Link Posts
Speaking of podcasts, this is an awesome tip / app suggestion from Bradley Chambers this week over on The Sweet Setup.
If you’re like me and you come across one-off audio files that you want to listen to, but wish you could (a) easily get them onto your phone without side-loading them or dealing with Dropbox’s audio player (which doesn’t remember listening state); and (b) take advantage of your favorite podcast player’s Smart Speed features then this is the service for you.
If you’ve been wishing that I were around on more podcasts, well have I got a treat for you. This week I was a guest on Mike Vardy’s Productivityist podcast. We had a great conversation about intentionality, productivity-plus-creativity, and more.
Paddle is an all-in-one SDK that gives app developers access to all the essential tools for building a great product. Including in-app analytics, user feedback, app store ratings, funnels and more. With only a few lines of code you can start building better apps in less time, allowing you to focus on the best parts of being a developer.
It’s free to start, and you only pay when you’re ready to get serious about your app business.
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My thanks to Paddle for sponsoring the site again this week.
True story: I decided to get the iPhone 6S Plus this year.
In part, I went with the bigger iPhone to see how the big-screened other side lives (my Android-toting cousins are never going to let me hear the end of it this Thanksgiving).
I also went with the 6S Plus because it has the best camera in a mobile device (if you can call an airplane wing a mobile device). The in-body image stabilization goes a long way with video.
Knowing that I’m not the only one looking forward to shooting with the new iPhone, over on Tools & Toys, we put together an unordered list of awesome gear to take your iPhone photography and videography to the next level. A super-cool mobile tripod, awesome extra lenses, etc. Check it out.
If you’re getting a new iPhone in the near future, here’s our Sweet Setup article from a few months ago with the steps on how to pair your Apple Watch to your new phone. In short, back up your old iPhone, un-pair your Watch, set up your new iPhone and restore from the iCloud backup, then pair your Watch to the new phone, and chose to restore the Watch from backup.
And, speaking of iPhone upgrades, in case you need some tips with how to backup your current device before setting up your new one, we’ve got you covered.
Paddle is an all-in-one SDK that gives app developers access to all the essential tools for building a great product. Including in-app analytics, user feedback, app store ratings, funnels and more. With only a few lines of code you can start building better apps in less time, allowing you to focus on the best parts of being a developer. It’s free to start, and you only pay when you’re ready to get serious about your app business.
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My thanks to Paddle for sponsoring the site this week.
curbi gives parents peace of mind; providing the best solution so the entire family can enjoy the online world as much as the real world.
My thanks to curbi for again sponsoring the site this week. curbi is pretty incredible, especially if you’ve got a family of devices you’d like to help safeguard.
And it’s more than just for kids. You can set it up on your own device as well, and use it as an internet content blocker that actually works — so you don’t accidentally get slimed with stuff you don’t want to see and so you’re not constantly entering in a PIN to visit regular sites that iOS doesn’t need to block.
An excellent, as always, overview of last week’s Apple event, as well as John’s initial thoughts on the new iPhones, iPad Pro, Apple TV, and Watch.
I was bummed that I couldn’t watch the Keynote last week — I was in the air during the event, on my way to Dallas to speak at the 2015 Circles Conference (more on that later). Being at Circles, I was offline most of last week and missed a lot of the new Apple product news (aside from this ridiculous newspaper headline).
But I did still wake up at midnight to pre-order a new iPhone. I decided to go crazy and went with the iPhone 6S Plus. I’m perfectly happy with the size of the 6, but I thought it would be fun to try out the bigger sized phone. Just about everyone I know with the 6 Plus loves it. So we’ll see. Also, after getting a massive headache trying to figure out the new pricing structures and what would be the best route to go, I decided to jump off the subsidy bandwagon and bought a contract-free, unsubsidized phone through AT&T. I prefer to keep my iPhones after the contract on them is up, either for resale, or — now that I’ve got two boys — for watching Mighty Machines on long road trips.
Another thought on the new iPhones: 3D Touch looks fantastic. It was pretty obvious that it’d be coming to the iPhone; after just a few weeks with my Watch I was already naturally trying to Force Press app icons and menu buttons on my iPhone. It may be “for power users” but I also think it’ll be quick to acclimate to, and in a few days we’ll all be grumbling about how our iPads don’t have it.
