Life in Full Color

The Best New Mac and iOS Software of 2010

A lot of great software shipped in the past 12 months. There were many new apps for the iPhone and iPad, and many great updates to some already stellar Mac apps.

Here is my list of the best software that shipped in 2010. These are apps I use regularly and which were brand new or received an X.0 update at some point in 2010.

OmniFocus for iPad

OmniFocus for iPad was released in July. It is, without a doubt, the best of the three-app suite of OmniFocus software.

It seems to be a common practice that for apps with a strong presence on the desktop, their iPhone and iPad counterparts are portals, or lighter versions, of their desktop apps. Not so with OmniFocus on the iPad; it is the current king of the OmniFocus hill. Moreover, it is one of the most robust, feature-rich, easy-to-use apps on my iPad.

The two most-addicting features of OmniFocus on the iPad are the review and the forecast views. This app is one of the few which have justified my iPad purchase.

Reeder

Reeder for iPhone 2.0 and Reeder for iPad are my two preferred apps for reading feeds. When Reeder 2.0 shipped in March it answered all of my quibbles about what I wanted from an iPhone Feed Reader.

Reeder for iPad, shipped in June, and it is superb. I enjoy the UI and the top-notch readability it presents. By far, my favorite feed reading app for the iPad.

Canned

Canned is an iPhone app that came out in August. I had the privilege of helping Sky Balloon beta test it, and it’s been on the front of my iPhone Home screen ever since.

Canned lets you pre-write the content of those text messages you send often, and even pre-assign those to the individuals and groups whom you often send that same text to.

I used to have a folder in Pastebot for these types of texts, but Canned is much better suited for the task. The app is simple and blazing fast. Buy it in the App Store for the price of a soda.

Instapaper Pro for iPad

If there ever was a piece of software that was like a good cup of coffee it would be Instapaper. Unlike other software and services where describing the ins and outs and use-cases gives others a very good understanding of the product, Instapaper is much too simple for that.

So in short, Instapaper is the best way to read the Internet. And the iPad app (which launched in April) is the best way to read your Instapaper articles.

And, if you want to get my starred articles in your Instapaper queue, my username is “shawnblanc”.

MarsEdit 3.0

MarsEdit is one of the most-used, most-important, and most-beloved applications I own. I can’t imagine writing shawnblanc.net without it. Version 3.0, which was released in May, added quite a few features to an already rock-solid application.

A highlight feature of the 3.0 release for many was the WYSIWYG editor. However, the most notable for me was the added support for WordPress custom fields, which — when combined with this Linked List plugin — makes posting links on my site a breeze.

Simplenote 3.0

Simplenote is an iPhone and iPad app that offers a minimalistic writing and note-taking interface and over-the-air syncing. Version 3 shipped in August, and is the sort of app adored by those who pride themselves in their use of beautiful and uncomplicated software.

Simplenote is also an app for people with ideas. It’s for those who need some way to jot an idea down, build on it, and refine it until they’re sick and tired of it, regardless of where they are or if they brought their laptop.

And as a writer, Simplenote could very well be your principal writing app. It has a straightforward design that makes it effortless to use. In Simplenote there is no text formatting, it’s just plain. There is no document titling — when you create a new note, the first line is the title. There is no saving a note — you just write and your note is backed up in real time, and even synced with any other other devices you use: iPad, iPhone, and Mac.

Dropbox 1.0

The most common misconception about Dropbox is that it’s solely for file syncing between multiple computers. Well, I only own one computer and I use Dropbox all day long.

Because Dropbox syncs your files to the Web, I use it to keep all folders for my current projects. This means things I am working on at the present moment are always backed up to the Web.

Also, by using Symlinks, I have the Application Support Folder for my most-used apps (MarsEdit, Yojimbo, 1Password, OmniFocus) sitting in Dropbox as well. Which means if I didn’t back up my laptop for a week or two, chances are good I would hardly lose anything important. And if I drop my laptop out the car window on the way home from work, I for sure wouldn’t lose anything from the day.

Dropbox finally hit version 1.0 in December, adding some stability issues and, most notably, options for selective syncing of folders.

