mac

If You Write, You Should Have Byword

If you ever write anything longer than emails, do yourself a favor: Download [Byword](http://bywordapp.com) on your Mac, iPhone, and iPad.

A Boon to Writers

Byword logo

If you ever write anything longer than emails, do yourself a favor: Download Byword on your Mac, iPhone, and iPad.

Byword is built for editing text and Markdown files. It’s simple, pretty, and clean. It’s my favorite place to write.

As mentioned in Part I, text editors like Byword work best used in conjunction with a “cloud” service such as Dropbox or Apple’s iCloud. Syncing with the cloud lets you start a document on your iPhone, and finish it on your Mac. Or whatever device you have handy. Instant access to all your important text.

Byword is by no means your only option. But if you are just joining the Revolution in Text, I think it’s the best place to start.

Byword on the Mac is real straightforward: It’s just an app like Word or Pages. It’s job is to open and save plain text files from anywhere on your hard drive. But I would encourage you to start working in the Text folder you created in Part I.

iOS

Byword for iPhone and iPad is also easy. You just have to connect it Dropbox.

Open Byword, and tell it to connect to your Dropbox account.

Connect Byword to your Dropbox account

Then go back a level, and tap on Settings > Dropbox Setup > Folder, and choose the “Text” folder you created in Part I. Tap Done, and then tap on Dropbox to see all your text files.

Magic in an asterisk

But how do you make it look good? Look what a few well-placed asterisks can do:

Made-up Markdown example

Those characters use a really simple idea called Markdown. It’s easier to learn than making popcorn.

Links and images are also easy:

Made-up Markdown example

Here’s the kicker: Byword knows all these codes, and inserts them for you. Even on your iPhone. It’s as easy as any word processor, but without all the cruft — or the cost — of Microsoft Word.

Byword screen shot

What then?

“Great, fine,” you say, “but what do I do with that nicely formatted text?”

Easy magic! Byword automatically translates Markdown into formatted text (Rich Text Format or .rtf) and also HTML. You can copy formatted text straight from Byword into an email, or into Pages or Keynote. Bloggers can copy HTML to paste into a WordPress post. And if you use Squarespace (and you should totally use Squarespace), you can use Markdown directly in your web site and blog posts.

Markdown has gone viral among nerds, but I am here to tell you that it’s the writing tool for anyone at all.

Come to my presentation at BlogItSA! to learn more!

Revitalize Your Work With Plain Ol’ Text Files

With just a few clicks on your Mac, you can start making your life easier. Enter the new, simple, elegant world of synced text files.

A very quiet revolution began a couple of years ago among Apple users.

It started with Dropbox, the cloud service that turns a normal folder into a magic syncing carpet for all your files. Dropbox quickly became ubiquitous on Macs, iPhones, and iPads. (The rest of this article will assume you have Dropbox installed on your computer and mobile devices.)

Then some brilliant nerds wrote some elegant apps. These apps did one thing: They edited text files in Dropbox.

Why is this cool? Because text files are easy (for both human and machine), small, and workable on any computer ever created. And while syncing other kinds of stuff like contacts and calendars is hard for computers, syncing text files is relatively simple.

As the revolution was fomenting, David Sparks said, “Plain text: It’s timeless. My grandchildren will be able to read a text file I create today, long after anybody can remember what the heck a .dotx file is.”

So what can you do with text? Any kind of writing, notes, lists, or snippets. I use it instead of Apple’s Notes app. I write all my blog posts and newsletters in text, and also a lot of emails when I care about what they look like.

Start with TextEdit

There are growing options for text editors out there. But let’s start with Apple’s own TextEdit. This will go really fast, I promise.

TextEdit in Dock

You can find it in Spotlight or Applications.

Search for TextEdit

Open TextEdit > Preferences. Click here…

TextEdit menu

Then here…

TextEdit Preferences

Change the default format to plain text.

Format as plain text

Close the Preferences window.

That’s it. Just create and save files as you would any other document.

When you start, they’ll look like this:

Plain ol’ blank space, ready for you to fill it. And just like any other document, you should put them in Dropbox. Create a folder in Dropbox called Text.