I’m also excited about the new Apple TV. Like a lot of you, I suspect, my house doesn’t have cable TV — we watch all our shows and movies via Netflix and iTunes (with an attic antenna we use during football season).
What John Gruber had to say about the new Apple TV only makes me that much more amped:
Apple TV is hot. I only got a brief period to play with it, but it seems fast, responsive, beautiful, and intuitive. It feels alive. If I worked at Apple I’d want to be on that team. On first impression, it is everything I wanted to see. It sounds like a small talented team got to build the Apple TV they wanted to see and use themselves. There is a clarity and vision to the entirety of its design. I think it exemplifies the best of Apple. […]
I think Apple TV might be the most disruptive product from Apple since the iPhone. Not the most lucrative, necessarily, but the most disruptive — in the sense of defining how all TVs will work in a few years.
Corbett Barr:
I’ve also noticed something over the past several years: the most interesting, accomplished people I know all have a vision for their lives. They seem to know what comes next, like they’ve seen the future.
On the other hand, people I meet or know who are stuck and have that hopeless look in their eyes, like they’re just passing time in life without joy or aspiration, those people don’t have a vision. In fact, many of them don’t even have long-term goals. This was painfully clear at my recent high school reunion.
For Kinfolk, Rachel Eva Lim interviewed Yale researcher, Mei Tan, about creativity and it’s great:
How do you scientifically define creativity?
We define it as a set of skills that allow an individual to produce something that’s both novel [original] and task-appropriate [useful]. It can be argued that originality and usefulness may vary depending on situations and cultures, so therefore a universal measuring stick for creativity would be impossible.
I love that definition. Creativity is a combination of originality and usefulness; something unique and something helpful.
Customizable and adaptable to fit your choice of camera gear, the DSLR Pro Pack was designed to meet the mobile needs of the modern photographer.
With a sleek and minimal design, this is not your typical camera bag. The Pro Pack is our largest-capacity camera bag and fits your camera, laptop, phone and accessories. Constructed from a durable 840D nylon, the DSLR Pro Pack features adjustable padded shoulder straps, a mesh back panel and a convenient side pocket to quickly access your phone or point and shoot camera.
Durable, customizable and comfortable, the DSLR Pro is a full-featured camera backpack that gives you the freedom of movement and load stability so you never miss a shot.
shawnblanc.net Reader Promotion: For a limited time, when you purchase the DSLR Pro Pack from Incase.com, get a Portable Power 2500 charger in black for FREE. The compact, lightweight portable charger with integrated USB cable and universal USB port will make sure you are never without power. Use the PROMO CODE: FreePowerTT to get your free portable power. (Code Expires October 6th, 2015)
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My thanks to Incase for sponsoring the site this week.
Speaking of awesome reviews, over at Tools & Toys today, Álvaro Serrano wrote an incredible review of what is, in my humble opinion, the best lens for the Micro Four-Thirds system: The Panasonic Leica 25/1.4.
I’ve been shooting with this lens for about a year and a half and continue to be amazed by the character and personality it gives to my photos. If you want to know about the technical details or if you just want to see the quality of photos this lens is capable of, look no further than Álvaro’s stellar review.
A few days ago we published the latest app review-slash-pick, and it was for our favorite read-it-later service.
Instapaper is more than just the best app for saving things to read later, it’s an awesome app in and of itself. The typography and reading experience is fantastic. And with the semi-recent additions of being able to highlight passages, make notes, and share textshots, Instapaper continues to be one of my personal favorite apps (though that doesn’t mean I don’t still have a list of unread articles from here to New Jersey).
Much of what people love about the Uuni still remains the same:
We spent the last 6 months refining it, making it even better.
Here’s what’s new: it’s super fast to assemble, less than ten minutes. It’s now easier to adjust the temperature with its clever hopper system. And we now make it out of beautiful brushed stainless steel. Check it out, and make sure to read some of the reviews our customers have left — we’re very proud of them.
Food. Fire. Uuni.
As a launch week offer, please use the code thesweetsetup for $20/£15 off your Uuni 2.
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My thanks to Uuni for again sponsoring the site this week. As I’ve said before, I ordered an Uuni of my own last year and it’s awesome. Making homemade pizza is a lot of fun, and having your own pizza oven that you can fire up in your backyard is fantastic.