Instagram

Instagram launched in October and by the end of 2010 had over 1,000,000 users. It’s part iPhone app, part social network, all fun.

It’s an iPhone-only app that works somewhat like Twitter but with photos. You take a quick snapshot, apply a filter, and share it with your followers. You can also send those photos to your Flickr, Tumblr, and/or Posterus accounts, as well as sharing them on Twitter and Facebook.

Instagram is low friction, and high-fun. And now that Twitter displays Instagram Media inline, it’s not unlike using TwitPic to post photos to your Twitter account. You can find me on Instagram as “shawnblanc”.

The Best New Mac and iOS Software of 2010

onething 2010  →

As director of marketing for the International House of Prayer my team and I have been working hard for the past 12 months to promote this event. More than 25,000 people will be coming to the Kansas City Convention Center today (25,511 to be exact).

The conference starts at 2:00pm CST today, and all four days will be webstreamed live for free. Requires flash, or will work on your iOS device.

onething 2010

Making a Great Cup of French Press Coffee

My uncle Louie, who is recently retired from 40 years as a tech consultant, has acquired a taste for coffee. Just this week he bought a french press, and so he sent me an email asking for advice knowing that I use one every day.

Traditionally, the french press is the finest way to brew a cup of coffee. And despite popular opinion, it can actually be quicker than making coffee with a drip coffee maker. However, the french press is more involved for the person brewing the coffee, as each step is done by hand, but that is something I personally enjoy about it.

Great coffee starts with great ingredients: water and coffee beans. You should use only the best water — filtered, bottled, or (if you’re my dad) reverse osmosisified — whenever possible.

I buy my beans whole and grind them just before brewing them. When coffee beans are ground is when they give out their flavor. To use pre-ground coffee beans is to use them at their worst. To grind them just before you brew them is to use them at their best. Moreover, if you use pre-ground coffee chances are you aren’t using the coarseness for a french press. Pre-ground coffee is almost always too fine for proper brewing in a french press.

To grind your own coffee, I recommend a conical burr grinder. I use this Breville.

What many people do not know is that there is a big difference between a plain burr grinder and a conical burr grinder. In fact, most inexpensive burr grinders do a worse job grinding your coffee than a cheap blade grinder would.

One of the reasons people buy a burr grinder is because it will produce a more consistent grind (the biggest complaint against blade grinders). However, the average burr grinder has flat burrs. And though you will get consistent grind it often comes at the expense of the ground bean.

With conical burr grinders the burrs are shaped like a cone. This means there is a larger grinding area for the same diameter, allowing the conical burrs to spin at a slower speed. And you want your coffee to be ground slowly. Grinding at high speeds (as most regular, flat burr grinders do) heats up the burrs and results in burnt coffee beans and damaged grounds.

For brewing in a press you want an even and coarse grind. I set my Breville to the most coarse setting it has. (Around the holidays I like to add a teaspoon of cinnamon to the grounds before I pour the water in. It gives the coffee a nice spice that goes well with snow and Christmas music.)

French Press Coffee

I use an electric kettle to boil the water. Once the water has reached a boil I let it cool for just a moment to let it stop bubbling, so the water is right around 200°. Then I pour the hot water into a measuring cup to get the right amount of ounces for how much grounds I’m brewing, and then I pour it into the french press over top of the coffee grounds.

Something which is of upmost importance is the ratio of coffee beans to water. Different people have different opinions about this, but I use 2 tablespoons of beans (measured before they’re ground) for every 6 ounces of water. If that ratio results in coffee which is too strong for you then add the hot water to your cup after you’ve already brewed the coffee. If you water down your beans while brewing, then you’ll over extract and end up with bitter coffee.

After I pour the water over the coffee grounds in the french press I let it sit for a few seconds and allow the coffee to bloom. I then give it all a really good stir, place the lid on, and set a timer for 4 minutes.

When it’s time to press the coffee I slowly push down on the filter, and then pour it into a thermos. I like my coffee piping hot and so I drink just a little bit at a time — black — to keep it as hot as possible. This also plays well into my affection for small mugs.

