Wunderlist would eventually retire. We planned this so we could concentrate on building a more integrated and secure app that helps you get stuff done in a smarter way.

It’s time to let you know that on May 6th, 2020, we plan to shut down Wunderlist.

Why are we doing this now? We’ve stopped releasing new features and big updates to Wunderlist, so as the app ages it’s become more difficult to maintain. As technology continues to advance, we can’t guarantee that Wunderlist will continue to work as it should, or as we’d like it to. With all our latest updates, we’re confident in To Do being the best alternative for Wunderlist now and so we believe it’s the right time to make the next move. Now, we want to dedicate all our time to growing that cross-suite experience that transforms how you achieve your goals and dreams.

…

After May 6th, your to-dos will no longer sync. For a period of time, you’ll still be able to import your lists into To Do. Starting today, we will no longer accept new Wunderlist sign-ups.

We know this is a lot to take in, so have a look at our FAQs for more answers to all your important questions.

Queue up the sad trumpet song as one of the best lightweight task managers bites the dust. I used Wunderlist years back and loved it, but as I got more and more into GTD I moved to more complex apps out there. Still, I was happy Wunderlist was an option for others and recommended it countless times to friends and families.

I have to say, the video they made about moving from Wunderlist to To Do seems like a fever dream from an abstract minimalist. It was honestly unsettling to watch, or even understand the point of it.

I have not used Microsoft’s To Do, so I can’t say if it is a 1:1 comparison to Wunderlist; even if it was though, I’m not about it being a Microsoft application, and I can only imagine the whimsey and fun that app had is either gone entirely or greatly diminished.

Chris and I were joined by the fantastic Matt Birchler to talk all about the iPad and our tips/tricks we’ve used over the years.

Listen to it below or find the show notes here.

Tyler Hicks writing for The Outline:

Scott, 30, and Moriah, 27, met on TikTok in 2018.

…

Moriah and Scott started talking via the comment section on Scott’s live streams. They bonded over their shared interests in comedy and acting, and started referring to one another as “my spirit animal.” Eventually, they shared phone numbers.

“Things got pretty serious pretty quickly,” Moriah told me. Scott’s plan was to buy an RV and traverse the country making TikTok videos, and Moriah wanted to join him. Despite her parents’ skepticism — to be clear, she was moving to Idaho to be with a dude she met on the internet and travel the country in an RV — Moriah packed a few belongings and moved to Boise. In their videos from the road, Moriah portrays a rational straight man and Scott plays her aloof, over-confident husband. Moriah’s parents remain skeptical, but the couple’s content has started to pay off.

…

Under their new handle, @scottoriah, the couple has chronicled their relationship through comedy sketches that the duo has dubbed “relationship comedies.” They now have more than a million followers, and make money through live streams and branded videos with companies like the stuffed animal creator Cutetitos. Moriah is currently expecting twins, and the couple wed in early 2020 (the ceremony was not recorded for TikTok). However, they have no plans to move out of the RV, or to change their prolific production of videos, which they post to TikTok an average of three to four times per day.

The TikTok algorithm favors frequent posters, so creators seeking virality often feel the pressure to produce content at all costs.

“Moriah was pretty sick during her first trimester, so we had to repost a bunch of old content every day,” Scott said. “It’s hard to make videos when you have to go to the hospital seven times in one month, but we didn’t want to get behind with the algorithm.”

Personally, I think a “social media influencer” is probably the grossest job you could have. That said, I find myself empathizing with these people fighting between making a living and living a normal life.

Jason Snell writing for Six Colors:

Since people are often curious about just how using the Apple Pencil to edit a podcast works, I thought I’d make a video to show you how I do it. (I had to suspend a camera above my desk to get some shots of what my hands are doing with the Apple Pencil.)

Along the way, I also mention a bunch of different Ferrite features and settings, and also discuss my general editing process (which is more or less the same, even if I’m using Logic Pro on a Mac).

If you’re a podcast editor, I hope this video gives you some ideas and inspiration.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=675gW3a0IAc

John Voorhees from MacStories:

What struck me most about Snell’s video is how natural direct manipulation of multiple audio tracks looks. I’ve always done all of my podcast editing on a Mac with Logic Pro X, but after watching Snell edit an episode with multiple guests, I look forward to trying this myself.