Text folder

Open up Dropbox on your phone or tablet or another computer, and your file is there. You can refer to your notes, or copy text from them to paste into another app.

In Part II, I’ll show you how to edit that text on your iPhone and iPad.

Whither goeth Save As?

Now that I am using Preview instead of Adobe Reader, I am having trouble saving documents. There is no Save As… feature in the File menu!

You’re not alone in confusion! Apple replaced Save As… with Duplicate.

There is a good reason for it: Mac apps — the good ones at least — now save automatically, all the time. They even remember versions of themselves (File > Revert).

So now, you can make a copy by going to File > Duplicate, then File > Save. Also, as always, option-drag and copy/paste still work in the Finder.

Apple has a nice write-up of the feature in this article.

But it still feels weird not to have Save As!

Should I install Mavericks?

Did you download OS X Mavericks?

I did, and so far so good. A little hiccup at the beginning made me have to do a forced restart, but since then it has worked fine.

I like the design, and there are great new features. I am also very pleased by the updates to iWork and iLife, and they require 10.9.

But way way better that all of that is the improvements to battery life and performance! All of my computers feel smoother and snappier, and the battery on my MacBook Air lasts at least 10-20% longer than it did on Mountain Lion.

However…

Please read before upgrading!

As with any major upgrade, for most people — and certainly for any mission-critical machines — I recommend [read: urge, plead] holding off just a little bit to let the kinks work themselves out. At least give Apple a chance to get to 10.9.1 before you try Mavericks out on the Macs at your business.

A few clients have installed successfully, but others have encountered a few glitches in printing, scanning, and email. Some important apps might also not be compatible. You can check the software titles you use at the excellent site Roaring Apps. And some printers, especially big copiers, might not have compatible drivers yet.

(For what it’s worth, I now only rely on apps that are currently in development, buying almost everything through the Mac App Store.)

When you feel you’re ready to go, please please PLEASE make sure you have a tight backup for that computer. I have already advised a couple of people whose installations didn’t go smoothly, and their Macs were bricked. A simple restore should fix it, but if you don’t have a backup, you could be in serious trouble if your disk becomes unbootable.

Having said all of that…

Early adopters who are willing to deal with the occasional hassle to get the good stuff are encouraged to go for it! To be safe, give me a call before you hit the Install button, and we’ll go through the checklist to make sure you don’t suffer any downtime.

Apple Buys Cue

Bob M wrote:

I had on my list to look more at Cue per your recommendation. Then this happened. I look forward to seeing how it’s integrated into iOS 7.

Ohhhhhhhh that's what happened to them! Thanks for sending me this! I am glad Apple has copped to the importance of making logical connections between our data, and displaying it all at once. Google Now is good, though I can't say it has worked perfectly for me on iOS.

Noelle M, who showed me Cue originally, last week saw they were shutting down, so I went and tracked down Tempo for us.

I like Tempo a lot, and it fulfills most of what I got out of Cue. As Noelle noted this morning, however, it lacks some of the cleverness that made Cue a delight. Package tracking, upcoming travel itineraries, sunrise/sunset. But this is clearly a hot field, sure to attract plenty of heroic developer action in the near future.

Now I get to say one more thing, for the record. I have a pretty good record of picking up on stuff that's primo enough even for Apple.

Check it:

October 2008 – I publish this post about how much I like Lala music streaming service. Didn't know anybody else using it.

December 2009 – Apple buys Lala music streaming service.

2009 – jjmarcus starts introducing clients to the awesome and free Siri Personal Assistant, putting it on almost everyone's iPhones.

2011 – Apple buys Siri Personal Assistant.

September 2013 – jjmarcus posts on Facebook that Apple's apps could stand to be more like Cue.

October 2013 – Apple buys Cue.

And Apple is conservative with their cash.

Notes on running Windows on a Mac

Terms

Windows runs on your Mac as a “virtual machine,” or VM. Parallels Desktop is a virtualization app.

Basic idea

Windows becomes a file on your computer. Parallels opens that file and tells it to pretend that it is a real computer.

You can start that computer, shut it down, put it to sleep (a.k.a. suspended), or wake it up. Also, you can look at it in a separate window, or full screen, or have the windows you have open on it appear as individual, discrete windows in your Mac environment.