French Press Coffee

Get Equipped

Here is the gear I use, or wish I used, to make my coffee. Equip yourself via these Amazon links and you’ll help pay for my next cup of coffee.

Making a Great Cup of French Press Coffee

Shawn Blanc’s 2010 Professional Gift Guide for That Nerdy, Design-Savvy, Coffee-Loving Writer in Your Life

Welcome to The 2010 Gift Guide for That Nerdy, Design-Savvy, Coffee-Loving Writer in Your Life.

Nerds and coffee nuts can be impossible to shop for. Sure, they know what they want. But you’d be hard pressed to get them to tell you the details of what’s on their Christmas wish list.

If you’re not sure what to get that special someone for Christmas, then let this guide be a guide to you.

  • Has your nerd hinted about wanting a new hard drive for their laptop?
  • Does your coffee nut still use a drip coffee maker?
  • Is your designer friend’s office lacking wall decor?
  • Is your significant other trying to kick off their writing career?

Then look no further, my friends! Below you will find professional recommendations for all these needs and more. Only the finest gifts recommended.

For Nerds

Gifts for nerds

  1. Levenger Bomber Jacket Messenger Bag $199
  2. A Rands in Repose t-shirt $20
  3. Intel X25-M 160GB SSD $415
  4. Amazon Kindle with Wi-Fi $139

For Designers

Gifts for designers

  1. Tungsten typeface $99
  2. Gedy’s social media icons $5
  3. One of Jorge Quinteros’ photos

For Coffee Lovers

Gifts for coffee lovers

  1. Organic Blue Tawar Blend from The Roasterie $13
  2. Breville conical burr grinder $95
  3. Frieling stainless-steel French press $79

For Writers

Gifts for writers

  1. Levenger Circa Notebooks
  2. Writing Down the Bones $13
  3. AquaNotes waterproof notepad $12

Miscellaneous Gifts or Stocking Stuffers

Miscellaneous gifts

  1. Galaxy Trucker Board Game $50
  2. Rework $15
  3. Ugg house slippers $99
Shawn Blanc’s 2010 Professional Gift Guide for That Nerdy, Design-Savvy, Coffee-Loving Writer in Your Life

How I Write an Article

To start most articles I just brain dump into Notational Velocity or Simplenote. My location makes no difference (which is why I love Simplenote and Notational Velocity so).

I often times start an article by writing what I assume will be the introduction (though it’s likely to get changed dramatically before all is written and done with). This introduction is, to me, the heart of what I want to actually say.

Then I just start pecking away. I write in Markdown and in short, incomplete sentences. This first-draft writing stage is when I love my article the most. It’s full of bullet points, convictions, trains of thought, and, most importantly, delusions of grandeur.

If by chance the keyboard and I get into a flow I may write the whole piece all at once, but that is rarely the case. A lot of times I have a substantial amount of research and/or thinking to do in order to get a well rounded article. And so I start with my basic ideas and assumptions and then answer more questions to fill in the gaps with juicy details and desirous how-tos.

This is especially true of my reviews. I start typing and end up with a whole lot of very ugly text. Just lots and lots of chunks of text. It’s during that first draft that I try to write until I’m absolutely spent and have nothing left to type. It would be better to write 5,000 words and edit them down into a 2,000-word article than to write 500 words and force more in an attempt to build it up.

But that is not to imply that when writing a software review I write about every single feature. In fact it is the opposite; I make a point not to address every feature. I am not writing a laundry list, I’m telling a story. So instead of feature listing, I do my best to highlight what it is about the application which has most impacted me and why I enjoy it so much. Then I try to talk in detail about those features — sharing emotion, musings, and information about them.

Once I have nothing left to type I step away from the whole thing (usually by opening a separate text editor, such as TextEdit or TextMate) and write an outline for how I actually want the article to flow. This basic outline helps to bring some semblance of structure and organization to the article.

Then I copy and paste each sentence, one by one, from the original brain dump into the outline. This places the random chunks of text into their new home of organization, and is an exercise which helps me get out of the nitty-gritty details and look at the overall scope and flow of the article. Because once that has been defined it is much easier to see what needs addition and what needs subtraction.