I’m a weird one when it comes to podcast editing because I use Hindenburg on my Mac. That said, I’ve edited the last few podcasts of A Slab of Glass with Ferrite on my 10.2” iPad and absolutely loved it.

Watching Snell do his magic makes me want to keep using Ferrite and make it my main podcast editing software for everything.

I’m going to dig deeper into the settings and see what other things I can change to improve my editing workflow.

8 days ago, I passed out at work.

I wanted to share the experience with you all as a way to be honest and open about my mental health, and to show that you are not alone.

It happened so suddenly that I had to ask someone who was there to walk me through what happened. It was like any other day for me, usual commute to work, standard breakfast, and regular work tasks to be done. My boss and I were going over some costs for some marketing materials we wanted for an event coming up. That was when my whole body began to tingle. It was like the feeling of when your foot falls asleep but all over my body. I still had a sense of touch, which meant I didn’t have paralysis or anything like that, just a tingling sensation all over.

Then the tunnel vision kicked in. Everything in my peripheral vision disappeared almost immediately. I began to have a claustrophobic feeling like my body was stuck inside a plastic bag, and I was struggling to find air.

In a panic, I slowly got up out of my chair to try and “walk it off.” Thinking all I needed was to get my blood flowing. Turns out, this made things much worse. My legs felt like jelly, and my thoughts were in slow motion. Eventually, I managed to say, “I don’t feel so good,” before tumbling right into my boss’ lap. Thankfully I didn’t hurt her or myself, but I lost consciousness nonetheless.

A few seconds later, I hear my coworker asking me questions.

Coworker: “Jeff? Jeff, are you okay? Jeff, are you diabetic?”

Me: “No”

C: “Can you call 911 Cheryl? Jeff, do you have any heart history?”

M: No

C: Does your family have any history with either?

M: No?

C: What year is it, Jeff?

M: 2020

C: Can you get in a chair?

M: I think so.

C: I was then helped off the ground and onto a chair. I was given some water, and I took a few sips.

“What happened,” I asked my coworker, who happened to be medically licensed and a volunteer firefighter.

“You went down, man,” he said, “out cold. I can’t find a pulse on you, and you’re white as snow.”

“I can’t afford an ambulance. Please don’t make me go in one.” This was my first thought after passing out for seemingly no reason. Not being able to pay for potentially life-saving healthcare.

The paramedics came, and they checked me out. My blood sugar was normal, my pulse eventually rose to normal levels, and my color came back as did my sense of surroundings. After being coerced to accept the help of the paramedics, I took a ride to the hospital. In the ambulance, they put me on an EKG, pulse monitor, and attempted to put an IV in me unsuccessfully.

Ten minutes later, I arrive at the hospital, where I am put into a room and wired back up to an EKG. I am alone and terrified, thankfully my wife answered her phone after I initially went down and had left work to come and see me. My guess was another 30 minutes until she would be there.

Before she arrived, they took my blood to run several lab tests to see what is happening. In the meantime, they gave me a TV remote with no batteries in it and told me to “try and relax” while they monitor me. After that, they left.

After closing my eyes and doing meditative breathing, my wife comes into the room. Once she is there, I do what I always do when I am in stressful or uncomfortable situations: make really inappropriate jokes. It is a defense mechanism that I’ve used since high school. Most of the time, it goes over well, but there have been times where I managed to make things worse with my jokes, thankfully, this isn’t one of them.

My tests come back normal across the board. No heart issue detected, and nothing in the blood work they ran came back with anything definitive as to what the hell happened to me.

They tell me it was something called vasovagal syncope. Basically, my heart rate slowed, and my blood vessels opened up too much, causing the blood flow to my brain to slow, which is what caused the tingling and tunnel vision. Turns out that when I got up to “walk it off” I accelerated this and released enough blood flow in my brain to cause my body to lose consciousness.

After some time with the doctor, he tells me that if I get these kinds of symptoms again to “go horizontal and breathe.” That’s it, that’s all I was prescribed: a simple breathing technique and allowing gravity to do the rest. I wanted to tell him I went horizontal after I lost consciousness, so I had that covered. I thought twice about that, though, one of the things I learned about comedy is to know your audience, and this audience wasn’t in the mood for laughing.