Day-to-Day

Most of the time, you will have Parallels quit, and Windows suspended. When you open the Parallels Desktop app, you will be asked to resume Windows 7.

Then, when you are done with what you need to do in Windows, simply quit Parallels, and it will suspend the VM.

Best Practices

When you do need to have windows running, you should probably quit any other apps that you don’t need to use at the moment. Running Windows consumes a great deal of memory, leaving less room for other apps to do their job, which will result in the spinning beach ball.

As you would with any computer, if Windows is misbehaving, turn it off from the Start menu at the bottom left corner of the Windows screen. Parallels will make it obvious how to fire it back up.

Security

I don’t do much to Windows after I install it, with three exceptions: I install Microsoft Security Essentials, and Google Chrome. I also run Windows Update, which you can find using the search blank in the Start menu.

Configure one Airport Base Station to extend another

Airport Utility

Apple has really made setting up a wifi network easy. Airport Utility now requires only a few clicks, and correctly guesses what you want to do with each device.

When they start adding devices, or reconfiguring existing ones, many people are reluctant to wipe the routers and start from scratch, but that’s totally the thing to do. It saves a ton of time and guesswork.

Here’s how you do:

Reset both devices to defaults
- holding the reset button with a pen til light blinks faster
Unplug your internet modem from power, count to 5, and plug back in.
Set up the Airport A connected to the internet.
- Use the same settings, including wifi network name.
Make sure you can now surf the web.
Plug in Airport B, in the same room as the first one.
Configure B, letting Airport Utility guess correctly that you want the B to extend A.
Once both are green, unplug B, and plug it in where you need it.
Make sure it goes green, and you can surf in the G’s office.

What are Smart Folders?

What are Smart Folders?

They are super helpful, is what!

On the Mac, Smart Folders in Finder (also Smart Playlists in iTunes, Smart Albums in iPhoto, Smart Mailboxes in Mail, Smart Groups in Address Book, etc.) are containers for files or folders that meet a certain criteria. Think of them as a permanent search.

For example, you could make a Smart Folder that shows you all the documents you’ve opened in the last 3 days, or one for all your PDFs that are bigger than 2 megabytes.

In iTunes, you could have a Smart Playlist that always has the jazz songs you’ve added this week. In iPhoto, I created a Smart Album for all the photos I’ve rated above 3 stars, and I sync that to my iPhone.

You can create a smart container in the File menu of any of these programs. You’ll immediately be presented with a dialog box that lets you pick your search criteria, stacking them with “any” (if this OR that) or “all” (if this AND that AND that).

Smart containers appear in the same list with their manual counterparts, but have a gear icon on them.

Try ’em out. They can really speed up your workflow!

Troubleshoot a slow Mac (short version)

What can I do to see why my computer has become extremely slow?

Yes! Open Activity Monitor (an app in Utilities)

In CPU, more black is better. More color = slower computer.
In System Memory, more green is better. You want at least 25% of the pie chart to be green.

If it’s not, restart your computer, and open Activity Monitor. See how things look then.

How do I edit PDFs on Mac/iPhone/iPad?

Do I need Adobe Reader? Or Acrobat Pro? How do I edit PDFs?

Mac

PDFs are like food to a Mac. Whenever you print anything from a Mac, you’re creating a PDF. That’s why, whenever you go to File > Print, there’s a convenient PDF menu at the bottom left, with options like Save As PDF… and Mail PDF.

The Mac has an built-in app called Preview, which works with all kinds of image files, including PDFs. With Preview, I can sign PDFs with my signature, or notate the heck out of them.

Depending on what you do to/with PDFs, you might use Preview, or the even more awesome PDFpen, which can change text in a PDF, or the super badass PDFpenPro, which can teach your PDFs to sit up, beg, and roll over.

PDFpen can even read the text in a PDF, or turn a PDF into a formatted Word doc. It’s very powerful, and a fraction of the price of Acrobat Pro (which is still great if you do prepress).

iOS

PDFPen is also great on the iPad and iPhone.

I use GoodReader for my PDF reference library, with all my manuals and training documents and other legibles. It also has robust commenting and markup features.