Often at this stage I find fresh inspiration to write more. So I do.

After that secondary writing phase I am usually done with all that needs to be written. So now I start editing. Then re-writing. Re-editing. And repeat. Repeat. Repeat.

By now I’m sick and tired of the whole thing. I put it into MarsEdit ask my wife to read it via MarsEdit’s perfect preview. Or I just walk away from it for a day or seven.

I then edit one more time before finally just publishing and hoping for the best.

You would think that after writing this website for over three years I’d be able to sit down and just crank something out quickly and easily. But I can’t. And maybe I never will. But that’s okay, writing is a process and I dearly enjoy it.

And thank you, dear reader, for reading. It takes a lot of time to write here, and I appreciate that you show up to read it every now and then.

How I Write an Article

Recipe for Banana Wonderful

a.k.a. Peanut butter and coconut Banana Boat

Banana Wonderful

Ingredients

  • One ripe banana
  • Smooth peanut butter
  • Squares from a Hershey’s chocolate bar (Feel free to use any brand of chocolate — milk or dark — depending on how much of a chocolate snob you are)
  • Coconut shavings
  • Marshmallows (regular or mini)

Preparation

  1. Peel the banana, and with a very sharp knife slice it down the long middle from top to bottom.
  2. Lay the two halves, with flat side facing up, onto a sheet of tin foil.
  3. Spread a generous layer of peanut butter across the top of both banana halves.
  4. Place the chocolate squares evenly along the banana, on top of the peanut butter.
  5. Liberally sprinkle coconut shavings on top of the chocolate squares.
  6. Finally, place marshmallows on top of the squares.

Cooking

You can cook your Banana Wonderful indoors or outdoors. At home, simply place the tinfoil holding your banana onto a cookie sheet and broil it in the oven for just a few minutes until your marshmallows are slightly browned on top and the chocolate is soft and melted.

If camping or grilling outdoors, fold the sides of your tinfoil sheet over the top of your Banana Wonderful and place near your campfire until the marshmallows are gooey.

Eating

Your Banana Wonderful is best enjoyed with a fork, along with a warm drink and some good company.

Recipe for Banana Wonderful

Inbox Zero

“It’s not about email.”

While eating an apple galette and announcing his forthcoming book, Merlin lets the cat out of the bag regarding Inbox Zero: it’s not about email. It’s about managing your inbox and using it as a tool to help you make good decisions, build good relationships, and produce good work.

Lately it has clicked for me that my compulsive tendency to constantly check my email does not help me do my job any better. And what’s worse, that compulsion has bled over into some other, non-email inboxes.

For a long time Inbox Zero was my system for processing email so I wasn’t constantly swimming in messages all day. And if I did the system well I won the Inbox Zero badge. Shawn: 1 Inbox: 0

Now I love an empty inbox as much as anyone. But Inbox Zero is more about how I approach my inbox than how I process what’s in it. And it’s not just the email anymore. There’s the Twitter, Ping, my blog stats, my RSS subscriptions, my Flickr contacts, my Instapaper queue, and who knows what else. These are all inboxes and they all need Inbox Zero.

Inbox Zero means I care more about the outbox than the inbox. It means I choose to focus my time, energy, and attention on creating something worthwhile instead of feeding some unhealthy addiction to constantly check my inboxes. Pressing the Get New Mail button or refreshing my Twitter stream is like pulling the crank on a slot machine. Did I win? No. Did I win? No.

Inbox Zero means I care more about this moment than I do about my narcissistic tendencies of knowing who’s talking to me on Twitter. It means I care more about doing my best creative work than about keeping up with the real-time web and being instantly accessible via email.

To paraphrase Robert Louis Stevenson: Inboxes are good enough in their own right, but they are a mighty bloodless substitute for work.

Inbox Zero is all about the outbox.

Inbox Zero

An iPad Buyer’s Guide and Other FAQs

On Saturday, April 3rd at 7:30 in the morning I was standing in line for an iPad.

I bought the 16GB Wi-Fi only model, and for the past five months I’ve been mostly answering the same questions:

  1. What do you like about your iPad?
  2. Does it replace your laptop?
  3. What model should I buy?
  4. What are some cool apps?