On the one hand, I am relieved my morbidly obese body didn’t have a heart attack or anything related to diabetes. On the other hand, I was hoping to get something more than a prescription to “go horizontal.”

After the doctor came, I was discharged shortly after that. A nurse gave me my papers and a handout on vasovagal syncope for me to read and look into. Turns out, it is actually quite prevalent, and it can be triggered by an onslaught of things. The one that caught my eye, though, was a stressful situation and/or anxiety.

The only other time I had similar symptoms (minus the losing consciousness part) was when I had a panic attack at my doctor’s office after throwing my back out. I went white, had severe tunnel vision, and had a tingling sensation across my whole body.

Eventually, I put two and two together and realized that this entire thing was because of my anxiety. The problem was I had nothing triggering the anxiety. I wasn’t under any stress at all. We weren’t going over anything that was above my knowledge or capabilities, it was just some numbers and costs.

So now I can apparently have an anxiety attack for no reason, which may or may not result in me having a vasovagal response making me lose consciousness.

I finally understood how people can “have anxiety about their anxiety.”

Anxiety was something I didn’t have before, at least it wasn’t such a presence as it is now in my life. Two years ago, I started to notice instances where I had an irrational fear that something terrible was going to happen to me, it felt like I was dying. This ongoing stressor that something is about to happen to me hung over me like an anvil. I learned later that this was anxiety, and have since taken measures to cope with my stress when it begins affecting my day-to-day life. For the past 2 years, I have been taking anti-anxiety medicine for it.

Some days are great, others I am on edge for no reason whatsoever.

So as I sat there wondering what the hell I can do to thwart this from happening again, I began talking to my friends about it. Thinking that panic attacks weren’t common, I felt like my recent encounter with them would be nothing they would understand. One by one, they all came to me to share times where they also had anxiety-related panic attacks. Some were caused directly by a stressful situation, others simply came out of the blue. The more I heard from the people I am lucky to have in my life explain their perspective, the more I realized that this is relatively common.

That is when I learned that panic attacks can happen without being triggered at times, and they can occur when you are perfectly relaxed in your home. For the past week, I have had more doctor’s appointments and encountered more medical staff than I’d like to see in a year. They all have told me the diagnosis I received at the hospital is correct.

Almost every single one of the people I spoke with about this had stories similar to mine where they had anxiety-related attacks, and they each offered me different things to try if/when I feel anxious again.

I am yet to try most of them, but I do intend to try them soon.

I write all of this not to ask for pity or sorrow, I write this because had I not had my own experience regarding anxiety I would have never had the veil lifted from my eyes. I would have never found out just how common anxiety is among Americans, and among my friends. I also would not have learned that you don’t need to be in a stressful situation to have anxiety.

I want to hear more stories and allow for others to connect in any way they want with others who also have had instances of anxiety. So please, share yours. You can mention me on social media I am @iamJeffPerry, DM me on Twitter (they are always turned on), or you can email me at me[at]jeffperry[dot]blog.

The more we confront this hidden beast lurking in the shadows, the less scary it becomes. So please, shine a light if you want.

After a lot of thought, I have decided to start writing a newsletter. In fact, it is going to be my primary avenue of content. Say hello to Clicked.

Before I break down what the differences between the newsletter and this blog will be I want to explain why I decided to do this in the first place.

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Why a Newsletter?

One common thread I have harped on over the years on my blog has been consistency. I tried to blog everyday for one month, which got me about 6 days in a row before I fell off the wagon. The way that I see it is that if I have a deadline I will make it so I meet that deadline. I have always worked better under pressure, and I think the having a weekly newsletter is exactly what I need.

What it will have

One thing that I am most excited about this newsletter is that amount of added content I can put in it that I didn’t put in my blog posts.

My blog mainly consisted of link posts and the occasional original essay, but nothing more than that. With this newsletter I can do things like a Q&A, Siri Shortcut Requests, and other more interactive things with those that subscribe. Not to mention the fact that because I am dumping everything at once every week it is going to be stuffed with other things like quick links, short reviews, and small pieces that otherwise wouldn’t make it on the blog.

With this newsletter does come some downsides for those of you who don’t sign up for the newsletter. I will only be posting a month-old original essay once a week on my website. The reason is because this newsletter is my new way of connecting and sharing the things that I want to the people that want it.

When does it launch?

This newsletter will launch Tuesday, January 21st and will come out every Tuesday thereafter.

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Manton Reece:

You might think because I created Micro.blog that I have a perfectly simple blogging workflow that will work for everyone, all the time. Nope. I use a variety of different apps depending on what I’m trying to do:

• If I’m posting a quick microblog post and know what I want to say, I type it into the Micro.blog app for Mac.
• If I’m posting a single photo, I use Micro.blog on my iPhone.
• If I’m posting a bunch of photos like this post from Toronto, I use Sunlit to write a little something for each day.
• If I’m writing a longer post and have it all in my head, so I know I will post it very soon, I type it directly into MarsEdit and publish it to Micro.blog from there.
• If I’m writing a post and I’m not totally sure where it’s going, or when I’m going to post it, I type it into Ulysses. This is the majority of my posts. Then I copy it out as Markdown and paste it into Micro.blog.

And this only scratches the surface. There’s Wavelength for podcasts, and some people prefer apps like Icro, Gluon, Dialog, Quill, or automation via Shortcuts. This is why we link third-party apps from the posting screen in Micro.blog.

One of the things I’m most proud of with Micro.blog is that the API supports standards so you can use a variety of different apps for posting. There are so many different types of blogs out there, there shouldn’t just be one way to post.

Also, it’s refreshing to know that Manton, the creator of micro.blog, also hops between several blogging apps. I don’t feel as bad for writing and posting things from a plethora of apps.

Thanks to Best Buy having an incredible deal yesterday I went ahead and added the iPad back into my life. I bought a 128GB 10.2” iPad and I am very happy with the decision.

The 10.2” isn’t exactly the super-powerful 12.9” iPad Pro I once had, but that was when I was using my iPad as my main computer. Back then, I wanted a machine that was top of the line. Now, as my setup and needs have changed I think that the regular iPad is a perfect fit for me. I say that knowing it is basically the 10.5” iPad Pro I once had. Aside from some cheaper speakers and screen, both the size and specs are practically the same. Hell, even the Smart Keyboard is the same size as the one I had for the 10.5” iPad.

The Smart Keyboard is exactly as I remember it from when I had the 10.5” and it works just as well for me. I was concerned I was going to find it cramped or too small for me as I was so used to the full sized keyboard on the MacBook Pro. Alas, that wasn’t anything I should have worried about. In fact, I write faster and more consistently on this Smart Keyboard than I do on the mechanical keyboard Keychron K2.

This iPad isn’t my main machine, but it can absolutely be an ultra-portable option for when I am on the go or don’t want to travel light. In fact, I have left my laptop at home when I have gone out to write or do work because this iPad suits all the needs I have for a typical day-to-day operations. That said, I am sure there will be times—like there were for me in the past—where I just felt like a MacBook would be a better solution for a problem than the iPad.

This isn’t me saying that I am going back to the “iPad-only lifestyle.” In fact, one of the big reasons I got this iPad was because I wanted something that was compatible with Sidecar.

So far, I have tried Sidecar exactly once in the past 24 hours and it was very seamless. I can’t wait to use my iPad as a second monitor when I am doing things at my desk like podcasting or working on a long post for the blog. Having that extra screen real estate is going to help me when I really need it.

It is encouraging to me to see things like Sidecar work out of the box with Catalina. I am also thrilled to see this type of synergy between the iPad and Mac, where it isn’t just macOS and iOS (or iPadOS) working together but it is also the hardware.

Finally, I am elated to be able to use Siri Shortcuts on something bigger than my iPhone 11 Pro. It was nightmarish to use just my iPhone to make and edit shortcuts. I love Shortcuts and I love the team behind that app, but the user experience on the phone is less than optimal. I have dived back into Shortcuts with this iPad and it has allowed me to play around with automation on iOS again. A someone who hasn’t played around much with the additions and changes iPadOS brought with Shortcuts it has been quite a lot of fun to learn and play with this app.

Overall, I am excited to see what having an iPad again will be like in this post iOS 13 world. I am sure I will have more thoughts on the iPad as time goes on, but for now I am going to play around with it some more and see what this thing is really capable of.