Here are my answers to these questions.

What do I like about my iPad?

The greatest value the iPad has added to my life is that I read much, much more. In all the passing conversations I’ve had answering this questions about how I like it I often reply that I will never buy a physical book again (probably). Having all my reading material on one device is bliss.

I also love the undistracted writing environment that the iPad provides. When you’re writing in full-screen mode in Simplenote, that is literally all you see. To switch to another app I have to click the home button, look for the other app’s icon, and tap it. Not exactly an arduous process, but also not as easy as a quick press of Command+Tab with my thumb and ring finger.

If the iPad were for reading and for writing only it would still be worth it. These hallmark features make it a great companion regardless of the setting: meetings or living rooms, offices or hammocks.

And, of course, the never-ending battery must be mentioned. I charge it once or twice a week, and it has never died while I was using it.

Does it replace my laptop?

No. But that’s because my laptop is my only other computer. For those with a laptop and a desktop, it’s quite possible that an iPad could be their new portable.

More often than not I need my laptop for work. Usually because I’m laying out a report in InDesign, working on a major budget spreadsheet, or, most likely, I want to work in front of my 23-inch Cinema Display.

There are the days, however, when I do just use my iPad. It works great for reading books, answering email, reading news, taking meeting notes, and more. And with the bluetooth keyboard I can type out long notes and articles, or hammer through lots of emails. And it’s not like these tasks are just bearable on the iPad. It’s quite the opposite actually; they’re enjoyable.

For music and video I usually stream them over Pandora and Netflix. When traveling I’d rather be writing or reading that watching a movie. I’ve never needed or wanted to have my entire media library with me at all times. If I did, I could more than do so with the 64GB model. In iTunes on my laptop I have a grand total of 39GB of media: 25GB of music, 12GB of video, and 2GB of podcasts.

My 16GB iPad actually has only 14GB of usable storage yet I still have not hit that ceiling. In fact, I currently have 2GB of free space.

iPad Storage Media Breakdown

If I were to buy a higher-model iPad, I would rather spend the money on a 3G version instead of one with more storage. Using the Wi-Fi only model has been fine, and only once have I been in a spot where there was poor wireless and I would have made use of 3G data.

So when it comes to working the iPad does make a light-weight, portable, middle man at times, but it cannot fully replace my laptop. Or, as Brett Kelly defines his iPad, it’s a short-term understudy for his MacBook Pro.

What model should you buy?

There’s no point in going big just because you can afford it. But if you have a lot of media you want to access on you iPad you certainly don’t want to play the juggling act either. Here are a few questions to ask yourself as you consider how much storage capacity you may need, and if you want to pay extra for the 3G model:

While Considering Storage Capacity:

  • Do you have a lot of iTunes music that you need with you at all times?
  • Do you have an iPhone or iPod that can hold your music and podcasts instead?
  • Do you have a thousands of photos you need with you?
  • Do you download every app you encounter or are you particular?
  • Do you watch a lot of movies and/or TV shows that can’t be streamed?
  • Do you subscribe to a lot of video podcasts without ever watching them?

While Considering the 3G Model:

  • Do you have wireless internet at your home, work, and other places you will be using your iPad?
  • Do you travel a lot and need internet reliability?
  • Do you have good AT&T coverage in your home city and/or the cities you travel to regularly?
  • Do you already own a cellular Wi-Fi hotspot or can your mobile phone create one?
  • Are you willing to pay an extra monthly fee when necessary to get 3G internet?

Aside about reselling and upgrading

Year over year I’ve been able to sell my previous iPhone for the same cost as upgrading to the new model. But this is mostly made possible by the subsidized price I get by being a valued AT&T customer. A non-AT&T customer on Craigslist or eBay is willing to pay $300 or more for a used iPhone because it is still hundreds less than a new non-subsidized one.

Not so with the iPad because it is not subsidized. So though it seems like a giant iPhone, it’s not. And so far as resale goes, it should be treated like Apple’s laptops, desktops, or iPods. You either buy one and plan to keep it until you have to upgrade (like I do with my laptops), or else you sell it the day before the new models comes out and hope to get close to what you paid for it.1 (Currently, you can find dozens of used, good-condition 16GB Wi-Fi iPads on ebay selling for for right around the $499 price point — the same price as a brand new one on the Apple store.)