From their IndieGogo campaign:

The ShiftCam Multi-Lens Case is a compact, integrated multi-lens iPhone case, now available for the iPhone 11 & 11 Pro, that switches lenses in fractions of a second — adding unparalleled versatility and quality to your iPhone 11 & 11 Pro cameras.

This case looks super bulky but I think it would be a great option for those occasions you plan to take lots of photos or go somewhere.

I am backer #83 on this and I intend to try the hell out of this once I get in a month or two. Until then. I will be drooling over the photos on their IndieGoGo.

From their IndieGogo campaign:

The ShiftCam Multi-Lens Case is a compact, integrated multi-lens iPhone case, now available for the iPhone 11 & 11 Pro, that switches lenses in fractions of a second — adding unparalleled versatility and quality to your iPhone 11 & 11 Pro cameras.

This case looks super bulky but I think it would be a great option for those occasions you plan to take lots of photos or go somewhere.

I am backer #83 on this and I intend to try the hell out of this once I get in a month or two. Until then. I will be drooling over the photos on their IndieGoGo.

I know this is cheesy, but I think a lot about this scene from the movie Rocky Balboa. I mainly think about it when I am in a rut and can’t think of anything to say or do creatively. I tell myself that all I need to do is keep moving forward and a solution will rise from the ashes. That isn’t always the case though.

Sometimes I need a long hiatus or just a changes of topic. I have done both to an extent here on my own website and it has helped a little. Those, to me, are the exceptions to the rule. A much larger part of my problem lies with these lulls of writing and posting because I don’t write consistently.

Consistency has always been difficult for me, as anyone that has been a reader of this blog can probably tell. That is partially why I decided to take place in Blogvember. I want to get better at being consistent, and writing everyday for me has always been a goal I wanted to achieve.

Now that I already missed a day this month I feel somewhat defeated but I also know that the reason I didn’t write was because it was one of the 2 half-days I get to see my wife in a given week¹. So I am more than happy to put my family in front of my creative process and with that I have zero regrets. This isn’t to say every time I don’t write it is because I am putting more important things first, I catch myself in YouTube rabbit holes all the time and I kick myself for it a lot.

I am not sure if this post has a real “point” or not but I think that sometimes I just need to sit down and write even when I am not sure what I have to say. I used to think that when I didn’t know what to say meant that I shouldn’t bother writing. Without a topic what was the point? I couldn’t be more wrong about this if I tried.

The thing I realize now is that my brain, like pretty much anyone who writes, needs time to warm up and get the engine going. For some it takes a few minutes others say that their first hour of writing isn’t good and it is just useless.

I think I am somewhere in the middle of those two. When I do write I make it a point to never go back and edit my mistakes or mistypings the first go around. I just want to trudge on and write until I feel the thought I had is gone and on to the page. Which I guess is where I am now with this post.

My point is that even though I may have missed a post yesterday and I didn’t keep my streak alive, I am going to keep moving forward.

1. Long story short on that, we work different hours and I work 90 miles away from home. ↩

Brent Simmons:

Here’s the thing: there are good blogs to read. Some old ones are gone, but new good ones are created all the time.

And there are good RSS readers which you can use instead of (or in addition) to Twitter and Facebook.

And — most importantly — nothing is stopping you from writing joyfully and creatively for the web! You can entertain, you can have fun, you can push the boundaries of the form, if you want to. Or you can just write about cats as you develop your voice. Whatever you want!

Chris Hannah:

I agree, all you have to do is join in.

There is a reason I come back to blogging time and time again. Even after bouts of mental health issues and life events getting in the way I come back because it’s mine.

I own this website and the things written on here and I enjoy the self expression that goes into it for me. It is therapy, art, entertainment, and craft all joined together in a beautiful ball of dough.

Greg Morris:

I have tried really hard to carry on as long as possible but iOS 13 has made me realise I cant continue any longer. I’m afraid friends, today was the day the end finally arrived, I’ve ditched an iPad altogether.

During my time working on the iPad I always needed a Mac around to podcast and edit things properly – you know do real work. It was pretty few and far between and during this time the iPad got better and better. Adding in a better keyboard, a pencil to write and Draw as well as constantly improving the OS. My reliance on Shortcuts (then Workflow) and third party apps started to dwindle and iOS become a powerhouse – at least for a while.

Then iOS13 arrived. I cant point to one specific event or one particular bug, but iOS13 has been like death by a million paper cuts.