Something worth noting, which may influence your purchase, is that iPad models with larger storage and 3G will retain a higher resale value than lower-end models. Many people care less about how old the hardware is and more about how well it stacks up against what is currently available in the Apple Store. Remember when Apple discontinue the 4GB iPhone? As soon as the smallest iPhone available was the 8GB, used 4GB iPhones became significantly more “out of date” than the used 8GB models.

What are some cool apps?

Here is a shot of my current iPad homescreen. My favorite, and/or most-used apps include: Instapaper, Simplenote, iBooks, Reeder, Twitterrific, and OmniFocus.

My iPad Homescreen

  1. For more on how to sell your used Mac — especially for creating that “factory fresh feeling” — check out Dan Benjamin’s sage advice. ↵
An iPad Buyer’s Guide and Other FAQs

‘Worry Isn’t Work’  →

Convicting piece by Dan Pallotta:

Worry isn’t work. Being stressed out isn’t work. Anxiety isn’t work. Entertaining a sense of impending doom isn’t work. Incessant internal verbal punishment isn’t work. Indulging the great unknown fear in your own mind isn’t work. Hating yourself isn’t work.

A lot of this has to do with the (sometimes false and sometimes real) expectations that if we do not look and act incredibly frazzled our peers and supervisors will assume we are not working hard. So we are rigid on ourselves, we live with the fear of man, and we tell ourselves to stay there. Because if not, we’re clearly wasting precious time.

No doubt this hits home for many of us; it certainly does for me. The only solution is to find our value, self-worth, and identity in something other than our job. If what we do defines our value then we’ll never be good enough: every uncompleted task becomes a judgment against our character.

‘Worry Isn’t Work’

International House of Prayer Featured on Brand New  →

Something I don’t often write about on shawnblanc.net is what I do when I’m not writing here. For those who may not know, I am the director of marketing for the International House of Prayer in Kansas City (IHOP–KC). We are a Christian ministry with a 24/7 prayer room that has live prayer, worship, and music. I’ve been on full-time staff with IHOP–KC for almost 10 years and have been working with the marketing, design, and Web team for three.

In early 2009 our in-house design team began a massive project: rebranding.

At the time we served about 30 different internal clients (sub-ministries, events, and product development). Each one had their own icon, typeface, and branding style. Our aim was to clean out those unique brands and consolidate everyone into a single, strong brand which could ebb and flow within several contexts and be attractive to a myriad of demographics.

Our in-house team did all the research, use-case studies, mock-ups, and presentations. We worked on the side as we were able, and it took us nearly a year to land the new typefaces and branding guidelines. Moreover, as anyone who has worked for an in-house design team knows, projects of this magnitude are not just about research and implementation. My team and I worked hard to educate our peer departments, internal customers, and the senior leadership all along the way. This naturally made the process longer, but it was enjoyable as well. I work with some of the most wonderful people on the planet, and it was an honor to serve them and the ministry in this project.

Once the new branding was landed it took several more months to implement it into our website, printed material, videos, signage, and more. There are still bits which need to be shored up, but this first step was a big one, and I could not be more proud of my team nor our progress so far.

International House of Prayer Featured on Brand New

‘The Acceleration of Addictiveness’  →

Paul Graham on why I don’t have a Facebook account:

Most people I know have problems with Internet addiction. We’re all trying to figure out our own customs for getting free of it. That’s why I don’t have an iPhone, for example; the last thing I want is for the Internet to follow me out into the world. […]

Sounds pretty eccentric, doesn’t it? It always will when you’re trying to solve problems where there are no customs yet to guide you. Maybe I can’t plead Occam’s razor; maybe I’m simply eccentric. But if I’m right about the acceleration of addictiveness, then this kind of lonely squirming to avoid it will increasingly be the fate of anyone who wants to get things done. We’ll increasingly be defined by what we say no to.

‘The Acceleration of Addictiveness’