I hate to say it but iOS 13 feels like a regression for iPad power users. I’m sure the people at Apple meant well but in hindsight it’s clear that they bit off too much than they could chew.

Here’s hoping iOS 14 is akin to iOS 12 and it’s sole purpose is for fixing bugs and improving the features already in place. It also wouldn’t hurt if they made good on their promises with iCloud.

As I said recently I have decided to start things off with a clean slate. My task manager, calendar, email, notes system, etc. have all been wiped clean for a fresh start.

I stated in my article that I was going to use Todoist as my task manager, then I decided on Things 3 on my podcast instead, but now I think that my issue isn’t what the app I use is, it is instead how I am using my task manager.

For me, what’s necessary is to go a higher level and really consider what it is I want out of a task manager and figure out what to use to match those things.

That’s obviously much easier said than done but I think I have a few questions in place to help me get things started.

1. What is it you want to prioritize in your life?
2. What do you currently track in your task manager?
3. What are your pain points in a task manager currently?
4. Aside from task app features what do you want in a task manager?
   

I am not sure if these are the best questions to ask myself. Hell, I’m not even sure this is the best angle to take things. That said, as someone who has very little in order with their life at the present moment, it’s a start

So, here are my answers to those questions asked:

1. Family, Hobbies, Career, and Work in that order.
2. Day-to-day things to do, but even then I rarely open the app to see what I have on there.
3. I don’t check my app regularly, and I don’t do much after capturing.
4. I want something that can compartmentalize things when I need to but also be able to open everything to me for an easy review process.
   

For now, I think I need to figure out what to do to have my tasks in my face regularly so that I can capture quickly, clarify regularly, and organize things instead of just being on a list without any semblance of when things are do or what is more important than others.

Shawn Blanc:

Starting today — Friday, November 1 — I’ll be writing and publishing something every day for the whole month of November.

Though, instead of writing a novel in a month, I will be simply be focused on publishing something — anything — every single day. From photos, links to interesting things, articles, reviews, etc.

And apparently this is a thing.

I’ve already heard from several other readers who will be writing and creating daily this month as well. Which is awesome! And my friends CJ and Om are also both doing the same thing.

I also have been thinking about doing this as well, so I guess if Shawn is doing this I am going to do it too.

Chris J Wilson via gabz:

About 10 years ago, I wanted to be a professional blogger. Now I’m happy to be an unprofessional blogger. Well, most of the time at least.

I thought I wanted the exciting lifestyle of making money from work anywhere I wanted. I saw these people “doing nothing” (spoiler, they were doing a lot more than what I saw) and thought that looked great. Free products to review, working in my [pajamas], travel whenever I wanted.

But pursuing that “dream” did something to me.

When I sought to be a professional blogger, I ended up focusing on tactics and topics which didn’t really interest me. I focused on topics that would help my search engine position with 800+ word articles for topics that could be addressed in 350 words at most.

[…]

As an unprofessional blogger, I can - write about what I want, when I want

• not write when I don’t want to (and not apologize!)
• try out something stupid and fail (but have fun)
• make grammar and spelling mistakes (and thank kind souls who point them out while deliberately annoying pretentious pedants)
• make a mess of my website as I change the design

Jeff has a surprise, Chris forgets the names of some services, and they both have thoughts on Jeff’s latest blog post. Finally, they both have feelings on the Apple October Event, or lack thereof.

Show Notes

Download MP3

Andy Nicolaides Writing for The Dent:

One of the main things keeping me from posting more, I think, is that I have a bad habit of only ever writing a post / article in one sitting. I can’t remember a time I’ve ever just started writing a bit and then come back to add a bit over a few days. The fact I don’t come back to a piece is probably fairly evident in the quality of my posts, unfortunately.

While doing a post from start to finish each time seemed like it would be a better way of getting more posts out, it’s ended up with me just thinking I don’t have enough time to finish anything of substance right now so I don’t even start.

[…]

Right now, I should have a handful of draft posts somewhere where I can keep adding points as I go along before compiling them into a final post at some point. Instead I have a bunch of emails sitting in my inbox, with Reminders entries attached to them. The closest I get to drafting things right now is writing some posts in my head while I drift off at night.

[…]

I need to stop thinking that I have no spare time to write or podcast, and start making better use of whatever time I do have.

I couldn’t agree more with this. I have found the best way my for me to write consistently is to have a lot of different plates spinning at once for my blog. If I’m not feeling one post, I’ll just move to another for the time being.

When I was setting up my iPhone 11 Pro, I decided to set it up as a new phone. I wanted to install only the apps I needed. I wanted to remove the cruft and stuff I thought I needed. I do it every year I get a new iPhone, and it’s always satisfying to see a significant percentage less of crap on my phone than the previous one.

This is what caused me to completely wipe out my entire task management system, notes system, read later system, and even caused me to reset my Mac to factory settings. I did a complete reset on how I manage my life and work, and I have some thoughts.

Why I did this

The iPhone set-up wasn’t the only reason I did this. That said, seeing me do it on my iPhone and the feeling I got from that is what drove me into action.

The main reason I did this was because I had a lot of cruft, crumbs, leftovers, or whatever synonym for undesirable crap you want to call it. I had physical notebooks, lists in Reminders, Bear, and Drafts for my notes. I also had tasks in Omnifocus 3, Things 3, and Todoist. It was a schmorgesborg of tasks, ideas, and thoughts that had no semblance or organization to it. I wanted to finally just declare bankruptcy, nuke everything and pave a new way for me to organize my life.

What I Want to Accomplish

So here is my list of goals and accomplishments I want to hit in this experiment.

• Have a clear idea of where my tasks, ideas, and notes will start (capture)
• Have a clear system in place to process, clarify, and organize my tasks/notes/ideas.
• Have a simple, easy to understand organizational system in place for all the tasks.
• Know when to put events into a calendar and what app of choice to use.
• Define and Setup a reading list system that works.
• Create a habit to keep my finger on the pulse of my tasks throughout the day.
• Maintain a weekly review that has a meaningful impact on my life.

My Plan

When it came to picking a task manager I wanted something that would be easy for me to use day-to-day. I also wanted something simple enough to handle but robust enough to grow with. Because of that I chose Todoist. I am not saying that Todoist is going to be the reason I get my life together, it is nearly the material of my canvas I will be painting on. Pick an app that works best for you. Up next is calendar.

For my calendaring app I chose Fantastical 2, which to me was an easy choice as I have been a user of that app on both Mac and iOS for some time now. The bigger decision for me was whether to use Google or iCloud for the calendar service. For me, I decided that if I am going to use Todoist, I may as well use Google Calendar so if I just have a web browser I can get access to my main tasks and calendar no matter what.

Any app usually is fine on a Mac when it comes to calendars, but the tricky thing about Calendars is the system. I know I need to make a list of calendars and figure out my plans for this. So my calendar is also being scrapped as well.

The Timeline

I plan to keep posting about this as I progress but expect a much more involved post shortly after this deadline I set myself.

Newseum:

After more than 11 years and nearly 10 million visitors, the Newseum will close on Dec. 31, 2019. Thank you to everyone who has visited, especially the members, donors and Founding Partners whose support made it all possible.

We know visitors love the Newseum (don’t take our word for it; read the TripAdvisor reviews for yourself), but it has struggled financially for a number of years and continuing to operate in our current location has proven unsustainable. In January 2019, we announced an agreement to sell the Newseum building on historic Pennsylvania Avenue to Johns Hopkins University, a premier academic institution, which will use the facility for its D.C.-based graduate programs.

The Freedom Forum, creator and primary funder of the Newseum, remains committed to continuing its mission to champion the five freedoms of the First Amendment and to increase public awareness about the importance of a free and fair press. These educational efforts are needed now more than ever and that critical work will continue online and through public programs in Washington, D.C., and around the country.

The Newseum near the National Mall is closing its doors at the end of the year, the museum announced Tuesday.

The closure comes after more than 11 years and nearly 10 million visitors. The Newseum said in a statement that due to yearslong financial issues, continuing to operate at 555 Pennsylvania Ave. Northwest “has proven unsustainable.”

The museum’s creator and primary funder, The Freedom Forum, “remains committed to continuing its mission to champion the five freedoms of the First Amendment and to increase public awareness about the importance of a free and fair press,” museum officials said in the statement.

“These educational efforts are needed now more than ever and that critical work will continue online and through public programs in Washington, D.C., and around the country.”